The Amazon is a no-go zone for oil drilling
The western Amazon is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. This vital rainforest is under threat from previous and ongoing oil extraction – which pollutes rivers, harms wildlife and human health, and opens the forest to roads, deforestation, and further exploitation.
Amazon Watch works in close partnership with Indigenous peoples to stop oil extraction at the source and reduce global demand for Amazon oil. Together, we are building pressure on governments, corporations, and consumers to phase out Amazon crude and protect the rainforest – before it’s too late.
Campaign goals
- Oil companies cancel their drilling plans in the Amazon
- Financiers and insurers withdraw support for Amazon oil projects
- The State of California – the largest importer of Amazon crude – ends imports altogether
- Indigenous communities in Ecuador and Peru obtain justice for the devastating impacts oil operations in their territories, including those affected by Chevron
Recent highlights
- Safeguarding the Ecuadorian Amazon: Working with Indigenous partners to block the government’s plans to open 14 oil blocks across 2.3 million roadless hectares in southern Ecuador, while amplifying calls for the protection of Yasuní National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.
- Demanding justice for oil-impacted communities in northern Peru: Amplifying the demands of the Achuar, Chapra, and Wampis peoples that state oil company Petroperú both halt plans to exploit oil block 64 and remediate hundreds of toxic, unaddressed oil spills in their ancestral territories.
- Resisting oil extraction in Colombia: Accompanying Indigenous and campesino communities in the Putumayo region who oppose oil companies in their territories due to environmental harm and human rights violations.
- Urging California to stop importing Amazon crude: Following extensive meetings with California officials, we accompanied a delegation of Ecuadorian Indigenous leaders to the State Capitol, which led to the California State Senate passing a resolution to assess its Amazon crude imports and pursue a phase-out.
Latest campaign news and updates
The Amazon Is Not a Resource Reserve: It Is a Territory of Life
This week, Indigenous peoples and communities from the nine countries of the Amazon Basin are gathering at the Pan-Amazonian Social Forum in Puyo, Ecuador. The gathering is considering how to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
El País | We know another kind of wealth. It is in our rivers, in the animals and plants, in the knowledge passed down by our elders, and in the relationships that allow the world as we know it to continue to exist.
From Sarayaku to Paris by Canoe
Paty Gualinga remembers an unforgettable journey of laughter, adventure, and solidarity
In this video, Paty Gualinga looks back on one unforgettable chapter in Sarayaku and Amazon Watch's shared history.
The Chapra Nation Is Powering Its Own Future
How solar energy, internet access, and community leadership are strengthening territorial defense in the Peruvian Amazon
This month, Amazon Watch and the Chapra Nation fulfilled a dream years in the making: we brought solar energy, freezers, and internet connectivity to 12 communities across Chapra territory.
A Living Forest, Not an Oil Field: Sarayaku’s Vision for the Amazon
More than two decades ago, helicopters, soldiers, and oil workers descended on the territory of the Kichwa people of Sarayaku, in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Bay Area Communities Mark 13th Annual Anti-Chevron Day
Investor votes on Indigenous rights and human rights due diligence resolutions underscore escalating scrutiny of Chevron’s global operations
Shareholders, Indigenous leaders, human rights defenders, and environmental justice advocates converged on Chevron's Annual General Meeting today.
Bay Area Communities Mark 13th Annual Anti-Chevron Day
Community organizations, environmental justice advocates, and international frontline leaders will gather across the Bay Area next week for the 13th annual Anti-Chevron Day, May 13-17, 2026, culminating in a major public festival and march in Richmond.
Amazon Indigenous Delegation Arrives to Historic Conference on Transition Away From Fossil Fuels
The First Conference on Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels marks a turning point in climate diplomacy. It is the first time countries will explicitly address the root cause of the climate crisis: the unmitigated proliferation of fossil fuels.
This Month Governments Meet to Plan a Fossil Fuel Phaseout. The Amazon Must Be Heard.
Indigenous peoples have demanded for decades that governments come together and commit to getting off fossil fuels. The First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, taking place later this month in Santa Marta, Colombia, is a manifestation of that demand.
Pushing Back Against the “Donroe Doctrine”
When Petro met Trump on February 3, the stakes were high. The Trump Administration had decertified Colombia from receiving security assistance on grounds that it was not adequately addressing drug trafficking.
