Global Witness reports that 2019 set a grim record for the number of environmental and land defenders killed. The new report states that 212 activists were murdered last year for standing up against mining and other extractive industry projects. More than four defenders were killed every week in 2019.
Honduras became the most dangerous country for land defenders per capita. Activists from Colombia and the Phillippines accounted for half of the deaths — a surge of 30%. Deaths in Colombia more than doubled to 64, which is the most Global Witness has ever recorded in one country.
From the report: “Over two-thirds of killings took place in Latin America, which has consistently ranked the worst-affected region since Global Witness began to publish data in 2012. In 2019, the Amazon region alone saw 33 deaths. Almost 90% of the killings in Brazil were in the Amazon.”
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Download the full report from Global Witness: Defending Tomorrow: The climate crisis and threats against land and environmental defenders (High resolution, 28.4MB, PDF)