iphone: Urgent - a personal request

This week, the Brazilian Congress began voting for a new law that will allow miners and tree cutters to attack the Amazon rainforest and sacred Indigenous lands! I am one of the only Indigenous members of Congress in Brazil and I'm asking urgently: Please will you help me stop this assault? The key vote is in days! Help me create a global backlash the President cannot ignore. Sign now and I will personally deliver your voices to the Brazilian Congress and President Lula himself.

SIGN NOW

Dear friends,

I am writing to you as one of the only Indigenous members of Congress in Brazil. This email could mean major political trouble for me, but our forests are being attacked in Congress right now…and this is worth the risk.

This week, the Brazilian Congress began voting for a new law that will allow miners and tree cutters back into our forests and sacred lands, and it will remove protections for Indigenous people like me.

The key vote is in days!!! This is an Amazon emergency and an Indigenous emergency. I need your help.

Our country is so divided that we need a truly global outcry from countries like yours that financially support Brazil to stop this law. The Brazilian Congress must feel the full weight of a global spotlight right now!

And this is about your life too.

Without the Amazon, and without the protection that Indigenous peoples' lands offer to our forests, rivers and precious species, there is no way we'll avoid global ecological apocalypse. This forest is the lungs for all of us.

Please sign this urgent call to stop the rainforest attack. I will deliver your voices inside the Brazilian congress and to President Lula myself. Will you stand with me and ensure my voice has even more power?

STOP THE RAINFOREST ATTACK

We, Indigenous peoples, protect 80% of the earth's biodiversity, despite being only 5% of the global population. Brazil holds the largest population of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, and the largest area of the Amazon ecosystems. Indigenous territories across our country have kept the forests and biomes alive, despite constant attacks.

But if the mining, agribusiness and oil lobby is successful in this new legislative battle, all these protections could be gone. This could literally define the future of our planet.

Without the Amazon, and the Indigenous territories across Brazil, the world cannot keep global warming under control. So even if many of you don't live in Brazil, we will all be affected by what happens here in the coming days!

The key vote is just days away -- please help me gather enough voices from around the world to shield Indigenous communities from this onslaught. Indigenous people in Brazil are doing all they can to fight back -- but without a global pressure campaign it won't be enough.

Sign the petition now and share with everyone you know -- every voice counts now:

STOP THE RAINFOREST ATTACK

Avaaz has been fighting hand in hand with Indigenous peoples to protect the Amazon and all ecosystems in Brazil, and everywhere. But we're up against tremendous pressure -- and the most recent attack caught all of us by surprise. If we lose this battle now, so much of what we fought for together is at stake. Let's not let that happen!

With hope and determination,

Congresswoman Célia Xakriabá, on behalf of the Indigenous defense front in Congress, and together with the Avaaz team.

Outcry as Brazil congress moves to gut environment and Indigenous Ministries (The Guardian)
Why Is the Amazon So Important for Climate Change? (Scientific American)
Brazilian Amazon indigenous territories under deforestation pressure (Scientific Reports)
Climate protection in Brazil: Can Lula save the rainforest? (Deutsche Welle)
In the Amazon, Brazilian ecologists try new approach against deforestation and poverty (AP)

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