Colombia Was the Deadliest Country for Environmental Defenders Last Year, Report Finds

Colombia — host of the 2024 United Nations COP16 biodiversity conference — was the deadliest country in the world for environmentalists and defenders of land rights last year, with Global Witness, an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom, reporting a record 79 killed.

It was the highest death toll that Global Witness ever recorded for one country in a single year.

“The figure is really chilling,” said lead author of the report Laura Furones, Global Witness land and environmental defenders senior adviser, adding that the findings of the report were conservative and that the figures were likely incomplete, as Reuters reported.

Last year, 196 land and environmental activists were killed, with 85 percent of the deaths reported in Latin America, the report said.

“This report shows that in every region of the world, people who speak out and call attention to the harm caused by extractive industries – like deforestation, pollution and land grabbing – face violence, discrimination and threats,” wrote Nonhle Mbuthuma, founder of Amadiba Crisis Committee and winner of the 2024 Goldman Prize, in the foreword to the report. “We are land and environmental defenders. And when we speak up many of us are attacked for doing so.”

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, elected in 2022, has promised to help communities seek environmental justice, reported Reuters.

Petro called Colombia’s position at the top of the list by Global Witness “dishonorable.”

The report also found Colombia to be the deadliest country for environmental defenders the year before, with at least 60 killed in 2022.

“We cannot win the fight against the climate and nature crisis without greater protection for defenders,” Furones said, as The New York Times reported.

Global Witness said establishing the cause of the killings was difficult, but that mining was the biggest driver in 2023, with 25 reported slayings related to the industry, reported The Guardian.

“As the climate crisis accelerates, those who use their voice to courageously defend our planet are met with violence, intimidation and murder. Our data shows that the number of killings remains alarmingly high, a situation that is simply unacceptable,” Furones said, as The Guardian reported.

Almost 90 percent of those killed in 2023 were men, with 43 percent from Indigenous communities. The total number of killings recorded since 2012 — when Global Witness began reporting the data — is 2,106.

“The breach of these fundamental rights by governments and companies in pursuit of profit is not just minor collateral damage. Their actions have life-changing consequences for us all,” Mbuthuma wrote. “Knowing my life is in danger every day is deeply taxing. And I know I am not alone.”