Our future depends on the legacy of Bruno and Dom – 01/06/2023 – Daily life

“This story needs to be told.”

On June 26, 2022, 11 days after the discovery of the bodies of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, the world’s cameras captured the rage of Sian Phillips, sister of the murdered British journalist.

Surrounded by close friends and family, all wearing black T-shirts with pictures of Dom in the middle of the forest, she explained that her brother was killed “because he tried to tell the world what is happening in the rainforest and with its inhabitants”.

In recent years, environmental crimes have been one of the most dangerous subjects for journalists to cover. According to Reporters Without Borders, an average of two journalists are killed each year for their work on deforestation, illegal mining, land grabbing, pollution and other extractive industry issues.

Environmental defenders, in turn, are also in the eye of the hurricane. According to a report by Global Witness, 1,700 of them were killed from 2010 to 2020.

Dom Phillips was one of the most battle-tested journalists. For 15 years, he crossed the Amazon region. His friend and guide, Bruno Pereira, an expert on indigenous communities, knew this territory better than anyone else.

The two went to work together in the Javari Valley, a region that became a stronghold for illegal trafficking in wood, drugs and natural resources.

Bruno and Dom’s killers won’t be able to stop this story from being told. For one year, more than 50 journalists from 16 news organizations, coordinated by Forbidden Stories, came together to continue their work, to ensure that it does not die with them. The two were murdered because they tried to inform the world about the crimes committed by those whose activities are emptying the planet’s lungs.

Does this subject seem distant to you? However, it is closely linked to our daily lives.

The global appetite for beef is accelerating global climate catastrophe: about two-thirds of Amazon deforestation is linked to cattle ranching.

In 2019, we coordinated the Green Blood project alongside 30 other media organizations, enabling Indian, Guatemalan and Tanzanian journalists to investigate the environmental costs of the mining industry.

By tracing the supply chain all the way back to the final distributor, our journalists were able to show how dirty resources end up in the heart of Silicon Valley through shadowy multinationals.

Without journalists on the ground, nobody would know what these big multinationals are doing beyond the “green” content of their advertising campaigns.

Climate change is disproportionately affecting the world’s most vulnerable populations. The journalists and human rights defenders who tell this story are also on the front lines.

Reporting on these issues—as well as questioning polluting companies and the politicians who make them possible, “Don’t Look Up” style—is an official right that dates back to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.

Without access to independent information, no one will save the planet.