While leaving Charles de Gaulle Airport in France on the weekend, I came across a friend on my way home from South America. For a while I talked about Brazil, the country he wants to visit for a book project and his newborn country. His journey was spectacular and not without danger.
Throughout his conversation, he was made to think about Dom Phillips, a British journalist who was killed in the Amazon rainforest earlier this month with indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.
Phillips was last seen on a boat trip with Pereira on the Itaquai River on June 5 during a survey of Phillips’s book on the rainforest, and this week in Brazil. I took a rest.
Mr. Phillips has been for a long time Guardian He is a contributor and regularly appears in media and podcasts around the world.I have been following his report on ABC for years Midnight live In Australia.
The death of a man became a headline in international news, their bodies were recovered from the rainforest on June 15, and local fishermen confessed to the murder.
Both men appear to have been threatened with many illegal fishing, logging, mining, and even their work at Amazon, the center of drug trafficking.
Former music journalist Phillips has lived in Brazil for the past 15 years, commenting on articles in the region, Guardian And that Washington post.. His death sheds new light on a country at the crossroads of the environmental movement.
According to his sister Cyan, “he was killed because he tried to tell the world what was happening to the rainforest and its inhabitants.”
The search for the missing man, led by a local indigenous group, was initially slow by the government and police who dragged the heels. The dead, under the leadership of Firebrand President Jair Bolsonaro, shed light on Brazil’s elucidation.
Bolsonaro is not silent about his ambitious plans to abuse Amazon. Under his leadership, deforestation has increased by 52.9 pc compared to the last three years. If Bolsonaro is in power, the collapse of the Amazon rainforest is a risk.
We just look back at 2019/2020, when a major deforestation fire broke out across South America. The scale of deforestation is unimaginable. From August 2020 to July 2021, approximately 12,235 square kilometers of forest was lost, an increase of 22% over the previous year.
The states of Para, Amazonas, Mato Grosso and Rondônia had the most deforestation between 2020 and 2021. All of this is behind Mr. Bolsonaro’s pledge to end deforestation by 2030. Perhaps the leader feels that he must clear as much land as possible by the deadline.
Currently, Amazon emits more carbon than it can absorb. The lungs of the world find it difficult for humans to breathe under the burden of exploiting their resources.
The sad fact is that the land that has been cleared deteriorates rapidly and more land needs to be cleared for cattle ranches. There was also a drought knock-on effect.
Phillips wasn’t the first to explore Latin American rainforests from these islands. His work is reminiscent of Roger Casement’s pioneering actions in the Putumayo region of the Amazon. Mr. Casement’s work at the time recorded human rights abuses deep within the Amazon by a Peruvian Amazon company that was harvesting rubber in the area.
Connecting both men is their document on the exploitation of natural resources and indigenous peoples in the Amazon region. Having separated them for over 100 years, crimes against Mother Earth are still dangerous.
Mr. Casement fights and dies for another purpose in Britain, while Mr. Phillips’ life ends in Brazil – his home is away from home.
If the deaths of Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira in Brazil can highlight the problem, it is a turmoil that reigns in that part of the world. The destruction of the rainforest does not stop, nor does it stop with their death. The only hope for the area is to take Mr. Bolsanaro’s vacation.
Democracy is probably the hope for this part of the world, as deforestation in the Amazon fell by 80% between 2004 and 2012 under the Labor government of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
Meat from Brazil is not conflict-free and is immersed in natural blood and indigenous disposal.
If you know the real price, the global community probably won’t buy beef or raw materials from this area so quickly.
Phillips is a modern Roger Casement and his death is unforgettable.