Land and environmental defenders

Land and environmental defenders are ordinary people who peacefully protect their homes, livelihoods, natural resources and the environment from harmful activities, such as deforestation, mining and pollution. They are a specific type of human rights defender, and include farmers, Indigenous people, community leaders, activists, lawyers or journalists.  

Land and environmental defenders play a vital role in protecting our planet, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change and ensuring our forests, oceans, and other natural resources are protected – and that the rights of local communities are respected.  

Often working in remote areas like the Amazon rainforest, defenders face significant risks – including threats, violence, intimidation and death. In 2023, we published our report Standing Firm, which showed that at least 1,910 people have been killed for standing up to protect their homes, lands and our planet since we started recording global killings of defenders in 2012.   

Indigenous people are disproportionately targeted, as victims of around a third of all lethal attacks despite making up only 6% of the global population. 

Land and environmental defenders also face a wide range of non-lethal attacks – including criminalisation, threats and intimidation. They may be attacked, threatened and harassed by those who oppose their work – both in person and online. Some have been pushed into isolation from their communities or forced to flee their homes. 

Few perpetrators of defender killings are ever brought to justice due to the failures of governments to properly investigate or prosecute anyone for these crimes. Many authorities either turn a blind eye or actively impede investigations into these killings, which can be due to the collusion between corporate and state interests – one of the root causes of the violence against defenders. Such impunity for threats and attacks against defenders acts as a green light to potential perpetrators, who see that they are unlikely to face consequences for attacks on activists. 

In a savage irony, defenders themselves are instead being arrested, branded as criminals and wrongly imprisoned facing trumped up charges. Governments and companies are increasingly weaponising  laws, arrests, intimidation and smear campaigns to silence those who oppose them.  

While the drivers behind threats and attacks to land and environmental defenders are complex, land inequality plays a central role. Driven by the rising demand for food, fuel and commodities, and increasingly transition minerals, the last decade has seen an upsurge in land grabs for industries like mining, logging, agribusiness and infrastructure projects, who prioritise profit above human and environmental harm.  

Local communities are rarely consulted or compensated – but are heavily impacted by corruption when trying to gain access to remedy, and face threats, intimidation, arrest and attack.  

For more than a decade, we have conducted investigations linked to defender killings and attacks, helping to raise awareness and hold those responsible to account. We also document and hold the figures for killings of defenders globally and release these statistics annually. 

Our ultimate goal is to end the attacks and killings of land and environmental defenders and to address the root causes of attacks against them. To work towards this, we raise awareness of the issue with global decision makers, amplify defenders’ voices and support their campaigns and advocacy.  

We campaign, calling for governments and international organisations to adopt regulations that respect and protect environmental defenders and to bring perpetrators to justice. We also pressure businesses and financiers to examine their supply chains and operations to ensure they are adhering to the law and respecting environmental laws and human rights.  

There are many local organisations working to protect land and environmental defenders in communities across the world. We work very closely with them and rely on them to help carry out our work. Find out more about our partners.