BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) 鈥 After British journalist Dom Phillips was shot and killed while researching an ambitious book on how to protect the world鈥檚 largest rainforest, friends vowed to finish the project. Three years later, their task is complete.
鈥淗ow to Save the Amazon,鈥 published Tuesday in Brazil and the United Kingdom ahead of its U.S. release, was pieced together by fellow journalists who immersed themselves in Phillips鈥 notes, outlines and the handful of chapters he鈥檇 already written. The resulting book, scheduled to be published in the U.S. on June 10, pairs Phillips鈥 own writing with others鈥 contributions in a powerful examination of the cause for which he gave his life.
In addition to the core group who led the work on finishing the book, other colleagues and friends helped to edit chapters, including The Associated Press journalists Fabiano Maisonnave and David Biller.
Phillips, who had been a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper, was taking one of the final reporting trips planned for his book when he was gunned down by fishermen on June 5, 2022, in . Also killed was Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on Indigenous tribes who had made enemies in the region for defending the local communities from intruding fishermen, poachers and illegal gold miners. made headlines around the world. Nine people have been in the killings.
鈥淚t was just a horrifying, really sad moment. Everybody was trying to think: How can you deal with something like this? And the book was there,鈥 said Jonathan Watts, an Amazon-based environmental writer for The Guardian who coauthored the foreword and one of the chapters.
With the blessing of Phillips鈥 widow, Alessandra Sampaio, a group of five friends agreed to carry forward. The group led by Watts also included Andrew Fishman, the Rio-based president of The Intercept Brasil; Phillips鈥 agent, Rebecca Carter; David Davies, a colleague from his days in London as a music journalist; and Tom Hennigan, Latin America correspondent for The Irish Times.
鈥淚t was a way to not just feel awful about what had happened, but to get on with something. Especially because so many of Dom鈥檚 friends are journalists,鈥 Watts said. 鈥淎nd what you fall back on is what you know best, which is journalism.鈥
Unfinished work researching rainforest solutions
By the time of his death, Phillips had traveled extensively across the Amazon and had completed an introduction and nearly four of the 10 planned chapters. He also left behind an outline of the remaining chapters, with different degrees of detail, and many pages of handwritten notes, some of them barely legible.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fair to say even Dom didn鈥檛 yet know what he would do exactly in those chapters,鈥 Watts said.
Phillips was searching for hope. He promised his editors a character-driven travel book in which readers would get to know a wide-ranging cast of people living in the area, 鈥渁ll of whom know and understand the Amazon intimately and have innovative solutions for the millions of people who live there.鈥
The group led by Watts selected writers for the remaining chapters, with subjects ranging from a bioeconomy initiative in Brazil鈥檚 Acre state to global funding for rainforest preservation. Indigenous leader Beto Marubo of the Javari Valley was recruited to co-write an afterword. The team also launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to pay for more reporting trips.
Among the group鈥檚 challenges was ensuring that the book reflected a political shift in Brazil鈥檚 approach to the Amazon in the years since Phillips鈥 death. Most of Phillips鈥 research was done during the term of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, as Brazil鈥檚 Amazon deforestation reached a in 2021. The pace of destruction 2022 defeat by leftist leader Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva.
Fragments of hope, grim statistics
Throughout the finished book鈥檚 more than 300 pages, fragments of hope mix with grim realities. In Chapter 2, 鈥淐attle Chaos,鈥 Phillips notes that 16% of Brazil鈥檚 Amazon has already been converted to pasture. Even a farmer who has become a model for successfully increasing productivity without clearing most of his land is criticized for his widespread use of fertilizers.
In his chapter on bioeconomy, journalist Jon Lee Anderson visits a reforestation initiative where Benki leader, promotes environmental restoration coupled with ayahuasca treatment and a fish farm. But the veteran reporter doesn鈥檛 see how it can be scalable and reproducible given man-made threats and climate change.
Later in the chapter, he quotes Marek Hanusch, a German economist for the World Bank, as saying: 鈥淎t the end of the day, deforestation is a macroeconomic choice, and so long as Brazil鈥檚 growth model is based on agriculture, you鈥檙e going to see expansion into the Amazon.鈥
In the foreword, the group of five organizers state that 鈥淟ike Dom, none of us was under any illusion that our writing would save the Amazon, but we could certainly follow his lead in asking the people who might know.鈥
But in this book stained by blood and dim hope, there is another message, according to Watts: 鈥淭he most important thing is that this is all about solidarity with our friend and with journalism in general.鈥
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