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Since 2012, Global Witness has been collecting data on those killed while fighting to defend the land and the environment. Evidence shows that as the crisis worsens due to the climate change, also increases violence against those who protect their lands and our ecosystem. The irresponsible exploitation by polluting industries and the excessive greed generated by the extraction of our natural resources which aggravate the scenario of climate change, also promote violence against defenders of environment.
According to the Global Witness report, titled ‘The Last Line of Defense’, in 2020 there were 227 deadly attacks, an average of more than 4 people killed per week in defense of their homes, lands, our ecosystem and our land. biodiversity.
“As always, these deadly attacks occur against the backdrop of a wider range of threats against defenders, including intimidation, surveillance, sexual violence and criminalization. Our numbers are almost certainly an understatement, as many attacks on defenders go unreported, ”Global Witness posted on its website.
The report offers a worrying panorama of the human rights violations that occur in various territories around the world, but especially in the Latin American region, when more than half of the attacks (165 out of 227) are produce in Latin American countries, such as Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, among others. Colombia has positioned itself, for the second year in a row, as the country with the highest number of murders, with at least 65 cases of substantiated killings of land and human rights defenders. environment.
As the NGO details, these attacks take place in a context where the constant threats suffered by the defenders are denounced, since this population, due to the numerous data currently available, is confronted with cases of intimidation, sexual violence and of criminalization.
Latin America is the most dangerous region for conservationists, according to the recent report. In 2020 alone, 227 environmentalists were killed around the world. Of the 10 deadliest countries, 7 are Latin American.
Of the people who died fighting for him environment and against him climate change We can cite Kwaxipuru Kaapor, a Brazilian confronted with drug plantations in the Amazon; Ana Lucía Biscicús, a Colombian woman who defended the territory of Awáde from economic, military and political conflicts; Paulina Gómez Palacios Escudero, a Mexican who protected the territory of Wirikuta from mining activities; Arbildo Meléndez, a Peruvian who fought in Unipauyacu against the coca crops; and Cristino López Ortíz, a Nicaraguan who defended the Mayangna lands from uncontrolled agriculture.
They and many others have been killed for being the last line of defense against the environmental crisis impacting climate change.
Finally, the NGO recommends that governments can change the course of climate change, starting from the objective of preserving the human rights of all, through actions and guarantees, to avoid the violations of human rights and the environmental damage that many companies are currently causing.
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