New Report Documents 124 Murders of Nature Guardians Last Year
Global Witness reported that at least 124 environmental defenders were killed in 2025, a number likely understated due to conflict and repression. Mining was the industry most often linked to the deaths, and Colombia was the deadliest country with 39 killings, many involving Indigenous people and small farmers. The report highlights the growing danger faced by those protecting land and water from exploitation.
Colombia's Cauca region, near the Ecuadorian border and Pacific cocaine-trafficking routes, has seen coca production rise fivefold in a decade. Armed groups there drive deforestation, illegal mining, and river destruction. Nearly half of Colombia's 39 victims were Indigenous, with 15 more being small-scale farmers.
Brazil's toll doubled from the previous year, with half the attacks in Rondônia and Pará, where illegal loggers, miners, and ranchers encroach on farming communities. Researchers tied the violence to failures in demarcating Indigenous land rights. In Honduras, all 10 murdered small-scale farmers were linked to organized crime, with corporate interests implicated in eight cases.
This report may signal that environmental protection is becoming increasingly dangerous as extractive industries expand into vulnerable territories. Communities dependent on land and water for survival could face heightened risk as organized crime and corporate interests converge. The undercounting suggests the true scale of violence may be far worse, potentially discouraging grassroots environmental advocacy. Governments may face pressure to address land rights and protect defenders, though repressive nations may continue to obscure the problem.