Nearly 200 Land and Environmental Defenders Killed in 2023, Mostly in Latin America, Global Witness Report Reveals

Lethal attacks on environmental defenders in 2023 were concentrated in four key Latin American countries: Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Honduras. Together, they accounted for more than 70% of murders.

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196 defenders were murdered in 2023 while exercising their right to protect their lands and the environment, a new report has revealed, adding that the number of casualties is likely much higher.

This brings the total number of killings to 2,106 since Global Witness began reporting data in 2012, the environmental watchdog group said in its latest report published Tuesday.

Environmental defenders play a crucial role in protecting the environment and defending key forests, habitats and ecosystems. Indigenous people alone steward around 20% of the Earth’s land, which contains 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. Of all defenders murdered last year, 43% were Indigenous people and 12% were women.

“Every killing leaves the world more vulnerable to the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises,” the report read. It added that these murders are just one piece of a wider puzzle of abuses and attacks by governments, businesses, and other non-state actors against environmental defenders, including intimidation, violence, smear campaigns and criminalization.

Latin America made up 85% of all killings last year. Weak legal protections, high levels of corruption, and intense conflicts over land and resource exploitation make the region one of the most dangerous to operate in for environmental defenders.

Colombia topped the list of the deadliest countries for environmental defenders for the second year in a row with 79 murders – 40% of the total. In 2022, 60 defenders were killed in the country, which is preparing to host the year’s most important biodiversity meeting next month.

Colombian authorities last month gave assurance that it will be safe to attend the UN summit in Cali – known as COP16 – after a dissident rebel group threatened to disrupt the event.

In neighbouring Brazil, home to the world’s largest rainforest, 25 defenders were murdered, while Mexico and Honduras each saw 18 killings. The latter has the largest per capita killing rate.

For decades, Central America has seen the growth of destructive industries carrying out unsustainable extractive activities, including logging, mining, energy projects, and monoculture plantations, according to Global Witness. A 2021 report revealed that a staggering 80% of the region’s vegetation has been converted to agricultural land, fragmenting climate-critical forests and driving biodiversity loss.

In Asia, the Philippines emerged as the most dangerous country for defenders. 17 people were killed there last year, most of which were small-scale farmers. Global Witness also reported seven enforced disappearances in the country, a trend the NGO says is on the rise elsewhere in the world.

In Africa, two defenders were murdered in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one in Rwanda and one in Ghana. Since 2012, 116 defenders were murdered in the continent. 74 of them were park rangers in the DRC.

From the available data, Global Witness was able to identify mining as “by far” the biggest industry driver. The NGO said 25 murders involved defenders who opposed mining operations. Mining, one of the most significant contributors to planet-warming emissions, often leads to land disputes, environmental degradation, and significant profit motives that can result in violent opposition from corporations and local authorities against those who resist exploitation.

An anti-mining protest in Panama last November resulted in the killing of two demonstrators. Indigenous groups, unions and citizens organized the protest to voice their concern about potential pollution, deforestation, and water shortages arising form a controversial mining project Panama assigned to a Canadian company.

The report called on countries to systematically document attacks and reprisals to enhance data availability, which can help improve existing laws and mechanisms to protect defenders. This can be done through legally binding frameworks like the Escazú Agreement, it said. Signed by 25 Latin American and Caribbean nations, the international treaty mandates access to information about the environment, public participation in environmental decision-making, and environmental justice in region.

Globally, governments and companies must take responsibility for exposing and addressing violence against defenders and their communities while being held accountable for the criminalization and threats faced by these individuals, the watchdog said.

“We cannot win the fight against the climate and nature crisis without greater protection for defenders,” Laura Furones, a senior adviser for Global Witness and lead author of the report, told The New York Times.

Besides defenders, environmental journalists are also facing unprecedented risks. Their work often intersects and interferes with highly profitable economic activities, criminal groups, and powerful state and private actors, from illegal miners and poachers to powerful multinationals contributing to pollution and emissions. Known for intimidating, harassing, and even physically harming journalists in an attempt to suppress or stifle the truth, these stakeholders frequently represent a direct threat to reporters’ operations. And the numbers confirm it. 

In May, UNESCO revealed that at least 749 journalists or news media reporting on environmental issues were targeted with murder, physical violence, detention and arrest, online harassment, or legal attacks in the past 15 years around the world.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons.