{{Short description|Type of activist}} {{distinguish|Land Rover Defender}} [[File:Stand with Standing Rock SF Nov 2016 13.jpg|thumb|347x347px|2016 "[[Dakota Access Pipeline protests|Stand]] with [[Standing Rock Sioux Reservation|Standing Rock]]" march. Slogans include "We are here to protect" and "Defend the land."]] {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}} A '''land defender, land protector''', or '''[[environmental defender]]''' is an [[Activism|activist]] who works to protect [[ecosystem]]s and the human [[Right to a healthy environment|right to a safe, healthy environment]].<ref name=":102">{{Cite journal |last=Larsen, Billon, Menton, Aylwin, Balsiger, Boyd, Forst, Lambrick, Santos, Storey, Wilding |year=2021 |title=Understanding and responding to the environmental human rights defenders crisis: The case for conservation action |journal=Conservation Letters |volume=14 |issue=3 |doi=10.1111/conl.12777 |s2cid=229390470|doi-access=free |bibcode=2021ConL...14E2777B }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ducklow |first=Zoë |date=10 January 2019 |title=Judy Wilson's Message for Canadians: 'The Land Defenders Are Doing This for Everybody' |url=https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/01/10/Not-What-Reconciliation-Looks-Like/ |access-date=20 January 2020 |website=The Tyee |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=28 October 2016 |title=Protesters? Or land protectors? |url=https://theindependent.ca/2016/10/28/protesters-or-land-protectors/ |access-date=15 January 2020 |website=The Indy |language=en-US}}</ref> Often, defenders are members of [[Indigenous peoples|Indigenous communities]] who are protecting [[property rights]] of [[Ancestral domain|ancestral lands]] in the face of [[expropriation]], [[pollution]], [[Resource depletion|depletion]], or [[Land degradation|destruction]].<ref name=":102" /><ref>{{Cite web |website=iwgia.org|title=Land defence and defenders |url=https://iwgia.org/en/land-defence-defenders.html }}</ref> Land and its resources may be considered sacred by Indigenous peoples, and caring for land is considered a duty that honors ancestors, current peoples, and future generations.<ref name=":62">{{Cite news |date=18 September 2018 |title=Illegal protest or protecting the land? An Indigenous woman gets ready to face a Canadian court - APTN News |url=https://aptnnews.ca/2018/09/18/illegal-protest-or-protecting-the-land-an-inuit-woman-gets-ready-to-face-a-canadian-court/ |access-date=12 January 2019 |newspaper=Aptn News |language=en-US|last1=Moore |first1=Angel }}</ref>
In 2021, the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]] determined that land defenders are "among the [[human rights defender]]s who are most exposed and at risk."<ref name=":102" />
== Etymology, role and activism == [[File:One day at Standing Rock.webm|thumb|300x300px|Land and [[Water protectors|water defenders]] of the [[Standing Rock Sioux Reservation]] in 2016.]] During the 2016 [[Dakota Access Pipeline protests]], members of the [[Standing Rock Sioux Reservation]] blocked the construction of [[Dakota Access Pipeline|the pipeline]] to protect the tribe's land and [[Human right to water and sanitation|water supply]]. This grassroots effort led to hundreds of arrests and clashes with the police and [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard soldiers]]. Negative articles described the Indigenous land defenders as "protesters," a term denounced by many environmental activists.
Environmental activist and actor [[Dallas Goldtooth]] of the [[Indigenous Environmental Network]] has criticized the term "protester," stating the word "protester" is negative and implies that Native people are angry, violent, or overprotective of resources.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Standing Rock activists: Don't call us protesters. We're water protectors. |url=https://theworld.org/stories/2016-10-31/standing-rock-activists-dont-call-us-protesters-were-water-protectors |access-date=13 April 2022 |website=The World from PRX |language=en}}</ref>
Instead, members of the movement refer to themselves as "land defenders," a term that emphasizes [[pacifism]] and responsibility to care for [[Ancestral domain|ancestral lands]] which may be part of the defender's [[Cultural heritage|heritage]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=We Are Land Protectors, Not Protesters | website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSE4cH95qlc}}</ref>
[[Inuit]] [[Labrador]] land protector Denise Cole has stated, "I am very much a believer when I take my [[Traditional Alaska Native medicine|medicines]], when I take my [[Inuit music|drum]], what [[Colonialism|colonial law]] would call [[protest]]ing is very much what I consider is [[ceremony]]."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Angel |date=18 September 2018 |title=Illegal protest or protecting the land? An Indigenous woman gets ready to face a Canadian court |url=https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/illegal-protest-or-protecting-the-land-an-inuit-woman-gets-ready-to-face-a-canadian-court/ |access-date=13 April 2022 |website=APTN News |language=en-US}}</ref>
Land defenders play an active and increasingly visible role in actions intended to protect, honour, and make visible the importance of land. There are strong connections between the [[Water protectors|water protector]] movement, land defender movement, and Indigenous environmental activism.<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |date=25 September 2014 |title=Meet Josephine Mandamin (Anishinaabekwe), The "Water Walker" |url=http://indigenousrising.org/josephine-mandamin/ |access-date=10 January 2019 |website=Indigenous Rising |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Maial Panhpunu Paiakan Kaiapó |first= |date=24 October 2020 |title=Opinion: The devastation of my Amazon homeland has accelerated during the pandemic |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-devastation-of-my-amazon-homeland-has-accelerated-during-the/ |access-date=11 February 2021}}</ref> Land defenders resist the installation of pipelines, fossil fuel industries,<ref name=":42">{{Cite web |title=Mi'kmaq water protectors blocking fossil fuel infrastructure in Nova Scotia {{!}} rabble.ca |url=http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/talking-radical-radio/2018/03/mikmaq-water-protectors-blocking-fossil-fuel |access-date=10 January 2019 |website=rabble.ca |archive-date=7 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607011205/https://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/talking-radical-radio/2018/03/mikmaq-water-protectors-blocking-fossil-fuel }}</ref> the destruction of territory for development such as agriculture or housing, and resource extraction activities such as [[Hydraulic fracturing|fracking]] because these actions can lead to the degradation of land, destruction of forest, and disruption of habitat.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McKenzie-Sutter |first=Holly |date=27 November 2020 |title=Indigenous land occupants in Caledonia appeal injunction |language=en-CA |newspaper=Toronto Sun |url=https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/indigenous-land-occupants-in-caledonia-appeal-injunction |access-date=11 February 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kestler-D'Amours |first=Jillian |title='RCMP off Wet'suwet'en land': Solidarity grows for land defenders |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/2/14/rcmp-off-wetsuweten-land-solidarity-grows-for-land-defenders |access-date=11 February 2021 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref> Land defenders resist activities that harm land, especially across Indigenous territories and their work is tied to human rights.<ref name="globalcitizen.org">{{Cite web |title=Beatings, Imprisonment, Murder: The World's Environmental Defenders Are Being Terrorized |url=https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/environmental-activists-killed/ |access-date=15 January 2020 |website=Global Citizen |language=en}}</ref> Yazzie points to the resistance tactics of Diné land defenders and their anti-capitalist and anti-development stance on resource extraction as being highly connected to the longstanding traditions of Diné resistance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yazzie |first=Melanie K. |date=2018 |title=Decolonizing Development in Diné Bikeyah: Resource Extraction, Anti-Capitalism, and Relational Futures |journal=Environment and Society |volume=9 |pages=25–39 |doi=10.3167/ares.2018.090103 |issn=2150-6779 |jstor=26879576 |s2cid=158704091}}</ref>
Activism can come in the form of the erection of blockades on reserve lands or traditional territories to block corporations from resource extraction activities.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=Standing Rock activists: Don't call us protesters. We're water protectors. |url=https://theworld.org/stories/2016/10/31/were-water-protectors-not-protestors |access-date=10 January 2019 |website=Public Radio International |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=5 October 2020 |title=Barricades up in Caledonia after attempted arrest of land defender |language=en |work=The Hamilton Spectator |url=https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2020/10/05/barricades-up-in-caledonia-after-attempted-arrest-of-land-defender.html |access-date=11 February 2021 |issn=1189-9417}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 November 2020 |title=Caledonia land occupation criminal cases move through courts |language=en |work=The Hamilton Spectator |url=https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2020/11/25/caledonia-land-occupation-criminal-cases-move-through-courts.html |access-date=11 February 2021 |issn=1189-9417}}</ref> Water and land protectors also erect camps as a way to occupy traditional territories and strengthen cultural ties. Land defenders also work through legal frameworks such as government court systems in effort to keep control of traditional territories.<ref name=":62" /><ref name="globalcitizen.org"/> Civil disobedience actions taken by land defenders, are frequently criminalized and some have argued subject to heavier policing and violence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Simpson |first1=Michael |last2=Le Billon |first2=Philippe |date=1 February 2021 |title=Reconciling violence: Policing the politics of recognition |journal=Geoforum |language=en-ca |volume=119 |pages=111–121 |doi=10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.12.023 |issn=0016-7185 |s2cid=234082840}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spiegel |first=Samuel J. |date=1 January 2021 |title=Climate injustice, criminalisation of land protection and anti-colonial solidarity: Courtroom ethnography in an age of fossil fuel violence |journal=Political Geography |language=en-ca |volume=84 |article-number=102298 |doi=10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102298 |issn=0962-6298 |pmc=7544477 |pmid=33052177}}</ref>
Women are integral to the success of the movement, as they are often land defenders visible at the front of blockades and in resistance protests.<ref>{{Citation |last=Lange |first=Shauna M. |title=Saving Species, Healthy Humanity: The Key Role of Women in Ecological Integrity |date=2020 |work=Ecological Integrity in Science and Law |pages=85–96 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en-ca |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-46259-8_8 |isbn=978-3-030-46258-1 |s2cid=226561547}}</ref>
==Dangers facing land defenders== [[Global Witness]] reported 1,922 murders of land defenders in 57 countries between 2002 and 2019.<ref name=":102" /> 40% of the victims were Indigenous,<ref>{{Cite web |title=5 deadly countries for environmental defenders |date=28 July 2020 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/5-deadly-countries-for-environmental-defenders/a-54298499 |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=Deutsche Welle |language=en-GB}}</ref> despite making up 6% of the global population.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indigenous Peoples |url=https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/indigenouspeoples |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=World Bank |language=en}}</ref> Documentation of this violence is also incomplete.
In 2020, [[List of environmental killings|murders of land defenders]] hit a record high of 227.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 September 2021 |title=Murders of environment and land defenders hit record high |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/13/murders-environment-land-defenders-record-high |access-date=13 April 2022 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
U.N. [[Special Rapporteur (UN)|Special Rapporteur]] [[David R. Boyd]] has [[Rhetorical question|asked]], "How can we protect the extraordinary diversity of life on Earth if we cannot protect environmental defenders?"<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Menton |first1=Mary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-QsEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22land+defender%22&pg=PT74 |title=Environmental Defenders: Deadly Struggles for Life and Territory |last2=Le Billon |first2=Philippe |date=24 June 2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-40221-6 |language=en}}</ref> He has further stated that as many as one hundred land defenders are intimidated, arrested or otherwise harassed for every one that is killed.<ref name=":102" />
Land defenders often face perilous conditions in opposition to state powers, resource corporations such as [[Petroleum industry|gas]] or mining corporations, others seeking to develop land or extinguish [[Indigenous land rights]].<ref name=":72">{{Cite journal |last1=Middeldorp |first1=Nick |last2=Le Billon |first2=Philippe |date=4 March 2019 |title=Deadly Environmental Governance: Authoritarianism, Eco-populism, and the Repression of Environmental and Land Defenders |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2018.1530586 |journal=Annals of the American Association of Geographers |language=en |volume=109 |issue=2 |pages=324–337 |doi=10.1080/24694452.2018.1530586 |bibcode=2019AAAG..109..324M |issn=2469-4452 |s2cid=159354399|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Land Defenders Keep Getting Killed in Colombia |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/land-defenders-keep-getting-killed-in-colombia/ |access-date=11 February 2021 |website=Vice.com |language=en}}</ref> American environmentalist [[Bill McKibben]] has stated, "[Defenders are] at risk because they find themselves living on or near something that some corporation is demanding. That demand – the demand for the highest possible [[Profit (economics)|profit]], the quickest possible timeline, the cheapest possible operation – seems to translate eventually into the understanding, somewhere, that the troublemaker must go."<ref>{{Cite web |first=Celina Shih |last=Mar |date=8 October 2021 |title=Record Number Of Environmental Activists Killed In The Past Year |url=https://theowp.org/record-number-of-environmental-activists-killed-in-the-past-year/ |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=The Organization for World Peace |language=en-US}}</ref>
Middeldorp and Le Billon have pointed to the dangers faced by land defenders, particularly in authoritarian regimes. In their 2018 article on the topic the point to the killings of several land defenders in [[Honduras]].<ref name=":72" /> There, [[Paramilitary|paramilitaries]] in the [[Aguán River|Aguán]] valley were sent to infiltrate and murder key lands rights activists to undermine group efforts.<ref name=jo/> One may ''et al'' connect the suppression of Indigenous land rights and a history of intimidation, violent tactics and murder against land defenders to economic development and "land grabs" in colonial nation states.<ref>{{Citation |last=May |first=Roy H. |title=Land Grabbing and Violence Against Environmentalists |date=2018 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-99513-7_7 |work=From Biocultural Homogenization to Biocultural Conservation |volume=3 |pages=109–123 |editor-last=Rozzi |editor-first=Ricardo |series=Ecology and Ethics |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-99513-7_7 |isbn=978-3-319-99512-0 |access-date=11 February 2021 |editor2-last=May |editor2-first=Roy H. |editor3-last=Chapin III |editor3-first=F. Stuart |editor4-last=Massardo |editor4-first=Francisca|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
The Canadian national police force, the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police|RCMP]], were prepared to use deadly force against land defenders in a 2019 protest in [[British Columbia]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Parrish |first=Jaskiran Dhillon Will |date=20 December 2019 |title=Exclusive: Canada police prepared to shoot Indigenous activists, documents show |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/20/canada-indigenous-land-defenders-police-documents |access-date=15 January 2020 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
Dunlop connects acts of violence against land defenders in countries such as Mexico as retaliation for resistance to economic development and resource extraction.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dunlap |first=Alexander |date=15 April 2020 |title=The Politics of Ecocide, Genocide and Megaprojects: Interrogating Natural Resource Extraction, Identity and the Normalization of Erasure |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |language=en-ca |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=212–235 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2020.1754051 |issn=1462-3528 |doi-access=free|hdl=10852/83939 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
The human rights organization [[Global Witness]] reported that 164 land defenders were killed in 2018 in countries such as the [[Philippines]], [[Brazil]], [[India]], and [[Guatemala]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=30 July 2019 |title=164 land defenders murdered in 2018, Global Witness reports |url=https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/07/30/164-land-defenders-murdered-2018-global-witness-reports/ |access-date=15 January 2020 |website=Climate Home News |language=en}}</ref> This same report stated a significant number of the people killed, injured, and threatened were Indigenous.<ref name=":02" /> Le Billon and Lujala report that at least 1734 environmental and land defenders were killed between 2002 and 2018 and that Indigenous people are most at risk, numbering more than a third of land defenders killed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Le Billon |first1=Philippe |last2=Lujala |first2=Päivi |date=11 November 2020 |title=Environmental and land defenders: Global patterns and determinants of repression |journal=Global Environmental Change |language=en-ca |volume=65 |article-number=102163 |doi=10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102163 |bibcode=2020GEC....6502163L |issn=0959-3780 |s2cid=225119151|url=http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi-fe2020102888694 }}</ref> The [[United Nations|UN]] has reported that many land protectors are labelled as terrorists by state governments in an effort to discredit their claims.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Alleen |date=30 July 2019 |title=More Than 160 Environmental Defenders Were Killed in 2018, and Many Others Labeled Terrorists and Criminals |url=https://theintercept.com/2019/07/30/criminalization-environmental-activists-global-witness-report/ |access-date=15 January 2020 |website=The Intercept |language=en-US}}</ref> Such labelling can create dangerous conditions for those working to protect land rights.<ref name=":12" />
''Yale Environment 360'' reported that at least 212 environmental campaigners and land defenders were murdered in 2019.<ref name=":82">{{Cite web |title=More Than 200 Environmental Activists and Land Defenders Murdered in 2019 |url=https://e360.yale.edu/digest/more-than-200-environmental-activists-and-land-defenders-murdered-in-2019 |access-date=10 July 2021 |website=Yale E360 |language=en-US}}</ref> Over half of the murders reported in 2019 took place in [[Colombia]] and the [[Philippines]].<ref name=":82" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite web |date=29 July 2020 |title=Record 212 land and environment activists killed last year |url=http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/29/record-212-land-and-environment-activists-killed-last-year |access-date=10 July 2021 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
[[Amnesty International]] has called attention to the dangers facing those seeking to protect the earth, water, and communities, calling [[Latin America]] the most dangerous location for land defenders.<ref name=":52">{{Cite web |date=2 April 2019 |title=Earth Land and Water Defenders |url=https://www.amnesty.ca/earthdefenders |access-date=15 January 2020 |website=Amnesty International Canada |language=en |archive-date=3 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303042053/https://www.amnesty.ca/earthdefenders }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Tabary |first=Zoe |date=1 November 2020 |title=One year on, family of murdered Amazon land defender say nothing has changed |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-indigenous-logging-trfn-idUSKBN27H16P |access-date=11 February 2021}}</ref> The Environmental Defence Fund has reported that over 1700 defenders have been killed with less than 10% of those responsible brought to justice.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Murder in the rainforest: 1700+ defenders killed, but their legacy lives on |url=https://www.edf.org/blog/2019/11/22/murder-rainforest-1700-defenders-killed-their-legacy-lives |access-date=15 January 2020 |website=Environmental Defense Fund |language=en}}</ref> The [[Extinction Rebellion|Extinction Rebellion (XR)]] has worked to bring attention to the situation of land defenders and have honoured those who have been killed<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 October 2019 |title=Extinction Rebellion honours land defenders killed for protecting the environment |url=https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/brent-patterson/2019/10/extinction-rebellion-honours-land-defenders-killed-protecting |access-date=15 January 2020 |website=rabble.ca |language=en |archive-date=15 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115020513/https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/brent-patterson/2019/10/extinction-rebellion-honours-land-defenders-killed-protecting }}</ref> and the work of land defenders has been linked to [[climate justice]] initiatives such as Climate Strike Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=E. |last1=McIntosh |date=17 September 2020 |title=Climate strikers are trying to trademark Erin O'Toole's 'Take Back Canada' slogan |url=https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/09/17/news/climate-strikers-are-trying-trademark-erin-otooles-take-back-canada-slogan |access-date=11 February 2021 |website=National Observer |language=en}}</ref>
== Notable instances of land defense == {{Expand section|date=April 2022}} * Deadly land conflicts in [[Honduras]] date back to the early 1990s.<ref name=jo>{{Cite web |last=Olson |first=Jared |date=6 November 2021 |title=In Honduras Land Battles, Paramilitaries Infiltrate Local Groups — Then Kill Their Leaders |url=https://theintercept.com/2021/11/06/honduras-paramilitaries-land-rights/ |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=The Intercept |language=en}}</ref>
*The [[Dakota Access Pipeline protests]] in 2016.
* The occupation of the [[South River Forest|Atlanta Forest]] by self-described forest defenders<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atlanta Community Press Collective |url=https://atlpresscollective.com/ |access-date=6 March 2023 |website=Atlanta Community Press Collective |language=en-US}}</ref> such as [[Killing of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán|Tortuguita]], & the broader [[Stop Cop City|'Defend Atlanta Forest']] movement to prevent the building of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center within it.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=3 August 2022 |title=The New Fight Over an Old Forest in Atlanta |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/the-new-fight-over-an-old-forest-in-atlanta |access-date=6 March 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref> (2022–present)
* [[2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests]] included both Canadian and Indigenous peoples opposing a pipeline through unceded territory.
* [[Oka Crisis]] - Opposition to a golf course construction on Indigenous land.
* [[Red Hill Valley Parkway#Controversy|Red Hill Valley Parkway]] opposition in [[Hamilton, Ontario]], Canada. Defenders blocked construction of a highway.
==Land defenders who have been killed== * [[Berta Cáceres|Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores]] (4 March 1971 – 2 March 2016) Honduran environmental activist, indigenous leader * [[Paulo Paulino Guajajara]], Brazil, killed in 2019 an ambush by illegal loggers the Amazon region.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/02/brazilian-forest-guardian-killed-by-illegal-loggers-in-ambush|title=Brazilian 'forest guardian' killed by illegal loggers in ambush|first=Sam |last=Cowie |date=2 November 2019|work=The Guardian|access-date=15 January 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/brazil-amazon-forest-defender-shot-dead-illegal-loggers-191103052028290.html|title=Brazil Amazon forest defender shot dead by illegal loggers|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=15 January 2020}}</ref> * [[Chico Mendes]], Brazil, Environmentalist and activist. * [[Hernán Bedoya]], Afro-Colombian land rights activist. * [[:es:Julian_Carrillo_Martínez|Julián Carrillo]], indigenous [[Rarámuri]] leader, Mexico, killed 24 October 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/11/la-mortal-defensa-del-bosque-por-julian-carrillo/|title=Julián Carrillo defended the forest with his life|website=www.amnesty.org|date=28 November 2018|language=en|access-date=15 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mexico's environmental defenders need justice and protection|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/10/mexico-julian-carrillo-justice-protection-environmental-defenders/|access-date=10 July 2021|website=www.amnesty.org|date=24 October 2019|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=25 October 2018|title=Indigenous rights leader reported slain in northern Mexico|url=https://apnews.com/article/7c326a45cc66490697cca1396ff9d607|access-date=10 July 2021|website=AP News|language=en}}</ref> * Datu Kaylo Bontolan, [[Lumad|Manobo]] tribal chieftain, member of the National Council of Leaders of Katribu, [[Northern Mindanao]], Philippines, killed 7 April 2019.<ref name=":9"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Datu Kaylo Bontolan|url=https://hrdmemorial.org/hrdrecord/datu-kaylo-bontolan/|access-date=10 July 2021|website=HRD Memorial: Celebrating Those Who Were Killed Defending Human Rights|language=en-GB}}</ref> * Omar Guasiruma, Indigenous leader, Colombia, killed March 2020.<ref name=":9" /> * Ernesto Guasiruma, Indigenous leader, Colombia, killed March 2020.<ref name=":9" /> * Simón Pedro Pérez, Indigenous leader, killed 6 July 2021, [[Chiapas]], Mexico.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Indigenous Land Defender Assassinated in Chiapas|language=en|work=Democracy Now!|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2021/7/7/headlines/indigenous_land_defender_assassinated_in_chiapas|access-date=8 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=6 July 2021|title=Mexico rights organizer killed, 3rd activist to die in month|url=https://apnews.com/article/mexico-dfc6fb1d675cd7b7d96f5c12a3b03a08|access-date=10 July 2021|website=AP News|language=en}}</ref> * Javiera Rojas, Chilean environmentalist and activist, found dead in November 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chilean Activist Javiera Rojas, Who Helped Shut Down Dam Projects, Has Been Killed|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2021/12/6/headlines/chilean_activist_javiera_rojas_who_helped_shut_down_dam_projects_has_been_killed|access-date=6 December 2021|website=Democracy Now!|language=en}}</ref> * [[Killing of Tortuguita|Tortuguita]], United States environmental activist killed on 18 January 2023, by a Georgia State Patrol trooper in the Atlanta forest.
==See also== * [[Unistʼotʼen Camp]] * [[Water protectors|Water protector]]
==Further reading== *{{cite web|last=Amnesty International|date=2016|title=They Will Not Stop Us. Ecuador: Justice and Protection for Amazonian Women, Defenders of the Land, Territory, and Environment|url=https://www.amnesty.ca/sites/amnesty/files/Honduras%20Guatemala%20HRD%20-%20Report%20ENG.PDF|journal=|volume=|pages=|via=|access-date=15 January 2020|archive-date=21 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421113303/https://www.amnesty.ca/sites/amnesty/files/Honduras%20Guatemala%20HRD%20-%20Report%20ENG.PDF}}
==References== {{reflist}}
[[Category:Indigenous activists| ]] [[Category:Land defender| ]] [[Category:Indigenous rights activists| ]] [[Category:Land rights movements]]