# List of environmental killings

Environmental killings are murders, assassinations, or other unlawful killings which are linked to environmental issues such as illegal logging, mining, land grabbing, pollution etc. Victims have included not only environmental and land rights activists, but also members of indigenous communities and journalists who have reported on these issues.

## Statements

In 2003, the Environmental Justice Foundation reported that in at least 11 countries people had been murdered for opposing shrimp farming and its associated environmental impacts.
According to Global Witness, the number of environmental killings worldwide reached 147 in 2012, and the total number of such murders between 2002 and 2013 exceeds 908. In only six of these cases were the killers tried, convicted and punished. The report blames this level of impunity, together with the lack of attention to the issue, for the rise in the numbers of deaths.
In March 2014, when the United Nations Independent Expert on human rights and the environment, John Knox, presented his first detailed report to the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights obligations relating to environmental protection he stated: “Environmental human rights defenders deserve no less protection than other human rights defenders.”

## List of killings

Following is a list of the victims of environmental killings by date:

### 20th century

| Date | Activist name | Country | Cause |
| July 8, 1905 | Guy Bradley | United States | Birds protection |
| July 31, 1977 | Vital Michalon | France | killed by police in a demonstration against the fast breeder nuclear reactor at Malville |
| July 21, 1980 | Wilson Pinheiro | Brazil | Preservation of the Amazon rainforest |
| July 10, 1985 | Fernando Pereira | New Zealand | Protest against nuclear testing |
| April 6, 1987 | Vicente Cañas | Brazil | Protection of Enawene Nawe people land |
| December 22, 1988 | Chico Mendes | Brazil | Preservation of the Amazon rainforest |
| February 6, 1995 | Jeannette Kawas | Honduras | Protests again palm plantations and dams |
| November 10, 1995 | Ken Saro-Wiwa | Nigeria | nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation caused by crude oil extraction |
| 12 February 2005 | Dorothy Stang | Brazil | Preservation of the Amazon rainforest |
| c. December 26, 1985 | Dian Fossey | Rwanda | Mountain gorilla conservationist |
| 1 September 1990 | Seub Nakhasathien | Thailand | Suicide to signify the importance of the environment |

### 21st century

In 21st century, more than 1000 environmental activists have been killed. Every year, more than 100 environmental activists are murdered throughout the world. 116 environmental activists were assassinated in 2014. More than two environmentalists were assassinated every week in 2014 and three every week in 2015. 185 environmental activists were assassinated in 2015. More than 200 environmental activists were assassinated worldwide between 2016 and 2018. In 2019 and 2020 the number was 212 and 227 respectively.
| Date | Activist name | Country | Cause |
| September 17, 2003 | Jane Tipson | Saint Lucia | Conservationist and animal rights activism. |
| 12 February 2005 | Dorothy Stang | Brazil | Preservation of the Amazon rainforest |
| 2010 | Leonard Co | Philippines |
| January 24, 2011 | Gerry Ortega | Philippines |
| May 24, 2011 | José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva | Brazil | Preservation of the Amazon rainforest |
| 16 August 2011 | Shehla Masood | India | RTI and environmental activism |
| 26 April 2012 | Chut Wutty | Cambodia | Critics of the military's alleged role in illegal logging |
| 11 September 2012 | Hang Serei Odom | Cambodia | Reports about illegal logging industry |
| 13 March 2013 | Perween Rahman | Pakistan | Reports about illegal logging industry |
| May 31, 2013 | Jairo Mora Sandoval | Costa Rica | Protection leatherback turtle nests |
| 25 August 2015 | Raimundo Santos Rodrigues (and his wife) | Brazil | Environmental rights defender. |
| 11 November 2015 | Lkhagvasumberel (Sumbee) Tumursukh | Mongolia | Snow leopard conservationist |
| 13 October 2016 | Luiz Alberto Araújo | Brazil | |
| 3 March 2016 | Berta Cáceres | Honduras | Protests against the construction of Agua Zarca Dam. |
| 2 November 2019 | Paulo Paolino Guajajara | Brazil | Amazon Protector |
| January 2020 | Homero Gómez González | Mexico | Environmental activist, agricultural engineer, and politician. El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve |
| October 2020 | Fikile Ntshangase | South Africa | Environmental activist involved in a legal dispute over the extension of an opencast mine operated by Tendele Coal near Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park, the oldest nature reserve in Africa. |
| 18 January 2023 | Manuel Esteban Paez Terán | United States | Environmental activist involved in Stop Cop City social movement to prevent construction of the Cop City by the Atlanta Police Foundation and the City of Atlanta. |
| 29 September 2023 | Quinto Inuma Alvarado | Peru | Tribal leader who opposed illegal logging in his community |