Donations spotlight: Support Indigenous peoples defending the Amazon and our climate with Amazon Watch

Note from the CREDO Mobile team: This March, Amazon Watch is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO Mobile community will help Amazon Watch defend this Earth-critical ecosystem in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded this land for centuries.

Read this important blog post from Amazon Watch, then visit CREDO Donations and cast your vote to help send much-needed grant money to the group to assist its efforts—and the efforts of our other outstanding March grantees.

The Amazon connects us all. It’s the world’s largest rainforest, home to 10% of the Earth’s biodiversity and 20% of all flowing freshwater. It stabilizes our climate, supporting the health of ecosystems and our communities around the world. It’s also home to 511 Indigenous nations, who are leaders in stewarding and defending their ancestral homelands in the heart of our planet.

This global treasure of biodiversity, cultural diversity, and climate resilience faces a grave tipping point. Destructive industries and their financial backers are destroying the rainforest for short-term profit, at the expense of Amazonian communities and our collective future. Indigenous peoples are on the front lines resisting destruction and advancing real solutions. The portions of the forest where Indigenous rights and solutions are respected are by far the best protected and least degraded. This has been the root of Amazon Watch’s mission for 30 years: to defend the rainforest and our global climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples.

Amazon Watch works in long-term partnership with Indigenous peoples in campaigns for climate justice, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon. We’ve won significant victories protecting millions of acres of rainforest and mobilized support for more than 1,000 Indigenous-led projects in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Our campaigns focus on ending oil extraction and mining in the biome, securing Indigenous land rights, and defending Earth Defenders who face threats and violence for their leadership. We also mobilize solidarity funds directly to Indigenous partners at their request, weaving a network of solidarity that connects donors from around the world with Amazonian peoples on the front lines. CREDO members have contributed to this powerful network since 2018!

As threats to our climate and communities increase, the protection of the Amazon – an ecosystem of immense importance to our entire planet – is more vital than ever. Our collective action is our greatest strength for moving toward a more just and resilient future. Even against overwhelming odds, Indigenous peoples and their allies have defended territories from colonization and destructive industries, resisting some of the most well-resourced companies in the world.

In the spirit of hope and collective action, here are some of the victories that the Indigenous-led movement for the Amazon achieved in 2024:

Delaying Brazil’s largest open-pit gold mine: a Brazilian federal court annulled the contract for the Volta Grande gold mine, a project by Canadian company Belo Sun that threatens irreversible harm to the mega-biodiverse ecosystem of the Xingu River basin. Thanks to years of dedicated action by communities, activists, and allies like Amazon Watch, this ruling is a victory for the environment and for Indigenous Earth Defenders who fought for their sacred ecosystem even in the face of serious threats from mining proponents.

Uplifting women’s leadership: Indigenous women play a vital role in defending and revitalizing their ancestral homelands, but they face intense risks and violence for their leadership. Amazon Watch accompanies Indigenous women leaders to grow their influence and broaden opportunities for participation in key decision-making spaces, from Indigenous organizations and local forums to national and international governing spaces. Thanks to the support of our community, in 2024 Amazon Watch continued amplifying women’s voices in the fight for territorial defense and environmental justice, including through supporting women-led gatherings, implementing safety measures for Defenders at risk, and coordinating travel to important advocacy and decision-making events.

Halting Petroperú’s expansion: This past year, Amazon Watch played a key role in halting the dangerous expansion of Petroperú, Peru’s state-owned oil company. Working in partnership with the Chapra, Wampis, and Achuar nations, we released a report exposing Petroperú’s financial, environmental, and social liabilities. Three major credit downgrades followed, delaying a critical $1 billion bond issuance and creating uncertainty for Petroperú’s operations. When the entire Petroperú board resigned in September, the tide turned decisively, with banks increasingly reluctant to fund this hazardous enterprise and their destructive plans to drill in Indigenous territories.

Advancing Indigenous land titling in Brazil: After decades of struggle, the Mundurukú people achieved a critical milestone in securing their ancestral territory, Sawré Muybu. In September 2024, Brazil’s Minister of Justice officially “declared” Sawré Muybu, advancing it towards the final stage of demarcation (official titling). Amazon Watch has accompanied the Mundurukú for over a decade through coordinated grassroots organizing, media advocacy, and direct engagement with government officials.

The Amazon is at a tipping point, but our collective victories show us a powerful pathway forward. By standing in principled solidarity with Indigenous communities, amplifying their solutions, and directly challenging industries fueling the Amazon’s destruction, we will continue to protect the rainforest, the communities that steward it, and our collective future. Thank you to the CREDO community for helping to make these achievements possible! Together, we will continue the fight for climate justice, biodiversity, and the health of the heart of our planet – the Amazon.