“The investigation clearly illustrates how Peruvian authorities violated Amazonian Indigenous peoples’ rights to their own territories, exposing them to land invasions, violence, and death."
All Press Releases
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Financial and Scientific Resources, Full Recognition and Respect of Indigenous Rights, Can Halt Further Degradation of the Amazon
RAISG study reveals that the region has 22% deforestation, reached the point of no return
Glasgow, UK – During climate talks at COP26 in Glasgow, experts and representatives of Indigenous nationalities shared their vision regarding what the strategies should be to stop the continuous degradation and deforestation of Amazonia, which have led the rainforest to a point of no return: 22% percent of the total area of the basin has been...
Indigenous Delegates at COP26 Endorse Campaign Demanding Banks Exit Amazon Oil and Gas
Dutch bank ING becomes latest to end oil financing in region, implement demands of Stand.earth, Amazon Watch’s new campaign
The role of European lenders in backing the trade from the Amazon came under scrutiny in August 2020 after a report by advocacy groups Stand.earth and Amazon Watch looking at oil exports from the region to the United States.
Breaking: Donziger’s Appeal Denied, Must Report to Prison Wednesday
Congress, international groups demand Chevron stop targeting activists and Attorney General Garland to release US human rights lawyer
New York, NY – After an unprecedented 800+ days of home detention, human rights attorney Steven Donziger, who helped win the historic $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron for deliberate pollution of the Ecuadorian Amazon for over two decades, was sentenced to six months in prison.
Statement on the State of Emergency Declared by Ecuador's President Lasso
“We denounce the Ecuadorian government’s use of this State of Emergency as a pretext to quell opposition to its proposed policy reforms and silence Indigenous, union, and workers’ rights to peacefully protest. Such militarization has a clear purpose – to restrict the right of freedom of association, expression, and peaceful protest – which can...
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
New Report: Chevron’s Global Record of Denial and Destruction
Chevron Violates Domestic and International Laws with Impunity Worldwide
Washington, DC – A new report entitled Chevron’s Global Destruction: Ecocide, Genocide, and Corruption was released today amid a firestorm of criticism directed toward the multinational corporation. The report’s author, Nan M. Greer, Ph.D., documents how Chevron, the world’s number one producer in greenhouse gas emissions among all investor-owned...
Environmental Justice and Human Rights Organizations: Carbon Offsets Don't Stop Climate Change
Over 170 organizations including Amazon Watch, Food & Water Watch, Indigenous Environmental Network, Sunrise Movement, Gulf Coast Center for Law and Poverty, Friends of the Earth, and more around the world, sign statement opposing carbon offsets
Oakland, CA – Today, a broad coalition of over 170 NGOs, advocacy groups, and grassroots organizations spanning the globe released a statement opposing the usage of carbon offset programs, declaring that carbon offset programs are false solutions that will not solve the climate crisis.
Statement: Offsets Don’t Stop Climate Change
We call on global policy makers to reject offset schemes and embrace real climate solutions that will keep fossil fuels in the ground, support sustainable food systems, and end deforestation, while eliminating pollution in frontline communities.
Human Rights Lawyer Steven Donziger Sentenced to Maximum, Six Months in Prison
New York, NY – Today, judge Loretta Preska sentenced Steven Donziger to the maximum sentence of six months in federal prison for the petty misdemeanor contempt of court charges filed by judge Lewis Kaplan, a pro-Chevron former tobacco industry lawyer. The charges were prosecuted by corporate law firm Seward & Kissel, appointed by Kaplan himself...
Depths of Fossil Fuel Industry's Power Over U.S. Government Exposed in Chevron/Donziger Case
Despite demands for his freedom and calls for investigations from the UN, Congress, and the International Community, Steven Donziger to be Sentenced for Criminal Contempt of Court
"We are alarmed by human rights lawyer Steve Donziger's sentencing today. While the severity of Donziger's fate may seem unprecedented, it is emblematic of the larger trend of silencing activists, many of whom are fighting for the solutions desperately needed to combat the global climate crisis exacerbated by multinational fossil fuel companies,"...
Ecuador Wages Legal Attack on Indigenous Plaintiffs Who Won $9.5 Billion-Dollar Legal Victory Against Chevron
Despite facing five decades of some of the world's worst oil-related contamination at the hands of Chevron and winning a historic 28-year legal battle that has yet to result in a clean up of its toxic legacy, Indigenous plaintiffs in the case are now under legal attack from its own government. In an effort to appease Chevron and court investors...
Flyovers Confirm Southern Amazonas Is New Deforestation Frontier in Brazilian Amazon
Images taken last week between Porto Velho, Rondônia and Lábrea, Amazonas show widespread devastation in one of the most conserved areas of the Amazon rainforest
"We saw all the stages of the deforestation process one after the other: The extraction of high-value timber, the burning of vegetation to grow pasture, and cattle herds occupying areas that until recently were covered by forest," says Rômulo Batista, spokesperson for the Greenpeace Brazil Amazon campaign.
Banks Called to Exit Amazon Oil and Gas by Indigenous and Environmental Organizations
U.S., European banks could play critical role in ending Amazon destruction and rights violations by ending oil, gas financing in rainforest vital for global climate
New York, NY – A virtual Climate Week event held today highlighted the critical role U.S. and European banks must play in ending oil and gas financing in the Amazon rainforest. The event, led by international environmental advocacy groups and Amazon Indigenous leaders, revealed a new "Exit Amazon Oil and Gas" campaign and exclusion policy that...
Flyovers Document Destruction of Brazilian Amazon by Deforestation and Fires, Contrary to Bolsonaro's Speech at the UN
São Paulo, Brazil – Today, the Amazon in Flames Alliance, led by environmental organizations Amazon Watch, Greenpeace Brazil, and the Brazilian Climate Observatory launched images of a flyover showing the extent of deforestation and fires destruction in the Amazon. The images were released as President Bolsonaro presented a speech at the 76th UN...
Ecuadorian Amazonian Women Join the Second National March of Indigenous Women in Brazil
"We know that our home is under attack every single day. Oil, mining, logging, hydroelectric exploitation, and highways are advancing and destroying the Amazon. Like a virus, industry is destroying the lands where our ancestors are buried, destroying trees, mountains, rivers and lagoons. Our territories are the extension of our bodies. Nature is...
IUCN Approves Indigenous Peoples’ Global Call to Action to Protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025 to Avoid Catastrophic “Tipping Point” of No Return
Marseille, France – Members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have approved motion 129, a call-to-action titled "Avoid the point of no return in the Amazon by protecting 80% by 2025." The motion – which was approved after several debates – was proposed by the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin...
Thousands of Indigenous Women Will March in Brazil This Week
After pro-Bolsonaro rally on Brazil's Independence Day, 4,000 Indigenous women from 150 nations will gather in Brasília to continue the mobilization against the marco temporal trial, in defense of their rights and territories
Brasília, Brazil – While supporters of far-right President Bolsonaro took to the streets yesterday to slam Brazil's Supreme Court and cast doubt on the integrity of next year's elections, a more important mobilization was taking place in Brasília for the future of our planet. Delegations of Indigenous women were arriving in Brazil's capital...
We Demand the Annulment of Unconstitutional Executive Decrees That Seek to Intensify Hydrocarbon and Mining Extraction in Ecuador
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso issued Executive Decrees 95 and 151 which immediately formalize profound transformations of Ecuador's oil and mining policies. These documents have raised our concern about the violation of our essential rights to participate in decisions that may affect us. These new policies risk serious and irreparable...
Forests and Finance Coalition Warns Foreign Investors About the Risk of the Anti-Environment Agenda in the Brazilian Congress
Bills being processed in the Brazilian Congress, with irreversible consequences to the Amazon forest and indigenous peoples, could bring serious risks to the operations of financial institutions. An alert from the Coalition and other partners adds to the agenda of denunciations by indigenous peoples.
In a letter sent today to 80 international and Brazilian financial institutions, Forest & Finance Coalition, together with the Association of Indigenous People of Brazil (APIB), the Climate Observatory, and 45 allied organizations, warn about the risks of investments in Brazil in light of a suite of legislative changes being currently pushed in...
European Bank Intesa Commits to Exclude Amazon Oil from Headwaters Region of Ecuador, Peru
Stand.earth, Amazon Watch call on other banks to follow suit
"Intesa's new commitment to exclude oil from the Amazon Headwaters region shows how banks can expand Amazon-specific exclusion policies beyond just trade financing. While the policy falls short of the call for banks to extend Amazon oil exclusions to the entire Amazon Biome, it illustrates how geographic exclusions are a necessary part of banks'...
Investor Alert: Belo Sun Discloses Misleading Information to Investors Regarding Controversial Gold Mining Project in the Brazilian Amazon
Oakland, CA – In a complaint to the Ontario Securities Commission, an international coalition of civil society organizations calls attention to the repeated dissemination of misleading information by Belo Sun Mining Corp (TSXV:BSX), including statements by CEO Peter Tagliamonte, downplaying socio-environmental, legal, and financial risks of the...
Victory: Anglo American Agrees to Withdraw 27 Mining Research Applications in Territories Following Sustained Pressure By Indigenous Movement
The campaign demanding Anglo American, one of the world’s biggest mining companies, end its plans to exploit indigenous territories, followed the October 2020 Complicity in Destruction III report. The company still has 86 active mining interests in the Brazilian National Mining Agency (ANM) database that impact indigenous territories
Pará, Brazil – British mining company Anglo American has formally committed to withdraw 27 approved applications to research minerals inside Indigenous territories located in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará from the Brazilian National Mining Agency (ANM). The commitment was announced on May 24, after pressure from the Munduruku people, the...
Report: Global Banks Fail for Financing, Investment in Oil and Gas in the Amazon Rainforest
Banks remain highly exposed to risk of fueling corruption, human rights violations, and environmental harms despite commitments; advocacy groups call for end to new financing by 2022, existing financing by 2025
San Francisco, CA – A new scorecard and report released today by environmental advocacy groups Stand.earth and Amazon Watch fails global banks for their financing and investment in the oil and gas industry in the Amazon rainforest, revealing that despite sustainability commitments and risk management screening processes, banks remain highly...
Brazilian Meat Company JBS Issues "Sustainability-linked" Bonds
Moira Birss, Climate and Finance Director at Amazon Watch, said, "After giving itself an extension on its previous commitment to end Amazon deforestation a decade ago, JBS is now trying to hoodwink investors with a 'sustainability-linked' bond that isn't even tied to emissions from its supply chains. JBS has zero credibility when it comes to...
Peaceful Indigenous Protest in Brasilia Met With Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets, and Police in Riot Gear
Brasilia, Brazil – Today, a group of Indigenous peoples, assembled in Brasilia as part of the "Rise for the Earth Camp," were attacked by "shock troop" police as they peacefully protested bill 490, a new proposed law that if enacted would definitively strip Indigenous land rights. The protest, including children and elders, to the Constitutional...
New Report by Human Rights Coalition in Ecuador Exposes Mounting Threats Against Rights Defenders
Research reveals government and industry complicity in systemic rights violations against defenders and provides recommendations for urgent action
Quito, Ecuador – Today, Ecuador's Alliance for Human Rights delivered a hard-hitting new report to government authorities and the Ombudsman's Office on the critical situation of rights defenders in the country.
Yanomami in the Brazilian Amazon Face Persistent Attacks from Illegal Miners Without Federal Protection
After a month of conflict, the Yanomami are now forced to carry out territorial surveillance due to negligence by the Bolsonaro government
Roraima, Brazil – Illegal miners fired shots at yet another Yanomami village. On June 5, criminal miners entered Indigenous territory and threw bombs towards the Maikohipi village, in the Palimiú region, where seven Yanomami communities are located.
Civil Society to the United Nations Development Programme: Sever Ties to the Oil Industry
UNDP Executive Board must exclude all fossil fuels from current and future alliances to protect Indigenous and traditional communities, the environment, and our climate
New York, NY – Prompted by the recent alliance in Colombia between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and GeoPark, an oil company credibly accused of human rights and environmental malfeasance in the Amazon rainforest, an international group of more than forty organizations wrote to the UNDP Executive Board on Friday, June 4. The...
BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street Invested $46 Billion in Amazon Oil Companies
New report by environmental and human rights organization, Amazon Watch, highlights case studies on billions in amazon oil investments by the "Big Three" asset managers
"As long as the world's largest investors choose to place profits over people by continuing to pour money into the fossil fuel industry in the Amazon, our entire planet is at risk. BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard must end their complicity in Indigenous rights abuses, forest destruction, and climate chaos," said Moira Birss, Climate and...
