Global Witness: 85% Of Environmental Defender Killings In 2025 Occurred In Latin America

At least 124 land and environmental defenders were killed worldwide in 2025, and Latin America accounted for roughly 85% of those deaths, a report released by advocacy group Global Witness found. The toll reflects intensifying conflicts over land and natural resources that disproportionately endanger Indigenous communities, small-scale farmers and Afro-descendant groups.

Where The Violence Is Concentrated

Global Witness documented 105 killings in Latin America in 2025. Colombia remained the deadliest country for the fourth consecutive year with 39 killings; Brazil recorded 26. Honduras and the Philippines each reported 12 fatalities. Together, Colombia and Brazil accounted for 52% of all killings verified globally.

Regional And Global Trends

Although the verified global total fell for a second consecutive year, the report warns that the decline may reflect underreporting rather than improved safety. Global Witness noted that land disputes, organized crime and competition for resources are increasingly converging in the same territories where communities try to protect forests, rivers and ancestral lands.

FILE - Deforestation from illegal mining is visible in the Tambopata National Reserve in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo, File)(AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Who Is Being Targeted

More than three-quarters of those killed in 2025 were Indigenous people, small-scale farmers or Afro-descendants. The report identified 47 victims as small-scale farmers and 44 as Indigenous; seven of the Indigenous victims were members of community guard systems established to patrol and defend territories.

Drivers Of Violence

Land disputes were linked to 84 killings — more than half the global total. Other industries cited by the report included mining and extractive industries (11 deaths), logging (8) and agribusiness (6). Organized crime and hired gunmen were suspected in more than one-third of killings, reflecting a growing overlap between criminal networks and resource exploitation.

Country Spotlights

In Colombia, almost half of the 39 defenders killed were Indigenous and another 15 were small-scale farmers; 35 deaths were linked to land conflicts. The southwestern department of Cauca recorded 13 killings in 2025 — including four members of Indigenous Guard patrols — and has seen 171 defender killings since 2012, the highest total of any Colombian department.

FILE - Eduwin Calambas Fernandez, coordinator of Kiwe Thegnas, which refers to Indigenous Guard in the Nasa Yuwe language, in Canoas, an Indigenous reserve in northern Cauca, Colombia, poses for a photo on July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Nadège Mazars, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

In Brazil, killings more than doubled from the previous year, rising from 12 to 26. Eleven victims were small-scale farmers and seven were Indigenous. Half of Brazil’s cases were concentrated in the Amazonian states of Rondônia and Pará, where illegal logging, mining, cattle ranching and agricultural expansion have long driven land conflict.

Other Regions

Asia accounted for about 12% of the global total, with the Philippines recording 12 killings — the highest figure outside Latin America — and several cases involving suspected military participation amid counterinsurgency operations. Africa had three verified killings (two in Tanzania and one in the Democratic Republic of Congo), though the report cautioned that conflict and restrictions on civil society make documentation particularly difficult there.

One documented case in the DRC involved journalist Fiston Wilondja Mazambi, who was found dead in Bukavu after investigating alleged illegal gold mining tied to armed groups.

FILE - Fields of coca plants, grown for illicit use, are visible near a school July 18, 2025, in Manuelico village, Caldono, Colombia. (AP Photo/Nadège Mazars, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Responses And Community Protections

The report highlights the growing importance of community-led protection strategies — territorial patrols, early-warning systems and grassroots monitoring networks — as state responses often fall short. In Peru, the Kakataibo Indigenous Guard patrols Amazon territory threatened by illicit coca cultivation and organized crime.

"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," said Segundo Ispón, commander of the Kakataibo Indigenous Guard. "But for this next generation coming up, the work is more dangerous than ever."

At the international level, Indigenous participation and commitments on land rights were visible at COP30 in Belém, where Brazil announced the titling of 10 Indigenous territories. Brazil’s Ministry of Indigenous Peoples said it has resumed demarcation efforts and removed outsiders from 12 territories, actions the ministry says benefited more than 67,000 Indigenous people.

Since Global Witness began systematic tracking in 2012, the organization has verified 2,375 killings and disappearances of land and environmental defenders. The group works with more than 30 partner organizations across 20+ countries and corroborates cases with media reports, judicial records and local partners.

Why This Matters: The report underscores a dangerous trend: those who defend land and the environment face lethal risks as economic pressures, illegal activity and weak governance converge. Improving accountability, securing territories and supporting community protection efforts are essential to curb the violence.