“What happens to environment journalists is chilling: they get killed for their work”, 18^th June 2019

…The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that an unprecedented 13 journalists pursuing environmental stories have been killed…over the past 10 years…Journalists in Brazil working to expose the rapid expansion of soybean farms into the Amazon had a similar experience…Environmental journalists…become aware of evidence that environmental degradations are taking place – the contamination of a river by a factory or the destruction of ecosystems by a mine. Then they work their way backwards to find out: how did it happen? Who did it? And pretty soon you have reverse engineered your way straight into the highest ranks of financial and political power, elites with a stake in ensuring that the questions are not answered…Threats against journalists and activists in any sector should always be a red flag for business. The same holds for the many financial institutions that help to finance companies’ expansion into developing countries. Last year, the World Bank established a set of guidelines designed to limit the environmental disruptions and community displacements from the projects it finances. However…many of the international and national development banks it works with have yet to integrate any such principles, leaving a loophole big enough to drive a bulldozer through a tropical forest – as it claims has occurred with such financing in Honduras, Colombia, Guatemala…