Environmental defenders and activists face ever greater risks to their livelihoods and lives all over the world, including in Europe.

Marie-Amélie Brun reports on a UN working group that is developing a mechanism to protect them.

Environmental defenders are on the front line of environmental protection. They play a major role in raising awareness, campaigning against destructive practices and highlighting the true state of the environment and the crimes committed against nature.

Statistics show that cases of harassment, intimidation, arrest, imprisonment and, worst of all, murders are on the rise. In 2019 alone, over 300 environmental and rights defenders around the world were killed for their work. 

Many examples can be found in the Environmental Justice (EJAtlas), the world’s largest database of environmental conflicts, in which the EEB is a partner organisation.

Environmental defenders are not only in danger in distant lands. They are becoming increasingly at risk here in Europe too. In late 2019, META reported on the brutal murder of two Romanian forest rangers that sparked outrage and led thousands of protesters to take to the streets of the Romanian capital Bucharest.

Read the full article here.