Latin America accounted for 85% of environmental defender killings in 2025, report says

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🗞️ Driving the news: At least 124 land and environmental defenders were killed worldwide in 2025, with Latin America accounting for 85% of deaths, according to Global Witness
• Colombia was deadliest for the fourth consecutive year with 39 killings, followed by Brazil with 26, together 52% of the global total
• Honduras and the Philippines recorded 12 each

🔭 The context: More than three-quarters of victims were Indigenous people, small-scale farmers or Afro-descendants
• Land disputes were linked to 84 killings, mining and extractives to 11, logging to eight and agribusiness to six
• Organised crime or hitmen were suspected in more than a third of cases
• The global toll fell for a second year, from 142 in 2024 and 196 in 2023, but Global Witness cautions this does not mean defenders are safer, killings remain significantly underreported

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: These are the frontliners physically standing between extractive expansion and the forests, rivers and territories that absorb carbon and hold biodiversity
• Brazilian killings more than doubled to 26, half concentrated in Rondônia and Pará where illegal logging, mining, ranching and agricultural expansion drive land conflict
• That increase came despite Indigenous participation and land rights commitments at COP30 in Belém

⏭️ What's next: Brazil's Ministry of Indigenous Peoples says it has resumed demarcating Indigenous lands and removed outsiders from 12 territories, benefiting over 67,000 people, though hundreds of titling applications remain pending
• The report documents community-led responses including territorial patrols, early warning systems and monitoring networks

💬 One quote: "Defending our territory is important to us as a community and as a people, and we're proud to support the climate that we all depend on. But for this next generation coming up, the work is more dangerous than ever" — Segundo Ispón, commander of the Kakataibo Indigenous Guard, Peru

📈 One stat: 2,375 killings and disappearances of land and environmental defenders documented since Global Witness began tracking in 2012.

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