‘Why be afraid? Why back down?’
By Marchio Gorbiano
Almost 200 environmental activists were murdered last year, with the toll especially heavy in South America, according to rights group Global Witness.
Here are the stories of three campaigners who have faced violence and repression trying to stop wildcat gold mining in Ecuador, illegal shrimp farming in Indonesia and a controversial oil project in Uganda.
‘We have a responsibility’
Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan has been assaulted, arrested and prosecuted for his activism to protect a national park, but he is unbowed.
“Why be afraid? Why back down? Your home should be defended,” the 51-year-old told AFP in Jakarta, where is awaiting a new ruling in legal proceedings against him.
Born and raised in the Indonesian capital, he “fell in love at first sight” with the remote Karimunjawa Islands National Park off Java on his first visit in 2011 and settled there.
Daniel began to notice the growing impact of illegal shrimp farms, which began to proliferate around 2017.
Run-off from the farms killed off seaweed and forced marine life to move further from shore, impacting the livelihoods of fishing communities, he said.
In 2022, Daniel helped start the #SaveKarimunjawa movement, which pushed for a local zoning law banning the shrimp farms.
But his activism made him a target — he was threatened, assaulted and put in a chokehold, and fellow environmentalists received death threats.
He was arrested in December 2023 over allegations of hate speech stemming from a Facebook post criticising illegal shrimp farming.
A local court sentenced him in April to seven months behind bars.
The conviction was overturned on appeal but prosecutors took the case to the Supreme Court, insisting he should not be recognised as an environmental activist.
“This is a price that must be paid,” Daniel said of the threats and legal battles.
And his activism has had some success, with recent government inspections forcing many illegal operations to shut.
“We have a responsibility to our children, grandchildren and future generations,” he said.
“If you give up… you say goodbye to your future.”
‘Hell on Earth’
Abdulaziz Bweete grew up in Kawempe, a shanty town in the Ugandan capital Kampala, and saw first-hand the devastating impact of environmental change in poorer communities.
“I have grown up seeing floods around but I had not interested myself in what is causing floods,” he told AFP.
It took two things to galvanise the 26-year-old — going to university, and seeing the Uganda government’s response to climate protests.
Bweete was among a group of student organisers who marched on parliament in July with a petition opposing a multi-billion-dollar oil project that campaigners say will badly affect a delicate environment.
He and several other young activists were arrested, charged with illegal assembly, and held in Kampala’s maximum-security Luzira prison until August.
He told AFP he and fellow protesters were beaten by police.
The activist was previously imprisoned and arrested following rallies in the capital.
“All I can say is prison is a hell on Earth,” he said.
“We don’t have freedom of protest in this country,” he said, glancing around nervously in
Kyambogo University’s lush campus setting.
Demonstrations in Uganda — ruled with an iron fist by President Yoweri Museveni for four decades — are often met with a heavy-handed police response.
Bweete said politics and climate change go hand in hand.
“If we have good leaders, we can have good climate policies. This is a long struggle, but we are determined to win,” he insisted.
‘Defend life’
Alex Lucitante, a leader of the Cofan Indigenous people on the border between Ecuador and Colombia, won a historic legal victory in 2018 over mining companies in the Amazon, striking out 52 gold mine concessions.
It helped win him the Goldman Environmental Prize — the Nobel of environmental defenders — two years ago.
But despite setting up a system of patrols and even drone surveillance, it has not stopped gold prospectors violating their territory.
“The destruction is still going on all around our land, and the threat is stronger,” he told AFP, telling of illegal mining, deforestation and threats from armed groups.
“Today, the situation is particularly critical in our territories,” said Lucitante.
“It all happens in plain sight and with the knowledge of the authorities,” which are “sometimes
linked to illegal actors operating in the area”, he added.
The environmentalist has urged global leaders to listen to the “voice of Indigenous communities” and hear their plea to “defend life”.
