Petition delivery accompanied by dramatic, building-size projection action in Midtown Manhattan
New York, NY — On Earth Day, a coalition of international conservation and Indigenous rights organizations delivered a petition signed by tens of thousands of people to major Wall Street banks — including Citi, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase — calling on them to take urgent action to protect the Amazon rainforest.
The petition urges banks to condition their financing of companies operating in Brazil’s soy sector on a clear commitment to uphold the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a landmark agreement that has helped curb deforestation for nearly two decades.
The delivery comes as the future of the moratorium hangs in the balance following its recent weakening by industry actors, raising alarm among environmental groups, Indigenous leaders, and investors about rising deforestation and escalating risks across global supply chains.
To mark the moment, Rainforest Action Network, Amazon Watch, and Friends of the Earth partnered with renowned activist projection collective The Illuminator Project to stage a dramatic visual action in Manhattan. Giant projections of Indigenous-led protests and images of Amazon forest destruction were cast onto iconic New York City buildings, bringing the realities of the Amazon crisis directly into the financial capital of the world.
“Wall Street banks have enormous influence over the future of the Amazon,” said Stephanie Dowlen, Senior Campaigner at Rainforest Action Network. “On Earth Day, people around the world are sending a clear message: if banks continue financing companies that abandon forest protections, they are complicit in the destruction of the Amazon and the violation of Indigenous rights.”
For nearly 20 years, the Amazon Soy Moratorium has served as one of the most effective safeguards against deforestation, preventing major traders from purchasing soy grown on recently deforested land. The agreement helped drive a dramatic decline in forest loss while allowing agricultural production to expand.
But recent moves by key industry players to withdraw from the agreement threaten to unravel this progress. Without the moratorium’s monitoring and enforcement systems, experts warn that deforestation could surge, pushing the Amazon closer to an irreversible tipping point.
Indigenous communities, who have long defended the forest, are already experiencing the impacts of expanding agribusiness and infrastructure projects tied to soy production. Many leaders have raised concerns about increased threats to their lands, rights, and livelihoods if protections are weakened further.
The coalition’s petition calls on financial institutions to use their leverage to require soy traders and producers to maintain the moratorium’s core commitments, including zero deforestation after 2008, full traceability, and respect for Indigenous rights.
“Industrial agribusiness has already destroyed vast rainforests around the world,” said Jeff Conant, Senior International Forest Program Manager at Friends of the Earth U.S. “The rollback of the Amazon Soy Moratorium puts the entire Amazon at the mercy of soy companies like Cargill, Bunge and Archer Daniels Midland. With billions of dollars flowing annually from global finance into these companies and into Brazil’s soy sector, banks have both the responsibility and the power to ensure that economic activity does not come at the expense of forests and communities.”
“Earth Day is a reminder that protecting the planet requires action from every sector — including finance,” said Christian Poirier at Amazon Watch. “Banks cannot sit on the sidelines while one of the most successful forest protections in history is dismantled.”
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