{"id":24061,"date":"2019-09-06T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T07:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=24061"},"modified":"2025-09-10T17:38:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:38:24","slug":"last-chance-for-amazon-reef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/24061\/last-chance-for-amazon-reef\/","title":{"rendered":"It could be our last chance to protect the Amazon Reef region"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image  caption-style-blue-overlay caption-alignment-center\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1140\" height=\"643\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2018\/04\/2b356786-gp0stqhbp-e1526426068361.jpg\" title=\"Amazon Reef \u00a9 Greenpeace\" alt=\"Amazon Reef \u00a9 Greenpeace\" class=\"wp-image-15663\"\/><figcaption>One of the first images of the Amazon Reef taken from a submarine launched from the MY Esperanza.<div class=\"credit icon-left\"> \u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From coastal areas to the high seas, the reef region is also one of the priority areas that must be protected if we really want to safeguard the oceans of the planet. But the bad news is it\u2019s also a target area for oil companies like BP, who since 2016 have been trying to open this new oil frontier in Brazil.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If this is allowed to happen it could be devastating for a huge area well beyond Brazil, from French Guiana into international waters, for the oceans and for the climate alike. An oil spill could reach far beyond borders, to critical ecosystems like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/gallery\/2017\/feb\/16\/brazils-forgotten-state-oil-agribusiness-threaten-amapa-forests-in-pictures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one of the biggest mangroves in the world<\/a>, and would be terrible news for the Amazon Reef and the vulnerable species such as whales and turtles that live there. And, of course, drilling for oil we can&#8217;t afford to burn is madness in the unfolding climate emergency.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image  caption-style-blue-overlay caption-alignment-center\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2019\/09\/439f97f6-turtlekiss1.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24083\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But right now, governments have a historic opportunity to agree a global treaty to protect the oceans. This is a huge moment for global leaders to do the right thing &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/act.greenpeace.org\/page\/41765\/petition\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">approve a strong Global Ocean Treaty to protect the oceans<\/a>, to halt the catastrophic loss of marine wildlife and to help tackle the climate emergency.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why Greenpeace is on an expedition from Pole to Pole, to exploring and research the oceans of our blue planet, and to shine a light on the challenges they face. For the next five weeks we are going to record, study and document the diverse beauty of the Amazon Reef region, and show the leaders of the planet why it is so crucial for them to protect our oceans from the dirty hands of oil companies.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image  caption-style-blue-overlay caption-alignment-center\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/planet4-handbook-stateless\/2019\/09\/d49e663b-gp0sttre4.jpg\" alt=\"Javier Bardem Campaigns for Global Ocean Treaty in New York. \u00a9 Jason Miczek \/ Greenpeace\" class=\"wp-image-9173\"\/><figcaption>Javier Bardem campaigns for Global Ocean Treaty in New York. \u00a9 Jason Miczek \/ Greenpeace<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And we are going to do all this for a very simple reason: because it could&nbsp; be our last chance to document it all. If the Amazon Reef oil frontier is finally opened.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even with our historic win against the oil industry and Total in 2018, the new Brazilian <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/epbr.com.br\/bp-pede-suspensao-de-projeto-na-foz-do-amazonas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">government has recently declared<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that it\u2019s \u2018not impossible\u2019 for BP to get a license to drill there. They\u2019ve even allowed BP an extension to apply for drilling rights. As we can see, the Amazon forest fires are not the only thing threatened by a political system which does not respect or value the natural world.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Join us if you, like me, want a future that is clean, safe and full of beauty. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/act.greenpeace.org\/page\/40938\/petition\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Join us and sign the petition<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if you believe, like me, that together we can make it happen.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Silvia D\u00edaz P\u00e9rez is the Engagement Lead of Amazon Reef project.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"EmptyMessage\">Block content is empty. Check the block&#8217;s settings or remove it.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The rainforest is not the only thing  under threat in Brazil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":15663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[100,70],"tags":[85,149],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-24061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about","category-nature","tag-oceans","tag-amazon","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24061"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51208,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24061\/revisions\/51208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24061"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=24061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}