Just in one year, in 2024, nearly 150 environmental defenders were murdered or disappeared without a global scale, a phenomenon that specifically affects Latin America, primarily Colombia, according to a report by the Global Witness Non -Governmental Organization.
"Global Witness recorded 146 murders and disappearances for a long period of defenders of land and the environment in 2024," the NGO summarizes in its report. The number corresponds to "about three people who were murdered or disappeared every week throughout 2024," he underlines.
The number is reduced compared to 2023 (196,) but "it does not mean that the situation for defenders has improved," the organization continues, explaining that in many countries, numbers are underestimated.
According to the Global Witness report, the four cases of this nature were recorded in Latin America.
Colombia is the country where ecologists paid the heaviest blood tax: 48 murders were recorded last year, compared to 79 in 2023. This country accounts for one -third of the victims on a global scale.
"Indigenous peoples, communities of farmers and people of African descent living in Colombia are afraid to report damage to the environment caused by the mining industries," particularly defenders in areas near fields of "armed organizations" and "in war".
Colombia, where various armed organizations act on illegal mining and drug trafficking to secure revenue, is followed by Guatemala (20), Mexico (19), Brazil (12) and the Philippines (8).
Since 2012, the year that has started to systematically keep data on the phenomenon, the number of nature defenders who have been murdered or disappeared has reached 2,253 people.
