- With just six weeks to go until the UN Climate negotiations in the heart of the Amazon, all eyes are on Brazil. New oil and gas exploration licences in the Amazon were sold off by the Brazilian government just a few months ago. Now, a small fishing community is standing up to fossil fuels and the government in a last-ditch attempt to demand a stop to the exploitation of the Amazon and its peoples.
- Oil exploration projects at the mouth of the Amazon River pose an existential threat to Amazon community’s food and economic security.
Fishermen in the Amazon protest against oil exploration/João Paulo Guimaraes
Photos and B-roll with aerial images and interviews with fishermen and spokespersons here
Jubim, Marajó Island – 21 September 2025, Today, fishing communities from Marajó stood up to fossil fuel giants, highlighting the damage that would be done to their community if oil extraction projects were to go ahead. The locals of Jubim held a banner upon boats forming a symbolic line in the very river at risk with a giant banner demanding: ‘COP30: AMAZONIA ON ITS FEET, OIL IN THE GROUND’.
The oil exploration project at the mouth of the Amazon River directly threatens the fishermen of Jubim, on Marajó Island, as it endangers the marine ecosystems and fish stocks on which they depend for their survival. An oil spill or the mere presence of the oil industry could compromise water quality, drive away fish, and destroy traditional ways of life built up over generations. For those who live off fishing, the opening of this new frontier of exploration represents not only an environmental crisis but also an existential threat to the community’s food and economic security.
The mobilisation reinforces the leading role of communities living on the front line of the impacts of fossil fuel extraction, which threaten people, rivers, forests, and traditional ways of life – including the Amazon River mouth, where an exploration licence is very close to being granted.
Nelson Bastos, a fisherman and researcher at UFPA, reinforces the concern that if oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon continues, the situation faced by local fishermen—who already suffer from the traffic of large vessels disrupting fishing activities—will become even more serious. “Today the Jubim community is living through a very worrying moment. They rely mainly on fishing, and when these ships move along the river, they drag away nets and other tools used by fishermen. And with oil exploration underway at the mouth of the Amazon river, the lives of artisanal fishermen in Jubim and Marajó are even more threatened. These large-scale projects taking place in the Amazon territory leave the region’s traditional communities vulnerable to international capital, which comes to exploit us and leaves fishermen with no options”, he emphasizes.
The message from the communities is clear: there will be no COP30 consistent with climate goals if there are new oil wells in the Amazon. It is time to draw a line for the future together: no more fossil fuels, no more false solutions, no more violence against the Amazon rainforest and its peoples. The action in Marajó symbolises this red line, making it clear that not one more well, not one more drop of destruction will be tolerated.
The action is part of the global Draw the Line mobilisations, which connect more than 500 actions around the world to draw a line against inequality, fossil fuels, and environmental destruction.
ENDS
PRESS CONTACTS:
On site in Jubim, Marajó Island:
Mariana Abdalla | + 55 21 99823 5563 | [email protected]
In Rio de Janeiro:
Rachel Brabbins | +55 21 98299 8251 | [email protected]
Notes to Editors:
350.org press releases: Brazil auctions oil blocks in the Amazon without consulting local communities and ignores climate crisis and Oil from the Amazon mouth could emit 4.7 billion tons of GHG, analysis shows
About the global Draw the Line / Delimite actions:
Photos from the marches and actions all over the world can be found here
The initiative connects 600 actions in more than 90 countries around the world between 15 and 21 September, during the UN General Assembly in New York, and six weeks before COP30 in Belém, as a strong demonstration of resistance and demand for real climate action from world leaders. In Brazil, the main Delimite action takes place in alliance with artisanal fishermen from the community of Jubim, on Marajó Island, Coletivo Pororoka, Rede de Trabalho Amazônico, Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira, 350.org, Climainfo, Observatório do Marajó and the campaign ‘A Resposta Somos Nós’ (The Answer is Us), which unites the Indigenous movement, riverine and quilombola communities, as well as civil society.
In addition to Delimite on Marajó Island, actions took place in Latin America in Belém, Itapiranga, Manaus, Rondolândia, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Curitiba, Valledupar in Colombia, and Puerto Rico, connecting local struggles to a global call for climate justice.