At Least 124 Environmental Defenders Killed Worldwide Last Year

Sara Meléndez, an Indigenous environmental defender in Peru, whose brother was killed after opposing coca cultivation on community land. Leslie Searles / Global Witness Key takeaways Powered by Yahoo Scout. Yahoo is using AI to generate key points from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Global Witness reported that at least 124 environmental defenders were murdered last year, with land disputes being linked to over half of the killings. Latin America was the deadliest region for environmental defenders, with Colombia leading the world with 39 murders and Brazil following with 26. The report highlighted how deep cuts to foreign aid by wealthy nations have weakened human rights groups supporting environmental defenders, particularly affecting projects in Colombia and the Philippines.