The Amazon Reef region is a vital, diverse and beautiful area between Brazil and French Guiana. A place where the impossible becomes a reality: a reef that grows at up to 200 meters depth and a place where 2 million people won a battle against a huge and powerful oil company: Total.

One of the first images of the Amazon Reef taken from a submarine launched from the Esperanza in 2017. 

 

From coastal areas to the high seas, it is also one of the priority areas that must be protected if we really want to protect the oceans of the planet. But the bad news is it’s also a target area for oil companies like BP, who since 2016 has been trying to open this new oil frontier in Brazil. 

If it happens it could be devastating for the region beyond Brazil, from French Guiana to international waters, for the oceans and for the climate. An oil spill could reach far beyond borders, to critical ecosystems like one of the biggest mangroves in the world, and would be terrible news for the Amazon Reef, and the amazing and vulnerable species like whales and turtles that live there. And, of course, drilling for oil is no way to tackle the climate crisis.

 

But now we have the opportunity to win a global treaty to protect the oceans. A huge moment for global leaders to do the right thing and approve a strong Global Ocean Treaty to protect the oceans, to stop the awful loss of wildlife and to help tackle the climate emergency. 

That’s why right now we are on an expedition at sea, and for 5 weeks we are going to record, study and document all the beauty of the Amazon Reef region, to show the leaders of the planet why it is so crucial for them to protect our oceans from the dirty hands of oil companies.

Javier Bardem campaigns for Global Ocean Treaty in New York.

And we are going to do all this for a very simple reason: because it could be our last chance to document it all if the Amazon Reef oil frontier is finally opened. Even with our historic win against the oil industry and Total in 2018, the new Brazilian government has recently declared that it’s ‘not impossible’ for BP to get a license to drill there. They’ve even allowed BP an extension to apply for drilling rights. As we can see, the Amazon forest fire’s are not the only thing threatened by a politics that doesn’t protect nature.

Join us if you, like me, want a future that is clean, safe and full of beauty. Join us and sign the petition if you believe, like me, that together we can make it happen.