Amazon Rainforest

20 Major Wins For Indigenous Rights In 2025

June 15, 2025 John Ahni Schertow, Intercontinental Cry. Create! Amazon Rainforest, Colombia, Ecuador, Environment, Environmental Justice, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Landback, Landback Movement, Victoria Nuland, Victory

So far, 2025 has been a powerful year for Indigenous rights. Over the past 6 months we have seen many hard-fought victories and long-awaited acts of justice for Indigenous Peoples across the globe. While these wins vary in scale and geography, a common thread runs through them all: Indigenous leadership. Whether resisting oil drilling in the Peruvian Amazon, overturning mining projects in Arizona, or securing court protections for uncontacted peoples in Colombia and Ecuador, these movements reflect a resurgence of Indigenous authority in matters that directly affect their survival and future.

The Convention On Biodiversity COP In Cali, Colombia

October 26, 2024 Global Justice Ecology Project. Resist! Amazon Rainforest, Biodiversity, Brazil, Colombia, COP16, Genetically Engineered, Indigenous Peoples, Protests

More than 100 organizations from over 30 countries demand that Brazil cancel its NINE genetically engineered eucalyptus and stop threatening global forest biodiversity. Organizations and Indigenous Peoples from around the world call upon the world leaders at COP16 to demand a strict application of the CBD’s 2008 de facto moratorium on genetically engineered trees and that Brazil immediately cancel its legalization of 9 varieties of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees for commercial release. Brazil’s legalization is a dangerous precedent that threatens to open the door to the widespread commercialization and large-scale release of GE trees across Latin America and around the world.

Ecuador Voted To Stop Drilling In The Amazon

October 15, 2024 Adem Ay, Waging Nonviolence. Strategize! Amazon Rainforest, Chevron, Ecuador, Environment, Oil and Gas Industry

Environmental activists rarely get to celebrate a major win for the planet, but that’s what happened in Ecuador last year. After a decade-long struggle between activists and the government, a referendum was held in August 2023 on whether to continue drilling for oil in a protected part of the Amazon. The people voted to kick the oil industry out. The government and the state oil company, Petroecuador, had tried every trick in the book to get a different result. There was a disinformation campaign, threats of austerity, even an attempt to void hundreds of thousands of signatures that were collected for the referendum to happen.

Amazonian Indigenous Organizations Threaten To Boycott FSC

August 1, 2024 Survival International. Resist! Amazon Rainforest, Deforestation, Forestry Stewardship Council, Indigenous Rights, Peru

Three key Amazonian Indigenous organizations have issued an unprecedented joint statement, accusing the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) of deliberately delaying a decision on whether to withdraw certification from a notorious logging company on uncontacted peoples’ land in the Peruvian Amazon. They have threatened to boycott further “pointless” negotiations with the FSC concerning the case. The company, Canales Tahuamanu, has already bulldozed more than 120 miles of logging tracks deep into the territory of the uncontacted Mashco Piro people, whose images were broadcast around the world two weeks ago.

Amazon Deforestation Down 66% From Last July In Lula’s Brazil

September 11, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Create! Amazon Rainforest, Brazil, Carbon sequestration, climate crisis, Deforestation, Lula

The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest on the planet. It is home to more animal and plant species than any terrestrial ecosystem, including one-third of the world’s tropical trees. This diverse sanctuary is also one of the last refuges for jaguars, pink river dolphins and harpy eagles, according to WWF. Brazil has an Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, and since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office at the start of this year, deforestation has fallen dramatically. The country’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva said that deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon in Brazil dropped 66.11 percent in August.

Venezuela Proposes Joint Task Force For Amazon Rainforest Recovery

August 9, 2023 Janna Corredor, Orinoco Tribune. Create! Amazon Rainforest, climate crisis, Restoration, Sustainability, Venezuela

Venezuela has proposed actions that unite economic and sustainable development to restore the vital regeneration of the Amazon rainforest, to be accomplished with the support and union of all South American countries, according to vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, speaking at the Fourth Amazon Summit 2023, taking place in the city of Belém, Brazil. “We are called to coordination and union,” Rodríguez stated this Tuesday, August 8, during a presentation at the summit. “Surely, unity is the work that binds us for vital regeneration.

Nearly 2,000 Illegal Miners Evicted From Venezuela’s Amazonas State

July 5, 2023 Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Amazon Rainforest, Environment, Mining, Venezuela

Approximately two thousand illegal miners have been evicted from Yapacana National Park, located in the state of Amazonas, as part of the National Bolivarian Armed Force’s (FANB) Operation Autana 2023 aimed at protecting the Amazon rainforest. “The FANB, as a whole, acts in the defense of the Amazon, of the national parks,” said Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro during the broadcast of his Con Maduro + program this week. “Do you know how many illegal miners there are in that area? More than ten thousand. We have already evicted almost two thousand.”

Lula Faces Powerful Opposition As He Seeks To Protect The Amazon

June 28, 2023 Farai Shawn Matiashe, New Lines Magazine. Resist! Amazon Rainforest, Brazil, Environment, Indigenous Rights, Lula da Silva

Surrounded by thousands of supporters, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (known simply as “Lula”) was sworn into office on Jan. 1, 2023, at a colorful inauguration ceremony held at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. It was not Lula’s first time assuming the highest office of Latin America’s largest country. He was first sworn in two decades ago and served two terms as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010. The 67-year-old is a true veteran of Brazilian politics: He was the presidential candidate of the leftist Workers’ Party in 1989, 1994 and 1998, losing each time. In the October 2022 elections, he narrowly defeated the right-wing populist incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, with 50.9% of the vote.

Study: Ecological Collapse Could Happen Much Sooner Than Expected

June 25, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! Amazon Rainforest, climate crisis, collapse, Tipping point

Without a doubt, the landscape of our planet is changing. Arctic sea ice is melting, rainforests are being razed for agriculture, deserts are expanding and meadows are appearing in places that have been covered in snow for thousands of years. In some parts of the world, tipping points have already been surpassed, and in others, the danger of that happening may come sooner than we might think. According to The Conversation, more than 20 types of ecosystem have already experienced “regime shifts” and more than 20 percent — including the Amazon rainforest — are on the precipice of it.

Lula Recognizes Six New Brazilian Indigenous Reserves

May 2, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, Ecowatch. Create! Amazon Rainforest, Brazil, Environment, Indigenous Rights, Lula da Silva

The Amazon rainforest plays a critical role in the mitigation of climate change, but in recent years it has been the target of a steep increase in deforestation. A demarcation decree by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil has established six new Indigenous reserves in the South American country where no mining will be permitted and restrictions will be placed on logging and commercial agriculture. The lands include an extensive area of about 1.5 million acres of Amazon rainforest. The decree was signed on the last day of the 19th Terra Livre gathering, attended by thousands of Indigenous peoples in the country’s capital city of Brasília.

Lula Launches Raids Against Illegal Miners In Amazon

February 9, 2023 Julia Conley, Common Dreams. Resist! Amazon Rainforest, Environment, Indigenous Rights, Lula da Silva, Mining

With Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warning his administration "will not allow illegal mining on Indigenous lands," the government announced Wednesday that environmental special forces destroyed at least one helicopter, an airplane, and a bulldozer used by "mining mafias" in the territory of the Yanomami people in the Amazon rainforest this week. The raids aimed at removing illegal mining operations involving tens of thousands of ore and gold miners from the region began on Monday, just over a month after the leftist president, known as Lula, took office. The Guardian reported that the special forces set up a base near the Uraricoera River, which illegal miners used during right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro's administration. "The Yanomami want peace—that is all they want. And this is what we are going to give them."

President Maduro Calls For Summit In Defense Of The Amazon

November 7, 2022 Orinoco Tribune. Organize! Amazon Rainforest, climate crisis, COP27, Environment, Venezuela

On Saturday, November 5, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced the proposal for a South American summit in defense of the Amazon rainforest. Upon his arrival in Egypt to participate in the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), President Maduro said that he discussed the issue with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, and the president-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “We have proposed to Petro and Lula to soon hold a South American summit in defense of the Amazon and to reactivate the Defense Treaty Organization to make concrete proposals so that humanity and governments commit to finance the recovery of that region,” he explained.

NATO In The Amazon: Petro Plays With Fire

October 27, 2022 Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. Educate! Amazon Rainforest, Colombia, Gustavo Petro, NATO, SouthCom

NATO recently expanded to Sweden and Finland, has been de facto incorporated in Ukraine, and may extend to Georgia. Now, NATO’s entry into the Amazon is in the works under the aegis of newly elected President Gustavo Petro of Colombia. NATO is a primary instrument of US imperial dominion. It is Washington’s praetorian guard projected on a global scale. Earlier this month, President Petro invited US and NATO military forces into the Amazon on the pretext that the imperial war machine could be repurposed as “police” aimed at protecting the environment instead of the old ruse of the war on drugs. He proposed deployment of US Black Hawk helicopters to put out fires. Previous to the environmental alibi, the pretext for militarization of the jungle was narcotics interdiction. Petro described his “conversation with NATO” as “strange,” but hastened to add “that’s where we are.”

The Amazon’s Last Chance

October 4, 2022 Francisco Dominguez, Tribune Magazine. Educate! Amazon Rainforest, Brazil, Elections, Environment

Brazil went to the polls yesterday under unusual political circumstances: Lula, the Workers’ Party (PT) candidate and champion of the poor, confronted an extreme right-winger, racist, misogynist, homophobic, and pro-dictatorship ex-army captain Jair Bolsonaro. Lula won the first round with 48.42% of the vote and looks set to win in the second round. But Bolsonaro, defying polls’ predictions, performed better than expected, scoring 43.2%. The background is important here. Brazil’s elite managed both to impeach PT president Dilma Rousseff in 2016 on false charges of fiscal improprieties (now fully exonerated) and to jail former president Lula, thus eliminating him from the 2018 presidential race. This emboldened Brazil’s establishment, who turned these successes into a push to ostracise the PT.

The Wide Role Brazil’s Military Has Played In Amazon’s Destruction

June 26, 2022 Pedro Marin, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Amazon Rainforest, Brazil, Environmental Destruction, Military

In the Brazilian Amazon, as deforestation reaches record levels and rivers are increasingly polluted, the illegal gold mining contributing to these problems continues largely unabated. The response of the government has been to increase military action to curb environmental crimes in Brazil. Far from achieving this purpose, however, the military intervention has only led to tragedies in the region, directly or indirectly. A source from the Brazilian Amazon wrote to us at Revista Opera two years ago to warn us about something strange that was going on there: illegally mined gold was being sold at the same price as legally mined gold. “If the nugget is a big one,” said the source, “they give the miner extra [money].”

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