Indigenous leaders are warning of “war” after Brazil’s President Lula da Silva signed a contract allowing the construction of the controversial Belo Monte mega-dam on the Xingu River.
Ecuador announced it will renegotiate contracts with foreign oil companies, seeking up to 90% of revenues for the state. Under a new law, the state is 100% owner of crude oil resources.
President Evo Morales has declared a state of emergency in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department, one of four in the nation battling wildfires that are consuming the eastern rainforests.
Ecuador and the UN Development Programme agreed to establish a trust fund to protect Yasuni National Park from oil development in exchange for payments in compensation for foregone revenue.
Thousands of indigenous protesters are blocking river ports in Peru’s northern region of Loreto to press demands for the titling of native lands and payment for use of the waterways by oil companies.
With banners reading “Defend the Rainforest” and “No Dams on Our Rivers,” indigenous followers of the Native Federation of the Rio Madre de Dios (FENAMAD) marched on the Peruvian jungle city of Puerto Maldonada July 28. As Peru celebrated its Independence Day, much of the southern regions of Cusco, Puno, Madre de Dios and ApurĂmac were paralyzed by a general strike to call a halt to the export of natural gas from the Camisea field in the rainforest of Cusco region, as well as construction of the Inambari hydro-electric plant. It is the second general strike in as many months to halt traffic and business in Peru’s Southern Macro-Region—and this time the strike has been declared open-ended.
Photo: FENAMAD
Indigenous rainforest dwellers are occupying the site of the Dardanelos hydro-dam in the Brazilian Amazon, demanding that they be compensated for the damage caused to their lands.
Father Paul McAuley, founder of the Red Ambiental Loretana (RAL), is facing expulsion from Peru following efforts to ensure accountability for the massive PlusPetrol oil spill.
Illegal mahogany loggers are plundering uncontacted indigenous peoples’ land in the depths of the Peruvian Amazon, according to a new report by the Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC).
Some 4,000 living in communities on the banks of the Rio Marañón in Peru’s northeastern Loreto department have been affected by an oil spill caused by the Argentine firm Pluspetrol.
President Alan GarcĂa refused to sign an historic new law to recognize Peru’s obligation to consult with indigenous peoples before proceeding with resource extraction projects that affect them.
Bolivia’s Minister of Autonomy, Carlos Romero, appealed to the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of the Oriente of Bolivia (CIDOB) to call off its cross-country march for territorial autonomy.
