Defending the environment proving deadly as almost 200 people lost lives last year
Trying to defend the environment, at least 196 people across the globe got killed last year. More than a third of these killings happened in Colombia. In fact, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras and Colombia made up more than 70% of all recorded killings globally.
From campaigners speaking out against mining projects to indigenous communities targeted by organised crime groups, an environmental defender got killed every other day in 2023, according to a recent damning report by an NGO.
The organisation behind the report said it’s often difficult to establish a direct driver of the killings, amid several of them going unpunished. But it found mining as the biggest factor last year as there have been 25 killings related to the industry.
Deadly crisis engulfing environmental defenders
Calling the situation “simply unacceptable”, Laura Furones, lead author of the report, noted that the number of killings of people trying to use their voice to courageously defend the planet as the climate crisis accelerates “remains alarmingly high”.
Of those killed in 2023, 43% of the environmental defenders belonged to Indigenous communities. Nearly 90% of the victims are men. Numbers from last year bring the total recorded killings to 2,106 since 2012, the year the NGO started reporting on the data.
The situation in Colombia remains seriously controversial. President Gustavo Petro has promised to address the crisis engulfing environmental defenders. But the latest figures suggest that he has to do a lot more to stop the violence.
