The role of violence in planetary health
Authors: Catalina Correa-Salazar, Isabela Marín-Carvajal, María Alejandra García
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2021)

Planetary health science aims to address climate change while protecting human health and ecosystems, ensuring the future of our societies.1Whitmee S Haines A Beyrer C et al.Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health.Lancet. 2015; 386: 1973-2028Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (769) Google Scholar However, planetary health science is primarily driven by initiatives and organisations from high-income countries, which largely ignore the role of violence for communities striving to protect the environment and its resources in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Every week since 2015, four activists have been murdered for defending environmental causes. Latin America accounts for two thirds of such killings and threats worldwide and eight of the ten countries most violent towards environmental leaders.2Global WitnessDefending tomorrow. Global Witness, London2020Google Scholar The COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation even more dire,2Global WitnessDefending tomorrow. Global Witness, London2020Google Scholar exacerbating the use of violence as a social control mechanism, making leaders and communities more vulnerable.3Vera E Violence during the pandemic: murdered and threatened indigenous leaders in Latin America. Mongabay Latam.https://es.mongabay.com/2020/09/violenciapandemia-lideres-indigenas-asesinados-latinoamericaDate: Sept 16, 2020Date accessed: November 16, 2020Google Scholar Indigenous communities, who are strong proponents of sustainable economies and of the rights of nature,2Global WitnessDefending tomorrow. Global Witness, London2020Google Scholar, 3Vera E Violence during the pandemic: murdered and threatened indigenous leaders in Latin America. Mongabay Latam.https://es.mongabay.com/2020/09/violenciapandemia-lideres-indigenas-asesinados-latinoamericaDate: Sept 16, 2020Date accessed: November 16, 2020Google Scholar, 5González L Líderes indígenas asesinados. Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz, INDEPAZ, Colombia2020Google Scholar are disproportionally impacted by environmental and social violence, with Indigenous activists 12% more likely to be assassinated than non-Indigenous activists.4Scheidel A Del Bene D Liu J et al.Environmental conflicts and defenders: a global overview.Glob Environ Change. 2020; 63: 102-104Crossref Scopus (53) Google Scholar In Colombia, the country with the highest count of leaders killed and the second most violent country per capita after Honduras,2Global WitnessDefending tomorrow. Global Witness, London2020Google Scholar 242 Indigenous leaders have lost their lives since the 2016 Peace Agreements, 91 in 2020 alone. Indigenous people represent 37% of all killings but less than 5% of the population.5González L Líderes indígenas asesinados. Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz, INDEPAZ, Colombia2020Google Scholar Violence is strongly related to economic activities with high environmental impacts. In Latin America, land dispossession and extractivist economies represent the biggest threats to local communities.2Global WitnessDefending tomorrow. Global Witness, London2020Google Scholar, 3Vera E Violence during the pandemic: murdered and threatened indigenous leaders in Latin America. Mongabay Latam.https://es.mongabay.com/2020/09/violenciapandemia-lideres-indigenas-asesinados-latinoamericaDate: Sept 16, 2020Date accessed: November 16, 2020Google Scholar These activities also carry the highest environmental impact in deforestation, carbon emissions,2Global WitnessDefending tomorrow. Global Witness, London2020Google Scholar air and water pollution, and biodiversity loss, but are supported by states due to strong economic incentives. In countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil, violence enforced by private security companies and law enforcement is a common mechanism to exploit natural resources and intimidate communities, while criminalising opposition.2Global WitnessDefending tomorrow. Global Witness, London2020Google Scholar, 3Vera E Violence during the pandemic: murdered and threatened indigenous leaders in Latin America. Mongabay Latam.https://es.mongabay.com/2020/09/violenciapandemia-lideres-indigenas-asesinados-latinoamericaDate: Sept 16, 2020Date accessed: November 16, 2020Google Scholar During the COVID-19 lockdowns, these economic activities have continued, while Indigenous, environmental, and human rights leaders continue to be killed.5González L Líderes indígenas asesinados. Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz, INDEPAZ, Colombia2020Google Scholar Violence in LMICs is a threat to human health, communities' wellbeing, and actions promoting and protecting ecosystems that support our very existence. As Latin American scholars and activists heeding the call of young generations worldwide,6Wabnitz K-J Guzman V Haldane V Ante-Testard PA Shan Y Blom IM Planetary health: young academics ask universities to act.Lancet Planet Health. 2020; 4: e257-e258Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar we call on global cooperation on four fronts, basing our claims on research and empirical cases that support the important role civil society and grassroots movements play in achieving successful environmental outcomes (panel).4Scheidel A Del Bene D Liu J et al.Environmental conflicts and defenders: a global overview.Glob Environ Change. 2020; 63: 102-104Crossref Scopus (53) Google ScholarPanelActions to promote change connecting high-income countries and LMICs in planetary health1Protect the right to protest and assemble freely2Endorse laws that protect the rights of nature and Indigenous communities3Promote participatory governance4Integrate planetary health into public policies, public health and academic projectsLMICs=low-income and middle-income countries. 1Protect the right to protest and assemble freely2Endorse laws that protect the rights of nature and Indigenous communities3Promote participatory governance4Integrate planetary health into public policies, public health and academic projects LMICs=low-income and middle-income countries. First, protect the right to protest and assemble freely. Protests have leveraged legal and institutional protections for environmental resources and called attention to disproportionate impacts of violence.2Global WitnessDefending tomorrow. Global Witness, London2020Google Scholar In the UK, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of communities affected by a large-scale copper mine in Zambia, holding companies accountable for failing commitments to protect populations and ecosystems.7Gayle D Zambians can pursue mining pollution claim in English courts. The Guardian, April 10, 2019http://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/apr/10/zambians-can-pursue-mining-pollution-claim-in-english-courtsDate accessed: December 4, 2020Google Scholar In Ecuador, the Waorani Indigenous tribe stopped the government from auctioning their territory for oil and gas exploration.8Brown K Court forces Ecuador government to protect Indigenous Waorani during COVID-19. Mongabay.https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/court-forces-ecuador-government-to-protect-indigenous-waorani-during-covid-19Date: June 26, 2020Date accessed: December 4, 2020Google Scholar In Colombia, the Amazon jungle, Atrato river, and Pisba moorlands have been declared subjects of rights, achieving constitutional protection.9Albar Díaz M Auz J Bautista López J et al.Cambio climatico y los derechos de mujeres, pueblos indigenas y comunidades rurales en las Américas. Heinrich Böll Foundation & Honduran Alliance for Climate Change, Bogotá2020Google Scholar These initiatives decolonise and protect territories and Indigenous communities, supporting planetary health goals. Second, endorse international humanitarian and national laws that extend protection to the rights of nature and enforce the rights of Indigenous communities. Using the human rights framework to protect nature has been successful in advancing initiatives such as Bolivia's World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, and the legally binding Escazú Agreement, which includes provisions on human rights defenders in environmental matters. International governance agendas that endorse these treaties and condemn their opposition to economic development could further reduce criminalisation, stigmatisation, and violence against Indigenous and environmental leaders for protecting natural resources. Third, promote participatory governance structures. Prioritising civil society decision making can help to recognise the social-ecological benefits of community-based natural resources management and supports the direct recognition of pluricultural knowledge and decolonisation of government, science, and medicine, including planetary health science, in new initiatives. Participatory environmental governance that includes rural dwellers and Indigenous communities can support and protect their human rights, and their work as efficient managers of natural resources with better conservation outcomes than non-Indigenous groups.10Jager NW Newig J Challies E Kochskämper E Pathways to implementation: evidence on how participation in environmental governance impacts on environmental outcomes.J Public Adm Res Theory. 2020; 30: 383-399Crossref Scopus (12) Google Scholar Fourth, integrate planetary health into academic6Wabnitz K-J Guzman V Haldane V Ante-Testard PA Shan Y Blom IM Planetary health: young academics ask universities to act.Lancet Planet Health. 2020; 4: e257-e258Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar and policy initiatives in LMICs that promote actions towards social justice, peace, democracy, and human and nature's rights, basing these principles as the pillars needed to survive and thrive.1Whitmee S Haines A Beyrer C et al.Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health.Lancet. 2015; 386: 1973-2028Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (769) Google Scholar Climate change is our biggest current existential threat globally. However, efforts to address it will fail if we do not address environmental violence in LMICs, particularly in Latin America, southeast Asia, and Africa. Decolonising knowledge and addressing these threats to our health need to be at the heart of a truly global and inclusive planetary health science. We declare no competing interests. We would like to acknowledge and thank all environmental and indigenous leaders in Colombia, Latin America, and elsewhere who resist the erasure of our collective memory and commit their lives to the defence of nature and ecosystems.