Environmental Defenders Are the Missing Link in the Green Transition

The scramble for critical minerals - deemed vital to power artificial intelligence, defence and energy needs - is fuelling a renewed wave of resource extraction and conflict across the world, from Colombia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

States, companies and armed state actors jostle, often violently, to secure supply chains and market share in this lucrative enterprise. But the rights, wellbeing and prosperity of those under whose lands the minerals lie, often indigenous people, are at best an afterthought. These communities, seen as obstacles, are forcibly removed, their lands plundered, their environment polluted and their livelihoods stolen. Environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs), often volunteers and community leaders, are organising for the right to a healthy environment and a say in decisions that shape their lives. Protecting them is deeply political and key to ensuring that this agenda succeeds.

At their core, EHRDs want communities to have a seat on the table, along with companies and States, to ensure that projects bring true shared prosperity. Yet, year on year, they are killed or disappear at alarming rates. In 2024, Global Witness recorded 146 land and environmental defenders killed or disappeared around the world defending their land, communities or the environment.

There is ample information on the attacks that EHRDs face, from criminalization, to stigmatization, to death threats. What is less discussed is the impact these levels of insecurity and reprisals have on the causes they champion: environmental justice and the right to free and informed consent on projects that could impact lives. The chilling effect on activism is real.

Human rights defence won’t be successful when left to a handful of professional NGOs. It requires ordinary people to organize for change. But when the risk of reprisal is high, fewer choose to take it. This is evident in Colombia. Despite the number of defenders killed falling between 2023 and 2024, individuals remain less inclined to defend rights out of fear. In the Kivu provinces in DR Congo, the M23 armed group has targeted rights defenders with extreme violence, forcing many to flee or halt their work altogether.

Where the State is either unable or unwilling to ensure that communities benefit from their natural resources, EHRDs are the first and last lines of defence. No amount of well-intentioned green industrial policies will have serious impact on reducing inequity or mitigating climate change while governments have no incentive to implement them. Without EHRDs, they simply cut deals with great powers, multinationals or armed groups to split the proceeds of extraction, and then use those proceeds to entrench their own political advantage.