Environmental activists play a vital role in overcoming the climate crisis, and yet they’re under attack globally.
According to Global Witness data, on average one land and environmental defender has been killed every two days since 2012 and since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015 at least 1,213 defenders have been killed. The Alliance for Land, Indigenous and Environmental Defenders (ALLIED) reports that these killings represent the tip of the iceberg with defenders globally increasingly facing a suite of non-lethal attacks such as criminalisation, violence, harassment and surveillance.
There’s no climate justice without protecting defenders.
Environmental defenders protect their land, fight against new oil and gas projects, champion sustainable solutions, and safeguard the world’s forests and ecosystems. And yet, despite some progress in climate policy, their role in tackling the climate emergency is often overlooked.
This must change. It’s time for urgent action that fully recognises and protects those who, day in and day out, are risking their lives to protect our planet.
On behalf of the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Rights Defenders and the Ford Foundation, in collaboration with ALLIED and Global Witness, join us for a discussion on the dire need for a global agenda to defend the defenders and to ensure that their role in averting the climate emergency is recognised.
Speakers will include:
- Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders
- Vanessa Nakate, Climate justice activist and author
- Joan Carling, Indigenous activist and co-founder and Executive Director of Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI)
- Two more speakers TBC