People protecting nature and land set up self-defence units amid threat of murder

Asháninka Indigenous people dance and sing during an annual celebration recognising the Asháninka territory. In July, Asháninka leaders on the Brazilian border with Peru petitioned the government for help after armed and masked men entered their homes.

Fotografia: Jorge Sáenz/AP Povos indígenas, pessoas que protegem a natureza e a terra, montam unidades de autodefesa diante da ameaça de assassinato Defensores de florestas e rios são mortos a uma taxa de um a cada três dias em 2025, com 85% das mortes na América Latina.

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleNature and land defenders were murdered at the rate of one every three days last year, prompting many communities to set up self-defence units, according to the latest annual death toll by the independent watchdog Global Witness.

Organised crime groups or professional killers were implicated in more than a third of the 124 killings of defenders in 2025 as narco-trafficking activities overlapped with intrusions into indigenous territories and environmental crime, such as illegal logging and wildcat gold mining.

This was particularly true in Latin America, which accounted for 85% of last year’s deaths of people trying to protect forests, rivers and other ecosystems.

A Colômbia registrou o maior número de mortes, com 39 assassinatos, seguida pelo Brasil com 26 e Honduras com 12. Na Ásia, o país mais perigoso para defensores foi as Filipinas, com 12 assassinatos – muitos durante repressões por forças de segurança estaduais.

View image in fullscreenAsháninka territory in Brazil sits along the winding Amônia River. Many defenders are now exposed to more organised crime with less assistance from the international community.

Photograph: Jorge Sáenz/APSince Global Witness began compiling statistics in 2012, the overall global tally is now 2,375 deaths and disappearances – on a par with a small-scale war.

On a more positive note, the headline figure has declined over the last two years, from 196 in 2023 and 142 in 2024, though the report authors say this is likely to be an underestimate because data collection is difficult in war zones and authoritarian regimes.

Muitos países e empresas também estão realizando ataques não letais contra defensores, incluindo criminalização e campanhas de difamação online.

Many defenders are now exposed to more organised crime with less assistance from the international community, partly as a result of cuts by the Trump administration.

O desmantelamento da USAID, que anteriormente apoiava iniciativas para povos indígenas cuidarem de suas próprias terras, teve implicações particularmente graves para os defensores," diz o relatório.

Almost three-quarters of the killings documented in 2025 were of Indigenous people and small-scale farmers targeted for defending their land. With less outside help, an increasing number of these communities are establishing their own territorial defence mechanisms.

O relatório destaca o exemplo da Guarda Indígena Kakataibo na Amazônia Peruana. Seis dos líderes da comunidade foram mortos desde 2020 em meio a crescentes incursões de grupos criminosos na floresta.

Starting in 2022 with a few dozen recruits, the guard now has more than 150 volunteers in its 10 bases.

At least a dozen other communities in Peru have organised self-defence units. Similar bodies have existed for some years in Colombia and Brazil. But it is risky.

Last year, seven Indigenous guards were murdered. In at least five of these cases, the killings were linked to organised crime.

Muitas comunidades florestais relatam que a ameaça narco está se aproximando. Em julho, líderes Asháninka na fronteira brasileira com o Peru solicitaram ajuda do governo após homens armados e mascarados entrarem em suas casas, aparentemente em busca de alvos de assassinato.

In the Ucayali basin on the other side of the border, Global Witness said there was a 600% increase in coca production between 2019 and 2023. This is pushing gangs to expand smuggling networks, including through the opening of illegal roads and trails through the forest.

Corruption further adds to the risks facing forest protectors who stand in their way because many local politicians and police are in the pay of the traffickers.

View image in fullscreenAn Indigenous person looks out over Apurímac River valley in Peru. Local leaders, environmental defenders and human rights activists have been threatened after calling for a more effective state presence across affected countries.

Fotografia: Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images Comunidades florestais pedem ajuda dos governos para aliviar essas pressões, mas há preocupações de que o oposto possa estar acontecendo.

Sob a liderança dos EUA, muitos governos de direita estão perseguindo repressões militares contra cultivadores de coca e traficantes de drogas, o que está empurrando as gangues narcóticas ainda mais para regiões remotas e territórios indígenas.

Ricardo Soberón, a former head of Peru’s anti-narcotics office, said many communities were also affected on the border of Peru and Colombia. “We are in a situation where transnational criminal groups have appropriated the daily life of the Huitoto, Quichua, Bora, Secoya Indigenous people, who live along the Putumayo basin,” he said.

De particular preocupação, ele acrescentou, eram as ameaças contra líderes locais, defensores ambientais e ativistas dos direitos humanos que pedem uma presença estatal mais eficaz.

He fears the newly elected rightwing governments in affected countries will make matters worse by militarising the conflict in line with the “America shield” priorities of the Trump administration.

Global Witness has urged the authorities to respect and work with nature and land defenders rather than making their role more difficult.

Toby Hill, the lead author of the report, said: “Defenders are the world’s eyes and ears on the ground. It’s thanks to them that we know when ecosystems are being destroyed, where forests are being cleared or rivers polluted.

We can’t forget the thousands of defenders around the world who are working every day to protect their territories and cultures under increasing pressure.”.