Across the forests and territories of Latin America, a quiet war continues to claim the lives of those who stand between the land and those who would take it by force. In 2025, at least 124 environmental activists were killed worldwide, with Colombia and Brazil together accounting for more than half of those deaths — a pattern that has persisted for over a decade. These are not random tragedies but the predictable consequence of a world in which defending nature and ancestral territory can be a death sentence. The question Global Witness now places before the international community is not whe
Colombia and Brazil account for over half of global environmental activist killings in 2025
At least 124 environmental activists were killed globally in 2025, with 65 murdered in Colombia and Brazil, many indigenous people and small-scale farmers defending their land.
Land disputes sit at the center of most cases
Mark
So Colombia and Brazil together account for more than half of all environmental activist killings globally. That's a striking concentration. What explains why these two countries specifically?
Mimi
Both countries have enormous territories with valuable natural resources—land that indigenous communities and small farmers have inhabited for generations. That same land is also valuable to illegal armed groups, mining operations, and coca cultivation networks. When you have that collision, and when the state either can't or won't protect the people living there, violence becomes a tool for seizing control.
Luke
But we should be careful here. Global Witness is documenting killings they can confirm or document. The report itself says these numbers are probably an underestimate. So when we say 39 in Colombia, that's the confirmed floor, not necessarily the ceiling.
Mimi
That's fair. And it matters because it means the actual crisis is worse than even these numbers suggest. Some killings happen in remote areas and never get reported. Some families are too afraid to come forward.
Mark
The report mentions indigenous guards—unarmed patrols protecting their own territory. That seems like a desperate measure. Are these communities essentially on their own?
Mimi
In many cases, yes. They've created these protection networks because the formal state security apparatus either isn't present or isn't trustworthy. An unarmed guard is still a target, though. The case of Jacob Guachetá Zambrano shows that. He was part of an indigenous guard and was found tortured and killed.
Luke
The report says the motive is still under investigation. So we know he was killed, we know he was part of an indigenous guard, but we don't have confirmation of why. Indigenous leaders attribute it to territorial conflict with illegal armed groups, which makes sense given the pattern, but it's important to name what we actually know versus what we're inferring.
Mark
Brazil's numbers doubled year-over-year. Is that a sudden spike or part of a longer trend?
Mimi
The report only gives us 2024 and 2025 to compare directly. So we can say it doubled in that one-year jump, but we don't have the full historical picture for Brazil the way we do for Colombia, which has been the worst for four consecutive years.
Luke
Right. A doubling is alarming, but we'd need more years of data to know if this is a new acceleration or a fluctuation. What we can say is that in 2025, Brazil was the second-worst country in the world for this, and the trend from 2024 to 2025 was sharply upward.
The Pulse
- Colombia recorded 39 activist killings in 2025 — its fourth consecutive year atop the global death toll — with nearly half of the victims being indigenous people defending their own territories from armed groups and illegal extraction.
- Brazil's numbers doubled year-over-year to 26 deaths, signaling that the violence is not stabilizing but spreading, growing bolder, and reaching deeper into communities that once felt more insulated.
- Latin America as a whole accounts for 85 percent of all documented environmental activist murders globally, a concentration of lethal force that points to structural failures in governance, law enforcement, and the protection of land rights.
- Organized crime, illegal mining, and coca cultivation operations drive most of the killings, with armed groups treating the elimination of defenders as a routine cost of doing business in resource-rich territories.
- Global Witness cautions that the true death toll is almost certainly higher than reported, as many killings go unrecorded — meaning the 124 confirmed deaths in 2025 may represent only the visible surface of a much deeper crisis.
Across the forests and territories of Latin America, a quiet war continues to claim the lives of those who stand between the land and those who would take it by force. In 2025, at least 124 environmental activists were killed worldwide, with Colombia and Brazil together accounting for more than half of those deaths — a pattern that has persisted for over a decade. These are not random tragedies but the predictable consequence of a world in which defending nature and ancestral territory can be a death sentence. The question Global Witness now places before the international community is not whether the crisis exists, but whether those with the power to act will choose to do so.
In 2025, at least 124 environmental activists were killed around the world. More than half of them died in just two countries — Colombia and Brazil — continuing a pattern that has defined the past decade: Latin America is, by a vast margin, the deadliest region on Earth for those who defend land and nature.
Colombia has led this grim count for four consecutive years. Of the 39 activists murdered there in 2025, nearly half were indigenous people, and most of the rest were small-scale farmers whose territories placed them in direct conflict with forces far more powerful and far more willing to kill. Many indigenous communities have responded by forming their own unarmed protection networks — guards who patrol their lands on foot, often the only barrier between their communities and illegal armed groups seeking territory for coca cultivation or mining. Last week, one such guard in the Cauca region, Jacob Guachetá Zambrano, was found tortured and dead. Indigenous leaders in the area describe the broader landscape in stark terms: murders, threats, forced disappearances — the routine cost of refusing to surrender ancestral land.
Brazil's toll doubled from the previous year to 26 deaths, a trajectory that suggests the crisis is not receding but intensifying. As in Colombia, most killings stem from land disputes in which small communities are pitted against economic interests willing to use violence to expand their reach.
Outside Latin America, the Philippines recorded 12 killings, representing the bulk of Asia's share of the global count. The overall total of 124 deaths in 2025 is lower than the 146 recorded in 2024, but Global Witness urges caution about that apparent decline — many killings go unreported or unconfirmed, and the true number is likely significantly higher.
What unites these deaths is not chaos but calculation. Organized crime groups and commercial interests have learned that eliminating defenders is often more effective than negotiation. The doubling of killings in Brazil suggests the logic of violence is spreading. Global Witness has documented the pattern with precision; what remains unanswered is whether the governments where these murders occur will find the will to stop them.
In 2025, at least 124 environmental activists were killed worldwide. More than half of them—65 people—died in just two countries: Colombia and Brazil. The toll reflects a pattern that has held steady for over a decade: Latin America remains the deadliest region on Earth for people who defend land and nature, accounting for 85 percent of all documented killings since Global Witness began tracking these deaths in 2012.
Colombia has led this grim count for four years running. Of the 39 activists murdered there in 2025, nearly half were indigenous people. The rest were mostly small-scale farmers—people whose livelihoods and territories put them in direct conflict with forces far more powerful and far more willing to kill. Many indigenous communities in Colombia have formed their own protection networks, groups of unarmed guards who patrol their lands on foot. These guards are often the first and only defense against illegal armed groups seeking to seize territory for coca cultivation or illegal mining operations. Last week, Jacob Guachetá Zambrano, a member of one such indigenous guard in the Cauca region, was found tortured and dead. While investigators continue their work, indigenous leaders in the area describe a landscape of routine violence: murders, threats, forced disappearances—the cost of refusing to surrender ancestral land.
Brazil's numbers tell a story of accelerating danger. The country recorded 26 killings in 2025, double the toll from the year before. Like Colombia, most of these deaths stemmed from disputes over land—conflicts that pit small landholders and indigenous communities against larger economic interests willing to use violence to expand their reach.
Outside Latin America, the picture shifts but does not improve. Asia accounted for 12 percent of documented killings, with the Philippines recording 12 murders of environmental defenders. The global total, 124 deaths in 2025, represents a decrease from 146 in 2024—a modest decline that Global Witness itself treats with caution. The organization warns that its figures are almost certainly incomplete. Many killings go unreported, unrecorded, or unconfirmed. The true number of environmental activists murdered last year is likely higher, perhaps significantly so.
What drives these killings is not random violence but systematic conflict. Land disputes sit at the center of most cases. Organized crime groups, illegal armed militias, and commercial interests seeking to exploit natural resources have learned that eliminating the people who stand in their way is often cheaper and more effective than negotiation. In Colombia and Brazil, where vast territories hold both ecological and economic value, the stakes are highest and the violence most entrenched. The pattern shows no sign of reversing. If anything, the doubling of killings in Brazil suggests the crisis is deepening, spreading, becoming more brazen. Global Witness has documented the trend; now the question is whether the countries where these murders occur will act to stop them.
Notable Quotes
Indigenous leaders said that murders, threats and forced disappearances in the area were common as illegal armed groups battled for territory— Indigenous leaders in Colombia's Cauca region, regarding conditions following Jacob Guachetá Zambrano's death
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