Environmental activists protecting forests and rivers were murdered at an alarming rate in 2025, with nearly all such killings concentrated in Latin America, according to a new report. The independent watchdog Global Witness documented 124 deaths last year, with organized crime or hired assassins linked to over a third of the cases. Many communities have responded by forming self-defense groups amid rising threats tied to illegal logging, gold mining, and drug trafficking in indigenous lands. The escalating violence underscores the deadly risks faced by those opposing environmental destruction and land encroachment.
Defenders of forests and rivers killed at rate of one every three days in 2025, with 85% of deaths in Latin AmericaNature and land defenders were murdered at the rate of one every three days last year, prompting many communities to set up self-defence units, according to the latest annual death toll by the independent watchdog Global Witness.Organised crime groups or professional killers were implicated in more than a third of the 124 killings of defenders in 2025 as narco-trafficking activities overlapped with intrusions into indigenous territories and environmental crime, such as illegal logging and wildcat gold mining. Continue reading...
