Minera Yanacocha is working aggressively to expand the mine. In 2004, the mine began exploring for gold on Cerro Quilish, a small mountain that comprises the top of the watershed supplying the city of Cajamarca and the rest of the valley. Dairy and potato farmers in the area and many others opposed to mining Quilish blocked the road to the mountain in 2004. There were weeks of violent confrontation between police and protesters. In the end, Minera Yanacocha stated publicly that it had underestimated the concerns of local people and asked the Ministry of Energy and Mines to revoke its permit to explore for minerals on Cerro Quilish.

In northern Peru, local governments, community leaders, and farmers say the proposed Rio Blanco Copper Mine would be devastating to local communities. In an area where drinking water is already scarce, pollution from the mine would be an environmental disaster for the entire region.

Amazon Watch supports Peruvian indigenous organizations challenging oil and gas development projects imposed on their communities and territories without their prior consent in violation of their internationally recognized rights to defend their lands, determine their own development and live according to their own cultures. We seek to promote the national indigenous demand for an end to extractive industry operations within the lands of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.

When one connects Chevron’s dots in Ecuador, what emerges is a coordinated series of frauds marked by misinformation designed to deceive courts, the public, shareholders, and the financial markets. The purpose of this scheme is to avoid paying the cost of a real cleanup, and it matters not that vulnerable rainforest peoples — among them thousands of children — have died or suffer grievously as a result.

If current warming trends continue unabated, scientists believe that polar bears will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century. WWF provides funding to field research by the world’s foremost experts on polar bears to find out how climate change will affect the long-term status of polar bears.

Fresh water for every single person on earth. That’s the ultimate goal of charity:water. They’ve already helped nearly a million people get access to clean, fresh water. While it’s safe to say everyone reading this post can go over to the tap, turn it on, and drink whatever comes out of it, millions of people don’t have that kind of luxury. Charity:water is changing that.

Today, as one of the leaders of Brazil’s Kayapó, Megaron is defending his homeland from an onslaught of destruction driven by modern economic forces. The Amazon forest is increasingly threatened by deforestation caused by fires burning massive areas for agriculture production. Logging, gold mining, and dam construction are other serious threats.

Because deforestation is one of the leading causes of climate change, not only does this loss threaten the survival of many indigenous communities such as the Kayapó, it impacts people the world over. Often called the “lungs of the earth,” tropical forests help stabilize climate by absorbing the carbon dioxide. The destruction of forests is the second largest source of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

Here’s what you should know:

• The chief culprit in global warming is carbon dioxide. But recent studies show that black carbon—microscopic airborne particles commonly known as soot—is also a big factor. Black carbon may account for as much as half of Arctic warming. Curbing black carbon is crucial for slowing Arctic and global warming, and for averting catastrophic tipping points such as the melting of sea ice and the Greenland ice sheet.
• Black carbon comes from diesel engines, industrial smokestacks and residential cooking and heating stoves. Most black carbon that falls in the Arctic comes from North America, Europe and Asia. Because black carbon air pollution is also a leading cause of respiratory illness and death, controlling emissions will save lives and improve health around the world. In India alone, black carbon-laden indoor smoke is responsible for over 400,000 premature deaths annually, mostly of women and children.

The U.S. and Europe must lead on this issue by committing to stricter standards at home for diesel engines and other sources of black carbon pollution, and by committing to increased financial and technological assistance to the developing world to reduce black carbon pollution from diesel, home cooking and heating and other sources.

1) To provide people living in remote areas of the Peruvian Amazon with a system of medical care and health education that combines modern medicine with effective traditional practices;

2) To foster conservation, biological, medical, and environmental research and activities in the Peruvian Amazon, including support for Peruvian students to work at Project Amazonas biological field stations, and to promote the intelligent and sustainable use of rainforest resources to the benefit of the people who live there; and

3) To promote public awareness and appreciation for the Amazon rainforest, both in Peru and worldwide.

Visit the Amazon with us–through this website, or in person. In learning more about the rivers, rainforests, plants, animals and people that are part of this vast and globally-important ecosystem, we hope that you will be inspired and stimulated to make a positive difference in the Amazon and also in your own corner of the world.