Dom Phillips' unfinished book, 'How to Save the Amazon: Ask the People Who Know,' is set to be published in April 2025. Phillips' family, friends, and associates planned the book's completion earlier this year through online fundraising efforts, garnering more than £24,000 to fund reporting trips to Amazon.

Phillips, aged 57, is a British freelance journalist and esteemed reporter who has written for The Guardian and The Washington Post. In his book 'How to Save the Amazon: Ask the People Who Know,' Phillips talks about the indigenous defenders fighting criminal activity in the Javari Valley and the lives of the inhabitants of the Amazon. Unfortunately, Phillips' final reporting trips to the Amazon had led to the writer's demise. Hence, the book remained unfinished.

Phillips, along with Brazilian indigenous Bruno Pereira, was ambushed upon returning from a reporting trip to Javari Valley in June 2022. Three identified fishermen will face murder trial by jury, as ruled by Judge Wendelson Pereira Pessoa. Brazilian prosecutors asserted that Pereira was targeted for his efforts to aid indigenous activists in protecting their lands from unlawful fishing and mining groups, further stressing that Phillips was murdered solely for being with Pereira.  

The death of Dom and Pereira caused outrage in Brazil and abroad, shedding light on the criminal practices and lack of law enforcement in remote areas such as the Javari Valley. Amidst the outrage, friends and colleagues have joined forces to preserve his legacy and complete the book the British journalist was working on before his untimely demise. 

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On December 5, a $40,000 Whiting creative nonfiction grant was given to the joint project composed of several writers and environmentalists involved in completing the book. The Whiting Foundation grant judges commented that Phillips' reporting on the environmental destruction in the Amazon prior to his death denotes impressive levels of access and a deep moral curiosity. The foundation stated that this body of work is a rare encounter, highlighting the concept of travel writing as discovery tied with danger. 

Jonathan Watt, the Guardian's global environment editor, envisions finalizing Phillips' book amidst the outrage that followed the news of the writer's death. Watt stated that good journalism should not be silenced.

'Manilla Press,' an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, will be the publishing body for the book. Justine Taylor, an editorial manager at Bonnier, expressed the company's gratitude for receiving the honor to acquire and publish Phillips' book. The editor further stressed the significance of the book, highlighting the work done by inhabitants and giving people an opportunity to help restore Amazon's ecosystem.

The prominent figures involved in this joint effort include Jonathan Watts, the Guardian's global environment editor and co-founder of the Amazon-based news site Sumaúma; Eliane Brum, the author and co-founder of Sumaúma; Tom Phillips, Latin America correspondent for the Guardian; Kátia Brasil, the founder of Amazônia Real; and Andrew Fishman, the president and co-founder of Intercept Brasil. They plan to embark on journeys to the Amazon to write the remaining chapters of the book, along with the partially finished manuscript and Phillips' comprehensive notes and research.

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