In the face of too many previous agreements left unfulfilled, more unity is the best strategy forward, affirm the indigenous federations united in Saramurillo.
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Reflecting and Recommitting to Defending Our Rights and Mother Earth
While the political climate has dramatically changed in 2016, we remain ever-committed to advancing our work in defense of the Amazon, in support of indigenous peoples rights and territories, and in growing the global movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build a just transition to renewables.
No Matter the Outcome of the Election, We’ll Continue To Fight For the Amazon
Tomorrow marks the end of a wrenching election season here in the U.S., one with barely a mention of the environment or climate change, and certainly no proposals for major policies to protect our environment and address climate change.
Belo Monte: After the Flood
Belo Monte: After the Flood is a documentary exploring the effects of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the environment and peoples of the Brazilian city of Altamira and the Xingu River basin, a tributary to the Amazon River.
#EndAmazonCrude Campaign Takes Off!
With your help we will end destructive oil extraction in the Amazon. Our climate can't afford it and the indigenous communities fighting to save their homes and cultures need us to unite behind them today.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Now Is the Time To #EndAmazonCrude!
Today Amazon Watch issued a new call to the consumers and companies in the U.S. and around the world: End Amazon Crude! With the release of a new investigative report, an animated video by long-time ally and Pulitzer Prize winning animator Mark Fiore, an infographic, and a petition to demand that refineries in the U.S. stop sourcing crude from the...
Global Solidarity from the Amazon to Standing Rock
The Sioux fight is representative of other fights around the globe. If Standing Rock wins this, we will win other fights for social and environmental justice. We all need to work together to build this global justice movement around the globe.
Belo Monte a Symbol of Obscene Destruction and Corruption in Brazil
Amazon Watch and our allies have long argued that the Belo Monte mega-dam project made no sense in terms of energy production or economics – especially taking into account the enormous environmental and social destruction it was certain to cause. The dam was constructed despite the steadfast resistance of the affected Kayapo and riverine peoples...
Honoring River Defenders: Brazil’s Munduruku People
In light of last week's damning evidence directly implicating Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor Lula da Silva in a kickback scheme, a driving force behind Brazil's dam-building boom has been laid bare: corruption.
Happy 20th Birthday, Amazon Watch!
Twenty years ago today, our founder Atossa Soltani stood face to face with Fernando Cardoso, then the president of Brazil. Atossa knew then that while indigenous peoples represent only four percent of the world's population, they are the guardians and stewards of 80 percent of the world's biodiversity. That's why she founded Amazon Watch on March...
Amazon Watch: Protecting the Amazon by Advancing Indigenous Rights
Amazon Watch works to protect the rainforest by advancing the rights of indigenous peoples. We work closely with indigenous leaders to help amplify the calls to keep the oil in the ground and stop mega-dams in the Amazon to avoid climate chaos. Defending indigenous rights, territories, living forests and flowing rivers are demonstrably effective...
Peru Amazon Oil Disaster Relief Fund To Support Affected Communities
Indigenous peoples of Peru's Amazon are responding to the recent spate of oil spills along the Northwestern Peru Pipeline. Primarily, they are pressing the Peruvian government – which runs Petroperu oil company responsible for the pipeline – to urgently attend to the affected communities, to remediate the contaminated rainforest, and...
Collateral Damage – Oil Stains Peru’s Amazon, Again
History is repeating itself in the northern Peruvian Amazon, where three oil spills have been reported along the Northern Peruvian Pipeline since January 25th.
Five Reasons To Be Hopeful for the Future of the Amazon
The Amazon rainforest can seem unimaginably vast. Similarly, the fight to defend it from the onslaught of industrial-scale threats like oil drilling, logging, and huge dams can appear overwhelming. But across the region, local indigenous peoples and our work to support them is making the difference and protecting the lands they have known for...
Solstice Reflections of Our Work at COP21 and Beyond
As I reflect on our recent work at COP21 in Paris on the Winter Solstice, I am very proud of what we achieved and filled with great hope for our work ahead. The Amazon Watch team did an incredible job of accompanying and supporting a twelve-person delegation of indigenous leaders, women and youth from the Kichwa community of Sarayaku in the...
"Where Our Government Kills, We Cultivate Life"
At the closure of this year's critical COP21 summit in Paris, the most inspirational stories do not stem from official negotiations. They emanate from the heroic efforts of global indigenous movements, bringing a message of resilience and defiance from the front lines of climate change.
The Amazonian Tribespeople Who Sailed Down the Seine
The Kichwa tribe in the Sarayaku region of the Amazon in Ecuador believe in the 'living forest', where humans, animals and plants live in harmony. They are fighting oil companies who want to exploit their ancestral land. A delegation of indigenous people are at the Paris COP21 climate conference to make sure their voices are heard.
10 Reasons Why Climate Initiatives Should Not Include Large Hydropower Projects
Support from climate initiatives is one of the reasons why more than 3,700 hydropower dams are currently under construction and in the pipeline. Yet large hydropower projects are a false solution to climate change.
Journey to Ecuador’s Secret Oil Road
reported.ly | In an exclusive investigation for reported.ly, journalist Nina Bigalke traveled to an oil concession deep in the Amazon rainforest to film an illegal access road, the existence of which Ecuador’s government has denied. As indigenous peoples seek to secure the future of their ancestral lands, President Rafael Correa faces fierce political...
Why We Do What We Do
This excellent short film about the Achuar of Peru makes it clear
Amazon Watch works hard to ensure that indigenous spokespeople are featured in media coverage related to their lands and rights, but rarely do we see a film 100% in their voice. That's why we're so eager for you to watch and share the film.
Revolting with the Yes Men!
Our fabulous friends The Yes Men have just released their third (and many say best) movie called The Yes Men Are Revolting. Of course, Amazon Watch has direct experience with the genius of The Yes Men. A couple years ago when Chevron launched its insulting “We Agree” ad campaign The Yes Men worked with us and our allies at the Rainforest Action...
Same Chevron Shareholder Circus? Look Closer!
Amazon Watch and the True Cost of Chevron network take on Chevron management.
The circus of lies, denial and propaganda videos that has become the Chevron annual shareholder meeting took place at Chevron's San Ramon, California headquarters once again yesterday. Not surprisingly, Chevron's lies about its Ecuador fiasco were recycled from years past – many of which seem to be nearing their expiration date.
The Adventures of Donny Rico
To draw attention to Chevron's threat to open society and freedom of speech, Amazon Watch and Pulitzer Prize winning animator Mark Fiore present The Adventures of Donny Rico.
The Chevron Tapes: 30 Years and Still Waiting for Justice
This week we're highlighting a rainforest resident's story of how he lost three daughters due to the toxic contamination of his home and an interview with a former oil worker who recalls the helplessness he felt at being ordered by Chevron to dump toxic waste directly into the rainforest, day after day:
The Chevron Tapes: Video Shows Oil Giant Allegedly Covering Up Amazon Contamination
VICE News | Another twist has emerged in a decades-long legal battle pitting residents of Ecuador's Amazon forest and their controversial trial attorney against one of the world's largest energy companies. Environmental advocates released a video today that they describe as evidence of attempts by Chevron to skirt Ecuadoran law and cover up contamination of...
The Chevron Tapes
Secret videos reveal company hid pollution in Ecuador
In 2011, a mysterious package arrived at our D.C. office. Beat up, rumpled and with no return address, a staffer avoided opening it fearing it may have been a bomb. We could never have guessed that the contents would instead turn out to be a smoking gun in one of the largest and longest-running environmental cases in the world.
Indigenous Voices: A Call to Keep the Oil in the Ground
Huffington Post | I walk a small path, surrounded by an infinite number of trees, plants and the scent of flowers. My lungs fill with pure, fresh air when I take a deep breath. My bare feet touch the ground, damp from yesterday's rain. This is my home. This is where I grew up. This is what I want to share with my children one day.
COP20 Lima: Amazon Watch on Democracy Now!
"When we lose the Amazon, we not only create emissions, but we lose the climate stabilizing function of the forest," Amazon Watch founder Atossa Soltani told Democracy Now! at the "Women Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of Climate Change" event hosted by WECAN around the UNFCCC COP20 climate summit currently taking place in Lima, Peru. "We're...
Donny Rico Gives Credit Where Credit Is Due: Judge Kaplan
Chevron's retaliatory RICO case against the Ecuadorians and their lawyers would not have come about were it not for the generous suggestion of U.S. Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan. Chevron spent millions upon millions filing cases against the Ecuadorians everywhere other than Ecuador once the company saw the verdict was about to come down, but when...
