DELIKADO
Defending paradise has never been so dangerous
#Palawan appears to be an idyllic tropical island. Its powder-white beaches and lush forests have made it one of Asia’s hottest new tourist destinations. But for a tiny network of environmental crusaders and vigilantes trying to protect its spectacular natural resources, it is more akin to a battlefield.
DELIKADO follows Bobby, Tata and Nieves, three magnetic leaders of this network, as they risk their lives in David versus Goliath-style struggles trying to stop politicians and businessmen from destroying the Philippines’ “last ecological frontier”.
It is a timely film emblematic of the struggles globally for land defenders as they are being killed in record numbers trying to save natural resources from being plundered by corporations and governments. As the world faces its sixth-mass extinction and the climate emergency worsens,
It is also a unique expose of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs’ in the Philippines, which has claimed thousands of lives and the International Criminal Court of Justice has said may amount to a crime against humanity. DELIKADO shows the drug war is used as a tool for politicians to control the levers of economic and political power.
DELIKADO offers a story of courage and resilience to inspire others into action.
The battles being led by Bobby, Tata and Nieves in DELIKADO are the same as those being fought by local communities in #Brazil, #Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of #Congo and elsewhere around the world where #corporations and #governments are seeking to plunder increasingly valuable natural resources.
They are being killed for trying to stop #mining, #agribusiness and #logging. Many of the deaths occur in remote villages or rainforests. The victims are often from indigenous communities and the killers are rarely caught. The powerful masterminds behind the murders virtually never. All these factors are in play in Palawan.
The film has a special relevance and urgency in highlighting the perilous fate of Palawan, the most biodiverse part of the Philippines and home to two UNESCO World Heritage-listed natural wonders.
Palawan, due to its remoteness, had long avoided the corrupt development seen around the rest of the Philippines over recent decades as the country’s population has boomed. Palawan’s rainforests are among the biggest, oldest and most diverse in Asia. They are home to thousands of animal and plant species.
But few people know it is on the path to environmental destruction. Politicians and businessmen are destroying Palawan at an unprecedented rate to extract its forests, minerals and fish. #Urbanisation and #tourism are other pressures leading to the depletion of Palawan’s natural resources.
Once the last of Palawan’s majestic #Apitong, #Kamagong, #Ipil and other endangered trees are cut down, these species will be forever lost. With the demise of these #forests will come the loss of Palawan’s incredibly diverse range of endemic animal species. Some of the world’s largest butterflies - bigger than an outspread human hand - can only be found in Palawan’s rainforests. They are also home to seven-foot monitor lizards, turquoise and violet-winged peacocks, giant grey bear cats, bulging-eyed geckos as long as an adult’s arm, flying squirrels and dirt-brown “horned” frogs.
Centuries-old #traditions and #customs for the tribal people still living in the forests will also disappear if the forests are destroyed. Other communities living in towns and villages outside of the forests will face floods and droughts when the forests are gone.
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