Transnational activism is still an incipient topic within the field of Social Sciences. From an anthropological perspective, this article presents a contribution towards the understanding of global political and cultural processes taking place in the contemporary world. It focuses on the transnational activism around the Amazon Rainforest since the Amazon is one of the most important symbols of Western environmentalism. Most transnational NGOs dealing with the Amazon issue are based in the United Kingdom. They have been most active in the mahogany campaign, the campaign for the demarcation of indigenous lands, as well as in initiatives such as the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) a certification scheme for forest products. This article analyses the campaigners social and political trajectories that led them engage with the Amazon in distinctive ways. It highlightes the tensions underlining social and environmental dimensions as discursive marks beyond institutional affiliations. Three major tendencies are revealed, as well as antagonistic global and local positions with significant consequences to environmentalism as a globalised field of communication, and the Amazon as both social and environmental space.
environmentalism; globalization; NGOs; Amazon Rainforest; trees; people