June 5 marks World Environment Day. Created by the United Nations to raise awareness of issues from air pollution to global warming, the day has grown to become one of the biggest platforms for advocating for all-important environmental causes.
While globally activism on the climate crisis have rightfully gained momentum, one of the still relatively over-looked facts is that people who are on the frontlines of these struggles –environmental human rights defenders—face the gravest risks to protect their homes and communities.
Who are environmental human rights defenders?
Environmental human rights defenders are people who speak up to protect rights associated to the environment, land and territory. They are often community leaders or advocates who seek to protect the rights and the well-being of their communities, especially by looking after their homes, air, water, land, territory and forests from destruction or contamination. Many of them are Indigenous People. While their stories are often told in local contexts, about how they are campaigning to protect their families and loved ones, their work concerns us all because it carries huge global significance. Take for example the Amazon rainforest, the lungs of the Earth, which for hundreds of years have been safeguarded by Indigenous Peoples and who are on the frontline of the battle to save it from deforestation.
Yet being an environmental human rights defender has deadly consequences, making it among the deadliest types of activism. According to the NGO Global Witness, in 2017, the latest year for which it has data, almost four environmental defenders were killed each week for protecting their land, wildlife and natural resources. In 2017, 207 environmental activists were killed. The vast majority of them hailed from South America, making it the most dangerous region in the world.
Global Witness reports that the failure of many governments and businesses to act responsibly, ethically and even legally was a major driving force behind a litany of crimes against activists.
Activists are at risk because powerful forces think they can get away with attacking, killing and criminalizing local protestors, believing the rest of the world will not pay any heed. That is why it is more urgent than ever that we show global solidarity and stand up for the environmental human rights defenders who are risking everything to protect people and the planet.www.amnesty.org/...