They can kill me at any moment, but they are going to regret it forever because, after I’m dead, others will take my place.
Aluisio ‘Alenquer’ Sampaio
Alenquer was shot and killed Thursday the 11th of October 2018. He was a campaigner for family farm rights in Brazil, and had received death threats for years [Mongabay]. Elsewhere in Brazil, armed groups of indigenous activists patrol their forests to sabotage installations made by illegal loggers [The Week].
We’ve always lived in a war in Brazil […] The colonization period was marked by deaths, murders, and extermination, and this hasn’t stopped. It requires our constant resistance.
Sonia Guajajara, Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil
Meanwhile, Jair Bolsonaro is front runner in the Brazilian presidential race. His position is environmental policy is suffocating the country, has pledged there will not be a square centimeter demarcated as an indigenous reserve if he is elected, and goes by the rule of thumb that “where there is indigenous land, there is wealth underneath it”. [New York Times]
European scientists working with artificial intelligence are trying to predict future conflict potential as a result of scarce water recources. [Sunday Express]
Competition over limited water resources is one of the main concerns for the coming decades. […] Although water issues alone have not been the sole trigger for warfare in the past, tensions over freshwater management and use represent one of the main concerns in political relations between riparian states and may exacerbate existing tensions, increase regional instability and social unrest.
European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC)
In Afghanistan, drought is displacing more people than war [BBC].
We are thirsty and hungry. We took what little we could with us, but lost most of it on the way. Now we have nothing. Eight of us live in this small tent […] My wife and my brother died. Half of our children are here. The other half were left behind.
Mr. Mohammed
Also this week, the UN urged cooperation rather than conflict over natural resources. [UN]
With the increasing impacts of climate change evident in all regions, the risks are only going to grow
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres