Earlier this month on March 4th, a multinational treaty was signed in Costa Rica by 24 Latin American and Caribbean nations to protect the rights of environmental defenders. The agreement is officially known as the “Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean” or LAC P10. It must be ratified by at least 11 governments before it is fully implemented; it is expected to be signed before September 2020. The aim is to reduce the number of environmental defender deaths, after 197 murders were recorded last year in 2017; an average of four deaths per week. The majority were recorded in Latin America with 60% of global casualties.

Environmental defenders voluntarily (or professionally) take peaceful action to protect their environmental rights, such as access to land and resources. Often they are people from poor or indigenous communities trying to protect their ancestral land, traditional livelihoods and cultures. Conflict arises against industries, for instance mining, logging, hydroelectric dam development and agribusiness. Defenders fight against land confiscation, deforestation, pollution and wildlife poaching. Most deaths occur in remote areas of developing nations, in particular Latin America where there is an abundance of natural resources and weak environmental regulations are capitalized.

Conflict is largely driven by agribusiness as the global demand for soy products, palm oil, sugarcane and beef has increased. Plantations and cattle ranches require more land, therefore they have expanded to communal and indigenous territory. Land encroachment in the Brazilian Amazon resulted in 46 deaths in 2017. Extractive industries are another driver of conflict. The increased global demand for construction materials has been linked to the high occurrence of mining conflict which caused 36 deaths last year.

Socio-environmental conflicts are also caused by insufficient information on projects within a community. “I cannot understate how critical it is for communities to have access to environmental information, like data on local water pollution or nearby mining concessions,” said Carole Excell, director of the Office of Environmental Democracy at the World Resources Institute (WRI). “Hopefully LAC P10 will mean fewer natural resources exploited and communities at risk.”

LAC P10 aims to defend the rights of environmental activists, promote transparency and access to environmental information, and enforce justice. Governments will be compelled to investigate and prosecute attacks against defenders and be held accountable for their safety and protection. The agreement will also help facilitate citizen participation in decision and policymaking- including indigenous communities.

The United Nations also recently announced the UN Environmental Rights Initiative; they will work alongside governments, industries and media to promote and raise awareness for the protection of environmental rights. This initiative will recognize the right to a healthy, sustainable environment. Governments will be pressured to enact laws and policies which will protect environmental defenders, rather than criminalize them. At present perpetrators usually remain unpunished because defender’s families have little recourse to demand justice or gain media exposure. Furthermore, companies will be encouraged to incorporate human rights in their investment planning. Some international corporations are already willing to make changes, such as the Dutch Development Bank which received backlash for funding a Honduran hydroelectric project that is linked to the murder of activist, Berta Cáceres. Their future investment planning decisions will take into consideration the safety and protection of human rights activists to ensure they are not funding violence.

Both the environmental and economic needs of people need to be supported. Governments must assist sustainable development projects and allocate funding and resources for local businesses. Instead, profit acts as an incentive to prioritize multinational industries, such as mining and forestry for foreign export. Governments must find a way for indigenous communities and businesses to co-exist and benefit local needs.