“Welcome to the oil capital of Perú." It turns out that the city of Talara was where one of the first oil wells was drilled in all of South America, dating back to 1863. The toxic legacy of oil was evident.
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Guardians Unite: Defending the Xingu Against Belo Sun’s Threat
The Gathering was a key moment to reaffirm our collective resistance and understand the realities of communities grappling not only with the disastrous Belo Monte hydroelectric dam but also the looming threat of Belo Sun’s proposed mine.
The Shuar Arutam People Continue Their Resistance Against Mining
The movement against mining in Ecuador is gaining momentum
This is an important moment for celebration. It is monumental that the PSHA ratified its resistance to mining activity in its territory because the community has faced divide-and-conquer strategies from the mining industry and the Ecuadorian government.
Pulse, Xingu! The Way to Revive the Volta Grande after Belo Monte
Juruna researchers and riverine people from Volta Grande do Xingu, with academics from different areas of science, propose the Piracemas Hydrogram, a necessary action for fish to reproduce again
Instituto Socioambiental | The Xingu River needs to pulsate for life to exist. The flood pulse is the source of the life cycle in most Amazonian rivers. The Juruna Yudjá of the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land and the riverside communities of Volta Grande do Xingu have known this for a long time.
Munduruku Village of Sawré Muybu in the Brazilian Amazon Installs Solar Power
“We are showing the Brazilian government and companies that we don’t need a dam to generate energy. We are showing the Brazilian government and companies that we are capable of anything.”
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
The Achuar and Wampis Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon Continue Their Fight Against Oil Exploration in Block 64
Watch this video update from David Peas, the Vice President of the National Federation of the Achuar of Peru, as he asks for continued support to keep Petroperú out of Block 64
David Peas, the Vice President of the National Federation of the Achuar of Peru, just sent us this personal message of gratitude and continued resistance.
Ecuador Makes History: Vote to Keep the Oil in the Ground in Yasuní Underway
Watch this video update from our Ecuador legal advisor, Nathaly Yepez, about the exciting referendum
The protection of Yasuní is crucial: It is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, and any invasions by oil and extractive activity could further destabilize our global climate and destroy the territory of the Tagaeri and Taromenane peoples.
10th Annual Global Anti-Chevron Day
From Australia to Argentina, Richmond to Ecuador, the Anti-Chevron community remains united
Anti-Chevron Day is not just about drawing attention to Chevron’s misdeeds, but also pointing out how many affected communities and their allies continue to support one another in resistance.
New Video: Protecting the Right to Protest and Defeating Corporate Bullies
Corporations like Resolute and Chevron continue to use legal bullying to attack Earth Defenders and the climate justice movement
“We formed this task force to protect our rights – and yours – to speak out, criticize, and protest peacefully. From SLAPP suits to surveillance, we are here to defend your protest. Because democracy needs dissent.”
Women Defenders for Territories Free of Mining!
Celebrate International Women's Day by meeting defenders on the front lines of the Mining Out of the Amazon movement
Across the Amazon Basin, women are organizing in defense of life, rights, and territories, and are a critical part of the front lines movement resisting increasing threats such as mining.
Set Ablaze Again, the Amazon Cannot Survive Another Bolsonaro Term
Since 2019, the Brazilian Amazon has seen record-breaking levels of fires and destruction. Under the Bolsonaro administration, the levels of destruction have skyrocketed and continue to worsen each year as his rhetoric and policies encourage land grabbing, destruction, and violence against Indigenous peoples. This crisis is not only a threat to...
“Coloring” Brazil’s Indigenous Movement
Indigenous LGBTQ+ community in Brazil claims their space at this year’s Free Land Camp
Visibility as a means towards empowerment. That is one of the goals that the Indigenous LGBTQ+ movement in Brazil strives for as they brought their agenda to the center stage of the Free Land Camp this year.
Citi: Still Financing Indigenous Rights Violations and Biodiversity Loss in the Amazon
Citi’s financial support to the Ecuadorian government is directly linked to oil drilling on and near Indigenous territories in the Amazon, where community leaders have repeatedly voiced opposition to such projects.
The Anti-Chevron Movement Gains New Allies
Activists, workers, and shareholders push company to act on climate and human rights during Annual General Meeting season
Chevron’s reputation as a price gouger, gross polluter, environmental racist, and greedy corporate behemoth with an army of unscrupulous lawyers and greenwashing PR firms grows worse by the day.
U.S. Financial Institutions Are Complicit in the Destruction of the Amazon
New report exposes how mining companies and international investors drive Indigenous rights violations and threaten the future of the Amazon rainforest
“There must be a general understanding that Indigenous lands, traditional territories, and protected areas in the Amazon are not available for mineral exploration, nor should they be, both because there must be respect for our constitutional right to self-determination as Indigenous peoples over our territories, and because of our lands’...
Women Wisdom Keepers and Healers: Ancestral Authorities of Life
Our Amazon Defenders Fund will continue mobilizing direct solidarity funds into the hands of Amazonian women wisdom keepers, healers, and ancestral authorities, who are resisting by practicing reciprocal and holistic interactions with the forest and Earth.
Crude Reality: One U.S. State Consumes Half the Oil from the Amazon Rainforest
As oil companies carve up more of the rainforest, a new study says no place in the world uses more oil from beneath the Amazon than California
NBC News | Waorani leader Nemo Guiquita has been fighting the expansion of oil drilling in her tribe’s ancestral homeland for years. She said her grandmother, Nayuma, was the first Waorani to make contact with the outside world 60 years ago. “The rainforest for us is home,” Guiquita said. “It’s our life, our pharmacy, our everything.”
“Alternative Development” in the Peruvian Amazon: Deforestation, Drugs, and Death
Over the last few decades, the Peruvian Amazon has become a hotspot for coca cultivation. Drug traffickers in the region have shown a willingness to destroy the rainforest and kill anyone in the name of profit. Indigenous leaders working to protect their Amazonian communities from land invasions, deforestation, and violence come into the cross...
As Donziger Is Jailed for Fighting Chevron, Congress Calls for His Release
Despite this, yesterday was a nightmare for Chevron and a victory for environmental justice
Chevron thought it would get away with its crimes after Kaplan’s 2014 decision. But Donziger didn’t give up and neither did the people of Ecuador. Now they have a rapidly-growing international movement behind them not only calling for Donziger’s freedom but that the executives of Chevron should be on trial for their crimes. This was not Chevron’s...
Lawyer Who Sued Chevron over “Amazon Chernobyl” Ordered to Prison After 800+ Days of House Arrest
Democracy Now! | “Chevron and these two judges, really allies of the fossil fuel industry, are trying to use me as a weapon to intimidate activists and lawyers who do this work,” says Donziger. “I need to be prosecuted by a neutral prosecutor, not by Chevron.”
Investing $46 Billion in Client Money on Amazon Destruction
How the world’s largest asset managers quietly pour billions into oil companies tied to rights abuses
The “Big Three” manage trillions of dollars of investments for individual and institutional investors all over the world, including pension funds and university endowments. Together they control nearly 20 trillion dollars. By investing in oil companies with horrific environmental and human rights records, they are not only flagrantly ignoring...
Rest in Power, María Taant
Remembering the Shuar Amazon Women Defender and Protective "Boa" Woman
In our Indigenous worldviews, our grandmothers and grandfathers have taught us that when our people die, they return to the jungle...in other spirits, in other beings. In each encounter with María Taant, a Shuar leader from the Ecuadorian Amazon, she mentioned a boa that protected us. We heard what turned out to be her last song, in which she sang...
Frontline Activists from Around the World Escalate Pressure on BlackRock
Over 80 renowned Indigenous and frontline activists organized to demand accountability from the world’s largest investors driving climate chaos
BlackRock’s new announcements recognizing the need to reach near-zero-emissions are a step in the right direction that comes after years of campaigning by Indigenous leaders and civil society organizations, but without clear accountability measures, they remain empty promises.
Lawyer Speaks from House Arrest After Suing Chevron for Amazon Oil Spills
Democracy Now! | Decades of reckless oil drilling by Chevron have destroyed 1,700 square miles of land in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but the company has refused to pay for the damage or clean up the land despite losing a lawsuit ten years ago.
Happy 25th Birthday, Amazon Watch!
Protecting the rainforest and our climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples
Amazon Watch is celebrating 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin! What started with our founder, Atossa Soltani, confronting Fernando Cardoso, then the president of Brazil, face-to-face on March 11, 1996, is now a powerful organization building upon that legacy and deepening our commitment to...
Women Defenders Unite to Protect the Amazon
Across the Amazon Basin, Indigenous women are uniting and organizing in defense of life, rights, and territories while confronting increasing threats. Amazonian women defenders are on the front lines of defense and response to both the climate and COVID-19 emergencies. This is in addition to leading resistance against extractive industries...
Together We Stepped Up for the Amazon in 2020!
2020 was defined by fundamental challenges and transformations. We've all had to adapt and create a new way of living and connecting. Most of us could have never imagined that caring for one another would involve so much isolation. It has become commonplace to call these times unprecedented, but Indigenous peoples had already warned us that...
What Do You Get When You Beat Chevron in Court? 500 Days of Home Detention
"As my physical world has shrunk, the online world has expanded by multiples of thousands. And once I get through this, I have no doubt that Chevron will be paying this judgment such that thousands of Indigenous people and rural communities will have a clean environment and thousands of lives will be saved. That's what this is ultimately about."
Amazon Watch Testifies to U.S. Congress on Indigenous Rights in the Amazon
Amazon Watch's Executive Director, Leila Salazar-López, joined allied human rights organizations to testify today to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on the status of the human rights of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. She spoke specifically to the situation of Indigenous rights in the Amazon Basin.