Lancaster MP calls on local people to do their bit to save the Amazon

The Lancaster MP was speaking ahead of an international conference on the Amazon, being held this weekend.

“Preserving the Amazon is vital if we are to keep a livable planet," she said. "We can’t ignore the crisis that is happening there.

Ms Smith will be attending the conference at The Storey In Lancaster to hear from Lancaster University researchers, campaigning organisations, activists, journalists and an Indigenous leader, about what needs to be done to rescue the rainforest.

“We all need to learn more about what is happening in the Amazon," she added. "There are many ways we can help, by actively avoiding buying products that encourage deforestation, by learning more about the issues, and by asking the UK government to actively support the new regime in Brazil.”

The free conference, 'How we can help to save the rainforest, Lancaster and the Amazon;sharing perspectives', is part of a month-long festival 'For Dom, Bruno & the Amazon', held in honour of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, who were murdered in the Amazon this summer.

Coun Kevin Frea, deputy leader of Lancaster City Council, co-organisers of the conference along with Halton Mill and Lancaster University Environment Centre, said: “We are all connected; what happens on the other side of the world affects us.

"Dom Phillips was the brother of Sian Phillips, who lives in Lancaster. He understood that when the rainforest is cut down, and its people are murdered, we all suffer the consequences in extreme weather, like the floods and droughts we have seen in the region over the past decade.”

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will take over as president of Brazil in January, told the COP27 climate summit in Egypt that he will start undoing the huge damage done to the Amazon during the presidency of his predecessor, Jair Bolsanaro.

The keynote speech at the conference will be given via zoom by Indigenous leader Dr Nelly Marubo on ‘The importance of preserving the forest: the perspective of the Marubo people’.

A newly curated hard-hitting exhibition, ‘Dom, Bruno and the rainforest’, will also be on show during the weekend.

This free event is open to all with an interest in these issues: students and young people are particularly welcome.

It runs from 1pm to 5.30pm on Saturday and 10.30am to 5pm on Sunday - people are welcome to go for one or both days.

It is being live-streamed on Zoom for an international audience with Portuguese interpreting for most of the sessions.

For more information and to register go to www.tinyurl.com/AmazonConference (or www.trybooking.co.uk/BVBE).

For more information on the rest of the month of events in Lancaster, with online talks, arts events, films and more still to come, visit www.haltonmill.org.uk/DomBruno

All events at the Mill during the month are free, and donations are invited to an appeal set up by Dom’s and Bruno’s families to support the indigenous defenders of the rainforest.

The Gregson, More Music in Morecambe, The Dukes Theatre, Good Things Collective, and the Many Worlds Film Club are among other organisations hosting activities during the month.