Gina Lopez, maverick environment activist fights Philippines’ mining

Courtesy of Gina Lopez

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I felt so energized and inspired after interviewing Gina Lopez, the Philippines’ former environment minister, for this issue of New Internationalist.

She is both a philanthropist and an environmentalist - a fiery, fearless, maverick activist who is not afraid of fighting the Philippines' powerful mining industry.  She believes that protecting the environment and promoting social justice go hand in hand.

She is irreverent, funny, full of energy and always in action – rolling her sleeves, campaigning, cleaning slums, jumping into a river to make a point, climbing a rock – and giving ministers and industrialists a piece of her mind.

"Yes, mining creates a few jobs and perhaps a few schools, and a few people enrich themselves, but thousands suffer and water sources are polluted for generations afterward.  Mining is just greed and selfishness."

As a minister, she banned open-pit mines and moved to shut down more than half of the operations of the country’s mining companies, after audits showed massive violations against the environment and the law. It cost her her job.

She is not your typical environmental activist. The daughter of one of the country’s wealthiest families, she fled the Philippines in 1972 to avoid political persecution during the Marcos regime, but returned in 1986 after being educated in the US, becoming a yoga master, and then working with disadvantaged communities in Africa. She still meditates every day.

She uses her connections as a shield in a country that is one of the world most dangerous places to be an environmental activist. “My family owns the biggest media company, I don’t think someone would want to harm me. I am not afraid of anything,” she told me matter-of-factly.

“What is needed is not a shift in economic priorities - but a greater realization and awareness of the damage some economic activities (mining, logging, rampant quarrying) inflict not only on our economic potential, but on our well being as a people. What is needed is a total economic valuation (monetizing the costs, the benefits) of these activities and then asking the very pertinent question - is it worth it?"

Last year, she received the Seacology Prize, awarded to those showing exceptional achievement in preserving island environments and culture.

You can read my story in New Internationalist here.    

Rodrigue Katembo - the Congo's park ranger who risks his life to protect wildlife

Rodrigue Katembo/Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

The best part of my job as a journalist is to spend time with amazing people whom I would never have a chance to meet otherwise.

One of them is Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo, a former child soldier who has become one of the most passionate defenders of Congo’s natural heritage, first as head ranger at Virunga National Park and now as the director of Upemba National Park, one of Congo’s most spectacular, but also most pillaged, neglected and dangerous parks. 

I’ve met Katembo on one of his rare forays away from Upemba. He spoke in French, in a measured way, sounding more like the civil servant he always wanted to be than the brave ranger who has risked his life many times to protect Congo’s iconic parks. He wants to fight corruption and illegality – a dangerous mission in a country like the Congo.

Katembo was in London last month on his was to San Francisco to receive the 2017 Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa (a sort of Nobel for environmental activists), for exposing illegal oil exploration in Virunga - a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to one quarter of the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas. 

He paid a heavy price: during his investigation, he has been kidnapped, tortured and faced mock executions. You might have seen “Virunga,” the 2014 Netflix documentary which recalls that story. 

A year later, he was transferred to Upemba for his own safety. There he is trying to slowly stabilise wildlife. The elephants, which were emblematic of the park, had been poached on a massive scale by the rangers themselves, the military, the police, the locals and the brutal Mai Mai militia- and those who escaped the slaughter had left the protected area.

He has already reintroduced one population of 68 elephants and another larger one is approaching the park’s borders.  Under his watch, no elephants have been poached in Upemba since 2016.  But it’s no easy job.

Since starting work at Upemba, Katembo has fought off armed militia, faced death threats and refused to accept multiple bribes to gain access to the park for illegal mining. He now lives apart from his wife and children for their safety.

“I am not special, ” Katembo simply said. “Yes, I was imprisoned and tortured, but many guards have died doing their jobs.”   Protecting Congo’s national parks is widely recognized as one of the most dangerous jobs in conservation. Over the past 20 years, more than 160 of Katembo’s park ranger colleagues have been killed - and they still continue to get killed today.

“We need to respect their work. We need to be willing to defend what they have died to protect. By protecting the park, we are protecting unique wildlife, local populations’ livelihood and Congo’s natural heritage – which is also the heritage of the whole world.”

Here is my full story on Katembo for Positive News. There are some great photos too!