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Urgent Action: PBI-Honduras expresses concern about armed attack at COPINH Utopia Meeting and Friendship Centre

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:

“We show concern for the complaint made by Copinh Honduras It is important that people defending the land and the territory can do their work in a peaceful environment, also in the current pre-election situation. From PBI, we will be keeping a close eye on the security situation of COPINH in the coming weeks.”

The COPINH alert highlights:

“Firearm attack at the COPINH ‘Utopia’ Meeting and Friendship Center.

We denounce a serious incident that occurred yesterday, November 24, at Utopia, where an unknown person carried out a firearm attack. Fortunately, no one was hit or injured.

We demand a serious, diligent, and prompt investigation from the authorities to prevent this act from going unpunished. We warn that events like this occur within a context of electoral tensions and external pressures that exacerbate violence.”

Front Line Defenders has also posted: “On 24 November 2025, the Centro de Encuentros y Amistad ‘Utopía’ (Meeting and Friendship Centre ‘Utopia’), a COPINH facility located in Intibucá, Honduras, was attacked with firearms. COPINH members were carrying out their activities in the location.”

Front Line Defenders urges the State of Honduras to:

“1. Conduct an immediate, thorough and transparent investigation into the attack against COPINH, as well as the smear campaigns, incitement to hatred and threats they have been subjected to, so that these acts do not go unpunished.

  1. Adopt all necessary measures to ensure the full protection of COPINH and its members, guaranteeing their lives and integrity.
  2. Guarantee an environment free from attacks against human rights defenders, and ensure that all necessary and reasonable measures are taken to protect their safety, especially in the context of the national elections.”

Accompaniment

COPINH co-founder Berta Cáceres was murdered on March 2, 2016, for her opposition to the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River. COPINH’s coordinators have been accompanied by PBI-Honduras since May 2016.

Urgent Action: PBI-Mexico expresses concern about the murder of two defenders in Takuro, Michoacán

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has posted on social media:

“We express our concern about the situation in Takuro, Michoacán, pointed out in the urgent action disseminated by Red TDT and Red Solidaria DH

From PBI Mexico we are following up and monitoring the context to support the defenders we accompany.”

That Urgent Action highlights:

“At approximately nine o’clock in the morning on Sunday, November 23, Leovigildo Molina Elías, defender of the territory, and Agustín Martínez Rojas, belonging to the P’urhépecha Community of Takuro, were murdered. They were killed while they were in the OXXO of the gas station located in the Community of Carapan, Municipality of Chilchota, Michoacán. They had previously been threatened, as had several community members of Takuro, by a group antagonistic to the community and its traditional authorities.”

Among the demands noted in that Urgent Action is: “Grant collective protection measures from the Federal Mechanism for community authorities, land defenders, and local communicators.”

The Human Rights Solidarity Network (Red Solidaria DH) is accompanied by the Peace Brigades International.

PBI-Canada attentive to the risk of aggressions against Indigenous land and environmental defenders resisting major projects

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: UBCIC image.

Yesterday, Global News reported: “Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have signed a memorandum of understanding that commits them to working toward building an oil pipeline to the West Coast.”

UBCIC: “We will not stand idly by”

In response, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) says: “We will not stand by while the Carney government and Alberta attempt to bulldoze our rights and disregard the catastrophic risks of a spill in the corporate profit interests of the global fossil fuel industry. No bilateral deal can extinguish our inherent title and rights, and no federal legislation can erase the Crown’s obligation to obtain free, prior, and informed consent.”

CFN: “Member Nations will use every tool in their toolbox”

And Marilyn Slett, President of the Coastal First Nations (CFN)-Great Bear Initiative and elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, says: “As the Rights and Title Holders of the Central and North Coast and Haida Gwaii, we are here to remind the Alberta government, the federal government, and any potential private proponent that we will never allow oil tankers on our coast, and that this pipeline project will never happen.”

Ksi Lisims and LNG Canada Phase 2

The Canada-Alberta memorandum of understanding on a new bitumen pipeline follows the Carney government’s recommendations to the Major Projects Office to fast-track approvals for the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal (that would be fed by the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline on Gitanyow territory) and the LNG Canada Phase 2 expansion (that would involve the construction of two compressor stations on Wet’suwet’en territory to increase the flow of Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline).

North Coast Transmission Line

It also follows the recommendation to fast-track the North Coast Transmission Line that would power multiple other projects.

Wet’suwet’en land defender Molly Wickham (Sleydo’) has posted on Instagram: “Recently, Carney visited the North and announced the government and industry’s plan to create a ‘conservation corridor’ through the North to the coast and to the Yukon, opening up all the unceded Indigenous lands along the way to every type of industry that can make them billions of dollars.”

Wickham further noted: “If you plan to oppose open pit coal mines, mines of all kinds, pipelines (oil and gas), LNG facilities creating Hell on earth conditions in your backyard, if you care about the climate crisis that is currently worsening, then THIS (transmission line) is the project to oppose and put everything you’ve got into stopping it. Everything else that’s coming is dependent on this project.”

Video still from The Juice Media that highlights that the Site C hydroelectric dam on the Peace River near Fort St. John in northeastern BC would be connected to the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal to be built near Gingolx north of Prince Rupert in northwestern BC.

The Tyee has previously reported: “The North Coast Transmission Line is slated to run about 450 kilometres between Prince George and Terrace. It would deliver increased electrical capacity to B.C.’s northwest, in order to expand industries like mining and LNG production.”

The Narwhal has reported that the electricity carried by the 2,200-megawatt North Coast transmission line could go to multiple megaprojects including mines (900 megawatts, of which 220 could go to the KSM mine and 307 could go to Galore Creek), as well as to critical mineral mines in the “Golden Triangle” (1,000 megawatts), and to LNG (including possibly 600 megawatts to the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal).

Image from BC Hydro.

PBI-Canada concerns

PBI-Canada remains attentive to the Indigenous land and environmental defenders who may resist the construction of a new bitumen oil pipeline, the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission fracked gas pipeline, compressor stations on Wet’suwet’en territory, the North Coast Transmission Line, and multiple other extractivist megaprojects that would impact Indigenous territories in British Columbia.

Among our specific concerns is the safety and protection of Indigenous land defenders who face criminalization, police violence and surveillance for upholding their sovereign rights as well as their right to free, prior and informed consent.

That criminalization can include the use of court injunctions (a critique of these injunctions can be read in this Toronto Metropolitan University Law Review article by Shiri Pasternak and Irina Ceric), police violence by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (specifically by its C-IRG unit now under systemic investigation by a federal watchdog agency) and surveillance by Canadian Security Intelligence Service (the subject of recent CBC News investigative reports).

A final investment decision on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline is expected by the end of the year with construction starting soon thereafter, the Alberta government intends to submit a proposal for the next oil pipeline to the Major Projects Office next spring, construction on the North Coast Transmission Line could begin in the summer of 2026, while the construction of the compressor stations on Wet’suwet’en territory could be fast-tracked by the Major Projects Office.

Ring of Fire

We also remain attentive to the fast-tracking of critical mineral mining on Indigenous territories in the “Ring of Fire” area of northern Ontario. This past summer, Neskantaga and Attawapiskat land and environmental defenders began constructing a village to block road construction to the Ring of Fire.

Construction on the Webequie Supply Road to the Ring of Fire area could begin in June 2026. The Government of Ontario now says it hopes to see “shovels in the ground” for the Marten Falls Community Access Road (MFCAR) by next August.

The Northern Road Link would connect the Webequie supply road and Marten Falls community access road and intersect with where the Neskantaga and Attawapiskat land defenders are constructing the village.

While the timeline of that road is not clear at this moment, proponents want to see construction on the Eagle’s Nest mine, the first mine that could be operational in the Ring of Fire area, start in 2027.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) would be involved in the response to Indigenous protests and blockades of the Ring of Fire.

In response to the warning of Indigenous blockades against mining without consent, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has stated: “You can’t break the law. Simple as that. … They need to move on or they’ll be dealt with appropriately.” Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Sol Mamakwa cautions: “What is the OPP going to do to the First Nations, once they start fighting on the land? That’s the scary part.”

PBI-Turtle Island

The Brussels-based International Office of Peace Brigades International recently highlighted: “This last year saw our team in Canada begin developing a framework to extend PBI’s protective accompaniment into a Northern territory. This transformative proposition would mark a move away from traditional models and start to recognise and address the human rights abuses that threaten us all.”

Stay tuned for more.

PBI-Guatemala notes community resistance to Cerro Blanco project acquired by Canadian mining company

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Guatemala Facebook banner image.

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:

“Community leaders and environmentalist organizations have said they will not cease resistance to mining due to the risk of water pollution in the municipality of Asunción Mita, Jutiapa, east of Guatemala, where the Cerro Blanco project has been acquired by a new company.”

In their social media post, PBI-Guatemala shared a Prensa Comunitaria article titled Resistance against Cerro Blanco mining continues due to the risk of water contamination (November 20, 2025).

That article reports:

“Community leaders and environmental organizations have said they will not cease resistance to mining because of the risk of water contamination in the municipality of Asunción Mita, Jutiapa, in eastern Guatemala, where the Cerro Blanco project has been acquired by a new company.

Although the Cerro Blanco mining project began in 1997, when the Guatemalan government granted the exploration license, it was not until 2007 that the Guatemalan company Entre Mares, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Goldcorp Inc., obtained the exploitation permit.

On May 31, 2017, Bluestone Resources acquired the Cerro Blanco project in its entirety to extract gold and silver, then in 2021, the company announced a restructuring and was renamed Elevar Resources.

On January 13, 2025, the Cerro Blanco project was acquired by the Canadian company Aura Minerals.”

Last month, Prensa Comunitaria reported on the Mesoamerican Caravan for Climate and Life – that was remotely accompanied by PBI-Canada – visiting Jutiapa, Guatemala and learning about community resistance to the mine.

That article noted: “At the beginning of 2025, the Canadian company Aura Minerals completed the purchase of Bluestone Resources, the previous owner of the deposit, and renamed the project ‘Era Dorada’ [Golden Era]. However, the change of hands has not implied an ethical or technical transformation: the project continues to be surrounded by serious legal, environmental and social questions, while seeking to advance its open-pit exploitation despite massive popular rejection.”

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Mexico accompanies the People’s Front as water defenders file complaints with the Puebla State Human Rights Commission

By
Brent Patterson
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On November 26, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on social media:

“Today we accompanied the Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala Peoples’ Front (FPDTA) during their press conference in front of the Puebla State Human Rights Commission (CDH), where they denounced the criminalization faced by communities and water defenders in the state.

Later, they filed a formal complaint with the CDH regarding the risks they face due to their legitimate work defending their territory and human rights.

PBI Mexico continues to support human rights defenders in their work protecting water and their communities.”

La Jornada de Oriente further reports: “[Water defender Pascual Bermúdez Chantes] filed complaints with the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) and the Human Rights Commission (CDH) for an alleged attack against him and for the actions of municipal authorities in the conflict over the well known as Pavigi.”

“He said that on October 29, when he was inside Pavigi Park, an armed man came out of the bathroom area and fired three shots at him, without injuring him. He added that, after the shooting, the alleged aggressor tried to flee under the custody of municipal police who maintain surveillance on the premises, which, in his opinion, reinforces the suspicion of collusion by local authorities.”

The article also notes: “Yesenia Popoca, a member of the Committee in Defense of Water in the municipality of Nealtican, filed another complaint with the CDH for harassment by municipal police against her and other participants in the movement … who oppose the extraction of water in the region.”

Urbano Pueblo adds: “Yesenia Popoca, lawyer of the Water Defense Committee in Nealtican, said that about a month ago she was the victim of mockery and verbal aggression by the mayor Imelda Gil Osorio and her councillors, who allegedly questioned her professional capacity and made sexist comments to her. This is because in a meeting she asked them to reverse the water concession given to private companies for the supply of the vital liquid of the region. She added that she has already filed the corresponding complaint with the CDH Puebla, but more than two weeks have passed without receiving a response in this regard.”

Municipios also notes: “At the demonstration on Wednesday, November 26, water defenders from the municipalities of Xoxtla and Nealtican attended. During the meeting, outside the State Human Rights Commission of Puebla, they denounce that there are violations of universal guarantees by their respective municipalities and the Operator System of Drinking Water and Sewerage Services of Puebla (SOAPAP).”

And El Sol de Puebla further reports: “Activists in favor of the defense of water in San Miguel Xoxtla, together with residents of the municipality, filed a collective complaint with the State Human Rights Commission (CDH) for the actions of the mayor, Guadalupe Ortiz Pérez, regarding the problem of the use of the vital liquid.”

The Urbano Puebla article also highlights: “Juan Carlos Solis, lawyer for the Xoxtla water defenders, said that Soapap and authorities of different kinds have activated a criminalization campaign against them. He added that Agua de Puebla and the capital’s City Council are extracting more than 10 million cubic meters of water from the wells of that municipality and reported that this Wednesday they will also file a complaint with the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in the investigation of crimes against human rights defenders and journalists.”

Peace Brigades International has accompanied the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala since early 2020.

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading: PBI-Mexico accompanies the Peoples’ Front as community assembly creates drinking water committee in Xoxtla, Puebla (PBI-Canada article, November 25, 2025).

The PBI-Colombia accompaniment of lawyer Daniel Prado and the sentencing of Santiago Uribe in the 12 Apostles trial

By
Brent Patterson
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The Associated Press reports: “[Santiago Uribe] a brother of former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was sentenced Tuesday [November 25] to 28 years in prison for his alleged role in an illegal paramilitary group linked to hundreds of killings during the peak of Colombia’s civil war.”

That article continues: “Prosecutors said that in the 1990s Santiago Uribe backed a group known as The 12 Apostles, which has been linked to at least 300 slayings and dozens of forced disappearances.”

El Pais adds: “Specifically, he was convicted of aggravated homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime while leading a paramilitary group called Los 12 Apóstoles (The 12 Apostles). He was found guilty in the death of Camilo Barrientos, a bus driver from Yarumal, according to the ruling issued Tuesday by the Superior Court of Antioquia.”

PBI accompaniment of Daniel Prado

Daniel Prado, a lawyer with the Colombian non-governmental organization Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (CIJP), represented victims in the emblematic case of “Los Doce Apóstoles” (12 Apostles).

Lawyers for Lawyers has previously explained: “Following the issuing of an arrest warrant against Santiago Uribe Vélez, the primary suspect in the 12 Apostles case, on 19 February 2016, threats and harassment against Prado considerably intensified, as did threats and harassment against witnesses and judicial officials involved in the case.”

In August 2019, Sue Willman, a member of the Colombia Caravana UK Lawyers Group, wrote: “I first heard about the case [of the 12 Apostles] and came across Daniel Prado, lawyer for many of the alleged murder victims last year, when he visited London to speak about the trial; he was visibly shaking when describing fears for his safety. …He depends on accompaniment by Peace Brigades International volunteer field observers, to monitor his safety when travelling to attend the trial.”

PBI-Colombia has also noted: “At the end of 2017, Prado received several threats and someone loosened all four tyres from his car.”

In August 2018, Prado told Nathalie Bienfait at PBI-Colombia: “These are tense times; you can feel the fear and the pressure.”

In May 2020, a PBI-Colombia Action Alert noted: “Prado reported the presence of a high-power drone which fell into the patio of his residence; in addition to facing a threats and intimidation campaign as the victims’ council in the criminal case against the paramilitary group known as Los 12 Apóstoles.”

Commenting on PBI accompaniment, Prado stated: “It generates personal, psychological and physical security… if you go alone your attitude is different that if you feel the support of an international organization that is with you.”

Implications of the conviction of Uribe

El Pais has commented: “[Former President Álvaro Uribe] has been leading the right-wing movement, waiting for the blocs and alliances to solidify, and maneuvering to build a grand coalition to counter the left’s ambitions, which are seeking a successor to President Gustavo Petro in the 2026 elections.”

“He had also announced his intention to run again for the Senate in the March legislative elections, which precede the presidential elections and, through simultaneous primaries to choose candidates, effectively become a first round.”

That article highlights: “This momentum dissipated with the 28-year prison sentence handed down to his younger brother, the businessman and cattle rancher Santiago Uribe, also on appeal, for crimes related to paramilitary activity.”

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Colombia video: Daniel Prado Albarracín: “What motivates me to be a defender is rebellion.” (September 2020) “Daniel Prado Albarracín, associate lawyer with the human rights organisation Comisión de Justicia y Paz, speaks with PBI about the case against Santiago Uribe Vélez (“Los Doce Apóstoles”), and his motivation as a human rights defender.”

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa at hearing related to the fight against the Los Manantiales mine

By
Brent Patterson
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On November 21, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media:

“Yesterday, #PBI accompanied an oral and public debate with the defenders of the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa, who have been criminalised for their fight against pollution from the Los Manantiales quarry.

The technical witness, Guadalupe Argentina, an anthropologist, indicated in her report that the prior consultation was carried out with only 15 people, all of whom were direct employees of the company, with biased and unrepresentative questions.

“As their exploitation is open-pit, they need to get rid of the soil. They dumped it on the football fields and turned the community’s recreational areas into polluted spaces,” said the second witness, Ubaldino Pérez, a member of the La Prensa community, about the mine’s waste, which caused multiple health problems in children and adults.

Next hearing: 28 November”

Today (November 24), Prensa Comunitaria reported:

“On November 21, the Drug Activity Criminal Sentencing Court of the department of Chiquimula held the ninth hearing of the trial against ten indigenous authorities of the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa, Chiquimula, who are facing a process of criminalization for their fight against the operations of the Los Manantiales Quarry.

Two defense witnesses appeared at the hearing and were heard by Judge Silvia Lorena Solares.

Guadalupe García, anthropologist and member of the Extractive Industries Observatory (OIE), responded to questions regarding the 2021 report “History of the Los Manantiales Quarry Mining Project”.

While Ubaldino García, the second witness, from the village of La Presa and a member of the Olopa resistance, said that the community organization of the Ch’orti’ indigenous people has been going on for many years and that this time has allowed them to dialogue and seek actions and solutions to the needs of the community.

However, he added that since the appearance of the company in the region, it began to generate mistrust and conflicts in the 14 communities that make up the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council in Olopa. García blamed the company for violating the rights of people and the Mayan Ch’orti’ community.

The defense attorney of the authorities, Francisco Vivar, said that the conclusions of the case will be made in the next hearing. “There we will be proving with all the certainty of the case the innocence of our colleagues,” he said.”

The full Prensa Comunitaria article can be read at Cantera Los Manantiales violentó el derecho de consulta afirma testiga en juicio contra autoridades Ch’orti’ (Juan Bautista Xol, Prensa Comunitaria, November 25, 2025).

PBI-Colombia accompanies ASCAMCAT as Verification Commission observes human rights violations in Catatumbo

By
Brent Patterson
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On November 22, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on social media:

“In the context of the humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding in Catatumbo since January 2025, on 12, 13 and 14 November we accompanied ASCAMCAT during the Verification Commission in the villages of Versalles, Beltrania, Campo Seis (in the municipality of Tibú) and in the district of Filo Gringo (municipality of El Tarra).

During the two days of the Commission, serious human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL) were observed.

PBI continues to support ASCAMCAT in its call for respect for the seven minimum humanitarian standards in the Catatumbo region and for effective measures to be taken to protect civil society and guarantee access to basic services.”

PBI-Canada also posted about this on November 14 in our article titled: PBI-Colombia accompanies the Campesina Association of Catatumbo (ASCAMCAT) on Humanitarian Verification Mission.

That article was based on social media posts by ASCAMCAT, Vivamos Humanos and PBI-Colombia on Instagram.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Honduras accompanies COPINH at trial related to the murder of Berta Caceres; verdict expected on December 9

By
Brent Patterson
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On November 14, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on social media:

“This week, we accompanied Copinh Honduras during the closing arguments in the trial against two former members of the Honduran National Police who, according to the prosecution, altered and tampered with key evidence in the murder of Lenca indigenous defender Berta Cáceres. PBI will be closely monitoring the verdict, which is due to be handed down on 9 December.”

On October 30, Criterio.hn further explained: “Regarding the judicial process that began on October 20 and lasted until this week, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) demanded that not only the material authors and those who coordinated the crime be tried, but also those who sought to cover up and protect the intellectual authors, who still remain in impunity.”

That article also commented: “Despite the progress in the convictions of the material authors and one of the middle managers, impunity persists for the intellectual authors of the crime. Daniel Atala Midence, former financial manager of DESA, has been a fugitive from justice since December 2023, when he was wanted after being linked to the murder of Berta Cáceres.”

In a feature interview published by Mongabay on November 10, Berta Zúñiga, 35, Berta’s daughter and the coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), notes that a report by a special group of independent experts appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

Zúñiga tells Mongabay: “There is no doubt that the report they are preparing will be presented in early January next year, shortly before the tenth anniversary of my mother’s burial, as it will be presented in Honduras and hopefully we will be able to present it in other places as well.”

And commenting on the threats to environmental defenders in Honduras, notes: “There are strong interests on the part of people, for example, Canadians, in Garifuna territory, or other nationalities who are appropriating the territories that ancestrally belong to the native peoples. We have also seen these criminal groups at the service of other large interests. It becomes a very complex climate and if there is no exercise of justice, it will be really difficult for the situation in our country to change.”

Accompaniment

COPINH co-founder Berta Cáceres was murdered on March 2, 2016, for her opposition to the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River. COPINH’s coordinators have been accompanied by PBI Honduras since May 2016.

COP30 neglects the protection of environmental defenders, but there are five new areas to work on for change

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: The Colombian minister of the environment Irene Vélez Torres and the Dutch deputy prime minister Sophie Hermans announced at COP30 that an International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels will be held in Santa Marta, Colombia on April 28-29, 2026.

The final “multirao” (from the Tupi-Guarani language meaning “collective effort”) text from the recent United Nations COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil makes no reference to environmental defenders.

At the conclusion of COP30, The Guardian also reported that the final text also makes “no mention of fossil fuels – the root cause of the climate crisis” and has “only one vague mention” of the rainforest.

The eight-page Global Multirao also only has a singular reference to “rights” which appears in the preamble paragraph that states:

“Acknowledging that climate change is a common concern of humankind and that Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the right to health, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as their land rights and traditional knowledge, and of local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity.”

The Global Mutirão: Uniting humanity in a global mobilization against climate change declaration can be read in full here.

Environmental defenders sidelined

On Friday November 21, Ginger Cassady, the Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network, commented: “In the closing days of the talks, attempts to dilute gender language, weaken rights protections and sideline environmental defenders have drawn strong backlash from civil society and many governments.”

AREAS TO FOLLOW

Along with these shortcomings, failures and entrenched power dynamics, there may be some new areas that could offer some hope.

1- Political Declaration on the Protection of Indigenous defenders

The Rainforest Action Network points with some optimism to the POLITICAL DECLARATION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMAZON BASIN AND ALL BIOMES OF BRAZIL FOR COP30.

This Declaration affirms six points including: “4. Protection of indigenous defenders. The safety of leaders and defenders who protect the forest must be an essential part of climate policies.”

2- Global initiative to increase protection of environmental human rights defenders

On November 13, Global Witness noted: “Campaigners are hailing today’s COP30 launch of a new global initiative aimed at advancing the recognition, protection, and participation of environmental defenders in climate decision and policy-making. Co-created with more than 300 environmental activists and defenders across Latin America, Africa, Asia-Pacific and beyond, the new Leaders Action Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders (LEAD) initiative is designed to centre the experience of people who bear the brunt of climate violence.”

Their announcement in the early days of COP30 further noted: “LEAD brings together governments, environmental human rights defenders, civil society leaders, UN agencies and institutions to coordinate transformative solutions to … increase their protection and reduce violence against them.”

3- Declaration on Information Integrity notes environmental journalists, defenders

Some hope can perhaps also be derived from Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and other countries signing the “Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change” at COP30.

The Declaration, noting concern about “deliberate attacks on environmental journalists, defenders” calls on governments to “ensure the safety of environmental journalists, defenders…”

4- U.S. legislation against harms to environmental defenders

On November 21, U.S. Senator Ed Markey issued a press release headlined: As COP30 Comes to a Close, Sen. Markey, Rep. Escobar Announce Legislation to Hold Accountable Those Who Harm Our Climate and Environmental Defenders Abroad.

That press release highlights that if this legislation were passed, it would ensure that “existing human rights and corruption sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act cover the corruption that leads to fueling the climate crisis, as well as human rights abuses committed against environmental defenders.”

5- Just Transition conference in Colombia, April 28-29, 2026

And on November 21, Colombia and the Netherlands also announced the Belém Declaration on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels.

At least twenty-four states are backing this Declaration including Belgium, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, the Netherlands and Spain.

The Fossil Fuel Treaty website reports:

“As COP30 negotiations draw to an end, and the most recent text released [on November 21] makes no mention of fossil fuels, the Governments of Colombia and the Netherlands show leadership by announcing they will co-host the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels. The announcement was made by the Minister of Environment of Colombia, Irene Vélez Torres, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Policy of the Netherlands, Sophie Hermans, during a high-level press conference in Belém.”

That update adds: “The landmark convening will take place on 28-29 April 2026, in the port city of Santa Marta, Colombia, which plays a significant role in coal exports.”

On November 22, The Guardian also reported as an outcome of COP30: “A commitment to a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels was not part of the formal deal in Belém, but Brazil backed an initiative outside the UN process, building on plan backed by Colombia and about 90 other nations.”

PBI-Canada will follow this initiative and other efforts that could contribute to the protection of environmental defenders.

Further reading: PBI-Canada hosts webinar on COP30 with Indigenous West Papuan land and environmental defenders, Global Witness policy advisor in Brazil (PBI-Canada article, November 20, 2025).

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