In many regions of the world, defending the environment, land and the rights of traditional communities has become a risky activity. People who stand up for the protection of nature face threats, harassment and other violence, and many are murdered for denouncing environmental crimes, resisting land grabbing or opposing large developments.
Without security for those who fight for life, environmental justice is impossible. That's why this dimension is central to the construction of public policies, protection systems and effective state responses to growing threats - especially in the Amazon, one of the most dangerous regions for environmental defenders.
Who are environmental defenders and why should we protect them?
Human rights defenders on environmental issues are those who, individually or collectively, fight for the protection of nature, climate justice, traditional territories and the right to a dignified life. They are indigenous people, quilombolas, river dwellers, extractivists, farmers, journalists and popular communicators, researchers, lawyers, activists and local leaders of social movements who denounce environmental crimes, expose human rights violations and resist predatory development models.
In the Amazon, defending the environment also means risking your own life. According to Global Witness, in 2022, more than 20% of the murders of defenders in the world took place in the Amazon region. It's a context marked by violence, impunity and abandonment by the state.
How does IDA evaluate this protection?
Through the dimension of protection of environmental defenders, the Environmental Democracy Index (IDA) assessed, using 26 indicators, the existence of protection programs, budget, inter-institutional coordination and transparent and participatory governance in their execution, as well as protocols for action and training for public security agents, among others. The actions of the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship (MDHC), the state secretariats responsible for public human rights policies, as well as public security bodies and forces - the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), state justice and public security secretariats, the Federal Police, the Civil Police and the Military Police - were analyzed.
Through this dimension, IDA analyzes whether the state structures, finances and implements concrete actions that guarantee a safe environment for those who defend human and environmental rights, especially in the Legal Amazon.
What do the results tell us?
The protection of defenders dimension was the worst rated of the four IDA dimensions, with an average of only 11.8 points among the states, a performance considered "terrible". Of the nine states in the Legal Amazon, six were classified as "terrible" in this dimension. Rondônia, Acre, Roraima and Tocantins scored less than 4 points on a scale of 0 to 100, showing an almost total absence of mechanisms to protect environmental defenders.
The best placed - Mato Grosso (29.3) and Maranhão (28.4) - were still in the "bad" category. Thefederal executive branch , with 58.7 points, was classified as "regular".
The scenario highlights the urgency of strengthening state protection policies, especially in the face of increasing violence and the criminalization of those who defend rights and territories.
The worst indicators evaluated were those relating to mechanisms for protecting women, indigenous people and members of traditional communities; decentralization of the program and monitoring; disclosure of reports of violence against journalists, communicators and press workers; as well as the indicators that evaluated the actions of the security forces with environmental defenders (training of police officers on the subject, existence of protocols that guide police action in cases involving defenders, and protocols on the use of body cameras in cases of land and environmental conflicts).
Why does it matter?
Without the protection and security of defenders, forests and communities become even more vulnerable. When the state fails to protect these people, it not only allows violations to happen - it becomes complicit in a structural crisis. Environmental democracy and sustainable development cannot be sustained if those who defend them cannot do so safely.
Guaranteeing the safety of environmental defenders is therefore a responsibility of the state and an indispensable condition for democracy, human rights and environmental protection.
