Communities protecting forests, rivers and indigenous territories are increasingly forming self-defence units in response to a wave of lethal violence, according to the independent watchdog Global Witness. The organisation's latest annual death toll found that 124 nature and land defenders were murdered in 2025 — a rate of one killing every three days.
Organised crime groups or professional killers were implicated in more than a third of those killings, as narco-trafficking activities overlap with intrusions into indigenous territories and environmental crime, including illegal logging and wildcat gold mining. The findings underscore a deepening crisis in which the defence of land and ecosystems has become one of the most dangerous forms of civic activism.
Latin America accounted for 85% of the deaths recorded last year, reflecting the region's central role in a global struggle over natural resources. The concentration of violence there is linked to the expansion of criminal economies that exploit weak governance in remote forested areas, where drug trafficking routes, illegal mining operations and logging networks often intersect.
In response to the threat, many communities have established self-defence units to patrol their territories and protect local leaders. These groups operate in a context where state protection is often absent or insufficient, leaving residents to rely on their own networks and local knowledge to deter intruders.
The killings documented by Global Witness are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern in which environmental defenders are targeted for opposing projects or criminal enterprises that encroach on their land. The watchdog's annual figures have consistently highlighted the gap between international commitments to protect environmental rights and the reality on the ground.
Indigenous territories are particularly affected, as they often coincide with areas rich in timber, minerals and biodiversity that attract both legal and illegal exploitation. When defenders speak out or organise resistance, they can become direct obstacles to profit, making them targets for intimidation and violence.
The involvement of organised crime in more than a third of the cases marks a shift in the nature of the threat. What was once primarily a conflict over land rights now frequently involves sophisticated criminal networks that treat environmental resources as another commodity to control.
Self-defence units represent a grassroots response to this convergence of criminality and environmental destruction. While they can provide immediate protection, they also operate in a high-risk environment where confrontations can escalate quickly.
The Global Witness report adds to a growing body of evidence that the defence of nature has become a deadly undertaking in many parts of the world. The rate of one killing every three days in 2025 illustrates the scale of the challenge facing communities, activists and policymakers who seek to protect both people and ecosystems.
For the communities involved, the decision to form self-defence units is a direct consequence of the failure of existing protection mechanisms. The report's findings suggest that without stronger action against the criminal networks driving environmental destruction, the violence is likely to continue.
