Latin America accounted for 85% of environmental defender killings in 2025, report says
The toll remains undercounted as land disputes, mining and organized crime drove most deaths, researchers said.
- A report released Wednesday by Global Witness found at least 124 environmental defenders were killed worldwide last year, with Latin America accounting for 85% of these deaths as conflicts over land and natural resources intensified.
- Land disputes were linked to 84 killings, more than half the global total, while organized crime and hitmen were suspected of involvement in over a third of cases, reflecting an increasing overlap between criminal activity and resource exploitation.
- Colombia was the deadliest country for the fourth consecutive year with 39 killings, followed by Brazil with 26 and The Philippines with 12, where five killings involved suspected military participation.
- More than three-quarters of victims were Indigenous people, small-scale farmers, or Afro-descendants; in Peru, the Kakataibo Indigenous Guard patrols Amazonian territory, with commander Segundo Ispán stating, "for this next generation coming up, the work is more dangerous than ever."
- While the global toll fell for a second consecutive year, Global Witness cautioned that the decline does not necessarily mean defenders are safer, as killings remain significantly underreported due to armed conflict and insecurity.
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36 Articles
Killing of Environmental Defenders Reflects Power Struggle Over World's Resources
At least 124 land and environmental defenders were killed around the world in 2025 while protecting forests, rivers, farmland and Indigenous territories, according to a new report by Global Witness that warns violence against activists remains widespread even as recorded killings have declined from previous years. The report, titled Collective Power, documents the deaths of […]
Observador
Latin America is the most dangerous region for environmental defenders, with Colombia and Brazil being the two countries with the most deaths of activists.
Although the global number of environmentalists killed is decreasing, in Brazil, for example, it has more than doubled within a year.
LAST year, at least 124 environmental activists were killed around the world.
The number of murders of environmental defenders doubled in 2025 in Brazil, the second most dangerous country in the world for these activists, after Colombia, highlights the annual report of the NGO Global Witness. Colombia and Brazil concentrated 52% of the murders of environmental activists last year, with 39 and 26 deaths, respectively. The main reason for the deaths in Brazil were land disputes, a focus of historical conflict between indige…
Africa: At Least 124 Land and Environmental Defenders Killed Globally in 2025
New Global Witness figures bring the total killed and disappeared since 2012 to 2,375 Just two South American countries - Colombia and Brazil - accounted for 52% of the 2025 killings In Asia, defenders are facing a rising tide of criminalisation and intimidation Globally, more than three quarters of those killed were small-scale farmers, Indigenous Peoples or Afro-descendant peoples. Indigenous Peoples accounted for 44 of the killings documented…
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