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Amazon Environmentalist Gunned Down in Peru

Environment (tags: amazon, rainforest, murder, deforestation, peru )

Rhett
- 204 days ago - news.mongabay.com

After reporting a truck loaded with mahogany illegally logged from the Amazon rainforest, Don Julio Garcia Agapito, a Peruvian authority who worked to protect forests, was gunned down by Amancion Jacinto Maque, an illegal timber operator, on February 26th

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Comments

Sara S. (70)

Friday March 14, 2008, 2:10 pm
Thanks. Now if American and European companies would just stop buying illegal wood (i.e. buy only wood certified from sustainable programs) good men like this would not be at risk.

Past Member (0)

Sunday March 16, 2008, 9:41 am
NOTED TY

Little Bear (1)

Sunday March 16, 2008, 11:08 am
The Japanese are the biggest consumers of illegal wood--for chop sticks--and I'm not making this up. I have a friend that owns a Rosewood forest in Guatamala and he is appalled by the waste of great hard woods.

Michael C. (219)

Sunday March 16, 2008, 1:41 pm
He gave his life for what he believed in. You gotta admire and respect people like that.

Noted with sadness and honor.

serge vrabec (172)

Monday March 17, 2008, 3:29 pm
RIP, hats off to him, an environmental soldier.

Embers S. (11)

Monday March 17, 2008, 6:11 pm
What a tragedy....

Chrissy K. (30)

Monday March 17, 2008, 7:00 pm
very sad, the amazon will feel the loss

Lindsey Schilling (20)

Monday March 17, 2008, 8:23 pm
European and US companies aren't just buying wood from entities that log illegally-- they are those entities. And they're going to continue to do it as long as it's profitable for them and profitable for the ruling elite in developing countries where the resources are held. What's almost sadder than the loss of rainforests, to me at least, is the fact that the revenue from natural resource extraction goes directly into the pockets of heads of states and international corporations, instead of into the mouths of impoverished civilians.

I have coworkers who are doing the same kind of forest monitoring in Cambodia and Burma, and my heart goes out to Agapito's family.

Simon Wood (2084)

Tuesday March 18, 2008, 6:01 am
There are many actions that we can take to stop this kind of thing:

Promote and vote for political parties that ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen (and better yet, join such a political party).

Don't buy wood products from corporations that are involved in this kind of thing (do a search on http://www.corpwatch.org to see what each corporation does).

Join environmental organisations to make environmentalism more powerful and effective (and participate in those organisations, and donate money to them).