Ross Kemp: Reluctant eco-warrior

The actor and journalist insists he is no treehugger, but he has made a hugely successful environmental film. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network
Ross Kemp
Ross Kemp. Photograph: Suki Dhanda

Ross Kemp is not an environmentalist. He says so right at the start of his new documentary Ross Kemp: Battle for the Amazon, and then spends much of the next hour at pains to let the viewer know that he is no treehugger. Which is strange, given he has made one of the best environmental films in years.

The documentary, the first part of which will be broadcast Tuesday evening at 10pm on Sky 1 HD as part of Sky's week of programming in support of its Rainforest Rescue campaign, takes the no-nonsense style of reportage that has helped Kemp successfully turn himself from soap stalwart into one of the UK's top broadcast journalists, and uses it to illuminate the world's largest environmental crisis.

First Kemp travels to the Ecuadorian rainforest to show how oil extraction is leading to deforestation and choking levels of pollution, before crossing into Brazil to the lawless towns at the heart of the illegal logging trade. Whether driving through the vast swathes of cleared land, stirring up oil dumps, or travelling with the authorities to raid an illegal saw mill, Kemp's visible shock highlights what environmental campaigners have been saying for years: the Amazon is disappearing at an alarming rate and we will all suffer as a result.

But despite the clear environmental message, the film avoids the worthiness that spoils so many eco-documentaries. Kemp understands the economic realities that are driving deforestation (logging is even more profitable than the cocaine trade that also flourishes in the Amazon) and, unlike some green groups, refuses to judge those involved in illegal logging. He repeatedly refers to the ranchers' argument that those industrialised nations that now implore Brazil to tackle deforestation cleared their own forests centuries ago, and clearly has sympathy for all of the parties trapped in the current cycle of destruction.

He also offers possible solutions, reporting on the Ecuadorian government's proposal to protect its forest, despite the fact it sits on giant oil reserves, in return for payments from the developed world.

What is surprising (although perhaps it shouldn't be) is the parallel between this film and Kemp's earlier documentaries on war zones and gangs. It is clear that this environmental crisis is driving the same form of societal breakdown and human tragedy that Kemp has previously reported on.

Kemp's talent is to make the viewer look again at a problem that is usually glossed over by the media. An issue, just like Afghanistan where Kemp made his name as a reporter, that we are all aware of but find too easy to ignore.

He achieves that rarest of things in an environmental documentary – linking the macro-level destruction that we all know is bad, but can't really comprehend, with the human level impact of degradation, poverty, crime and lawlessness.

There is clearly a gap here that Kemp looks capable of filling. The climate crisis is throwing up tragic environmental stories all around the world. These stories need to be told in as engaging a manner as possible, and Kemp might just be the man to do it.

It would be great to see him in Sudan exploring how the drought has helped fuel the war in the country, or in Canada investigating the human impact of the tar sands projects. It would even be great to see him take his straight-talking style of interviewing to the corridors of those companies and think-tanks that peddle climate change denial.

Battle for the Amazon is an important film that deserves a wide audience, but hopefully it won't be the last time Kemp reports on environmental issues. Perhaps next time he'll even accept that he has become an environmentalist.