What does this tell you about an area when fighting to protect rivers, forests, and indigenous lands may cost you your life? At least 146 land and environmental defenders were killed or forced to disappear in 2024 alone across the globe and an overwhelming over 80% of them occurred in Latin America. The most recent Global Witness report sends a grim message Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico are the most deadly spots on the planet for people standing between extractive industries and the environments under threat.
1. A Region in Crisis
Latin America’s tally is dismal. Colombia had 48 murders close to a third of the world total and Guatemala’s defender deaths quintupled to 20, leading the world per capita rate. Mexico had 18. Brazil had 12 murders, and Honduras, Chile, and Mexico had one disappearance each. Global Witness has recorded more than 2,250 defender killings and disappearances worldwide since 2012, of which almost three-quarters have occurred in Latin America.
2. The Escazú Agreement: Promise and Paralysis
The Escazú Agreement, adopted in 2018, was welcomed as a milestone the first regional agreement to secure access to environmental information, public participation, and justice, and also bind states to defend environmental defenders. However, as lead investigator Laura Furones cautions, “some countries have still not ratified it, and others that have are proving slow to implement and resource it properly.” Of 33 eligible nations, only 17 are party states. Even among those, gaps in compliance are common like when a Panamanian mining concession circumvented the treaty’s public consultation provisions.
3. Indigenous Peoples on the Front Lines
Indigenous peoples, only 6% of the world’s population, suffered roughly one-third of fatal attacks globally last year and 94% of those attacks were in Latin America. Their lands frequently coincide with biodiverse regions being sought by mining, logging, and agriculture. “We are defenders because our lives and lands are at risk,” explained 17-year-old Nasa leader Yeing Aníbal Secué of Cauca, Colombia.
4. Grassroots Resistance: The Semilleros
In war-torn areas such as Cauca, “semilleros” young seedbeds are educating the next generation in territorial defense, cultural heritage, and environmental stewardship. The initiatives prepare children and adolescents to reject recruitment by paramilitary groups and to take charge of community self-defense. Adriana Pazu, an Indigenous leader from Toribío, was straightforward “If death arrives, it won’t frighten me. What frightens me is leaving those young people vulnerable.”
5. Small-Scale Farmers Under Siege
Farmers accounted for 35% of victims in the area. Several were murdered due to disputes over land related to mining, logging, and agriculture. Organized criminal groups were involved in at least 42 cases, then private security forces and hired assassins. Defenders in Colombia’s Putumayo department are threatened by illegal mining, oil operations connected to armed groups, deforestation, and coca production. “To defend rights here is to live in constant threat,” said one resident.
6. Historical Patterns of Violence
Attacks on environmental defenders are not new. As the Front Line Defenders report demonstrates, attacks tend to have both physical violence and criminalization, smear campaigns, and legal harassment. Terrorism, sedition, or defamation charges are used to stigmatize and mute activists, such as the arrests of Colombian leaders such as Teófilo Acuña prior to their murders.
7. Escazú in Action and Inaction
Some countries show what’s possible. Argentina’s cross-party ratification in 2020 led to public consultations on offshore oil projects and a national action plan for implementation. The treaty’s unique feature elected public representatives offers a direct link between communities and decision-makers. Yet in others, like Costa Rica, Peru, and Brazil, ratification has stalled amid misinformation and political resistance.
8. Gendered Risks and New Protections
States, at the 2024 Escazú COP, committed to mainstreaming a gender approach, recognizing increased risks for women defenders, such as sexual violence and threats against families. The new action plan includes immediate national steps, capacity development, and direct access for defenders to report non-compliance by states to the Implementation and Compliance Support Committee of the treaty.
9. The Criminal Networks Behind the Violence
Throughout the Amazon, transnational crime syndicates smuggling drugs, gold, and wood have become leading causes of attacks. “The security situation for defenders throughout the Amazon is increasingly precarious,” Amazon Watch’s Andrew Miller reported. In Brazil’s Maranhão state, Brazil’s Ka’apor Indigenous community has endured decades of violence from illegal miners and loggers, frequently with political complicity.
Initiatives such as Escazú provide a model for transformation, but short of complete ratification, adequate funding, and political will, the numbers will stubbornly stay high. For people in Cauca, Putumayo, and elsewhere, survival is contingent on both local resilience and the speedy translation of regional policy into lived protection.
