Unidos y Unidas por las Personas Defensoras del Medio Ambiente y del Territorio

The STAND Initiative, a partnership between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Alliance for Land, Indigenous, and Environmental Defenders (ALLIED), aims to protect environmental and territory defenders who face threats such as criminalization, physical aggression, and murder. Operating in Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, and Liberia, the initiative focuses on strengthening prevention strategies for underserved communities and civil society organizations. Its strategy comprises three main pillars: capacity building to improve advocacy and legal accountability, the Defender Seed Grant Fund (DSGF) providing small grants for evidence-based advocacy, and the creation of collaborative alliances to strengthen local solidarity networks and increase government and private sector accountability.

• Environmental and territory defenders face severe security risks, including criminalization, loss of assets, physical attacks, and murder, particularly in nations reliant on large-scale infrastructure or natural resource extraction.
• The primary drivers of attacks against environmental defenders are corruption, inefficient enforcement of environmental protection laws, and a lack of recognition of their rights by the private sector and states.
• The STAND Initiative implements a three-pronged strategy to support defenders: capacity building for legal and judicial accountability, the Defender Seed Grant Fund (DSGF) for small advocacy grants, and collaborative alliances to enhance solidarity networks.
• The initiative specifically targets underserved and underrepresented communities in areas characterized by weak governance, as well as civil society organizations facing government-sanctioned judicial abuse.

APA

World Resources Institute (2024). Unidos y Unidas por las Personas Defensoras del Medio Ambiente y del Territorio. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-03/environmental-defenders-spanish.pdf?VersionId=n.jU0TyZ7K6j5VeVcstI_7K8Zy5WTuC6

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Unidos y Unidas por las Personas Defensoras del Medio Ambiente y del Territorio. 2024. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-03/environmental-defenders-spanish.pdf?VersionId=n.jU0TyZ7K6j5VeVcstI_7K8Zy5WTuC6.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Unidos y Unidas por las Personas Defensoras del Medio Ambiente y del Territorio |date=2024 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-03/environmental-defenders-spanish.pdf?VersionId=n.jU0TyZ7K6j5VeVcstI_7K8Zy5WTuC6 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2024unidos, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Unidos y Unidas por las Personas Defensoras del Medio Ambiente y del Territorio}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2024}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-03/environmental-defenders-spanish.pdf?VersionId=n.jU0TyZ7K6j5VeVcstI_7K8Zy5WTuC6}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }