Protecting a forest, defending ancestral land or opposing illegal mining should never be a death sentence. Yet for people standing between valuable territory and those seeking to exploit it, environmental activism can be one of the most dangerous forms of civic action.

New figures from Global Witness show just how serious the problem remains. At least 124 land and environmental defenders were killed around the world in 2025—roughly one every three days. The organization has now documented at least 2,375 killings and long-term disappearances since 2012. A staggering 85% of the killings recorded in 2025 occurred in Latin America, which has remained the world’s deadliest region for environmental defenders throughout Global Witness’s reporting period.

The numbers are not simply about environmental disputes. They reveal what can happen when land, natural resources, organized crime and weak protection systems collide.

Colombia recorded 39 killings in 2025, making it the country with the highest documented number for the fourth consecutive year. Almost half of those killed were Indigenous people, while another 15 were small-scale farmers. Thirty-five of the 39 deaths were linked to land conflicts. Global Witness also identified suspected links to organized crime in 17 cases and contract killings in another five.

Brazil recorded 26 killings, more than double its previous year’s figure. The violence was concentrated particularly in Amazonian states including Rondônia and Pará, where agricultural expansion, illegal logging and mining continue to collide with the rights of local communities. Global Witness reports that almost all of the Brazilian cases were primarily driven by land conflict.

The pattern is broader than Colombia and Brazil. Honduras and the Philippines each recorded 12 killings, Mexico 10 and Guatemala eight. More than three-quarters of those killed globally were small-scale farmers, Indigenous or Afro-descendant people. Indigenous defenders alone accounted for 44 of the documented killings.

Land disputes were associated with more than half of the killings. Mining and extractive industries were linked to 11 cases, logging interests to eight and agribusiness to six. Global Witness also identified suspected connections to organized crime and hitmen in more than one-third of the killings.

That connection matters because environmental destruction is rarely just an environmental issue. Illegal mining requires territory. Illegal logging requires access to forests. Drug trafficking requires routes and control. Expanding agricultural frontiers can create conflicts over who owns, occupies or has the right to use land.

The defender standing in the way can therefore become an obstacle to an entire economic or criminal network.

And killing is only one form of intimidation. Defenders can also face threats, harassment, abduction, criminalization and other forms of pressure. Global Witness has warned that legal systems themselves can sometimes be used to silence people defending environmental and human rights.

Behind every statistic is a person: a farmer, Indigenous leader, community organizer or local activist who decided that protecting land, water or a community was worth taking a stand.

We often discuss the environmental crisis through hectares of forest lost, rivers contaminated or species pushed toward extinction.

But there is another measure of that crisis.

How many people must die before protecting the people who protect the planet becomes as important as protecting the planet itself?