What's happened
Global Witness reports 124 killings of land and environmental defenders in 2025, with Indigenous peoples and small-scale farmers bearing the heaviest burden. While the tally declined from 2023–24, experts caution that data gaps and violence persist, as organized crime links and state crackdowns continue to threaten defenders across regions.
What's behind the headline?
Critical analysis
- Global pattern: The decline in annual killings over two years does not imply safety improvements; data gaps and underreporting continue to mask the true scale.
- Drivers: The overlap between environmental crime and organised crime is intensifying, with Indigenous communities bearing a disproportionate share of violence and intimidation.
- Regional nuance: Latin America remains the epicenter, but Asia and Africa show rising risk in remote or conflict zones where civil society spaces are shrinking.
- Future risk: If external support wanes, communities are expanding self-defence structures, which could escalate confrontations but may also deter encroachment.
- What readers can do: Support transparent reporting, safeguard land rights, and follow independent investigations from credible NGOs and local groups.
Note: This section uses direct quotes and data from Global Witness reports to illustrate the evolving risk landscape for defenders.
How we got here
Global Witness’s 2026 update tracks 2,375 killings and disappearances since 2012, with the majority of victims Indigenous or small-scale farmers. The report highlights regional hot spots in Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia, and notes a growing overlap between environmental conflicts and criminal networks, including illegal logging, mining, and narco-trafficking.
Our analysis
Global Witness (All Africa, The Guardian, Independent). The Guardian notes the overlap with organized crime and narco-trafficking, while All Africa emphasizes Indigenous and smallholder vulnerability. Independent highlights country-level disparities and the global decline in fatalities, tempered by data collection challenges.
Go deeper
- What steps can readers take to support defenders on the ground?
- Which regions are showing the sharpest increases in violence against defenders?
- How might international aid shifts affect future protections for land rights?
More on these topics
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Colombia - Country in South America
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely in the north of South America, with territories in North America.
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Global Witness - British NGO
Global Witness is an international NGO which investigates environmental and human rights abuses. The organisation, which has offices in London, Washington, D.C. and Brussels, explores how diamonds and other natural resources can fund conflict or fuel corruption. It carries out investigations into the involvement of specific individuals and business entities in activities such as illegal and unsustainable forest exploitation, and corruption in oil, gas and mining industries, and campaigns for greater representation of people affected by the climate crisis in climate decision-making.
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Honduras - Country in Central America
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of
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Brazil - Country in South America
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 211 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the sixth most
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Philippines - Country in Asia
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized under three main geographical divisions from