Violence against Environmental Defenders

Confronting Nature Crime in the Amazon

Environmental defenders play an important role in monitoring environmental conditions and reporting illegal activities in the region. Retaliation against them has often been associated with the expansion of environmental crimes, including those perpetrated by organized criminal groups.

The connection between environmental protection and public safety has been increasingly highlighted by different authorities in the region. Notably, in June 2025, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) established the Special Commission on Public Security and Transnational Illicit Activities in the Amazon Region (CESPIT), dedicated to strengthening regional safety and cooperation against transnational crimes affecting the integrity of the Amazon. The move is part of ACTO’s wider security agenda, which explicitly links the protection of the Amazon to the defense of human rights and the safety of the region’s populations.

Improved monitoring of attacks against defenders allows governments, local and cross-border authorities to understand the pressures associated with environmental crimes and to support evidence-based policy interventions to both protect the biome and those who defend it. Such monitoring also helps identify how different groups of defenders (including women, indigenous peoples and children) may be disproportionately affected.

Methodology, years covered and sources Chapter I, Section 6 — Violence against environmental defenders → ← Home