After 60 activists were murdered within its borders, Colombia has been named the deadliest nation for environmental defenders. According to international N.G.O. Global Witness, relatively few murderers of environmental activists are ever brought to justice, and the organization claims that murderers’ impunity is provoking new acts of violence.

Incidents of fatal assaults on environmental activists in Colombia nearly doubled in 2022. While other Latin American nations have proven lethal to activists, with Brazil reporting 34 killings, Honduras 11, and Mexico 31, Global Witness’s research reports that at least 382 people have died throughout Colombia since the organization started keeping track of attacks against environmentalists in 2012. This makes Colombia the nation with the highest number of green activist murders worldwide.

The title is an upset for President Gustavo Petro, whose administration signed a bill last October ratifying the Escazu pact on environmental protection. The Costa Rican region of Escazu passed the agreement passed in March 2018, but the Colombian Constitutional Court has not yet given its approval to the measure, which, among other things, includes protections for environmentalists.

Of the 39 people killed in the Amazon region over the past year, many were members of Indigenous groups, which the Global Witness report says are threatened by a variety of anti-environmental activities, including forestry and gold mining. Several of these businesses, headquartered in the U.S., the E.U., and the U.K., also have a history of violating human rights. “Research has consistently shown that Indigenous peoples are the best guardians of the forests and as a result play a fundamental role in mitigating the climate crisis,” says Laura Furones, a senior consultant for Global Witness. “However, they are being attacked in nations like Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela for doing just that. Every day, additional attacks are reported.”

In addition to those killed in Latin America, a further 11 environmental activists were killed in the Philippines. According to Global Witness, underreporting of instances and a lack of independent monitoring have made it difficult to determine the entire scope of the killings. Increasingly, the organization added, advocates have been targeted by legal actions meant to silence them as they urge governments throughout the world to defend their natural lands.

Colombia and other nations must take prompt action to safeguard their citizens and bring their attackers to justice. To that end, we must bolster environmentalists’ legal defenses.