Defending the Defenders of the Amazon

The Amazon is facing a deep crisis marked by the advance of extractivism, territorial violence, and impunity. In this context, defending the forest has also become about defending the lives of those who protect it: Indigenous leaders, communities, and guardians who sustain the Amazon from their territories.

In the article “Defending the Defenders of the Amazon: Climate Justice, Human Rights, and Energy Transition,” published in the report Amazon at Risk of Extinction, Jamner Manihuari, Vice Coordinator of COICA and Indigenous Kukama Kukamiria leader, warns that violence against environmental defenders is not an isolated issue, but rather a reflection of a power structure that criminalizes territorial defense while protecting extractive interests.

From COICA’s perspective, there can be no climate justice without territorial justice. Protecting defenders and recognizing them as legitimate political actors is a minimum condition to prevent the Amazon from reaching the point of no return.

The article also raises a critical warning about the so-called energy transition. If it is built without consultation, without rights, and on new forms of extractivism, it will not be a just transition, but rather a new phase of dispossession for Indigenous peoples and their territories.

In response, Amazonian Indigenous peoples propose alternatives based on territorial governance, Indigenous bioeconomy, local energy sovereignty, and the protection of standing forests. Defending the Amazon is not only about conserving biodiversity—it is about restoring a relationship of reciprocity between humanity and nature.

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Learn more about this urgent reflection on climate justice, human rights, and the future of the Amazon.

Read the full article in Spanish or English and join the defense of those who protect life in the Amazon territories.