Call for an end to Amazon oil drilling! The science is clear: we have to keep two-thirds of fossil fuels in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate change, so why are we looking for more? We need to start keeping oil in the ground, and the Amazon is a great place to start.

The Amazon rainforest is critically important to the survival of our planet and the Indigenous peoples that call it home. The International Energy Agency is unequivocal: two-thirds of fossil fuels need to be kept in the ground to avoid climate disaster. Given the science mandate to keep oil in the ground and the demands of our Indigenous allies, the Amazon Basin is the perfect place to start. Leave the oil in the ground!

Dear local, national, and international leaders:

Climate change is the preeminent issue of our time. Our planet – all of humanity – depends on action you take to address the rising temperature of the planet. The International Energy Agency is unequivocal: two-thirds of fossil fuels need to be kept in the ground to avoid climate disaster. Given the science mandate to keep oil in the ground and the demands of our indigenous allies, the Amazon Basin is the perfect place to start.

The Amazon rainforest is critically important to the survival of our planet and the survival of the indigenous peoples that call it home. As the world's largest and most biologically diverse tropical forest covering an area larger than the continental United States, the Amazon houses one-third of the earth's plant and animal species, produces a fifth of the world's freshwater and plays a critical role in regulating our global climate as it produces oxygen and absorbs carbon.

It is also home to nearly 400 distinct indigenous peoples that depend on the Amazon for their physical and cultural survival. For decades indigenous peoples have been protecting the rainforest from the drivers of climate change – deforestation and fossil fuel extraction. Amazonian communities have been doing their part to defend the Amazon; now it is time for us to do ours, creating incentives for Amazonian countries to leave their crude permanently in the ground, and ending the needless drive for more fossil fuels.

The global scientific community has warned us that in order to avert the kind of climate catastrophe that would turn the Amazon rainforest into a savannah and change life as we know it, we need to leave the majority of proven fossil fuels in the ground, so there is no reason to be searching for more. We need to avoid the toxic legacy of oil contamination caused by drilling in the Amazon, respect indigenous rights and territories, and invest in truly clean and renewable energy.

Let's begin by protecting the Earth's our most biodiverse and culturally fragile rainforest, and the planet's largest carbon sink. We urge you to take the most important stand of your life and advocate for an end to new oil drilling in the Amazon rainforest.

Sincerely,

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