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
Hope Is a Practice: 30 Years Walking With the U’wa People
In a time of repression and daily outrage, where do we find hope? For nearly 30 years, the U’wa people of Colombia have shown the world what spiritual, cultural, and political resistance looks like. Their struggle continues, and so does our commitment.
Indigenous Leadership and Collective Power in 2025
As climate denial gained renewed political traction and governments moved to restrict civic space, Indigenous peoples and grassroots movements across the Amazon advanced bold, collective visions for the future.
Small Steps Made, Big Leaps Needed: JPMorgan Chase Reveals Policy Shifts
World’s largest fossil financier responds following Indigenous-led bank advocacy against fossil fuel expansion in the Peruvian Amazon
The changes fall far short of what is needed to prevent violations of Indigenous peoples' rights and to halt large scale destruction of critical ecosystems like the Amazon biome.
Ecuadorians Vote Down Noboa’s Extractive Agenda
The results of a recent national referendum delivered a major victory for the Amazon
This victory belongs to the people of Ecuador. It is a reminder that democratic power still matters, even in times of crisis. But it is also a beginning, not an end.
JPMorgan Chase Quietly Adds Restrictions to Fossil Fuel Financing in the Amazon Rainforest
At COP30, experts acknowledge this step and underscore the need for a policy that fully ends financing to oil and gas in the Amazon
“Years of steadfast organizing under the leadership of Amazonian Indigenous peoples have successfully pressured JPMorgan, the world’s largest fossil financier, to take a crucial step towards recognizing Indigenous and human rights."
The Rainforest Spoke. Amazonian Legislators Listened.
The Parliamentarians for a Fossil-Free Amazon call for a moratorium on new oil and mining projects – starting with Indigenous territories.
In the face of inaction and paralysis of countries in making significant progress to address the climate crisis and its principal driver – fossil fuels – a worldwide coalition of legislative leaders has taken matters into their own hands, demonstrating what true climate leadership can look like.
Ecuador and Oil: A Challenge for Democracy and the Amazon
Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, more than 930,000 square kilometers have been opened for oil and gas exploration in Latin America and the Caribbean, an area larger than Venezuela
El País | What is at stake is not only Ecuador’s Amazon. A just energy transition must begin from the principle of shared but differentiated responsibility.
The Money Trail
Behind fossil fuel expansion in Latin American and the Caribbean
This report shines a spotlight on companies that are exploring and developing new fossil fuel reserves or building new fossil infrastructure, and it reveals which banks and investors are backing the expansion of this dirty and dangerous industry across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Global Outcry and Indigenous Opposition Challenge Ecuador’s Amazon Oil Agenda
“Ecuador’s new oil auction is a direct threat to our territories. After 60 years of extraction, we’ve seen only death and destruction, not development.”
