As you may know, Giving Tuesday has been moved up to next week to support emergency action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At Amazon Watch, we are particularly concerned about the mounting impacts this pandemic is having on indigenous and traditional peoples across the Amazon Basin. Almost 14,000 cases have been confirmed already and these figures may grow exponentially without immediate action.

The world's economic situation will be difficult over the next few months, and likely years. While many families in the U.S. are receiving stimulus checks and others in Europe are receiving stimulus pay, indigenous families in the Amazon are not. If you are able, please consider donating a portion of your stimulus check to the Amazon Defenders Fund.

With your support, the Amazon Defenders Fund will continue to provide emergency rapid-response grants to meet the pressing needs of indigenous peoples' communities and organizations, including communications equipment for prevention and urgent care, personal protective supplies, clean water, and basic food kits for affected families. Your donation today could make a significant difference in halting the spread of this deadly virus to indigenous peoples and communities.

Indigenous peoples across the Amazon are on the front lines of the climate crisis, facing mounting threats including deforestation, fires, industrial extraction, agribusiness expansion, and increased violence against forest guardians. The COVID-19 global pandemic puts their lives in even more danger as governments ignore their demands and allow land-grabbers and corporations to operate with impunity.

Please join us by contributing to the Amazon Defenders Fund so that we can respond to the urgent appeals of indigenous peoples to help protect their lives, families, cultures, and territories and stop the spread of COVID-19 in the Amazon.

Thank you!

Leila Salazar-López
Executive Director