Keep At It
Earlier this week our worst fears about the fates of Brazilian forest defender Bruno Araújo Pereira and British environmental journalist Dom Phillips were confirmed. Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, had gone missing on June 5 while on a four-day reporting trip down the Itaquaí River in one of the remotest corners of the Amazon. After an 11-day search, on Wednesday, a fisherman who confessed to killing them, led police to a grave by the river where their bodies were buried.
Their killing chillingly underscores, yet again, just how perilous the work of land defenders and environmental journalists can be.
The two men were murdered “in an undeclared global war against nature and the people who defend it,” wrote Jonathan Watts, global environment editor at The Guardian, where Phillips was a frequent contributor.
Phillips and Pereira had been conducting research for a book project on conservation efforts in the region, which is known to harbor illegal mining and logging operations and international drug dealers. Pereira, who works to protect Brazil’s uncontacted tribes, had been threatened in the past for standing in the way of loggers and miners seeking to take over Indigenous lands. Phillips and Pereira had reportedly received death threats just days prior to their disappearance. Yet they kept at their mission.
And so must we.
As Watts wrote: “Their work mattered because our planet, the threats to it and the activities of those who threaten it matter.” Speaking up for the environment can be deadly, but so can staying silent.
In honor of Pereira and Phillips and all those brave souls who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect this Earth — onward.
Maureen Nandini Mitra
Editor, Earth Island Journal
Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest: Neil Palmer/CIAT
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