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environmental defenders

Environmental Defenders Remain Among World’s Most Targeted Activists

A new report found that environmental defenders are increasingly encountering overlapping networks of government officials, corporations, criminal groups and private security forces.

By Katie Surma

 People rally against a Canadian mining project at the Quimsacocha moorlands in Cuenca, Ecuador, on Sept. 16, 2025. Credit: Galo Paguay/AFP via Getty Images
Yuvelis Morales Blanco stands next to Colombia’s Magdalena River. Credit: Christian EscobarMora for the Goldman Environmental Prize

Rights of Nature Defender Wins Goldman Prize for Protecting Colombia’s Magdalena River From Fracking

By Katie Surma
Waorani Indigenous leaders protest oil exploitation in Yasuni National Park in front of Quito’s Constitutional Court on Aug. 20, 2025. Credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images

The Latest Tactic for Silencing Ecuador’s Environmental Defenders: Shuttering Their Bank Accounts

By Katie Surma
People attend the funeral of Efraín Fueres. Fueres, 46, was gunned down last month in Cotacachi, Ecuador, where he was marching in protest of high costs of living and government crackdowns on Indigenous and environmental activists. Credit: La Raíz

The Death Toll Is Rising from Ecuador’s Crackdown on Protesters

By Katie Surma
Members of CONAIE observe a moment of silence honoring Efraín Fueres on Monday in Quito, Ecuador. Credit: Franklin Jacome/Agencia Press South via Getty Images

Indigenous Land Defender Killed in Ecuador as Government Cracks Down on Environmental and Human Rights Activists

By Katie Surma
People gather for a protest against the disappearance of Mapuche leader and environmental defender Julia Chuñil in front of La Moneda Palace on April 8 in Santiago, Chile. Credit: Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu via Getty Images

An Average Week in 2024: Three Environmental Defenders Murdered or Disappeared

By Katie Surma
Waorani people protest against the oil tenders opened by the Ecuadorian Government on May 13 in Quito, Ecuador. Credit: Franklin Jacome/Agencia Press South via Getty Images

US Guts Criticism of Indigenous Rights Abuses, Mentions of Climate Change From Annual Human Rights Reports

By Katie Surma, Peter Aldhous
Human rights attorney Alejandra Gonza (right) stands with Brenda Díaz Valencia, who is holding a photo of her father, Antonio Díaz Valencia, and his colleague Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca, in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 3, 2024. The two men disappeared after criticizing mining practices in Mexico. Credit: Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images

Defending Human Rights Is Dangerous. Defending Nature Makes It Even Riskier

By Katie Surma
People attend the burial of indigenous environmental activist Quinto Inuma Alvarado, leader of the Kichwa community in remote Peru, on Dec. 2, 2023. Credit: Christian Sierra/AFP via Getty Images

Rural Human Rights Defenders Face Serious and Growing Risks, UN Report Reveals

By Katie Surma
People attend the burial of 14-year-old Colombian environmental activist Breiner David Cucuname, who was shot dead during a rural security patrol on Jan. 14, 2022 in the indigenous community of Las Delicias in Colombia’s Cauca Department. Credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images

‘Appalling Figures’: At Least Three Environmental Defenders Killed Per Week in 2023

By Katie Surma
National Police officers remove climate activists from trees in Spain's Madrid Río Park. The environmental group Extinction Rebellion was protesting against tree felling that began in the park on Dec. 11, 2023. Credit: Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images

United Nations Official Says State Repression of Environmental Defenders Threatens Democracy and Human Rights

By Keerti Gopal, Bob Berwyn

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