Rising homocides of environmental activists

A problem that is rarely reported about. The rising death of groups who are campaigning against environmental or climate threats. Four people a week have died on average since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, Global Witness says. The issue of climate change is slowly becoming one of politics and conspiracy rather than something that is happening here and now. It should not be something that we just pick and choose if we believe it or not. Climate change is a huge threat to our existence and there is no denying about that, but what about the people protesting to defend it? 

A total of 212 murders were reported in 2019 and over half of them were concentrated in 2 countries - Colombia and the Philippines. Global Witness says that many more people were subjected to violent attacks, arrests, death threats, sexual violence or legal action. Merely for giving light to an issue that is happening now and cannot be ignored. This situation is getting worse since the coronavirus pandemic. 

A spokesman for Global Witness added: "Communities across the world are standing up to carbon-intensive industries and exposing unsustainable business practices wreaking havoc on ecosystems and our climate. These are the people on the frontline of the climate crisis trying to protect climate critical areas and reverse these devastating practices." These defenders who are being brutally murdered are defending against the unjust, discriminatory, corrupt or damaging exploitation of natural resources or the environment. Sadly, this has disproportionately affected women as one in 10 of the reported fatalities were women. 

In the UK climate activists, unable to take to the streets, say part of their role in lockdown is giving a voice to people in other parts of the world for whom the risks are so much greater. And that is exactly what I am doing in this blog. We need to raise the issue of this problem in order to tackle it. We have to understand how dangerous it can be to defend threats to the climate in other parts of the world. 

According to Sky News, these are the statistics of deaths by country of environmental activists in 2019, which is quite frankly shocking: 

• Colombia - 64
• Philippines - 43
• Mexico - 18 
• Honduras - 14 

If we combine these figures with those from other countries, the killings of environmental defends over the past 15 years are reaching levels usually associated with war zones. At least 1,558 people in 50 states were killed between 2002 and 2017 while trying to protect their land, water or local wildlife, revealed by a study published in Nature Sustainability. The rate of deaths in this period increased from 2 to 4 a week, which the authors attributed to rising environmental stress as the global demand for resources pushes mining, farming and other extractive industries into ever remote regions. 

These killings are closely related to the composition of government. Whether it is a democratic or non-democratic country. Almost all of the killings occurred in countries that scored lowest for corruption, fundamental rights, government powers, transparency and legal oversight. This resulting in most of these being in tropical or subtropical countries, particularly in Central and South America. 

Attacks on indigenous people in these areas is an even bigger threat. This is clear in Brazil where Jair Bolsonaro has taken power with a promise that indigenous people must adapt to the majority or disappear. He is putting exploitation of the environment first. This has encouraged dozens of gold miners to invade remote indigenous reserves in the Brazilian Amazon, which has resulted in a local leader being stabbed to death. 

Last year, about 50 gold miners were reported to have invaded the Waiapi indigenous reserve in the state of Amapa. The men were spotted days after the murder of the indigenous communities leader, Emyra Waiapi, whose body was found near the village of Mariry early on Wednesday. Indigenous people had to flee to the bigger village of Aramira due to more shots being fired, resulting in them calling for urgent police help with the fear of a bloodbath. Many people in the community have sent desperate audio messages pleading for police and army help from local councillors and leaders. Many high profile people were involved in this incident, with singer Caetano Veloso, being among those who shared the tribe's appeal for help. She recorded a video stating, "I ask the Brazilian authorities for help, in the name of the dignity of Brazil in the world, hear this cry." 

These murders by defenders of environments is not helping when you have governments of certain countries actively encouraging the eradication of communities that live in the rainforest. The Jair Bolsonero government in Brazil is encouraging the conflict, encouraging people to enter. He recently compared indigenous people living traditional lives on their reserves to "prehistoric men". There is the increasing worry that the death of indigenous communities is heralding a new wave of violence aimed at scaring people off their ancestral lands and enabling further destruction of the rainforest, with all the scientifically established ramifications that has for the exacerbation of climate change. 

These activists are putting their lives at risk to defend a cause that could kill us in the long run. It is ludicrous that as a result, many are being murdered. Additionally, indigenous communities are being forced to move and eradicated by people who are partaking in illegal activities in their own land. This includes illegal logging, mining, land grabbing and pollution. Last year measured a record number of deaths by these activists. We cannot let this repeat this year.