Indigenous rights, not mining rights
The Amazon rainforest sits atop vast reserves of critical minerals – from copper to rare earth elements – drawing intense interest from the global mining industry. Yet, mining is a deadly threat to the forest and its Indigenous peoples, contaminating water sources, driving deforestation, and fueling human rights abuses. This crisis is escalating, driven by the global transition to “green” energy technologies and soaring gold prices.
Amazon Watch stands with Indigenous peoples calling for the Amazon to be a no-go zone for mining. We combine grassroots support for Indigenous resistance with high-level advocacy targeting corporate, financial, and political actors around the world. These efforts aim to break the grip of extractivism that endangers the Amazon and build a future grounded in Indigenous rights and climate justice.
Campaign goals
- Large-scale mining projects and illegal gold mining are halted on Indigenous territories
- Investors and banks are pressured to stop funding destructive mining projects
- Companies and governments are held accountable for human rights abuses and environmental harm
Recent highlights
- Challenging Belo Sun’s mega-mine in Brazil: With local communities, working to halt Canadian company Belo Sun’s plans to build one of Brazil’s largest open-pit gold mines in the Volta Grande do Xingu, a region already devastated by the Belo Monte dam and critical to both biodiversity and Indigenous survival.
- Stopping open-pit mining in Mocoa, Colombia: Supporting Indigenous and urban communities in Putumayo working to halt plans for open-pit copper mining in the upper Mocoa River basin, which threaten to destabilize a vulnerable ecosystem that includes protected forest reserve land and overlaps multiple Indigenous territories.
- Confronting Solaris Resources in Ecuador: Working alongside Indigenous Shuar Arutam communities to challenge Canadian mining company Solaris Resources, whose operations threaten ancestral territories and fragile ecosystems in the Cordillera del Cóndor region, while pressuring financiers to divest and respect Indigenous opposition.
Latest campaign news and updates
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.
Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Void Belo Sun’s Consultation, Threatening Mega-mine’s Approval
Juruna and Arara peoples formally revoke consultations used by Canadian company to justify licensing of its Volta Grande gold mine in Brazil’s Xingu region
“Prior consultation is a binding requirement established by the Federal Regional Court and an indispensable condition for the environmental licensing process to move forward.“
From Self-Government to Climate Leadership: The Wampis Nation’s Story
“For us, the Wampis, autonomy means living in freedom and peace as we have inherited our territory. It means being free from pollution and deciding our own future, for ourselves, but also for all of humanity”.
Brazil’s Senate Rams Through Constitutional Amendment Imperiling Indigenous Lands and Communities
Mining companies stand to benefit as Indigenous organizations warn of impending human rights and environmental disaster
Brazil’s largest Indigenous organizations warn that the amendment dismantles the country’s constitutional framework for territorial protection.
Ecuador Rejects Militarization and Backs Call for Accountability
President Noboa's defeat in the national referendum comes after weeks of mobilization and repression
By rejecting Noboa’s militarized reforms, Ecuadorians chose solutions that protect life and dignity instead of policies based on repression.
Protect the Amazon, Tax the Polluters: Climate Activists Demand Action at COP30 in Belém, Brazil
Democracy Now! | The Brazilian government said, "We’re going to put a hold on Ferrogrão. We’re not going forward on this soy railway for Cargill and ADM and Bunge and all these multinational corporations to feed animals, not people. We’re not going forward with this without people’s consent.”
The Fight Against Climate Change Is Also a Fight Against Organized Crime
Belém COP cannot succeed without taking decisive action
Open Global Rights | Belém can be remembered as a turning point – when the world stopped treating the Amazon as a victim and began dismantling the criminal economies driving its collapse.
Standing With the Kakataibo
Resilience amid Peru’s crisis of corruption and organized crime
The Kakataibo have made it clear to us: they will not give up. Their fight to reclaim and defend their ancestral lands has lasted more than two decades, and this is simply another chapter in a long struggle for survival and justice.
Defending the Amazon Against Illegal Economies
The Wampís Nation’s fight to defend their territory against an invasion of illegal mining
The Wampís’ fight is not just local, it’s global. Defending the Amazon means defending the planet.
