List of environmental killings

Environmental killings are murders, assassinations, or other unlawful killings which are linked to environmental issues such as illegal logging, mining, land grabbing, pollution etc. Victims have included not only environmental and land rights activists, but also members of indigenous communities and journalists who have reported on these issues.

Statements

In 2003, the Environmental Justice Foundation reported that in at least 11 countries people had been murdered for opposing shrimp farming and its associated environmental impacts.
According to Global Witness, the number of environmental killings worldwide reached 147 in 2012, and the total number of such murders between 2002 and 2013 exceeds 908. In only six of these cases were the killers tried, convicted and punished. The report blames this level of impunity, together with the lack of attention to the issue, for the rise in the numbers of deaths.
In March 2014, when the United Nations Independent Expert on human rights and the environment, John Knox, presented his first detailed report to the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights obligations relating to environmental protection he stated: “Environmental human rights defenders deserve no less protection than other human rights defenders.”

List of killings

Following is a list of the victims of environmental killings by date:

21st century

In the 21st century, more than 1000 environmental activists have been killed. Every year, more than 100 environmental activists are murdered throughout the world. 116 environmental activists were assassinated in 2014. More than two environmentalists were assassinated every week in 2014 and three every week in 2015. 185 environmental activists were assassinated in 2015. More than 200 environmental activists were assassinated worldwide between 2016 and 2018. In 2019 and 2020 the number was 212 and 227 respectively.

Date	Activist name	Country	Cause
September 17, 2003	Jane Tipson	Saint Lucia	Conservationist and animal rights activism.
12 February 2005	Dorothy Stang	Brazil	Preservation of the Amazon rainforest
13 January 2006	Joan Root	Kenya	Anti-poaching task force
2010	Leonard Co	Philippines	Botanist and plant taxonomist shot by the military during a biodiversity project in a forest.
January 24, 2011	Gerry Ortega	Philippines	Crocodile farming, anti-corruption, sustainable ecotourism, and anti-mining advocate.
May 24, 2011	José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva	Brazil	Preservation of the Amazon rainforest
16 August 2011	Shehla Masood	India	RTI activists in India\|RTI] and environmental activism
26 April 2012	Chut Wutty	Cambodia	Critic of the military's alleged role in illegal logging
11 September 2012	Hang Serei Odom	Cambodia	Reports about illegal logging industry
13 March 2013	Perween Rahman	Pakistan	Reports about illegal logging industry
May 31, 2013	Jairo Mora Sandoval	Costa Rica	Protection of leatherback turtle nests
April 9, 2015	Gregory "Gibby" Leonard Gibbard	Zimbabwe	Protection of African painted dogs
25 August 2015	Raimundo Santos Rodrigues	Brazil	Environmental rights defender.
11 November 2015	Lkhagvasumberel Tumursukh	Mongolia	Snow leopard conservationist
13 October 2016	Luiz Alberto Araújo	Brazil	Secretary for the environment on Altamira city council
3 March 2016	Berta Cáceres	Honduras	Protests against the construction of Agua Zarca Dam.
16 August 2017	Wayne Lotter	Tanzania	Wildlife conservationist
4 February 2018	Esmond Bradley Martin	Kenya	Elephants and ivory trade
2 November 2019	Paulo Paolino Guajajara	Brazil	Amazon Protector
January 2020	Homero Gómez González	Mexico	Environmental activist, agricultural engineer, and politician. El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve
October 2020	Fikile Ntshangase	South Africa	Environmental activist involved in a legal dispute over the extension of an opencast mine operated by Tendele Coal near Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park, the oldest nature reserve in Africa.
26 July 2022	Anton Mzimba	South Africa	Timbavati Private Nature Reserve ranger
18 January 2023	Manuel Esteban Paez Terán	United States	Environmental activist involved in Stop Cop City social movement to prevent construction of the Cop City by the Atlanta Police Foundation and the City of Atlanta.
29 September 2023	Quinto Inuma Alvarado	Peru	Tribal leader who opposed illegal logging in his community