Land and Environmental Defenders

Hundreds of land and environmental defenders are threatened, arrested and killed every year for their part in resisting environmental devastation. We record every name and honour their activism.

Defenders and Indigenous Peoples are often our planet’s last line of defence, sounding the alarm about threats to vital ecosystems and incursions upon their communities from destructive companies. In return, they face land invasions, harassment and violence, with a worrying rise in criminalisation hitting environmental activists worldwide. We work to expose the root causes behind these attacks to ensure defenders are protected, and that those responsible are held to account.

Land and Environmental Defenders

Latest

Delikado: the film exposing the criminality lurking behind Palawan in the Philippines

Remembering Berta Cáceres: Seven years on, the fight for justice continues

A historic sentence in Peru brings hope for land and environmental defenders

Fundo Casa: Highlighting the importance of Afro-Brazilian Quilombola representation at Climate COPs

Global Witness welcomes long-awaited court verdict providing justice for the murders of Indigenous land defenders in the Peruvian Amazon

Dutch construction companies will profit from Philippines mega-airport which is devastating local communities and environment

Runaway Risk

Runaway Risk: How the EU can prevent corporate abuse

International NGOs Call for Release of Prominent Environmental Defender in Vietnam One Year After 5-Year Prison Sentence

Making good on promises: How Mexico can transform the lives of environmental defenders by implementing the Escazú Agreement

Berta Cáceres: New rules for banks could help stop defender killings

Vietnam lands Just Energy Transition Partnership

Amplifying the voices of land and environmental defenders at COP27

Violence, torture and threats continue, allege land and environmental defenders in Amazonian Brazil palm oil region

‘Turn words into action’: A turning point for Latin American defenders?

Europe’s biggest meat firms and retailers driving human rights abuses in Paraguay

Toxic Takeaways

Our verdict on COP27: A polluters’ parade

Dead end: Ambitious deforestation targets and human rights not included in agribusiness climate roadmap

“Loss and damage” is not enough: Why we need climate reparations

Crimes against humanity committed in the Brazilian Amazon: criminal case filed at the International Criminal Court

Vietnam’s unjust energy transition

Joint NGO briefing for UNFCCC COP27 on land and environmental defenders

COP27: Human rights advocates urge parties to increase recognition and protection of environmental and land defenders

Join Global Witness in putting #PeopleNotPolluters first at COP27

Statement of concern on online threats against Guatemalan NGO amidst wider crackdown on activists

‘Not just a climate change statistic’: Derek Cabe on the frontline of the climate crisis in the Philippines

Global Witness welcomes Colombia ratifying key agreement for protection of land and environment defenders after 322 killed in Colombia in the last decade

In Colombia, implementing the Escazú Agreement is a matter of life and death

A deadly decade for land and environmental activists - with a killing every two days

In numbers: Attacks against defenders since 2012

Decade of defiance