怨 Remembering murdered environmentalists

怨   “We all stand before history,” said Ken Saro-Wiwa, a journalist executed for environmental advocacy, in Nigeria on Nov. 10, 1995.

Saro-Wiwa was among a growing number of environmental activists and journalists who have been murdered  in recent years. This list (below) was compiled through searches of databases of Environmental Health News, Nexis, Amnesty International, Global Witness and many other non-governmental organizations along with Google and other public databases.

Environmental murders have accelerated in the second decade of the 21st century.  The question, of course, is why are we seeing this trend? Could it be an artifact of an expanding global culture, with greater communications links between developed and developing worlds, enabling us to be more aware of  these uncommon crimes? Or, on the other hand, are the apparently increasing murders connected to a global rush for the last remaining timber and mining resources, and a new ruthlessness on the part of oil, timber and mining companies?  It could be both. Global Witness and other organizations are calling for an international investigation.

Most of the killings involve indigenous people who are relatively isolated and whose opposition to mining, logging and hydroelectric projects is rooted in protection of their own land.   “They follow me. They threaten to kill me, to kidnap me, they threaten my family. That is what we face,” Berta Caceres, 2015  winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, told journalist Imelda V. Abano.  Before the year was out, Caceres and another Honduran colleague, Nelson Garcia,  had also been assassinated.

Global Witness is one organization that closely tracks this human rights issue. The problem has been recognized by the United Nations human rights office, and is being considered in Latin America alongside the LAC- P10 treaty, signed in March 2018, which  may help.  Studies by Global Witness show that the pace of killings has not slackened. Defending Tomorrow: The Climate Crisis and Threats Against Environmental And Land Defenders, Global Witness, 2020

Also see: 

Names remembered in honor and sorrow

2024 

Juan Lopez photo taken in front of a portrait of Carlos Escaleras. Both are murdered Honduran environmentalists.  Photo by Lucy Edwards.

  • Juan Lopez, Sept. 14, Honduras. Murdered after leading a Saturday evening service at the Catholic church in Tocoa, Honduras. Witnesses say that, as he was getting to his car, someone on a motorcycle rode by and shot him multiple times, killing him. The murder was condemned by leaders of Honduras, the US and many other countries.

2023  

  • Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, Jan 18, killed by state police in Atlanta Georgia (US) in an incident related to bitter protests over the “Cop City”  police training facility.  Police accused Terán of firing at officers, but  this is disputed by Terán’s family and fellow activists. An official  autopsy showed his body had 57 gunshot wounds from police, but no gunpowder residue on his own hands.
  • Quinto Inuma Alvarado, Sept. 29, a tribal leader who opposed illegal logging killed in Peru.
  • A Global Witness report of September 2024  said that at least 196 environmental activists were murdered in 2023 for their non-violent defense of the environment. Their names and countries:
    • Brazil (25) 
      Abalau Lacheski da Cruz
      Agnaldo da Silva Paz
      Aldecy Vitunno Barros
      Ana Paula Costa Silva
      Angelita Prororita Yanomami
      Cleide Silva Dalla Libera
      Gilson Silva da Rosa
      Ilson Xiriana
      José Alberto Moreno Mendes
      José Carlos dos Santos
      José Inácio Guajajara
      Josimar da Silva Pereira
      Lindomar Dias de Souza
      Lucas Santos de Oliveira
      Luis Fernando de Jesus Santana
      Maria Bernadette Pacífico
      Nauí Brito de Jesus
      Paola Rodrigues
      Raimundo Ribeiro da Silva
      Rufino Velasque
      Samuel Cristiano do Amor Divino
      Sebastiana Galton
      Valdemar Marciano Guajajara
      Venâncio Xiriana
      Yanomami child
    • Colombia (79)
      Albán Mestizo Yosando
      Alejandro Forero Valderrama
      Berna Nastacuás Paí
      Bryan Camilo Osuna Gómez
      Carlos Alberto Romero Martínez
      Carlos Arturo Quijano
      Carlos Julio Tautiva Cruz
      Cristobal Nastacuás Nastacuás
      Custodio Yucuna Tanimuca
      Daniel Andrés Rivas Prieto
      Diana Carolina Rodríguez Madrigal
      Diego Antonio Arrieta López
      Edilsan Andrade Avirama
      Edwin Manuel Tapia Gaviria
      Eliécer Puyo Chocué
      Eliseo Losada Cedeño
      Elkin Jesús Díaz Vergara
      Ferley Fernández Rojas
      Fredy Alexander Bomba Campo
      Gustavo Muñoz Mojomboy
      Hegils Edimer Escorcia Carranza
      Hugo Armando Trujillo
      Jaime Álvarez Romero
      Jairo Enrique Tombé
      Jelen Charit Ramos Menza
      Jhon Freddy Rueda Rodríguez
      Jhon Kevin Taicús Guanga
      Jhon William Vargas Peña
      Johan Ferney Aguilar González
      John Freiman Ramos Ocaña
      Jorge Adolfo Cárdenas Fajardo
      José Antonio Santiago Pérez
      José Arley Cruz Chocue
      José Hernán Tenorio Mestizo
      José Ilder Díaz Benavides
      José Isaías Quiguanás Musicué
      José Isaías Yandi Pacho
      Juan Alexander Chocué Peña
      Julio Cesar Tapias Carvajal
      Leniz Rojas Silva
      Leonora González
      Luis Alberto Quiñones Cortés
      Luis Eduardo Timaná García
      Luis Gabriel Martínez Pérez
      Luis Parra Toroca
      Luisa Isabel Moreno
      Marcelino Dagua Baicué
      Marcelino Martínez Cuadros
      Marcos Canticus Nastacuas
      Maribel Arce Piedrahita
      Marino Paví Julicue
      Marlon Hernando García Pascal
      Martín Darys Escobar Barón
      Miller Silva Rosero
      Milton Rocha Peña
      Milton Santacruz Aguilar
      Nelson Medina Muñoz
      Néstor Enríque Martínez Brito
      Pedro Chocue Poche
      Pedro Pablo Salas Sánchez
      Phanor Guazaquillo Peña
      Raúl Antonio Nastacuas
      Rigoberto Mendoza Ospina
      Robert Fernández
      Robiro Rojas Benavides
      Rogelio Chate Peña
      Rosalía Quiguanas Dagua
      Salomón Durán
      Samuel Avendaño
      Samuel Sabi Dorado
      Sebastian Lucumí Mina
      Tiberio Chepe Zeti
      Tulia Carrillo Lizarazo
      Weimar Possú Díaz
      Wilson Andrés Bomba Piamba
      Yamili Bernal García
      Yenifer Córdoba Henao
      Yisel Menza
      Yonnis Orfilio García Nastacuás
      Congo, Democratic Republic of the (2)
      Obedi Karafuru
      Pascal Tulinabo Fatakanwe
      Ecuador (1)
      Eduardo Mendúa
      Ghana (1)
      Samuel Abayateye
      Guatemala (4)
      Nicolasa López Méndez
      Noé Gómez Barrera
      Sonia Janeth Guevara Ávila
      Victoria Méndez Agustín
      Honduras (18)
      Aly Domínguez
      Amilcar Vieda
      Benigno Maldonado
      Emerson Martínez
      Jacinto Adonay Meza
      Jairo Bonilla
      Javier Rivas
      José David Fortín
      José Gilberto Martínez Cardona
      Juana María Martínez
      Kevin Meza
      Martín Morales Martínez
      Naún Ismael Chacón
      Omar Cruz Tomé
      Óscar Oquelí Domínguez Ramos
      Ricardo Arnaúl Montero
      Sandy Martínez Murillo
      Santos Hipólito Rivas
      India (5)
      Mahmed Haroon
      Nalla Ramakrishnaiah
      Sendhu Munda
      Shashikant Warishe
      Washim Sajad
      Indonesia (3)
      Gijik
      Logam
      Sabriansyah
      Mexico (18)
      Abisaí Pérez Romero
      Alejandro Ortiz Vázquez
      Alfredo Cisneros Madrigal
      Álvaro Arvizu Aguiñiga
      Antonio Díaz Valencia
      Cuauhtémoc Márquez Fernández
      Eustacio Alcalá Díaz
      Félix Vicente Cruz
      Higinio Trinidad de la Cruz
      Isaul Nemesio Zambrano
      Jesús Toral García
      Juan Medina
      Lorenzo Froylán de la Cruz Ríos
      Manuel Flores Reyes
      Miguel Estrada Reyes
      Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca
      Rolando Magno Zambrano
      Román Flores Hernández
      Nicaragua (10)
      Alberto Castillo Palacios
      Alexander Urbina Mora
      Bernabé Palacios Hernández
      Clen Dixon Fernández
      Jesmin Jacobo Lázaro
      Jorge Enor Palacios Samuel
      Lenin Vílchez Patrón Flores
      Manuel Morgan Díaz Palacios
      Serato Juwith Charly
      Sergio Julián Juan
      Panama (4)
      Abdiel Díaz Chávez
      Agustin Rodriguez Morales
      Iván Rodríguez Mendoza
      Tomás Milton Cedeño
      Paraguay (2)
      Arnaldo Benítez Vargas
      Edgar Francisco Villalba Oliveira
      Peru (4)
      Benjamin Flores Ríos
      Cristino Melchor Flores
      Quinto Inuma Alvarado
      Santiago Contoricón Antúnez
      Philippines (17)
      Antonio Diwayan
      Arjie Velasco Salvador
      Bea Lopez
      Ben Fausto
      Crispin Tingal Jr
      Danny Malinao
      Dexter Capuyan
      Emelda Fausto
      Gene Roz Jamil De Jesus
      Jose Gonzales
      Lee Sudario
      Mariano Jolongbayan
      Norman Ortiz
      Peter Agravante
      Ravin Fausto
      Rey Almario Belan
      Roly Fausto
      Rwanda (1)
      John Williams Ntwali
      United States of America (1)
      Manuel Esteban Paez Terán
      Venezuela (1)
      Carlos Bolívar Cedeño

2022  

  • At least 177 people were murdered defending the environment in 2022, according to a Global Witness report.  The majority were in Columbia, Mexico, Brazil and other Latin American nations.
  • “The figure (177) is slightly lower than that of the previous year, when 200 people were murdered – but still paints a grim picture. Overall, at least 1,910 land and environmental defenders globally have lost their lives since we started documenting killings in 2012. Of these, at least 1,390 defenders have been killed since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015. These are lives we simply cannot afford to lose.” – Global Witness.

2021 

  • Nazim Jokhio – Pakistan – Journalist who exposed illegal hunting by Arab VIPs is murdered Nov. 3.  Though hunting is banned in Pakistan, it is permitted for wealthy foreign dignitaries. Reporters Without Borders has called for an independent investigation.
  • Joannah Stutchbury, a defender of Kenya’s threatened forests,  killed in Nairobi July 15.  Friends and neighbors see it as deliberate revenge for her activism.
  • Simón Pedro Pérez López – Mexico – a member of the Tzeltal Indigenous group created after the 1998 Acteal massacre, shot by assassins on motorcycle, July 5.
  • Tomás Rojo Valencia, Yaqui Indigenous leader  in Sonora, Mexico  July 5.
  • David Díaz Valdez , environmentalist,  killed in the Mexican state of Nayarit, July 4.
  • Carlos Marqués Oyorzábal, municipal commissioner of the Las Conchitas community in San Miguel Totolapank, Mexico, killed by armed men April 3.   Marqués belonged to the communal Pueblos Unidos organization, dedicated to protecting forest land. It has previously obstructed trucks from entering the region to extract timber.
  • Jaime Jiménez Ruiz, a former municipal agent in the town of Paso de la Reina, Mexico, known for his activism defending the Río Verde river, was shot and killed March 28.
  • Carlos Cerros, a representative of the Indigenous Lenca people, was shot dead in the street near the city of San Antonio, Honduras, on 23 Mar 2021.
  • Gonzolo Cardona Molina , Colombia, guardian of the Golden eared parrot, killed Jan. 8.
  • Six park rangers, Uganda, killed protection Virunga Park gorillas, Jan. 11.

2020 

  •  Pedro Arcangel Canelas, Honduras, owner of Radio Bambi, shot Dec. 20. The Inter American Press Association said Canelas was shot to death by a man on a motorcycle in the rural province of Olancho.
  • Félix Vásquez, Honduras, Dec. 26,  a longtime environmental activist from the Lenca indigenous group, was shot by masked men in front of relatives  in his home in Santiago de Puringla.
  • Jose Adán Medina was found shot to death in a remote location in the community of El Volcan, also in western Honduras. Medina was a member of the Tolupan Indigenous group
  • Javier Francisco Parra Cubillos, Colombia, an official from regional environmental authority Cormacarena,  shot in La Macarena, Dec. 3.  According to the Institute for Development and Peace, this was the 284th murder of social, labor and Indigenous leaders in Colombia this year.
  •  Juana Perea Plata, eco-tourism resort owner and environmental advocate, killed on a beach in the northern coastal region of Chocó, Colombia  October 29.
  • Fikile Ntshangase killed by three assassins in her home on Oct. 22. Ntshangase was   a leader of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (MCEJO), which is taking legal action against the proposed expansion of an open-cast coal mine operated by Tendele Coal Mining (Pty) Ltd, near Hluhluwe–iMfolozi park, the oldest nature reserve in Africa.
  • Arnold Joaquín Morazán Erazo shot in his home in Tocoa, Honduras, one night in October 2020. So far, at least eight people who have opposed the mine have been killed, putting its owner, Inversiones Los Pinares, at the centre of a deadly environmental conflict in the mineral-rich Bajo Aguán region, according to
  • Luis Alonso Almendares, Honduras, independent journalist  killed  September 27.
  • Benoit Maria, Guatemalan director of Agronomes et Veterinaires Sans Frontieres, ambushed and killed in northeastern Guatemala Aug. 12.
  • Four Indigenous Garifuna men — Alberth Sneider Centeno,  Milton Joel Martínez Álvarez, Suami Aparicio Mejía García and Gerardo Misael Trochez Calix — disappear on this day in Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras. As of this day a year later, in 2021, no one has seen the four again. It is presumed that they were assassinated by the Honduran military.
  • Germán Vallecillo Jr., reporter with Canal 45,  and cameraman Jorge Posas, Honduras,  killed July 1.
  • Regan Russell, Canadian animal rights activist is run over and killed by a truck driver in a demonstration outside Sofina Foods in Burlington, Ontario, on June 16.
  • Jorge Enrique Oramas, murdered May 16 in Villacarmello, Columbia. This was the 100th activist murder in Columbia in 2020,  according to the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz).
  • Twelve Congo conservation rangers protecting critically endangered mountain gorillas were killed in an ambush April 24, apparently by Hutu rebel forces.  The attacks bring the total ranger corps deaths around the Virunga gorilla and chimpanzee habitat to 176 since the year 2000.
  • Yehry Rivera, 45, a land activist and member of the Brörán tribal group in Costa Rica, was killed by a mob Feb. 24. The murder follows the near-death of Mainor Ortiz Delgado, 29, a leader of the Bribri indigenous people in neighboring Salitre.
  • Homero Gomez Gonzales, manager of El Rosario monarch butterfly reserve and advocate for preservation of nature in Mexico, went  missing Jan. 20. He was found dead, floating in a well, on Jan 29.    A part time tour guide at the butterfly reserve, Raúl Hernández Romero, also went missing Jan. 27 and was found dead in early February.

2019 

  • Paulo Paulino Guajajara,  indigenous Guajajara leader, killed Nov 1 in an Amazon rainforest ambush by loggers in the Araribóia Indigenous Reserve.
  • Golfrid Siregar, a member of IUCN – Netherlands and the legal advocacy organization WALHI in North Sumatra, Indonesia, died of blows to the head October 6 in Indonesia.
  • Bienvenido Veguilla Jr, a Philippine forest ranger,  hacked to death in El Nido, Palawan, on Sept. 5 after he and his team came across illegal logging activities in the area.
  • Jorge Juc, a 77-year-old indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ community leader,  killed in a machete attack July 31. He was president of the village chapter of the Campesino Development Committee (CODECA). Three other CODECA members were also killed in July: Isidro Perez and Melesio Ramirez on July 5  when a group of armed men opened fire on participants in a land rights action; and Julio Ramirez killed July 12.
  •  Emyra Wajapi, a leader of the indigenous Wajapi tribe in the Amazon,  murdered by illegal miners in Brazil in late July. The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile, called his murder “tragic and reprehensible in its own right. It is also a disturbing symptom of the growing problem of encroachment on indigenous land — especially forests — by miners, loggers and farmers in Brazil.”
  • Isidro Pérez and Melecio Ramírez, July 5, Guatemala. Perez and Ramirez were attending a rally of the rights group CODECA when 15 armed men stormed in and killed them.  
  • Member of the Tambopata National Reserve Committee., June, Peru,  murdered by illegal gold miners. 
  • José Luis Álvarez Flores, June 10, Mexico.  The founder of a sanctuary for howler monkeys near Emiliano Zapata in Tabasco state, Alvarez opposed illegal mining on the Usumacinta River.  He was shot five times.
  • Héctor Domínguez, May, Mexico.  Dominguez was an environmental artist and activist.   
  • Cecilio Perez Cruz, May 18, El Salvador.  Catholic priest criticized illegal logging in western El Salvador.  
  • At least 9 dead during April in escalating Amazon region violence.  
  • Dilma Ferreira Silva, Claudionor Costa da Silva, and Hilton Lopes;  March 22,  Tucuruí region of Pará state, Brazil. Dilma was the  long time regional coordinator of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB). She  was brutally murdered in her home, along with her husband and a friend. 
  • Sergio Rojas Ortiz, 59, March 18, Costa Rica.  Rojas had been a leader of indigenous rights and development groups. He was well known by national and international officials for his work on behalf of indigenous peoples. 
  • Samir Flores Soberanes, February 13, Mexico.  Activist and radio producer from central Morelos state opposed a gas pipeline. Murded in his home.  
  • Fourteen environmental activists were murdered in Honduras in 2019, according to one report.

2018

  • Ajit Maneshwar Naik,  July 27, India.  The  57-year-old environmental activist fought against the construction of new dams on the Kali River in the state of Karnataka in India
  • Kateryna Gandziuk, Deputy Mayor of the Ukranian city of Kherson, is splashed with sulfuric acid July 31 and dies of wounds Nov. 4. She had accused accused several local politicians of illegal logging in the nearby Oleshky forest.
  • Two activists killed, Gambia, June 18, during protest against sand mining.
  • Manuel Gaspar Rodríguez, 14 May,  Cuetzalan, Puebla state, Mexico. He was an indigenous environmental rights defender who opposed construction of a high-voltage power line.
  • Luis Alberto Torres Montoya, and Duvián Andrés Correa Sánchez, killed 8 May, Columbia. They were members of the Antioquia Ríos Vivos Movement, according to Amnesty International.
  • Hugo Albeiro George Pérez, May 2, Colombia, member of the Antioquia Ríos Vivos Movement, according to Amnesty International.
  • Sandeep Sharma, March 26, India. Journalist with News World television channel  killed following reports on illegal sand mining and police corruption in Madhya Pradesh state’s Bhind district.
  • Three natural resource rangers, Izabal department of Guatemala,  killed in two incidents in March 2018. They worked with the Foundation for Eco-Development and Conservation, FUNDAECO, a non-governmental group that co-manages some protected areas.
  • Yolanda Maturana,  Feb. 1, Colombia, shot by masked assailants, defender of wildlife,   forests and  natural resources.  “Violence against social, human and environmental activists has skyrocketed since the evacuation of guerilla groups from rural sectors,” said a Telesur article.  “Paramilitaries have filled the void where former rebel groups once held sway and assault and murder have become almost daily occurrences.”
  • Kavous Seyed Emami, Feb. 9, Iran, hung in prison cell  two weeks after arrest.  Emami was  co-founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation.
  • Esmond Braily Martin, Feb. 4, Kenya — Noted investigator of illegal ivory trade, found stabbed. Martin worked with Wayne Lotter, killed in Aug. 2017.

2017 

  • Hernán Bedoya, December,  Colombia. The land rights activist was riding home on his horse last December when he was shot 14 times and killed.
  • José Napoleón Tarrillo Astonitas, December, Peru.  Astonitas was lieutenant-governor of the community of Muchik Santa Catalina de Chongoyape and a prominent environmental defender.  The community borders the Chaparrí reserve — 340 square kilometers  of dry tropical forest. It has adopted ecotourism as a development model, but reservoirs planned for the region brought land grabbers and gang activity to the area.  A dozen members of a criminal gang were arrested in connection with the murder in December, 2018.
  • Pieter van Eeden,  Oct. 29, defender of wildlife, killed in Kempton Park, South Africa.
  • Efigenia Vásquez,  Oct. 8, Colombia.  A  radio and video journalist from the Kokonuko community who was shot during a protest “to liberate Mother Earth.”  One of 28 Colombian environmental killings in 2017 and 37 in 2016.
  • Ruben Arzaga, September,   Phillipines, shot in the head  as he tried to talk with illegal loggers on Palawan island, a popular tourist destination. According to the Straits Times, Arzaga belonged to the Palawan NGO Network Inc (PNNI), a non-profit group made up of so-called para enforcers that uses a citizen’s arrest law to confiscate equipment that is being used to destroy the island’s environment.  Arzaga was the 12th member of the group murdered since 2001.
  • Wayne Lotter, director of the PAMS elephant conservation foundation, killed by two gunmen in Tanzania, Aug. 15. Also see this Guardian story.
  • Five farmers from Madhya Pradesh, India, killed by police on June 6 during a protest over agricultural problems.
  • Carlos Maaz Coc, May 27, Guatemalan fisherman protesting   the Fenix nickel mine in El Estor.
  •  Mohammed Khadim Zain al-Din, Bharain, May 23, killed during protests by national security forces.
  • Aysin and Ali Ulvi Büyüknohutçu, May 11, southern Turkey, killed while trying to defend a forest from a mining company.  Also see The Ecologist July 7, 2017.  
  • Niranjan, Vimlesh, and Uday Yadav, May 19, India — Three family members killed by guns at point blank range by miners taking sand from a river near Jatpura, Jharkhand, India.
  • Daniel Felix Castro, May 9, Colombia, killed during a minga (a traditional non-violent protest).
  • Waldomiro Costa Pereira, March 21, Brazilian land rights activist shot in hospital.
  • Mia Manuelita Cumba Masacariñas-Green, Feb. 16, environmental attorney on Philippine island of Bohol. Shot in her car by motorcycle assassins while with her children.
  • Isidro Baldenegro Lopez,  Jan. 15,  Mexico, leader of efforts to curb illegal logging and deforestation in Chihuahua state.   Baldenegro Lopez was a 2005 Goldman award recipient and had recently returned from exile.
  • Marc Baumer, Jan 15., killed by motorist in Florida while on a barefoot environmental walking journey across the United States.
  • Mario Contaoi, Jan. 7, Philippines, environmental journalist. Also see this editorial in the Manila Times.
  • Almost four environmentalists killed per week in 2017, according to Global Witness & The Guardian.

2016

  • Jeremy Abraham Barrios Lima, Nov. 12,  Guatemala, assistant to the director of the Center for Environmental and Social Legal Action of Guatemala (CALAS).
  • Wally Petersen, Oct 30, South Africa, member of the Kommetjie Environmental Awareness Group.
  • Jose Angel Flores and Silmer Dionisio George, Oct 19, Honduras, leaders of the United Farmworkers Movement of Agua.
  • Luiz Alberto Araújo, Oct 13, Brazil, local government official in Amazon region killed at his home. “The killing had all the hallmarks of the sort of assassination that is common in the lawless Pará state, in the eastern Amazon, where illegal logging, clandestine mining and modern slavery are rife.”
  • Yrineo Martínez, Felicie Cherres Garrido and Jesús Guerrero, October 2016. Peru.
  • Michael McCoy, Sept 30, Ireland, defender of the Ballinascorney forest in the Dublin mountains, stabbed.
  • Macarena Valdés, August, Chile, a young mother who protested a hydro dam.
  • Lesbia Urquia, July 5, Honduras, environmental activist who fought against hydroelectric and mining projects on indigenous lands.
  • Nilce de Souza Magalhães, missing since Jan.15, found dead June 21, Brazil — Leader of the Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (Movement of people affected by dams). This January, 2016 ECSR Network report gives details of the disappearance.
  • Lei Yang, 29, May 7, China, died in police custody.  Yang had an M.A. in environmental science and was involved in environmental assessments.  In December authorities announced there would be no charges against the officers responsible while he was in custody.
  • Sikhosiphi ‘Bazooka’ Radebe, March 22, South Africa.  Shot eight times by paramilitaries in front of his family’s vehicle repair shop in Port Edward. Bazooka was the leader of what journalist Keith Schneider called a “tenacious, well-managed, and widely-recognized decade-long struggle for control of their traditional Pondo lands” against mining interests on South Africa’s Wild Coast.
  • Nelson Garcia, March 15, colleague of Berta Cáceres in the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh).  Garcia was shot in the face trying to return to his home after a violent eviction by security forces in Honduras.
  • Berta Cáceres, March 3, Goldman award-winning founder of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (COPINH) shot by two gunmen in her home in La Esperanza at around 1am.   Cáceres and others had been harrassed in previous days during protests of the the Agua Zarca Dam.  (Also see this Democracy Now article) In Honduras, Caceres was known as the woman who beat China and the World Bank over the dam controversy.  By February, 2017, eight men had been arrested in connection with the murder, including three Honduran military officers. In March, 2018, Roberto David Castillo, the CEO of the dam construction company, was arrested.  In November, 2018, seven people were convicted of the murder.
  • Walter Méndez Barrios, March 16, a Guatemalan activist fighting deforestation and hydroelectric projects on the Usumacinta River in the Peten region.
  • Jean Marc Messina, Jewelyn Venturillo, Guiliano Steffal Venturillo, all died of gunshot wounds on Jan. 26, in Narra, on Palawan island in the Philippeans.  Messina, his wife and son were French citizens and  environmental advocates doing volunteer work in the Philippines.

2015

  • Lkhagvasumberel Tumursukh, Nov  5, Mongolia, a 27-year-old researcher and defender of snow leopards is drowned.
  • Rigoberto Lima Choc, Sept. 18, Sayaxché, Guatemala, outspoken about ecological damage from Reforestadora de Palmas del Petén, S.A. (REPSA). REPSA’s operations were suspended in June following a massive fish kill, according to this article in Mongabay. 
  • Emerito Samarca, Sept. 1, Philippines.  A school teacher publicly executed for his defense of  the Lumad people in Mindinao. Dozens of others have been reported killed in the mining region, where indigenous peoples have inconvenienced big companies. The grave situation has drawn large protests.
  • Sandeep Kothari, June 19, India, kidnapped and burned to death in connection with news reporting about illegal mining in Madhya Pradesh. Three men linked to India’s mining mafia were arrested.  Kothari had been in court for what his family says were many false charges brought by allies of the mining companies.
  • Jagendra Singh, June 1, 2015, India. Burned to death in retaliation for investigating illegal sand mining in northern India.
  • Jopi Peranginangin, May 23, 2015,  Indonesia.  Stabbed in the back while in a bar in South Jakarta.   The 39-year-old activist worked with the Indigenous People’s Alliance and fought for legal recognition of forests.
  • Chai Bunthonglek, Feb. 11,  Khlong Sai Pattana, Surat Thani, Thailand. A leader of  the Southern Peasant’s Federation of Thailand (SPFT), was shot in violence linked to  the Jiew Kang Juy palm oil company, according to the Federation Internationale de Ligues dse droits de l’Homme.  “Mr. Chai was the fourth member of the SPFT to be assassinated after Ms. Montha Chukaew and Ms. Pranee Boonrat in 2012 and Mr. Somporn Pattanaphum in 2010,” the federation said.  “Of the previous four killings of SPFT members, two cases were brought to trial, but the defendants were later acquitted due to lack of evidence. The consistent failure to conduct comprehensive and transparent investigations has fostered impunity for crimes.”

2014

  • José Isidro Tendetza Antún,   killed around Nov. 28, 2014, Ecuador — Antun was a Shuar indigenous leader opposed to a mining project in Ecuador. He was  assassinated  days before he planned to take his campaign to climate talks in Lima. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador say that the Mirador copper mining project will devastate around 450,000 acres of forest. Corporate control of the project is in the hands of Ecuacorriente, initiated by a Canadian-owned firm, purchased by a Chinese conglomerate, CCRC-Tongguan Investment.
  • Diego Armando Saborío, October, 2014, Costa Rica.  The  28-year-old law student was shot in his home in the mountains of northern Costa Rica. He had often spoken out against the illegal hunting rampant in his town, and prohibited poachers from hunting on his land. Several days before the murder, local poacher Miguel Pineda had allegedly hung a dead deer in Saborío’s door in what was viewed by many as a warning, according to a March 15, 2015 Guardian article.
  • Edwin Chota Valero, and three Ashaninka community leaders, Jorge Rios, Leoncio Quincicima and Francisco Pinedo, killed around Sept. 1, Peru – Brazil border area  — Chota and others in the community were attempting to stop illegal logging in the Amazon and to protect indigenous people. See Edwin Chota’s Dream, a Huffington Post article about the human rights issues behind environmental activism in the Amazon.
  • Datu Roger Alaki,  August 10, 2014, Philippines —  A paramilitary  group, the Bagani Force,  shot local indigenous leader Alaki after he refused to sign an agreement with the Malampaya mining company.   According to Global Witness, this was one of 9 activist killings in the Philippines related to mining projects in 2014, accounting for almost a third of the 25 deaths worldwide linked to extractive industries.
  • Armando Funez, Maria Enriqueta Matute, Ricardo Soto, Honduras, 2014-2015, resisting the Agua Zarca hydro-dam on the Gualcarque River, which threatens to cut off a vital water source for hundreds of indigenous Lenca people. Their colleague Berta Caceres was awarded the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize.

2013

  • Freddy Tiash, Nov. 6 — Ecuador — A Shuar indian, killed in a standoff over illegal mining operations in Morona province.
  • Cesar Garcia, Nov. 2., Colombia — Garcia was an opponent of “La Colossa”  gold mine under development by AngloGold Ashanti.
  • Three Indians, August 28, Honduras, according to the National Coalition of Environmental Networks of Honduras.
  • Gonzalo Alonso Hernandez,  Aug. 5, Brazil,  may have been killed because he reported poaching and illegal logging.
  • Noé Salomón Vázquez Ortiz, Aug. 2, Mexico, killed one day before he was to host a conference about environmental impacts of hydro dams.
  • Igor Sapatov, July 22,  Russia, campaigned against illegal land transfers and logging.
  • Celso Rodriguez,  June 12, Brazil,  in an ambush set by two armed men, supposedly hired by the livestock farmers occupying the nearby territory of the Paraguassu community, according to   Survival International.
  • Unknown Terena Indian, May 30, Brazil, killed by police whilte being evicted from Trena land.
  • Jairo Mora Sandoval, May 30, Costa Rica, killed trying to protect sea turtle eggs on Costa Rican beaches. Also see New York Times aritcle June 1. 
  • Mauro Pio Peña, May 27, Peru,  a leader of the Ashaninka people, fought illegal logging in Amazon rain forest.
  • Mikhail Beketov  Russian environmental journalist, April 8, 2013, a direct result of a beating in 2008 for his defense of Russia’s environment.
  • Onesimo Rodriguez, March 2013, Panama – killed by four masked men. The murder occurred after a demonstration against the Barro Blanco dam.
  • Paraveen Rehman, Pakistan, March 13, 2013 — The “guardian angel” of the slums of Karachi, killed by the “land mafia.”  Aseminar on ecological issues in Karachi was dedicated to Rehman.
  • Prajob Nao-opas,  Thailand, Feb. 23, 2013 — Nao-opas was  shot four times in Chacheongsao province Thailand. He had been an effective campaigner fighting illegal toxic waste disposal, according to an article in The Guardian. He was one of 30 human rights and environmental activists killed in Thailand since 2001, according to Human Rights Watch. Three men were arrested in connection with the murder on April 13, according to the Bangkok Post. 
  • Jun Lontok, Jan. 7, Philippines — Leader of the Luntiang Alyansa ng Bundok Banahaw (LABB) which fought to protect Mount Banahaw in Quezon province,

2012

  • Six park rangers in the Kenyan Wildlife Service were killed in several separate incidents in 2012, according to officials who added the six names to the Conservation Heroes Monument in Nairobi on Dec. 17, 2012.
  • Cheryl Ananayo and Randy Nabayay,  Dec. 8, 2012 Philippines — The two were members of the Didipio Earthsavers’ Multipurpose Association.  According to the Philippine Star, they were two of 15 environmentalists killed in the Philippines in 2012.
  • Sombath Somphone, missing in Laos, Dec. 15, 2012 — leader of Participatory Development Training Center (PADETC), which uses education to encourage farmers, fishers, and others, particularly rural women, to participate in government and natural resource management.
  • Juventina Villa Mojica, Nov. 28, 2012 — Mexico — An environmental activist supposedly under  police “protection” was killed, along with her 10-year-old daughter, for investigating links between drug cartels and deforestation in Guerero state. Her husband Ruben Santana Alonso, also an environmental activist, and two sons, were killed in 2011.
  • Ms. Montha Chukaew and Ms. Pranee Boonrat,  Nov. 19, Thailand.
  • Two park rangers and a soldier in Virunga National Park, Oct 25, 2012 — Democratic Republic of  Congo.
  • Juvy Capion, October 2012,  Philippines,  anti-mining advocate in Davao del Sur,  murdered together with her two sons.
  • Antonio Trejo,  September 2012,Honduras,  — Attorney for land rights group shot five times outside a church near Tegucigalpa. Trejo represented the Peasants Movement of the Valley of Bajo Aguan which was fighting palm oil / biofuels takeover of traditional lands in Bajo Aguan region.  Dozens have been killed there in recent years, BBC reports.
  • Hang Serei Oudom, Sept. 11, 2012 — Cambodia —  a reporter at local-language Vorakchun Khmer Daily, was covering illegal logging.
  • Six park rangers:  Zakaria Ibrahim, Brahim Khamis, Daoud Aldjouma, Djibrine Adoum Goudja, and Idriss Adoum, Sept. 3, 2012  — Chad —  Gunned down during dawn prayers north of Zakouma National Park in Chad, central Africa;  assassinated for protecting the last of the elephant herds found in the vast stretches between the Sahara Desert and the Congo forest.
  • Volodymyr Honcharenko, August 2012, Ukraine, activist who reported on radiation and water quality issues.
  • Five demonstrators killed (July 2012) — Protesting Conga mine in northern Cajamarca dept. US-based Newmont Corp. is majority shareholder in Conga.
  • Willem Geerthman, a Dutch citizen, the Philippines, killed in July 2012.
  • Five guards killed in Okapi Wildlife Reserve (June 22, 2012) — Democratic Republic of  Congo.
  • Almir Nogueira de Amorim and João Luiz Telles Penetra, killed in Brazil, June 22, 2012 — The two were organizers of AHOMAR, a local organization of seamen,  fighting oil development by Petrobras. (See story by Fred Pearce).
  • Two demonstrators killed, (May 2012) — Peru —  Protesting against  Swiss-owned Xstra’s Tintaya mine in Espinar, Cusco region.
  • Heng Chantha (1998 – May 16, 2012) — Cambodia — A force of 1,000 men assaulted the Pro Ma village of 200 residents in a forced evication. A 14-year-old girl, Heng Chantha, was shot as she resisted. The eviction of families from traditional lands by government forces for mines and logging is a growing source of conflict in Cambodia. While the govenment maintains that the traditional owners have committed crimes, villagers say that the logging and agro-business firm Casotim is behind the evictions. The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development has asked the World Bank noto to lift its suspension of new loans to the Royal Government of Cambodia. The cruelty is reminiscent of the days of Pol Pot, villagers told the Phnom Pen Post. The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights has called for an investigation.
  • Margarito Cabal (May 9, 2012) –Philippines — A leader of a group trying to save the Pulangi River from a hydro dam. One of 13 activists killed in the past two years. Clergy in the Philippines have expressed deep concern over the murders of environmental activists there.
  • Frederick Trangia (May 6, 2012) — Philippines — Opposed mining in Compostela Valley provincial park.
  • Francisco Canayong (May 1, 2012) — Philippines — opposed mining operations in Salcedo and in other parts of Eastern Samar.
  • Chut Vuthy (Wutty) — (1983 – April 26, 2012) — Cambodia — A prominent anti-logging activist helped expose a secretive state sell-off of national parks. Circumstances of his death are still being investigated, but he was apparently killed while trying to smuggle photos of illegal logging past Cambodian police and company security guards. Killing took place in the eastern province of Kratie, Cambodia.
  • Jimmy Liguyon — (March 5, 2012) — Philippines, killed by para-military forces supporting mining operations.
  • Bernardo Mendez Vasquez, Jan. 18, San Jose del Progreso, Mexio, shot by a municipal police officer after resisting water installations related to the Fortuna Silver mine near Oaxaca.
  • Eligio Eloy Vargas Medrano, ranger, Sierra de Bahoruco National Park, (Jan. 7, 2012) — Dominican Republic — murdered by illegal charcoal makers.
  • Two unknown people killed as Panamanian security forces fired on protestors blocking the road to the Barro Blanco dam.

2011

  • Xue Jinbo, (1969 – Dec. 9, 2011) — China — Trying to resolve a land dispute, Xue was arrested and beaten to death by police in Wukan, China.
  • Nísio Gomes, (Nov. 18, 2011) — Brazil — Indiginous leader killed, three children abducted, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
  • Sister Valsa John – (1959 – Nov. 16, 2011), India — Advocate for people’s rights in the face of mining. “Sister Valsa said she did Jesus’s work by teaching the aboriginal people – known in India as adivasi or “tribals” – about their rights to their land….” acccording to an article in A Nun’s Life.
  • Joao Chupel Primo (1956 -Oct. 25, 2011), Brazil, “An active protestor against the deforestation occurring in Brazil’s rain forest. He was currently working on the Projeto de Assentamento Areia (Area Settlement Project) which publicly criticized the illegal logging taking place in the Riozinho de Anfrisio reserve,” according to Impunity Watch. Twenty other activists have died in the Amazon since 2005, according to Bishop of Itaituba, Dom Frei Wilmar Santin.
  • Father Fausto Tentorio, (1952 – Oct. 17, 2011) Italian priest known as “Father Pops,” was an anti-mining advocate working to preserve the Manobo tribe ancestral lands. According to Agence France Press, “Tentorio had dedicated his life to helping the Manabo tribesmen and other disadvantaged people in Mindanao, a resource- rich but deeply poor island” in the Philippines.
  • Lee Xiang – (1981 – Sept. 18, 2011) China, — A journalist who had been following a scandal involving the sale of cooking oil made from leftovers taken from gutters was been stabbed to death.
  •  Rabenio Sungit, September, the Philippines
  • Secundino Ruiz, August 20, 2011, Honduras — Farm workers leader killed outside bank over tensions in the Bajo Aguan valley region.
  • Matthew Coleman, Aug. 18, California US — Environmentalist may have been killed by marijuana growers.
  • Shehla Masood – (1973 – Aug. 16, 2011) India — A wildlife defender and environmental activist
  • Thongnak Sawekchinda – (1964 – July 28, 2011) Thailand — (update) Environmental activist in Samut Sakhon province.
  • Nery Jeremias Orellana – (1985 – July 14, 2011) — Honduras – A journalist working with social and environmental movements.
  • Marlon Lozano Yulan, ( – July 20, 2011) Guayaquil, Ecuador — Youth leader of the Ecuadorian organisation Tierra y Vida (Land and Life)
  • Obede Loyla Souza, Esperança, Brazil – June 15 — Killed in what the Guardian newspaper called a battle for the forest but also for the idea of progress without destruction.
  • Juan Francisco Duran Ayala – ( June 3, 2011)– El Salvador – — Anti-mining activist with Environmental Committee of Cabanas. Also see protection line.
  • Adelino Ramos — (May 27, 2011) – Brazil – land reform leader in the Amazon state of Rondonia
  • José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva – (1959 – May 24, 2011) Brazil –and  Maria do Espírito Santo – (1960 – May 24, 2011) — Conservationists  who campaigned against illegal Amazon logging.  In April, 2013, a  Brazilian court oonvicted two gunmen who committed the murders, but it did not convict the farm owner who was alleged to have paid for the murders.  (Inter-Press Service article, Guardian article, Both April 5, 2013)
  • Seven killed, hundreds wounded, May 16, Tanzania, North Mara mine,  in confrontation with police and Barrick  mining company.
  • Frederic Moloma Tuka, D.R. Congo, May 2 — Killed by police following a demonstration against Siforco logging company in Yalisika province.
  • A Brazilian court convicted two gunmen connected to the murders on April 5, 2013, but it did not convict the farm owner who was alleged to have paid for the murders.
  • Javier Torres Cruz – (1981 – April 18, 2011)– Mexico — A member of Environmental Organization of the Coyuca and Petatlán Mountains, Torres Cruz fought illegal logging in Mexico.
  • Four park rangers  — (March, 2011) — Sanandaj, Iran.
  • Rudy Segovia, (March 6, 2011) — Philippines — Shot by TVI Resource Development guard while picketing a road in Canatuan, Zamboanga de Norte province. (Memory, Truth and Justice for Heroes, Friends of the Earth report, 2011).
  • Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego, ( Feb. 17, 2011) Colombia — Friends of the Earth environmental worker. Disappeared.
  • Kimberly Blackwell, Feb. 2, 2011. Canadian citizen, 53 years old,  murdered in rural Costa Rica in retaliation for reporting poaching in nearby forest.
  • Gerry Ortega – (1963 – Jan. 24, 2011) Philippines — Journalist,  veterinarian and environmental activist, killed for anti-mining advocacy. Suspects arrested Sept. 2015. Suspects released Jan. 2018. 
  • Ruben Santana Alonso, ( 2011) — Mexico —  an environmental activist, and two sons, killed.  Spouse,  Juventina Villa Mojica,  and daughter, also killed Nov. 28, 2012.

2010

  • Ketheeswaran Thevarajah – (Dec 31, 2010) — Sri Lanka, investigating illegal sand mining for construction materials Also see TamilNet
  • Leonard Co,  Philippines – November 15th, Filipino botanist shot to death along with Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo by army troops.
  • Ardiansyah Matra’is – Indonesia — (July 30, 2010) — Indonesia — Environmental journalist with Merauke TV working in Papua, found dead in river.
  • Muhammad Syaifullah – (July 26, 2010) — Indonesia — Environmental journalist, bureau chief of Kompas, Indonesia’s largest daily newspaper, was reporting on illegal logging and coal mining.
  • Amit Jethwa – (1975 – July 20, 2010)–  India — environmentalist trying to protect the Gir Forest area near Junagadh, Gujarat, India. “Mr. Jethwa repeatedly filed information requests to unearth the names of those operating the quarries and to see what action had been taken against them. He discovered there were 55 illegal quarries in and around the preserve. One name stood out among the records of land leases, electricity bills and inspection reports: Dinubhai Solanki, a powerful member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which governs Gujarat.” — New York Times, January 23, 2011.
  • Desidario Camangyan ( June 2010) — Philippines —  Anti-logging activist, journalist and radio host in the Philippine province of Davao Oriental, gunned down while hosting an amateur singing contest. His wife and child were in the audience.
  • Leonard Saleo – (March 1, 2010) — Indonesia – killed confronting illegal loggers.
  • Gensun Agustin (March 1, 2010) — Philippines — vocal in denouncing local and provincial leaders who pushed for magnetite mining from the beaches of Buguey, Cagayan. (FOE, 2011).
  • Shashidhar Mishra (1975 – Feb. 14, 2010) – India – news vendor who fought corruption by filing RTI (Right to Information) applications. (US equivalent of Freedom of Information)
  • Samuel Rodríguez Reyes, ranger, Cerro San Gil National Park, (Jan. 2, 2010) — Guatemala —  Killed in Santo Tomás de Castilla,  Lake Izabal,  Rodriguez had reported illegal logging and the construction of houses in protected areas.
  • Ricardo Ganad and Mike Rivera,  Philippines — Opposed the Mindoro Nickel Project of Norwegian corporation Intex Resources. (Memory, Truth and Justice for Heroes, Friends of the Earth report, 2011).
  • Somporn Pattanaphum, January 2010, Thailand.
  • Josefina Reyes Salazar, January 2010, Mexico, environmental activist in Guadalupe los Bravos, near US border, who organized campaigns against illegal pesticides, water contamination, and a proposed nuclear waste dump on the Texas border.  Her brother Rubén was killed in August after questioning the investigation of her death.  In 2011, her sister, Magdalena, and his brother, Elías, and Luisa Ornelas  were killed.

2009

  • Ramiro Rivera Gómez – (1957 -Dec. 20, 2009) — Opposed El Dorado mine with the National Anti Mining Board, El Salvador.
  • Dora Alicia Sorto Recinos – (1978 – Dec. 26, 2009) — Opposed El Dorado mine with the National Anti Mining Board, El Salvador. Was 8 months pregnant when brutally assassinated. Mariano Abarca, (Nov. 27, 2009) — Mexico — Leader of the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining. Opposed Canada’s Blackfire Exploration mining concessions.  Note: Pacific Rim Corp., based in Vancouver Canada, denied any involvement in the El Salvador murders.
  • Bosco Wisum (Sept. 29, 2009) — Ecuador — Killed in Morona Santiago during a Shuar indian protest against a proposed water law involving mining activities.
  • Adolfo Ich Chamán (Sept. 27, 2009) — Guatemala — killed by security forces of HudBay Minerals Inc., was the President of the Community of La Uníon, a respected Mayan Q’eqchi’ community leader, a school teacher and father. He was also a  critic of the effect of mining in his community.  The day of his death another activist was crippled for life and nine women were sexually assaulted in his town, according to allegations filed in a lawsuit.
  • Gustavo Marcelo Rivera Moreno – (1973 – June 18, 2009)– Opposed El Dorado mine with the National Anti Mining Board, El Salvador. Disappeared, body later found in a well.
  • Massive protests in Bagua, Peru, June 2009,  lead to deaths of 23  police officers, five Indians and five civilians, along with 200 injuries, according to a report by Peru’s Ombudsman. Unofficial reports have claimed the death toll was much higher. The protests involve oil leases in the upper Amazon.
  • Paulo Santos Souza, May 22, Brazil — Fisherman’s union member protesting Petrobras pipeline construction.
  • Eliezer “Boy” Billanes – (1964 – March 9, 2009) — Philippines — Chair of the Alliance for Genuine Development in Mindanao, shot in Koronadal City market. Opposed Xstrata development of the Tampakan gold mining project. On March 18, the Manilla Times reported a statement by the Arroyo administration denying involvement in this and related killings to the EU ambassador.
  • José Miguel Pagoada Tercero, (Feb. 28, 2009) – Honduras — Shot while working in a section of land he had helped reforest in the Hato de Enmedio community, outside Tegucigalpa.
  • Stanislav Markelov, Anastasia Baburova (January 2009) — Russia — Environmental activist and journalist.

2008

  • Fernando “Dodong” Sarmiento, ( Dec. 23, 2008) Philippines — An activist who argued that a local gold mine was damaging the interests of local people, killed at New Bataan, Compostela Valley Province.
  • Two unnamed men, (November, 2008) — Philippines – Among five killed by para-military death squads protecting mining developments in Mindinao
  • Rolando Antolihao, (Nov 10, 2008) – Philippines — a banana plantation worker
  • Danilo Qualbar (Nov 6, 2008) – Philippines — activist for the People First party.
  • Shamir Guifarro Ramírez, Henry Arturo Chacón and Nelda Ochoa— (July 21, 2008. ) — Honduras — Son, father-in-law and mother-in-law of Honduran environmentalist Mario Guifarro murdered in 2007, The three were followed out of the town of Juticalpa, ambushed and murdered.

2007

2006

2005

  • Raul Castro Bocel (Jan. 11, 2005) — Guatemala — Killed by army breaking up blocade to stop mining equipment to Glamis Gold’s Marlin Mine. (FOE, 2011).
  • Bruno Mansur – (1954 – 2005) Indonesia
  • Prahlad Gowala – (2005), Assam state, India
  • Dionisio Ribeiro Filho – (1946 – 2005) Brazil
  • Phra Supoj Suwajano – (June 2005) — Thailand — Abbot of Suan Mettatham monastery and a forest conservationist. Beaten to death.
  • Dorothy Stang – (1931 – 2005) Brazil (solved)
  • Shanmughan Manjunath (1978 – Nov. 19, 2005) — India — Indian Oil Co. manager who was shot after discovering corruption at a Lucknow filling station.
  • Paul Nyame, Ntim Obofor, rangers, Kyabobo National Park (July 11, 2005) — Ghana — Ambushed by poachers.  (IRF*)
  • Four rangers (2000 – 2005) — Peru — Vicuna poachers.  (IRF* citing Associated Press April 15, 2005)
  • Harihar Yadav, ranger, Valmiki Tiger Reserve (Jan. 2, 2005) — India.  (IRF*)
  • Samson Ole Sitima, ranger, private ranch (April 19, 2005) — Kenya — killed by big landowner. (IRF*)
  • Bhola Nath Dhal, ranger, Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary (June 4, 2005) — India. (IRF*)
  • Abelino Sungit, February 2005, the Philippines
  • Rev. Raul Domingo, August 2005, the Philippines

2004

  • Charoen Wat-Aksorn – (1967 – June 21, 2004) – Thailand — led protests against coal-fired power plant in Prachuap Khiri Kahn. Death commemorated in 2010 by Asian Human Rights Commission.
  • Somchai Neelapaijit – (1951 – 2004) Thailand
  • Kwibesha Musekura Boniface, Ruvuzo, both rangers, Virunga national park  (June 23, 2004) — Democratic Republic of Congo — Rebel group.  (IRF*)
  • Girindra Nath Borbhuyan, ranger, Kuklung reserve forest, (Nov. 2004) — India — Rebels. (IRF*)
  • Enrique Alcantara, ranger, PA Punta de Manabique  (Nov. 2, 2004). — Guatemala (IRF*)
  • Sesha Giri, ranger, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, (April 5, 2004) — India — poacher attack. (IRF*)
  • Daniel Khalkho, Sitaram Yadav, rangers, Palamau Tiger Reserve (Sept. 6, 2004) — India — Naxalite rebels. (IRF*)
  • Mokilibe Atakuru, Likambo Masikini, rangers, Garamba National Park (May, 2004) — Democratic Republic of Congo — rebels. (IRF*)

2003

  • Carlos Arturo Reyes Méndez – (1982 – July, 2003), Honduras — anti-logging activist.
  • Satyendra Dubey – (1973 – Nov 27, 2003) – India — National Highways Authority director murdered after fighting corruption in Golden Quadrilateral highway project.
  • Tepeshwar Singh, Jetan Singh,  Baleswar Singh, rangers, Palamau Tiger Reserve (June 30, 2003) — India —  Naxalite extremists.  (IRF*)
  • Two park rangers, Tsavo East (May 15, 2003) — Kenya — Killed by poachers. (IRF*)
  • Two park rangers, Res. Bios. Yaboti Misiones and Sanborombon (May 22 and June, 2003) — Argentina — killed by poachers. (IRF*)
  • Sixto Atienza, ranger,  Balayan Bay (May 5, 2003) — Philippines — Killed after public speech, fishermen. (IRF*)
  • Safari Sulubika, ranger, Virunga national park (May 27, 2003) — Democratic Republic of Congo — Rebel group.  (IRF*)
  • Pte. Makayi Apollo, Pte Kundu Mathew, and Satya Stephen, rangers, Mt. Elgon Conservation Area — Uganda.   (IRF*)

2002

  • Luther Tirkey, ranger, Saranda Forest, (Dec. 17, 2002) — India — Naxalite extremists (IFR*)
  • Jane Tipson – Saint Lucia (September 17th)British animal rights activist and conservationist is murdered near her home.
  • Bortolomeu Morais da Silva, July 2002 — Brazil — Farmer who led struggle against illegal logging.
  • Eric Mota (Aug. 13, 2002) — Brazil — Serra dos Reis state park, ranger killed by illegal loggers.  (IRF*)
  • Antonio Nabo Pires (Jan.  31, 2002) — Portugal — ranger killed, presumably by hunter.  (IRF*)
  • Paluku Jogoo, ranger, Virunga national park  — Democratic Republic of Congo — Rebel group. (IRF*)
  • Bikhu Chowdury, ranger, Valmiki Tiger Reserve (Jan. 27, 2001) — India. (IRF*)
  • Begumisa H., ranger, Lake Mburo National Park, — Uganda — shot by poachers (IRF*)

2001

  • Peter Blake (Dec. 5, 2001) — Brazil — World renowned sailor and environmentalist killed by pirates while at anchor at mouth of Amazon river. (Ottawa Citizen, Dec. 7, 2001)
  • Aury Sara Marrugo — (1962 – Dec. 5, 2001) — Colombia — Paramilitary forces kidnapped and tortured Marrugo, chair of Cartagena refinery workers union. (Memory, Truth and Justice for Heroes, Friends of the Earth report, 2011). According to a 2010 report, trade unionists in Colombia have been killed at the rate of one every three days over the last 23 years. (Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights).
  • Nicanor delos Santos, Philippines
  • Suwat Wongpiyasathit — Samut Prakan, Thailand, June, 2001. “He was due to appear before a Senate panel the next day to oppose a foul-smelling rubbish dump that villagers near Samut Prakan said was a health risk,” said James East, a Straits Times reporter. “In June, two more activists were killed for opposing separate quarry plants. An environmentalist in Phuket who wanted to halt the destruction of mangrove swamps by a prawn farmer has also been murdered.”
  • Somporn Chanapol — Surat Thani, Thailand, August 2001
  • Henry Oram, Sta. Lucia national park ranger (May 4, 2001) — Killed by shrimp poachers. (IFR*)
  • Digna Ochoa – (1964 – 2001) Mexico, attorney for environmental activists.
  • Ademir Alfeu Federicci, Aug. 25, 2001, Brazil
  • Carlos Roberto Flores, June 2001, Honduras — Shot by guards at hydroelectric company Energisa building a dam in the Sierra de Agalta National Park.
  • Michael Safari,  Mambo Mwendapole, Masubaho Mubake; all rangers, Virunga National Park (May 25, 2001) — Democratic Republic Congo — Rebels. (IRF*)
  • Godofredo Garcia, March 31, Peru, opposed Tambogrande Mining Co. development.
  • Aroop Ranjan Pathak , ranger, Dharamtul Range (Feb. 21, 2001) — India — (IRF*)
  • Bipin Chandra Pandey, ranger, Corbett Tiger Reserve, (Aug. 28, 2001) — India — poachers.  (IRF*)
  • Asiimwe Stephen, ranger, Murchison Falls (March, 2001) — Uganda — shot by rebels (IRF*)

2000

  • Alfred Soren,  Adivasi leader, killed Aug 18, 2000 in a land dispute in Dhaka, India.
  • Seven unkown people — Indonesia — killed by Placer Dome security forces at the Porgera gold mine. In 2005, the Porgera Landowners’ Association wrote to Prime Minister Michael Somare urging a commission of inquiry into what he claimed were the deaths of approximately 20 people at the mine. The mine has been the subject of reports by Human Rights Watch and other groups.
  • Zachariah  Abubakar (2000) — Cameroon — park ranger killed by poachers.
  • Fortunato Calacauqui (2000) — Bolivia — Park ranger killed by Vicuna poachers. (IRF*)
  • Kambale Twitebo, Muyalulimbo Idembe, both rangers,  Virunga national park — Democratic republic of Congo — rebels.  (IFR*)
  • Twelve rangers killed, national parks, (1996 – 2000) — Vietnam (IFR*)

1999

  • Terence Freitas, 24; Lahe’ena’e Gay, 39; and Ingrid Washinawatok, 41 — (March 4, 1999) — Colombia — Three American environmentalists were killed by Colombia Revolutionary Armed Forces who were helping U’wa Indians defend their ancestral lands from Occidental Petroleum Corp. The revolutionaries themselves condemned the “unauthorized” executions, as did the Colombian government. The murders apparently derailed nascent peace talks. (Philadelphia Inquirer, March 14, 1999).
  • Kanyamibwa J. de Dieu, Kambale Kinda, both rangers,  Virunga national park — Democratic republic of Congo — rebels.  (IFR*)
  • Paul Wagaba, John Barigira, both rangers, Bwindi National Park — Uganda — killed by rebels. (IRF*)

1998

  • Gloria Sofia Zapata, Hernando Duque and Eder Alexander Valencia — October 14, October 20 and November 9, 1998. Colombia.
  • David “Gypsy” Chain – (1974 – 1998) California, US
  • Mahamat Abubakar (1998) — Cameroon —  Park ranger killed by poachers. His son, Zachariah, took over, but two years later, Zachariah was gunned down in an ambush as well.
  • Kamondo Mayele, Simba Ndianabo, both rangers,  Virunga national park — Democratic republic of Congo — rebels.  (IFR*)
  • Pranjit Kalita, ranger, Lakhimpur Range (Dec. 13, 1998) — India — extremists (IFR*)

1995

  • Ken Saro-Wiwa – (1941 – 1995), Executed following a mock trial by the military junta of Nigeria, along with eight co-defendants — Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine. The executions were strongly condemned internationally. They were part of a campaign of repression by then-president Abacha whose victims also included prominent political leaders and industrialists.
  • Blanca Jeanette Kawas Fernández – Feb. 6, 1995, Honduras One of a string of seven murders of environmental activists in the Olancho region. In 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the government of Honduras had facilitated the murders.
  • Karel Van Noppen, veterinarian, murdered after exposing mafia connections to the meat industry, March 1995, Belgium
  • Jill Phipps,  animal rights activist, killed at Coventry airport in a protest on Feb. 1.

1994

  • Suonandajie – Jan. 18, 1994, China — A provincial official, Suonandajie  was attacked and killed following action to protect the Tibet antelope against poachers in the Hoh Xil nature reserve in Qinghai Province.   Six suspects turned themselves in in 2012, according to an article in the Shanghai Daily.

1993

  • Leroy Jackson – (1946 – 1993) New Mexico, US. Founder of Dine Citizens Against Ruining the Environment,  “Before he disappeared, Jackson said he had obtained documents that showed Bureau of Indian Affairs officials were improperly trying to get the tribe exempted from the federal logging restrictions designed to protect the owl.” — Deseret News, Nov. 21, 1993.
  • Paulo Vinha, 37, (April 28, 1993) — Biologist shot in Vila Velha, documenting coastal impacts of sand mining. (The Age, Aug 9, 1993).
  • Arnaldo Ferreira, 47, (May 1, 1993) — Forest defender in Para state shot in his sleep. According to the Pastoral Land Commission, a Catholic Church organisation, 1,684 people were killed in land struggles in Brazil between 1964 and 1992, some Thirty cases went to trial and only 17 ended in convictions. In 1993, nine more were killed. (The Age, Aug 9, 1993).
  • Tom Worby, April 1,  a 15 year old British hunt saboteur is run over by a hunter during a foxhunt protest.

1992

  • Petra Kelly – (1947 – 1992) — Germany — Founder of Germany’s Green Party, Kelly was shot by former army general Gert Bastian — her long-time companion — who then killed himself, police said. Many have disputed the suicide verdict over the years.

1991

1980s

  • George Adamson,  Kenya, 1989, British wildlife conservationist, defending against poachers.
  • Chico Mendes – (1944 – 1988) Brazil, leader of the rubber taperos movement.
  • Deepak Bharali, ranger, Nanoi Range (1988) — India (IFR*)
  • Vincente Cañas – (1939 – 1987) Brazil
  • Fernando Pereira – (1950 – 1985) New Zealand (aboard the Rainbow Warrior, bombed by French security forces in retaliation for Pacific anti-nuclear protests).
  • Diane Fossey – (1932 – 1985) Rwanda, conservationist and author of “Gorillas in the Mist.”
  • Chixoy Dam, Rio Negro, Guatemala,  1980 – 1982 series of massacres of 444 Mayan Achi people who objected to being relocated from the site of a dam project.
  • Wilson Pinheiro – 1980, Brazil, a rubber tapero and friend of Chico Mendes.
  • Joy Adamson, Jan 3, 1980, Kenya. The author of “Born Free” was murdered by a laborer who worked on a conservation project that she ran with her husband, George Adamson, who was murdered by poachers in Kenya nine years later.

1970s

  • W. Eugene Smith (December 30, 1918 – Oct. 15, 1978) — Photographer died after complications from being beaten nearly to death by chemical company thugs in retaliation  for his work in exposing Minamata disease in Japan.
  • William Sweet, British animal rights activist, shot and killed during an altercation with a hunter, Jan. 1976.
  • Karen Silkood — (1947 — Nov. 14, 1974) — United States — Kerr McGee plutonium plant worker, murdered on her way to meet a New York Times reporter.

1900-1970s

  • Columbus G. McLeod in Florida and Pressly Reeves in South Carolina, both killed by poachers in 1908 trying to protect newly established Audubon bird habitats.

  • Guy Bradley,  1905, Florida, a  game warden  killed while trying to enforce laws against hunting egrets and flamingos, which were in demand for ladies’ hats.

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Other major incidents or general statements about environmental murders, by country:  

Latin America and the Philippines are the areas where environmental murders most typically take place, according to Mongabay news.

Brazil – More than 1,500 rural activists have been killed in conflicts over land and logging in Brazil between 1990 and 2010, the Guardian newspaper reported. The New York Times said that “over 1,000 environmental activists, religious workers, organizers and rural workers” have been killed in the past 20 years, but successful prosecutiouns are virtually nonexistent.

Bolivia — Black October massacre — left 67 people dead and more than 400 injured during protests in El Alto, near La Paz, in late 2003. The clashes included soldiers opening fire on unarmed crowds during demonstrations sparked by opposition to a proposed pipeline to export natural gas through neighbouring Chile.

Costa Rica — Costa Rica’s Federation for the Conservation of the Environment (Fecon) has recorded 66 crimes against environmentalists in the country since 2002. The Guardian, March 19, 2015.

Honduras – Nine environmentalists murdered 1997 – 2007

Mexico —Five environmentalists murdered in Mexico, 2009

Peru– At least 191 people have been killed in clashes with police in Peru, 2006 – 2011. Most of these involved opposition to mining and other environmental issues.

Thailand —Twenty environmentalists killed in Thailand over 10 years

The Philippines  — “In 2008, the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council recommended that the Philippines “intensify its efforts to carry out investigations and prosecutions on extrajudicial killings and punish those responsible.” The Philippines government accepted those findings, but subsequently has only successfully prosecuted four cases of extrajudicial killings, say Human Rights Watch.” — Caritas Foundation

According to one 2009 account in the London Telegraph, 900 peastant leaders, environmental campaigners and students activists have been killed by mysterious death squads in the Philippines since 2001. Many of the deaths are associated with Philippine military operations in Mindinao.

List of Philippine  Environmental Workers and Activists killed, missing and assassinated from January 2001 to September 2010 Chronological Order 1. Nicanor Delos Santos 2. Manuela Albarillo 3. Expedito Albarillo 4. Roger Fernando 5. Erwin Bacarra 6. Ramon Ternida 7. Fr. Allan Caparro 8. Joel Pelayo 9. Rodel Abraham 10. Romy Sanchez 11. Rev. Raul Domingo 12. Napoleon Pornasdoro 13. Joey Estriber 14. Jose Doton 15. Noli Capulong 16. Marcus Bangit 17. Rogelio Lagaro 18. Eladio Dasi-an 19. Rei Mon Guran 20. Orlando Rivera 21. Victor Olayvar 22. Atty. Gil Gujol 23. Nilo Arado 24. Audy Anchangco 25. Arman Marin 26. Fernando Sarmiento 27. Eliezer ‘Boy’ Billanes 28. Samson Rivera 29. Ricardo Ganad 30. Gensun Agustin (2009).

Thirty seven environmental activists have been killed from 2001 to 2011, according to environmental group Kalikasan-PNE. Most were involved in campaigns against large-scale mining projects. Suspected perpetrators of these killings are police, military, and private security forces of private corporations.

By other accounts the list tops 54.

Four environmental activists have been murdered on Palawan island since 2001.

Philippines — In addition to environmental workers and activists, the Philippines has a very high rate of media killings. According to a May 9, 2012 article by the Associated Press, at least 151 journalists have been killed since 1986, including 32 in 2009 in the single worst media killing anywhere in the world when suspected political clan members ambushed a rival’s convoy.

Many murdered environmental activists belong to indigenous groups, according to a 2015 article in The Economist.

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International law resources:

  • Human rights and the environment — Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – 2001 background papers
  • Aarhaus convention — 2002 — Ensures public rights in three areas: access to information, public participation and access to justice. Also wikipedia entry.
  • UN Declaration of the rights of indiginous peoples — 2007 — PDF
  • Cartagena Declearation, International Conference of Envrionmental Rights and Human Rights, Cartagena, Columbia, 16-18 Sept., Colombia.
  • Figuerido Report,  Brazil — According to Survival International, a  7,000-page document, compiled by public prosecutor Jader de Figueiredo Correia in 1947, detailed mass murder, torture, enslavement, bacteriological warfare, sexual abuse, land theft and other assaults against Brazil’s indigenous population. The report was recently found in Brazil’s Museum of the Indian and will now be considered by Brazil’s National Truth Commission, which is investigating human rights violations which occurred between 1947 and 1988.  An article about the report was written in the British Sunday Times in 1969.

Non-Governmental Organizations

  • Annual Survey of violations of Trade Union Rights
  • Human rights watch –
  • Amnesty International –
  • Comissao Pastoral da Terra – Brazil – Pastoral Commission of the Land
  • Friends of the Earth – Concerned about escalation of crimes against social leaders in Latin America, Report “Memory Truth and Justice for Heroes” issued 2011 is one of the most comprehensive.
  • Committee to Protect Journalists -Concerned about murders of journalists, including environmental journalists.
  • Thin Green Line — Australian foundation concerned with park rangers. According to the group, over 1,000 Park Rangers have lost their lives across the globe in the last 20 years.
  • (IRF*) International Ranger Federation, 2007 report (PDF) — Between 1998 and July, 2005, 120 rangers were murdered and 106 wounded, most of them shot, according to Carlos Gambarotta, Vice-President of the IRF who also serves as a ranger at Laguna Castillos Wildlife Sanctuary, Uruguay. Incidents are listed in the report.

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why is this happening?

Anti-environmental,  a-historical,  false and inhumane …