According to the annual report of the NGO Global Witness published on Tuesday, at least 177 environmental activists were murdered worldwide in 2022, including around sixty in Colombia, the most dangerous country for these activists.
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Although this total is slightly lower than last year (200 deaths), “the situation worldwide has not improved significantly” and the average of one activist killed every two days is maintained, the British organization commented.
In 2022, 88% of these 177 victims worldwide were in Latin America, including 60 in Colombia alone, a number that has doubled compared to 2021.
AFP
“Once again, indigenous peoples, communities of African descent, small farmers and environmental defenders in this South American country have been hit hard,” warns Global Witness.
Since coming to power in August 2022, leftist President Gustavo Petro has promised to reduce violence against these activists and other community leaders, but his actions have been inadequate, according to local NGOs.
Colombia, wracked by multiple armed conflicts for half a century, has always been one of the deadliest countries in the world for environmentalists. It is experiencing a rise in violence and renewed activism by armed groups, almost always involved in illegal activities (drug trafficking, mining, timber trading, etc.).
Elsewhere in the world, protecting nature has cost the lives of 34 people in Brazil, 31 in Mexico, 14 in Honduras and 11 in the Philippines.
“No more deaths”
“It remains difficult to pinpoint the exact causes of these killings,” Global Witness admits, but most of them are linked to agribusiness, mining and forestry, as well as access to water and poaching.
Children were also targeted: “three in Brazil, one in Colombia and one in Mexico.” Three of them were locals,” the report said.
AFP
AFP interviewed one of these activists threatened in Colombia, Nadia Umana, a 35-year-old sociologist. She is a member of an organization that recovers land stolen from farmers by paramilitaries on the border between Magdalena and Cesar, two departments historically marked by the violence of these far-right militias, who invest there in livestock farming, palm oil plantations or illegal mines.
Four of his fellow fighters have already been murdered. “Knowing that one of your comrades has been murdered is a pain that cannot be expressed in words,” Ms Umana told AFP in Bogota.
She denounces “a systematic attack” against her organization because it opposes the paramilitaries and their illegal activities. “Protecting the environment, nature and the earth (…) here in Colombia is a risky task,” she complains.
Tired of the threats, Ms Umana and her comrades are now fighting from afar from the capital. “We have made the decision not to expose ourselves to further death,” she explains.
Another emblematic example: the country’s current vice president, the Afro-Colombian Francia Marquez, winner of the 2018 Goldman Prize – often compared to a Nobel Prize for the Environment – has been threatened and the target of several attacks during the years of her activism.
In 2019, before she came to power, she survived a grenade attack and a shooting for defending access to clean water for black communities victimized by illegal mining.
Still the Amazon
The Amazon rainforest (which stretches across eight countries), destroyed by deforestation and arson to make way for livestock farming, also experienced a deadly 2022 for environmentalists.
AFP
“Last year 39 defenders died there. Eleven of them belonged to indigenous communities,” said Global Witness.
“Year after year, those who defend this biome (…) give their lives to protect their homes, their livelihoods and the health of our planet,” warns the NGO.
In 2022, the murder of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in the Brazilian Amazon became a symbol of the growing violence in this region, where drug traffickers, illegal miners and poachers operate.
In Brazil, environmentalists had to contend with “relentless hostility” from former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022). And Mexico, the deadliest country in 2021, recorded “a notable decrease” from 54 to 31, but the situation there remains “alarming,” the NGO judges.
“At least 1,910 land and environmental defenders have lost their lives around the world since Global Witness began documenting these killings in 2012,” recalls this new report. Of this, 70% came from Latin America.