International conference on saving rainforest to be held in Lancaster in memory of Dom Phillips

The conference is free and open to all, and aims to raise awareness of the devastation currently taking place in the Amazon, but also to outline some hopeful solutions currently being put in place to help to save the rainforest, and to encourage us all to think about actions we can take now.

It has been put together by Halton Mill in partnership with Lancaster University Environment Centre and Lancaster City Council and is part of a month of activities about the Amazon taking place in and around Lancaster, commemorating the lives of environmental journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.

The two men were murdered in Brazilian Amazonia in June 2022 while researching sustainable ways to save the rainforest for a book Dom was writing called ‘How to Save the Amazon”.

An associated exhibition goes on display at Halton Mill from Sunday October 30, and will be opened by Dom Phllip's sister, Lancaster musician Sian Phillips, at a launch at 5pm which includes Brazilian food and music.

The exhibition will be on display at Halton Mill for a month and then it will be available to tour around the UK. The exhibition can also be shared electronically with environmental organisations, educational institutions and community groups signing up to the conference.

Most of the events are free and donations are invited at https://gofund.me/9b373866 which will go to a fund set up by Dom and Bruno’s families to support the Indigenous Defenders of the Rainforest in the Javari Valley, the area where the two men were killed.

Co-organiser Fiona Frank, who has spent time in Peruvian Amazonia, said: “I’ve played music with Sian in Lancaster for 15 years and she’s my choir leader. I was devastated when the news about her brother emerged.

"I was inspired to turn my emotion to action by a tweet from a Brazilian journalist, Chico Pinheiro, who wrote in June: You can't kill an idea! They buried Dom and Bruno: buried, the seeds sprout, become leafy trees and the forests appear.

"Everyone we’ve approached has been unfailingly supportive – from our initial idea of an exhibition and a couple of films at Halton Mill, we now have twenty events in ten venues all over the district which should go a long way to spread the seeds of Dom’s message.”

Dr Leonardo De Sousa Miranda, recently arrived at Lancaster Environment Centre from Brazil, is an environmental data scientist who assesses the effects of climate change and conservation strategies on Amazonian biodiversity and ecosystem services.

He will speak at the conference about the Amazon Tipping Point - and why we should care about it.

Leonardo said : “It’s a great privilege to be part of this programme. Our team at Lancaster is working on how to propose evidence-based conservation actions to decision-makers that truly address sociobiodiversity – that is, the relationship between biological diversity and the practice of sustainable activities taking into account the cultural and ancestral knowledge of traditional populations."

Keynote speaker Dr Nelly Marubo, who worked with Bruno Pereira for four years in FUNAI, the Brazilian agency for Indigenous people, will join via Zoom from Manaus.

She will speak – in Portuguese, with interpretation – about the Marubo people's perspective on the importance of preserving the rainforest, and will take part in a discussion afterwards. Nelly recently visited London and St Andrews where she gave talks about the climate crisis, and where Sian and Fiona were able to meet her.

Also speaking at the conference are Dr James Fraser, who researches sustainable farming, social justice and biodiversity conservation, Colombian textile activist and community artist Victoria Frausin, and researcher in design and public health Dr Mariana Fonseca Braga.

There’s also a round table with journalists working in the Amazon, a chance to hear about work in the Amazon being done by campaigning organisations Survival International and Cool Earth, and a discussion led by Greenpeace on ways that we can change our own behaviour here in the North to help to change the situation in the Amazon.

Details and booking links for the conference, the launch and all other events can be found at www.haltonmill.org.uk/DomBruno

Other events include a Family Tropical Flower and Leaf Making workshop tomorrow, Saturday October 29, at the 'More than a Market' arts fair at Yorkshire Street from 11am to 4pm.

On Saturday November 5, you can go to More Music in Morecambe for a youth fusion music and dance project, inspired by the beats of Brazil.

Also on November 5 is the opening of an exhibition of Yanomami Body Art by award-winning Brazilian artist Artur Soar at Good Things Collective, Arndale Shopping Centre in Morecambe.

On November 9 there's a 'rainforest tour' of Lancaster Butterfly House with tropical plant expert David Redmore. There'll also be a chance to meet the council zookeeper and find out more about the butterflies.