"Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied, or otherwise used or acquired."
– UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Article 26.1)

More than 1,000 representatives of indigenous peoples traveled to the United Nations Headquarters in New York in late April to participate in the 17th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). Importantly, this year the forum's focus was "indigenous peoples' collective rights to lands, territories, and resources," an issue near and dear to Amazon Watch's heart and work.

Amazon Watch supported and accompanied Amazonian leaders at the forum – including an indigenous women's delegation from the Ecuadorian Amazon – to call for respect and protection of their lives, cultures, and ancestral territories and an end to the harassment and death threats that they routinely face for their relentless opposition to the companies and governments driving the expansion of the fossil fuel frontier in the Amazon.