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At least 146 land and environmental defenders were killed or disappeared in 2024, averaging three per week.
Latin America remains the most dangerous region, with Colombia leading in fatalities.
Trend points to rise of alternative silencing tactics like abductions, highlighting need for governments to strengthen legal protections for defenders.
At least 146 land and environmental defenders disappeared or were killed in 2024 — an average of three every week, showed a new report.
The Defenders Annual Report 2025 Roots of resistance was published by Global Witness, an investigative campaigning organisation on September 17, 2025.
From 2012 to 2024, the some 2,253 defenders were killed or went missing, according to the analysis.
There were four documented long-term disappearances in 2024, where the defender has been missing for a period of more than six months. These occurred in the Philippines, Mexico, Honduras and Chile.
A total of 82 per cent of all the cases documented in 2024 took place in Latin America. Indigenous Peoples and small-scale farmers are the worst affected, with 45 defenders killed or disappeared in each of these categories in 2024.
The investigative organisation recorded nine killings in Africa (6 per cent of the total) and 16 killings (11 per cent) in Asia in 2024.
Colombia remains one of the world’s deadliest countries for land and environmental defenders. Global Witness documented 117 defender killings last year (82 per cent) in Latin America, with 48 in Colombia, which had the most killings globally for the third year in a row. This is followed by Guatemala, where 20 defenders were killed in 2024 — up from four in 2023.
At least 18 defenders were killed in Mexico and at least 12 in Brazil. The Philippines recorded seven killings, while Honduras and Indonesia recorded five killings each.
In Colombia, land conflicts persist as a source of violence, with 20 small-scale farmers being killed in 2024. Additionally, 19 of the slain defenders were from Indigenous communities.
A total of four defenders went missing in 2024 and have not been found — one in Chile, one in Honduras, one in Mexico and one in the Philippines.
A total of 29 cases last year were linked to mining and extractives, eight to logging and four to agribusiness. Over 62 per cent of cases (91 out of 146) were linked to land or land reform.
The report indicated that while the statistics on killings and disappearances last year are lower than in 2023 (196 compared to 146), alternative tactics to silence defenders appear to be on the rise globally, such as abductions and criminalisation.
The report indicates that while the statistics on killings and disappearances last year are lower than in 2023 (196 compared to 146), alternative tactics to silence defenders appear to be on the rise globally, such as abductions and criminalisation.
Annual variations in the total number of killings and disappearances do not necessarily reflect trends in violence at the national level. Underreporting is a global issue, especially in Asia and Africa. Challenges in verifying suspected violations also pose a problem, particularly when documenting cases in active conflict areas.
Furthermore, limitations on civic space align with an increased apprehension among communities about voicing opposition to those harming the land or environment.
The recent report calls on governments to break down the complex systems that perpetuate violence against defenders. This involves tackling the absence of land and territorial rights for defenders, reinforcing fragile national legal frameworks, and guaranteeing sufficient state protection for those at risk, as emphasized in the report's case studies.
