Killings of environmentalists appear to be on rise

[karma]

More than three-quarters of the killings Global Witness tallied were in 
three South American countries: Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Another 50 
deaths occurred in the Philippines. All have bloody land-rights 
struggles between indigenous groups and powerful industries.

Jun 20, 5:22 AM EDT

Killings of environmentalists appear to be on rise 
<http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_DYING_FOR_THE_ENVIRONMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-06-20-05-22-33>

By DENIS D. GRAY
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) -- The eulogies called Chut Wutty one of the few remaining 
activists in Cambodia brave enough to fight massive illegal 
deforestation by the powerful. The environmental watchdog was shot by a 
military policeman in April as he probed logging operations in one of 
the country's last great forests.

Nisio Gomes was the chief of a Brazilian tribe struggling to protect its 
land from ranchers. Masked men gunned him down in November; his body, 
quickly dragged into a pickup, has not been seen since.

Around the world, sticking up for the environment can be deadly, and it 
appears to be getting deadlier.

People who track killings of environmental activists say the numbers 
have risen dramatically in the last three years. Improved reporting may 
be one reason, they caution, but they also believe the rising death toll 
is a consequence of intensifying battles over dwindling supplies of 
natural resources, particularly in Latin America and Asia.

Killings have occurred in at least 34 countries, from Brazil to Egypt, 
and in both developing and developed nations, according to an Associated 
Press review of data and interviews.

A report released Tuesday by the London-based Global Witness said more 
than 700 people - more than one a week - died in the decade ending 2011 
"defending their human rights or the rights of others related to the 
environment, specifically land and forests." They were killed, the 
environmental investigation group says, during protests or 
investigations into mining, logging, intensive agriculture, hydropower 
dams, urban development and wildlife poaching.

The death toll reached 96 in 2010 and 106 last year, said the report, 
which was released as world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for a 
conference on sustainable development. The report's annual totals for 
the six prior years range from 37 in 2004 to 64 in 2008.

More than three-quarters of the killings Global Witness tallied were in 
three South American countries: Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Another 50 
deaths occurred in the Philippines. All have bloody land-rights 
struggles between indigenous groups and powerful industries.

Global Witness' figures are much higher that those that Bill Kovarik, a 
communications professor at Virginia's Radford University, has been 
compiling since 1996. He focuses on slayings of environmental leaders 
and does not include deaths in protests that are counted in the Global 
Witness report. But Kovarik, too, has noticed a substantial jump: from 
eight in 2009 to 11 in 2010 and 28 last year.

"For many years intolerant regimes like Russia and China and military 
dictatorships tolerated environmental activists. That was the one thing 
you could do safely, until some crossed into the political area," 
Kovarik said. "Now, environmentalism has become a dangerous form of 
activism, and that is relatively new."

Both Kovarik and Global Witness believe even more killings have gone 
unreported, especially in relatively closed societies in countries such 
as Myanmar, Laos and China. Global Witness said there is an "alarming 
lack of systematic information on killing in many countries and no 
specialized monitoring at the international level."

The dead last year included Rev. Fausto Tentorio, an Italian Catholic 
priest who fought against mining companies to protect the ancestral 
lands of the Manobo tribe in the southern Philippines. Affectionately 
known as "Father Pops," he was buried in a coffin made from a favorite 
mahogany tree he had planted.

In Thailand, where at least 20 environmental activists have been killed 
over the past decade, seven hired gunmen were paid $10,000 to kill 
Thongnak Sawekchinda, a veteran campaigner against polluting, coal-fired 
factories in his province near Bangkok. Powerful figures believed to 
have ordered the slaying are yet to be apprehended.

In developing countries, bolder and more numerous activists have come 
into sharper conflict with governments and their cronies or local and 
foreign companies, some with low environmental and ethical standards. 
These are moving in to "industrialize" areas where rights of the local 
people are traditional rather than clearly defined by modern laws.

"It is a well-known paradox that many of the world's poorest countries 
are home to the resources that drive the global economy. Now, as the 
race to secure access to these resources intensifies, it is poor people 
and activists who increasingly find themselves in the firing line," 
Global Witness said.

Julian Newman of the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency 
said the killings will only get worse because one of the key flashpoints 
- land ownership - ignites powerful passions.

"To people protecting their lands, their forests, it's very personal, 
and they suffer when confronted with influential forces who have 
protection, be it the police in Indonesia or thugs in China," Newman said.

Targeted assassinations, disappearances followed by confirmed deaths, 
deaths in custody and during clashes with security forces are being 
reported. The killers are often soldiers, police or private security 
guards acting on behalf of businesses or governments. Credible 
investigations are rare; convictions more so.

"It's so easy to get someone killed in some of these countries. 
Decapitate the leader of the movement and then buy off everyone else - 
that's standard operating procedure," says Phil Robertson, Asia deputy 
director of Human Rights Watch.

The countries where environmental killings are most common share 
similarities: a powerful few, with strong links to officialdom, and many 
poor and disenfranchised dependent on land or forests for livelihoods, 
coupled with strong activist movements which are more likely to report 
the violence.

Environmental groups say it is time to build a comprehensive database of 
such violence and mount unified campaigns.

"In Asia there has been a rise for some years but this has been off the 
radar of international NGOs until recently," says Pokpong Lawansiri, 
Asia head for the Dublin-based Front Line Defenders. "Political rights 
activists usually have international connections but environmental ones 
are often teachers, community leaders and villagers, so they have little 
profile."

Robertson called for "a waves-to-the-beach strategy. It can be small and 
irregular but it always has to keep coming."

"Without that constant level of concern and anger, things won't change. 
Governments and companies play for time and for most of the victims and 
their families time is not on their side," he said.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_DYING_FOR_THE_ENVIRONMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-06-20-05-22-33

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20120624/5bea44bd/attachment.html>