Raíces de resistencia: Documentando las luchas de las personas que defienden los derechos al ambiente y al territorio

In 2024, 146 environmental and land defenders were killed or disappeared globally, with 82% of cases occurring in Latin America. The report identifies mining as the deadliest industry for defenders and highlights the role of organized crime and state actors in these attacks. It specifically examines the critical situations in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines, Honduras, and Guatemala, while detailing the systemic failures of state protection mechanisms and the criminalization of activism. The document calls for the ratification of the Escazú Agreement, the implementation of binding corporate due diligence laws, and the recognition of defenders' roles in climate solutions ahead of COP30.

• In 2024, Global Witness documented 146 killings and long-term disappearances of environmental and land defenders worldwide, averaging approximately three people per week.
• Latin America remains the most dangerous region, accounting for 82% of all documented cases in 2024. Indigenous peoples and peasants are the most targeted groups, with 45 defenders from each category killed or disappeared during the year.
• Colombia is the deadliest country for these defenders, representing one-third of all lethal attacks documented globally in 2024, with 48 recorded killings.
• Guatemala saw a significant surge in violence, with killings increasing from 4 in 2023 to 20 in 2024, making it the country with the highest number of killings per capita in the world for 2024.
• Mining is the most lethal industrial sector for defenders, linked to at least 29 cases in 2024, followed by logging (8 cases) and agribusiness (4 cases).
• Organized crime and state actors are major perpetrators; nearly one-third of 2024 cases are linked to organized crime, while state forces (military and police) are linked to 17 killings.
• State protection mechanisms, such as Colombia's UNP, are often ineffective or insufficient; in 2024, five defenders who had requested or received protection were still killed.
• Criminalization is the most common method used to silence defenders, with laws on terrorism, sedition, and defamation frequently weaponized against them.
• In the occupied Palestinian territories, Israeli forces have caused catastrophic environmental damage, including destroying 80% of Gaza's cropland by March 2025 and uprooting over one million olive trees since 2023.
• The report highlights a regression in global policy, noting the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the EU's weakening of legislation to protect defenders from corporate abuses.

APA

dos Santos, S. (2022). Raíces de resistencia: Documentando las luchas de las personas que defienden los derechos al ambiente y al territorio. Global Witness. https://globalwitness.org/es/campaigns/land-and-environmental-defenders/raices-de-resistencia/

Chicago

dos Santos, Selma. Raíces de resistencia: Documentando las luchas de las personas que defienden los derechos al ambiente y al territorio. Global Witness, 2022. https://globalwitness.org/es/campaigns/land-and-environmental-defenders/raices-de-resistencia/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=dos Santos |first1=Selma |title=Raíces de resistencia: Documentando las luchas de las personas que defienden los derechos al ambiente y al territorio |publisher=Global Witness |date=29 September 2022 |url=https://globalwitness.org/es/campaigns/land-and-environmental-defenders/raices-de-resistencia/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dossantos2022races, author = {dos Santos, Selma}, title = {{Raíces de resistencia: Documentando las luchas de las personas que defienden los derechos al ambiente y al territorio}}, institution = {Global Witness}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://globalwitness.org/es/campaigns/land-and-environmental-defenders/raices-de-resistencia/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }