Environmental Activists Being Killed Worldwide At An Alarming Rate By Rolf Auer; June 27, 2012; (based on an article from

the UK publication The Guardian) The number of deaths of environmentalists worldwide involved in protection of river, forests, and land has nearly doubled in the past three years, according to a report from the United Kingdom publication, The Guardian, by Jonathan Watts on June 19, 2012. (article: Environmental activists being killed at rate of one a week; website for The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk; this progressive publication also can be followed on Facebook, merely do a search there on The Guardian and click on Like after finding its page to receive regular status updates from its page.) According to the organization Global Witness, which collects the statistics, Brazil has the worst record for these human rights atrocities which span the past decade: More than 365 of these types of environmentalists. In fact, Brazil alone accounts for half the killings worldwide, the majority of which are due to rainforest clearance by farmers and loggers in the Amazon. The group called on the leaders at the [[2012] Rio+20 conference on sustainable development] to set up systems to monitor and counter the rising violence, which in many cases involves governments and foreign corporations, and to reduce the consumption pressures that are driving development into remote areas. wrote Watts. The cause of the murderous rampage is the increasingly savage struggle for dwindling resources worldwide, according to Global Witness. Among the recent high-profile cases were the murders last year of two high profile Amazon activists, Jos Cludio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo. Such are the risks that dozens of other activists and informers are now under state protection. wrote Watts. Brazil, Peru, and Columbia have reported high rates of killings in the past decade, which are being tracked in these countries because of strong networkings by social justice groups. Last December, the United Nations Special Rapporteur On Human Rights noted: Defenders working on land and environmental issues in connection with extractive industries and construction and development projects in the Americas face the highest risk of death as result of their human rights activities. concluded Watts.

My website: www.bubblicious42.wordpress.com