Environmental defenders being killed in record numbers globally, new research reveals

Last year was the most perilous ever for people defending their community’s land, natural resources or wildlife, with new research showing that environmental defenders are being killed at the rate of almost four a week across the world.

Activists call for justice in the case of Honduran indigenous
environmentalist Berta Cáceres, who was killed last year. 

Two hundred environmental activists, wildlife rangers and indigenous leaders trying to protect their land were killed in 2016, according to the watchdog group Global Witness – more than double the number killed five years ago.

And the frequency of killings is only increasing as 2017 ticks by, according to data provided exclusively to the Guardian, with 98 killings identified in the first five months of this year.

Read the story on The Guardian - “Environmental defenders being killed in record numbers globally, new research reveals.”