According to a report released on Wednesday by the advocacy group Global Witness, Latin America saw the highest number of environmentalist deaths worldwide in 2017.
Up to 200 environmentalists were killed worldwide in 2021, with 75 percent of the deaths taking place in Latin America. The entire number was 227 in 2020.
Mexico had the most deaths at 54 and jumped from its number of 30 reported in 2020. Colombia and Brazil came next, with 33 and 26 cases respectively.
Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Peru together accounted for over half the total deaths. Indigenous people were the recipients of more than 40% of the attacks, said the report.
In Mexico, officials believe local authorities are implicated in about 40% of the killings based on preliminary investigations.
Land conflicts biggest cause
“These lethal attacks continue to take place in the context of a wider range of threats against defenders who are being targeted by the government, business and other non-state actors with violence, intimidation, smear campaigns, and criminalization,” the organization said in its report.
“This figure is likely to be higher as the reasons behind attacks on land and environmental defenders are often not properly investigated nor reported,” it added.
Global Witness said land conflicts such as resource exploitation, logging, mining, and large-scale agriculture were behind many attacks.
Killings related to mining and extraction activities were highest with 27 cases. Mexico, the Philippines, and Venezuela had 14, 6, and 4 cases respectively.