There is a war on nature. Dom Phillips was killed trying to warn you about it

By Dilip -

Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira have been killed in an undeclared global war against nature and the people who defend it. Their work mattered because our planet, the threats to it and the activities of those who threaten it matter. That work must be continued. The frontlines of this war are the Earth’s remaining biodiverse regions – the forests, wetlands and oceans that are essential for the stability of our climate and planetary life-support system.

The integrity of these systems is under attack from organised crime and criminal governments who want to exploit timber, water and minerals for short-term, often illegal profits. In many regions, the only thing standing in their way is Indigenous communities and other traditional forest dwellers, supported by civil society organisations, conservation groups and academics.

My friend Dom knew how important this story was. It is why he took a year off to research a book, How to Save the Amazon, and it is why he took the risk of travelling to the bandit territory of the Javari valley with Bruno, who was one of Brazil’s most effective, courageous and threatened forest defenders. It was to have been a book for everyone: accessible and useful, looking at solutions as well as problems. That was typical of Dom, whose journalism was always aimed at making the world a fairer, more accountable and enlightened place.

To my mind, this made him a 21st century war correspondent as well as a witness to a crime that probably led to his death. Dom was no activist. He was a journalist’s journalist, who wanted to find out what was happening and share it with everyone who might be affected. In this case, all of us…

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/16/dom-phillips-bruno-pereira-death-war-on-nature


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