The just-released Global Witness Collective power: The struggle for protection for land and environmental defenders report documents that 124 land and environmental defenders were killed around the world in 2025.
In the countries where Peace Brigades International has accompaniment projects, 85 defenders were killed: 39 in Colombia, 12 in Honduras, 12 in The Philippines, 10 in Mexico, 8 in Guatemala, 3 in Nicaragua, and 1 in Indonesia.
Global Witness comments: “Every one of these deaths represents an attempt, in the most brutal fashion, to impose a chilling effect on movements that resist environmental and human right abuses. We remember the families, friends and communities who have been left devastated by each attack.”
Their report also observes: “Weaknesses in state protection mechanisms – specialised tools for defenders under threat – also leave defenders exposed. In 2025, we recorded the killings of two Mexican defenders who were covered by such schemes. We also recorded five killings in Honduras of defenders who were members of a campesino cooperative that had previously been granted protective measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.”
With respect to trends, the report notes: “Land disputes triggered more than half of the killings we documented in 2025, demonstrating how authorities’ failure to resolve competing land claims or demarcate territory paves the way for attacks on defenders and their communities. Extractive projects also continue to drive killings. Mining emerged as the deadliest sector, with 11 related cases in 2025.”
The report concludes with multiple recommendations including:
-“State protection mechanisms should shift from a narrow focus on individual defenders towards collective protection approaches that recognise that in most cases entire communities, organisations and social movements are targeted.”
-“Governments should focus not only on prosecuting material perpetrators but also those who finance, organise or benefit from attacks. Investigative authorities should systematically examine corporate actors, political officials, security forces and organised criminal groups that may be connected to violence against defenders.”
To read the full report, go to: Collective power: The struggle for protection for land and environmental defenders.
