A Dangerous Climate: Deforestation, Climate Change and Violence against Environmental Defenders in the Colombian Amazon (Executive Summary)
Publisher: World Wide Fund for Nature Germany
Author(s): Jenniffer Vargas Reina, Juan Carlos Garzón, Katarina Shulz, Lukas Rüttinger, Beatrice Mosello, Daria Ivleva, Markus Budrath, Julia Gorricho, Markus Schultze-Kraft, Héctor Morales, Sandra Valenzuela, and Esperanza Leal Gomez
Date: 2021
Topics: Conflict Causes, Governance, Land, Programming, Renewable Resources
Countries: Colombia
The Colombian Amazon is facing a deepening security, human rights and environmental crisis. Since the signing of the Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC in 2016, deforestation rates have been on the rise – the loss of primary forest in Colombia has been greater than any year previously recorded. At the same time, violence against those who try to protect the environment and build a more just and peaceful future has also been increasing to alarming levels. In 2020, Colombia was the country with the most environmental defenders killed worldwide. Indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon are especially hard-hit: they are losing their land and livelihoods, and are the subject of human rights abuses, violence and displacement.