Being An Environmentalist In Colombia Is Deadly
Of the 177 “green” activists killed worldwide last year, 60 died in this South American country.
Over the past 10 years, more than 2,000 brutal and fatal attacks on activists of environmental organizations and movements have been recorded worldwide. Latin America is the most dangerous continent for environmentalists, and the most violent country against them is Colombia.
In 2022, at least 177 environmental activists were killed around the world, about sixty of them died in Colombia. This frightening data was published by the non-governmental organization Global Witness.
“Although this overall figure is slightly lower than last year, when 200 environmentalists were killed, the situation has not significantly improved,” the British NGO said.
In other words, on average, a “green” activist died a violent death every two days in 2022 on a global scale. In 2022, Latin America accounted for 88% of these 177 deaths worldwide, with 60 in Colombia alone, a figure that doubled from 2021.
“In this South American country, indigenous peoples, indigenous communities, small farmers, and environmentalists have once again been hit hard,” Global Witness analysts warned. In the rest of the world, protecting nature has cost the lives of 34 people in Brazil, 31 in Mexico, 14 in Honduras, and 11 in the Philippines.