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After journalist Dom Phillips disappeared in the Amazon, his friends worked together to finish his book
After journalist Dom Phillips disappeared in the Amazon, his friends worked together to finish his book

Globe and Mail

time03-07-2025

  • Globe and Mail

After journalist Dom Phillips disappeared in the Amazon, his friends worked together to finish his book

In June, 2022, journalist Dom Phillips set out by boat on a research trip along winding rivers to the Javari Valley, deep in the rain forest of Brazil's western Amazon. He never came back. Phillips, who was working on a book about conservation efforts in the region, and Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian Indigenous-affairs expert, were gunned down by fishermen on June 5. Their murders drew global attention to the destruction of the Amazon and the dangers faced by those who work to protect it. Phillips, 57, a British freelance journalist who wrote for The Guardian, had been based in Brazil for 15 years. On this trip, he was researching illegal fishing and poaching, and the threats posed to isolated Indigenous groups. Now, with the support of Phillips's widow, a group of fellow journalists have come together to finish his work. How to Save the Amazon: A Journalist's Fatal Quest for Answers was published in June. The book explores deforestation and degradation in the world's largest rain forest. It delves into the factors causing harms, from cattle ranching to illegal mining, fishing and logging, megaprojects and, more recently, the drug trade. It is also suffused with solutions on how to protect the forest, chiefly among them, by listening to the Indigenous peoples who live in it. The Amazon rain forest is one of the Earth's greatest biological treasures. It is one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet, hosting more than a tenth of the world's known species. The region plays a key role in mitigating the impacts of climate change, with its ecosystem storing billions of tonnes of carbon in its trees and soil. It is a crucial environmental story to tell, and a dangerous one. Phillips flagged the risks, over and over again, in his notes. He was well aware of the dangers to himself, and concerned over threats to the people he spoke with. He travelled widely throughout the region, and his observations are steeped in a wonder for the local environment and the people who live in it. Like any good journalist, Phillips spoke to people on the ground, with lived experience, on all sides of the conflicts, farmers and fishers, nuns and community leaders, environmental agents and Indigenous peoples, scientists and politicians. The original title of his book was How to Save the Amazon: Ask the People Who Know. Grief-stricken, his circle of friends wanted something meaningful to come of such horrific, senseless death. They joined together to ensure his work lived on. Jonathan Watts, The Guardian's global environment editor, was one of them. Together, he and four other colleagues gathered in a WhatsApp group and discussed just how they would do it. Environmental journalism is increasingly dangerous profession, UN chief says 'I felt a great responsibility to do something for Dom. Also because I knew that could have been me. And in fact, it could have been really any journalist doing stories about environmental defenders or Indigenous people in the Amazon. That risk is always there,' said Watts, who is based in Altamira, Brazil, in an interview. Watts had known Phillips since 2012, and decided the best way to honour his friend was in finishing his work. Their motto: Even if they killed a journalist, they couldn't silence the story. This also includes the work of Pereira, 41 – a close friend of Phillips, who co-founded a group of Indigenous forest guardians who monitored the borders of the Javari Valley. Pereira had received many death threats before, and was undaunted. Police have said the murders were retaliation for Pereira's work to protect the region from illegal activities. In November, they charged the alleged mastermind of the murders, a leader of an armed criminal group, who they believe ordered the killings. Phillips had left behind a book outline, a hard drive – and notebooks full of his writing, of interviews and observations in the field. The only problem: 'Dom's handwriting was an almost illegible sprawl. ... I think I was sometimes getting 40 per cent,' Watts said. His sister and nieces all helped decipher them, part of the massive, collaborative effort. Other journalists Phillips knew helped edit the work. The book is told in 10 chapters. Phillips had completed the first three and a half; the rest were finished by other reporters, including Jon Lee Anderson of The New Yorker and Brazilian journalist Eliane Brum, with each completing a chapter. Contributors were asked to stick with Phillips's plan as much as possible, and to think of each chapter as a dialogue, through his notes and past conversations with him. Some of the chapters involved guesswork at his thinking – the journalists retraced his steps and interviewed many of the same people he'd spoken with. Hewing to what Phillips wanted, they focused on solutions – visiting agro-forestry projects, lands protected by Indigenous groups and a lake, once nearly dead, now teaming with life. In Costa Rica, they looked at successful efforts to regenerate forests and the positive impacts of conservation on its economy. It is clear Phillips loved the land, and the flora and fauna in it. He encounters hyacinth macaws and white monkeys, palm-sized spiders, pink freshwater dolphins, bathing tapirs, sharp-toothed piranhas and green parrots. He describes the beauty. A wall of trees 'resplendent in a thousand shades of green'; sunsets 'a cinematic explosion of pink, turquoise and orange'; and the Javari Valley, a territory of 'sinuous rivers and dense forests.' Completing a book is not the only way to finish the work of investigative journalists who have been killed on the job. The non-profit organization Forbidden Stories, a global network of journalists, takes on investigations if a reporter is killed or imprisoned, and shares them worldwide. One of those is the 'Bruno and Dom Project.' Around the world, Phillips was one of at least 69 journalists and media workers who were killed in 2022, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists; in that year, Latin America was the most dangerous region for them. The book begins and ends, fittingly, with Phillips's last social-media post: a video of a riverbank, with a lush rain forest, and the caption, Amazônia, sua linda. Amazonia, you beauty. His last public words, the book's co-authors note, convey 'the joy of a journalist doing a job he loved in a place he cherished.'

Episode five: the fightback
Episode five: the fightback

The Guardian

time23-06-2025

  • Politics
  • The Guardian

Episode five: the fightback

Funerals are held for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira and there is hope that the election of President Lula will mean new protections for the Amazon – and that the killers of Dom and Bruno will face justice. But organised crime is widespread and deep-rooted. The investigative journalist Sônia Bridi tells the Guardian's Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips about a man who allegedly not only may have helped plan the killings but may have ordered them. A man whose name strikes fear across the region

Podcast Critic - Missing in the Amazon & Heavyweight
Podcast Critic - Missing in the Amazon & Heavyweight

RNZ News

time19-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • RNZ News

Podcast Critic - Missing in the Amazon & Heavyweight

history media 2:10 pm today Ximena Smith joined Jesse to review Missing in the Amazon - a new 6-part investigative series from The Guardian about journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous rights advocate Bruno Pereira who went missing in the Amazon three years ago. She also reviewed Heavyweight a podcast by Jonathan Goldstein, which returns after being cancelled by Spotify in 2023. The show helps people deal with moments from their past they wish they could change - funny, emotional, and thought-provoking without being naff.

Defenders of the Amazon: inside the 13 June Guardian Weekly
Defenders of the Amazon: inside the 13 June Guardian Weekly

The Guardian

time11-06-2025

  • The Guardian

Defenders of the Amazon: inside the 13 June Guardian Weekly

It's three years since the murders of the journalist Dom Phillips and the Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, who were both killed on a visit to the remote Javari valley in the Brazilian Amazon. Dom was a Guardian contributor based in Brazil, whose reporting often appeared in the Guardian Weekly. Last week his widow, Alessandra Sampaio, came to visit our London offices along with Beto Marubo, an Indigenous leader from the Brazilian Amazon. From the other side of the world it's easy to feel far removed from the activities of criminal gangs that threaten the Amazon's Indigenous people and plunder its natural resources. But hearing Beto and Alessandra speak so powerfully about the impact of Dom and Bruno's work reminded me why we need to stay focused on a region that defies easy scrutiny. With that in mind, for this week's big story, Tom Phillips (no relation), our Latin America correspondent who worked closely with Dom and Bruno, made a perilous return to the Javari valley to learn how Indigenous defenders are continuing to try to protect their communities and environment. I'd also like to draw your attention to two other projects that continue Dom and Bruno's legacy. First is the Guardian's new audio podcast investigation series Missing in the Amazon, in which Tom for the first time tells the full story of what happened to Dom and Bruno. The second is the book Dom was working on at the time of his death, How to Save the Amazon, which has since been completed by a team including writers and editors at the Guardian. (In this extract, published in the Weekly last month, Dom explains why protecting the Amazon and its people is so important.) Reporting from the Amazon is a costly and dangerous business, but subscribing to the Guardian Weekly magazine is a great way to support our investigative journalism. For more details and to give the Weekly a try, click here. Get the Guardian Weekly delivered to your home address Spotlight | The story of a Gaza mother killed in search of foodA family is reeling from the killing of a woman who walked for hours to an Israeli-backed distribution point with her son and daughter. Malak A Tantesh and Emma Graham-Harrison report Science | How the 'evil twin' of the climate crisis is threatening our oceansIn seas around the world, pH levels are falling. Scientists fear the problem is not being taken seriously enough, as Lisa Bachelor finds at a seawater testing station Interview | Bernie Sanders on Biden, billionaires – and why the Democrats failedThe senator and former Democratic presidential hopeful talks to Zoe Williams about why he and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are trying to build a new progressive movement Opinion | Want to live to 100? It's not just diet and exercise that will helpEvery time her mind goes down the 'optimisation' route, Devi Sridhar is reminded of her job as a public health scientist, looking into the factors that affect how long we will live Culture | CMAT: pop's gobbiest, gaudiest starThe Irish singer-songwriter is going supernova – and whether opining on trans rights, body shaming or capitalism, she's more forthright than ever, as Alexis Petridis found This evocative picture essay had everything to whet my appetite: decaying buildings beautifully photographed by Oscar Espinosa and a story about the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union that took me back to a 1990 trip along the Abkhazian Black Sea coast when the guide proudly named all the sanatoria visible from the boat and which Soviet workers they were designated for. Isobel Montgomery, deputy editor Streaming fraud is a growing concern, undermining fairness and transparency in the creative industry. Technology plays both sides — enabling fraud but also offering tools to fight it. As trust, safety and privacy become more critical in the industry, we must guide it in the right direction, because how we use technology ultimately defines what it becomes. Hyunmu Lee, CRM executive Audio | Inside Australia's mushroom murder trial Video | The Bone Hunter: unearthing the horror of war in Okinawa - documentary Gallery | Pigeons, hats and naps: the best photos from the French Open We'd love to hear your thoughts on the magazine: for submissions to our letters page, please email For anything else, it's Facebook Instagram Get the Guardian Weekly magazine delivered to your home address

The Book Nearly Died With Him in the Amazon. But the Story Endured.
The Book Nearly Died With Him in the Amazon. But the Story Endured.

New York Times

time11-06-2025

  • General
  • New York Times

The Book Nearly Died With Him in the Amazon. But the Story Endured.

In 2018, the British journalist Dom Phillips joined a 17-day expedition into the Javari Valley, a vast, nearly inaccessible Indigenous land on the western edge of the Brazilian Amazon, tracking signs of an isolated group increasingly threatened by illegal activity. It was a grueling journey: 650 miles by boat and foot, crossing treacherous log bridges, dodging snakes and pushing through suffocating forest. The river, when it reappeared, offered both relief and what Phillips later called moments of 'exquisite loveliness.' He was struck by the Indigenous guides' command of the 'forest's secrets,' but even more so by Bruno Pereira, the expedition leader and a seasoned official at Funai, Brazil's Indigenous protection agency. Phillips saw him as a public servant deeply committed to protecting Indigenous peoples (though he was not himself Indigenous), and able to navigate the Javari with unmatched ease. When he returned to the region to work on a book, he set out to document how an Indigenous patrol was protecting the largely ungoverned territory — an effort then led by Pereira. The two men ran afoul of an illegal fishing gang and were killed in June 2022. But the story did not die with them. Journalist friends and family have brought Dom Phillips's work to life with the release of 'How to Save the Amazon: A Journalist's Fatal Quest for Answers.' Over three years, they completed the half-finished manuscript thanks to crowdfunding, grants and, finally, a willing publisher. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

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