Countless conflicts throughout history have been fought over land, but nowadays the conflict is increasingly over our relationship with the land. Indigenous cultures and ecologists revere nature, while capitalists regard it as a resource to profit from. Is the land sacred or is it property to be exploited? It would be easy to portray this conflict as a straight-forward war between good and evil, but in many poorer countries, it’s far from simple when exploiting the land – and the sea – seems the only way to lift people out of poverty, or so many are led to believe.

Eco-activists in danger

The Amazon rainforest, the setting for large sections of my novel Green Shoots, is very much the front line of the conflict between capitalism and ecology, and parts of it often resemble a war zone with a mounting casualty list. According to Global Witness, an average of four environmentalists die every week worldwide, most of them in the Third World.

The deaths of British journalist Dom Philips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in Brazil in June this year are tragic examples. They were killed when Philips was completing work on his book about deforestation and threats to the Amazon communities from mining, logging and other interests. Philips’ nationality and high profile meant his death made international news, but many hundreds more deaths of environmentalists go largely unreported every year.

Threats to eco-activists have increased dramatically in the Amazon in recent years, particularly because of the policies of Brazilian president Bolzonaro, which border on genocidal. When governments, armies and global corporations work hand in hand to carve up indigenous lands and virgin rainforest, it should make right-thinking people furious, but as well as fury there is all too often a worrying fatalism and sense of impotence to affect what occurs on the other side of the world.

The green vigilante

The violent eco-warrior who plays a central role in Green Shoots was probably born from my anger at what is happening in the Amazon. An eco-vigilante may be a figment of the dark reaches of my imagination, but there are historical touchstones. When I was writing a travel guide to Ecuador a few years ago, I came across the story of Jivaro tribe. The Spanish attempted to take the tribe’s territory in the sixteenth century, but the tribe counter-attacked and captured the Spanish governor. They executed him by pouring molten gold down his throat, thus fulfilling his lust for the precious metal. Barbaric but poetic justice.

The killer in my novel aims to “even up the score” of eco-activists who have been killed by targeting the corporate interests responsible. Towards the end of the novel, he quotes William Wordsworth: “Sweet is the lore that Nature brings; our meddling intellect misshapes the beauteous form of things – We murder to dissect.”

The title of Wordsworth’s poem The Tables Turned reflects the central premise of the novel – what if ecologists turned the tables and behaved in the same barbaric way as the corporate world? What if they harnessed the spirit of Jivaro justice?

Of course, we must suspend disbelief here – it is fiction after all. Few could argue it would be beneficial for hitherto peaceful environmentalists to turn violent, not least because they would be heavily outgunned by the powers that be. However, it’s clear that desperate times often lead to desperate tactics.

The power of protest

The same month that Dom Philips was killed, indigenous people in neighbouring Ecuador, where I lived for several years, brought the country to a standstill. Although the protests were initially about fuel prices, they were held against a background of exploitation of indigenous lands for mining and oil, and the communities demanded a renegotiation of mining concessions. Indigenous strikes are common in Ecuador, and when strikes and blockades happen, people often die, the economy grinds to a halt and the government is compelled to listen. Whether the Ecuadorian government keeps its promise to take into account the indigenous grievances over mining remains to be seen, but we can hope.

Fortunately, peaceful protest and legal challenges can yield positive results for environmentalists against the odds, and already this year we have seen an important victory in Ecuador. The Shuar community in the southern Amazon won a long court battle to enshrine protection for over 5000 hectares of rainforest. Let’s hope the decision is respected because impunity is one of the biggest challenges in Ecuador.

The Shuar are renowned for their warrior spirit, reflected by one of their traditional greetings, which translates as “I see you are still alive.” We should be grateful that so many eco-activists are alive and fighting for what is sacred.

• Find out more about Green Shoots by Ben Westwood