By Jeff Gray / The Globe and Mail Chevron Corp. has lost a bid to have the U.S. Supreme Court consider its call for a worldwide ban on attempts to collect on a controversial $19-billion (U.S.) environmental judgment levelled against the company in Ecuador. The decision comes with lawyers in Canada poised to battle in … Continue reading US Supreme Court refuses to hear Chevron’s pleas against US$19 billion fine→
By Jeremy Hance / Mongabay Construction on Brazil’s megadam, Belo Monte, has been halted again as around 150 demonstrators, most of them from nearby indigenous tribes, have occupied the main construction site at Pimental. Over a hundred indigenous people joined local fishermen who had been protesting the dam for 24 days straight. Indigenous people and … Continue reading Indigenous people re-occupy Belo Monte construction site→
By Ronald Suarez, Network of Peruvian Indigenous Communicators, Ucayali Over 400 villagers in the Native Community of Canan de Cachiaco in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon have taken control of nine oil wells, belonging to oil company, Maple Gas, in oil lot 31B. Community members took over the oil wells on September … Continue reading Indigenous community in Peru takes control of nine oil wells in response to water pollution→
By Agence France-Presse Brazil’s Supreme Court has approved the resumption of work on the huge Belo Monte dam in the Amazon, which was halted earlier this month after protests from indigenous groups. The preliminary ruling on Monday overturns an earlier ruling that ordered construction of the dam across the Xingu River, a tributary of the … Continue reading Supreme Court of Brazil allows developers to continue construction of Belo Monte dam→
By Fabiola Ortiz / Inter Press Service The Sete Quedas or “seven waterfalls” on the Teles Pires River, which runs through the Amazon rainforest states of Mato Grosso and Pará in central Brazil, are a spiritual oasis venerated by several indigenous groups. But the 20-metre-high rocky falls are to be covered by a reservoir created … Continue reading Massive Teles Pires dam project in Brazil would flood sacred Kayabi Indian site→
By Zachary Hurwitz / International Rivers Federal Judge Souza Prudente of the Federal Tribunal of Brazil’s Amazon region suspended all work today on the Belo Monte Dam, invalidating the project’s environmental and installation licenses. While the project has been suspended previously on numerous occasions, and those suspensions overturned on political grounds, this latest decision could … Continue reading Federal court in Brazil suspends construction of Belo Monte dam→
By Rhett Butler / Mongabay A directive signed Monday by Brazil’s Solicitor-General could hamper the efforts of indigenous tribes to win government recognition of their traditional lands, reports Survival International, a human rights group focused on native peoples. The directive “opens up all indigenous areas to mineral, dams, roads, military bases and other developments of … Continue reading Brazil opens indigenous lands to dams, mining, and military bases in “national interest”→
By Amazon Watch Three engineers employed by Norte Energia, S.A (NESA), the company building the Belo Monte Dam on Brazil’s Xingu river, were detained Tuesday by Juruna and Arara tribal authorities in the remote village of Muratu after the company failed to live up to promised mitigation measures aimed at reducing the dam’s devastating impacts … Continue reading Indigenous authorities in Brazil detain three Belo Monte dam engineers→
By Gethin Chamberlain / The Guardian A fierce row has broken out over a controversial plan to drive a road through pristine Amazon rainforest, imperilling the future of some of the world’s last uncontacted tribes. The 125-mile (200km) road would pass through the Alto Purús national park in Peru, connecting a remote area to the … Continue reading Proposed highway in Peruvian Amazon endangers uncontacted indigenous people→
By Amazon Watch Indigenous peoples affected by the controversial Belo Monte dam complex now under construction along the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon have occupied a coffer dam that cuts across channels of the river since last Thursday June 21. Warriors from the Xikrin and Juruna indigenous groups arrived from the Bacajá River and … Continue reading Indigenous people take control of Belo Monte coffer dam site→
