Across the forests and territories of Latin America, a quiet war continues to claim the lives of those who stand between the land and those who would take it by force. In 2025, at least 124 environmental activists were killed worldwide, with Colombia and Brazil together accounting for more than half of those deaths — a pattern that has persisted for over a decade. These are not random tragedies but the predictable consequence of a world in which defending nature and ancestral territory can be a death sentence. The question Global Witness now places before the international community is not whe
Colombia and Brazil account for over half of global environmental activist killings in 2025
At least 124 environmental activists were killed globally in 2025, with 65 murdered in Colombia and Brazil, many indigenous people and small-scale farmers defending their land.