Killings and repression of defenders
65 cases in 36 countries, 1975–2024. Most cases: United States (7), Brazil (6), France (6), United Kingdom (5), Netherlands (4).
Juan López killing and Guapinol mine
Juan López, a municipal councillor and river defender, was killed in Tocoa, Honduras, on 14 September 2024. He had opposed an iron-oxide mine in the core zone of Carlos Escaleras National Park; six men are accused in the killing, and the cited sources show no conviction.
Just Stop Oil / M25 conspiracy sentences (UK)
Roger Hallam was sentenced in July 2024 to five years over the M25 protest conspiracy; the Court of Appeal cut it to four years in March 2025. Just Stop Oil ended direct action in April 2025.
Roger Hallam sentence and UK Public Order Act protests
Roger Hallam was sentenced in July 2024 to five years in prison in the M25 conspiracy case, reported at the time as the longest UK sentence for non-violent protest. The Court of Appeal cut it to four years in March 2025.
NEOM evictions and death sentences
UN human rights experts raised alarm in May 2023 over death sentences against tribal members who resisted eviction for NEOM in Saudi Arabia. In May 2026 Semafor reported that work on The Line was halted until after 2030 and the population target cut.
Philippines activists Castro and Tamano disappearance
Two activists who opposed land reclamation in Manila Bay were abducted in Bataan in September 2023. The Supreme Court granted them protection writs and found elements of enforced disappearance.
Lagunes and Díaz disappearance near Ternium Las Encinas mine (Mexico)
Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia disappeared on 15 January 2023, hours after a meeting about the Las Encinas iron-ore mine of Ternium in Michoacán. They remained missing as of January 2026.
Shell and Greenpeace settle Penguins FPSO case; Greenpeace pays RNLI £300,000
Shell sued Greenpeace UK and Greenpeace International over the boarding of the Penguins FPSO, a climate change protest at the Penguins field, and, after reducing its claim from more than US$8 million, sought about £800,000 in damages, according to Greenpeace. The case settled on 10 December 2024 with Greenpeace paying £300,000 to the RNLI, admitting no liability and accepting 500m exclusion zones at Shell sites.
Catamarca court orders cumulative impact study for lithium sites
The Court of Justice of Catamarca, the province's highest court, ordered a precautionary cumulative environmental impact study for lithium sites and ordered that no new permits be granted until it is done, in March 2024, Microjuris Al Día reported. In Jujuy, Indigenous communities blocked roads in 2023 against a provincial constitutional reform on which they said they had not been consulted.
Killings alleged at Del Monte's pineapple farm in Thika, Kenya
Guards at Del Monte's pineapple farm in Thika, Kenya, have been accused of killings and rape, and security was outsourced to G4S in 2024; the company says no fault has been established. At stake for nature is how the farm and its neighbours are managed, which the cited sources do not describe.
Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips killing (Brazil)
Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips were killed on 5 June 2022 in the Javari Valley, Amazonas. As of October 2026 no verdict had been found; the trial of those accused of carrying out the killings was moved to Manaus in February 2026.
TotalEnergies v Greenpeace France
In 2023 TotalEnergies sued Greenpeace France over a November 2022 report on the company's emissions. On 28 March 2024 the Paris Judicial Court dismissed the suit on procedural grounds.
Lafarge La Malle sabotage and Soulèvements de la Terre dissolution
About 200 people sabotaged a Lafarge cement plant in France in December 2022. In June 2023 the government dissolved the movement Les Soulèvements de la Terre by decree; the Conseil d'État annulled the decree in November 2023.
Conservationist Joannah Stutchbury shot in Kiambu, Kenya, in 2021
Joannah Stutchbury was shot dead in Kiambu, Kenya, on 15 July 2021, after Agropack Ltd had filed a complaint against her and the Kenya Forest Service, accusing them of obstructing an access road through State-protected forest land; she had opposed encroachment on the Kiambu forest. No arrests had been reported as of January 2022, and no later arrest or charge is on record.
Fikile Ntshangase killing and Somkhele coal mine (South Africa)
Fikile Ntshangase, who opposed the expansion of Tendele's Somkhele coal mine in KwaZulu-Natal, was killed in October 2020. The mine continued to operate.
Paulo Paulino Guajajara killing (Brazil)
An unarmed Indigenous forest guardian was shot dead in the Araribóia Indigenous Territory in Maranhão in November 2019. Two men have been charged; as of October 2026 no record of a federal jury trial or verdict was found.
Samir Flores killing and the Huexca power plant
Samir Flores Soberanes was killed on 20 February 2019 in Amilcingo, Morelos, days before the federal consultation on a state-owned power plant and gas pipeline he opposed. The only suspect was acquitted in March 2026.
Alter do Chão and Dia do Fogo fire allegations
After the 2019 Amazon fires in Brazil, an allegation circulated that NGOs had set fires to attract donations. The Federal Police found no culprit among them. Two investigations into the separate "Dia do Fogo" were closed in 2024 without an indictment.
Gambian president accepts appeal to discontinue Faraba trial
Three people were shot dead at a protest against sand mining at Faraba Banta in June 2018. The Gambian presidency announced in January 2019 that it had accepted an appeal to discontinue the trial that followed, and the suspension of two officials was lifted; the Attorney General later said the request was still under consideration. The cited sources do not say what sand mining at Faraba Banta did to the shoreline or to the village.
Corporate suits against Greenpeace (TotalEnergies, Shell, Resolute)
TotalEnergies, Shell and Resolute Forest Products each brought civil claims against Greenpeace entities. The TotalEnergies suit was dismissed on procedural grounds, the Shell claim was settled, and the Resolute claims were dismissed before the parties announced the end of the litigation.
Thoothukudi Sterlite copper smelter protest shooting
Police fired on people protesting against Vedanta's Sterlite copper smelter in Thoothukudi, India, on 22 May 2018, killing 13. The plant was ordered closed on 28 May 2018, and India's Supreme Court dismissed the company's appeal in 2024.
Bayou Bridge pipeline arrests (Louisiana)
Sixteen protesters and one journalist were arrested at several events in 2018, beginning soon after Louisiana's critical-infrastructure trespass law took effect on 1 August. In July 2021 the district attorney said he would not prosecute them. A court challenge to the law failed and the law remains in force.
Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation conservationists: arrests, a death in custody and prison sentences, 2018–2024
Revolutionary Guards arrested staff of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation in January 2018 after they used camera traps to monitor Asiatic cheetahs. The founder died in custody, and on 20 November 2019 a Tehran Revolutionary Court branch convicted eight others of collaborating with the United States and sentenced them to 4–10 years; all those sentenced had been freed by April 2024.
Kenyan forest guards shoot dead Sengwer herder Robert Kirotich during evictions
Robert Kirotich, a 41-year-old Sengwer herder, was shot dead by Kenya Forest Service guards during evictions in Embobut Forest on 16 January 2018, in an area covered by an EU-funded forest programme. The EU suspended support the next day, and no guard was found to have been prosecuted in the cited sources; at stake is whether conservation funding can proceed without evicting forest peoples.
Energy Transfer v Greenpeace (Dakota Access)
Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace entities over protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. A North Dakota jury awarded about $666.9 million in March 2025, the judge cut the award to about $345 million, and Greenpeace International sued Energy Transfer in Amsterdam under the EU anti-SLAPP directive.
Isidro Baldenegro, Goldman Prize winner, killed in Chihuahua
Isidro Baldenegro López, who had won the Goldman Prize in 2005, was killed on 15 January 2017 in Chihuahua after opposing logging on Rarámuri land. On 12 February 2019 a Chihuahua court found Romeo Rubio Martínez guilty of homicide; he was sentenced to 11 years for simple homicide, the judge not accepting the aggravating circumstance tied to Baldenegro's activism.
Sebastián Alonso Juan shot at Ixquisis protest against Pojom dams
Sebastián Alonso Juan, aged 72, was shot on 17 January 2017 at a protest in Ixquisis, San Mateo Ixtatán, Huehuetenango, against the Pojom I/II and San Andrés hydro dams, and died about four hours later, according to a statement by the organisations that denounced the case. Rights in Development reported IDB Invest, CABEI and Cordiant as the dams' financiers, and no prosecution is on record.
Colombia's Operation Artemisa: 113 arrests and 13 convictions
Colombia's military Operation Artemisa, launched in April 2019 against deforestation, saw 113 arrests and 13 convictions, Mongabay Latam reported. Experts quoted by the outlet said it targeted small settlers rather than large-scale deforesters, after Amazon forest loss had already risen following the FARC withdrawal.
Report says a man died after ecoguard beating in Republic of the Congo park
Rainforest Foundation UK and three Congolese groups said in December 2017 that Freddy Ndadé, 32, died on 10 November 2017 in Impfondo hospital after being beaten by five ecoguards, two working for Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park and three for a logging concession's anti-poaching unit. The cited sources record no response from WCS and no prosecution.
Bazooka Rhadebe killing and Xolobeni mine (South Africa)
Sikhosiphi "Bazooka" Rhadebe, chair of the Amadiba Crisis Committee, was shot dead in March 2016 after opposing a titanium-sands mine at Xolobeni. No arrests had been reported by 2018, and the investigation was later reported to have been abandoned.
Gloria Capitan, who opposed a coal storage site, shot dead in Bataan
Gloria Capitan, who opposed an open coal storage facility in Bataan, Philippines, was shot dead in July 2016. The cited sources identify no suspects, and Global Witness reported in July 2023 that her killers had yet to be convicted.
India FCRA licence cancellations of environmental NGOs
Several organisations working on environmental and related policy issues in India lost their licences to receive foreign donations between 2015 and 2024. One research source reports about 20,693 such cancellations across all NGOs in a decade.
Indra Pelani beaten to death by guards of an APP supplier in Jambi
Guards working for an APP supplier beat Indra Pelani to death in Tebo, Jambi, in February 2015. In October 2015 the District Court of Muara Bulian sentenced five guards to between 8 and 14 years in prison; APP said it ordered the supplier to suspend the guards involved.
Salim Kancil, who opposed sand mining in Lumajang, killed; two men get 20 years
Salim Kancil, who opposed sand mining in Lumajang, Indonesia, was killed on 26 September 2015. On 23 June 2016 the Surabaya District Court sentenced the village head, Hariyono, and Mat Dasir to 20 years each; prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, and Kancil's widow rejected the sentence as too light.
Saweto killings
Four Asháninka leaders who opposed logging on their land in Ucayali, Peru, were killed on 1 September 2014. Loggers were convicted in 2023 and again on retrial in 2024; the convictions were upheld in 2025, nine to eleven years after the killings.
José Tendetza, who opposed the Mirador copper mine, found dead before COP20
José Tendetza, an Ecuadorian leader who opposed the Mirador copper mine, was found dead in December 2014, days before he was due at COP20. Two workers of the mine company EcuaCorriente were tried and acquitted in 2016; the acquittal was upheld in 2016 and 2017, and no one has been convicted.
Topacio Reynoso killing and the Escobal silver mine
A 16-year-old was killed in Mataquescuintla, Guatemala, in April 2014. The sources list her among people killed who opposed the Escobal silver mine, which has been suspended since 2017 by a Constitutional Court order.
Kaziranga shoot-on-sight killings (India)
Dozens of people were reported killed in encounters with forest guards at Kaziranga National Park in Assam between 2013 and 2016. The park director described the deaths as crossfire; critics said the guards worked under a shoot-on-sight policy, which the park management denies.
Berta Cáceres killing and Agua Zarca dam
Berta Cáceres, a Lenca leader who opposed the Agua Zarca dam in Honduras, was killed in March 2016. Seven men and the dam company's former president were later convicted, and the Dutch and Finnish financiers left the project in 2017.
Resolute Forest Products v Greenpeace
A Canadian forest products company sued Greenpeace in a US federal court under the racketeering law (RICO) after a dispute over logging in the boreal forest. The court dismissed the racketeering claims in 2019 and the remaining claims in 2023, and the parties announced the end of the litigation in April 2024.
Chut Wutty killing (Cambodia)
Chut Wutty was killed on 26 April 2012 in Koh Kong province while near a Timber Green logging site with journalists. A court said military police officer In Rattana shot him and was then fatally shot by Timber Green's security chief, who was convicted of "unintentional murder"; the inquiry into Wutty's death was closed in October 2012.
Arctic Sunrise seizure at the Prirazlomnaya platform: ITLOS bond, PCA arbitration, 2019 settlement and ECtHR judgment
Russian authorities boarded the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise and detained 30 people after a protest at Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Pechora Sea in September 2013. An ITLOS order, an arbitral tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a 2019 Netherlands–Russia settlement and a 2023 European Court of Human Rights judgment followed.
Celedonio Monroy abducted in 2012 after opposing Peña Colorada mine
Celedonio Monroy Prudencio was abducted in Ayotitlán, Jalisco, on 23 October 2012, after he denounced logging he described as illegal and opposed the Peña Colorada iron mine, owned 50% each by Ternium and ArcelorMittal. He remains missing, and no prosecution is on record.
Sombath Somphone disappeared at a Vientiane police checkpoint in 2012
Sombath Somphone disappeared on 15 December 2012 at a police checkpoint in Vientiane, Laos, after being recorded on CCTV. The government denies arresting him, and no specific conservation scheme is linked to the case in the cited sources.
Italian courts sentence executives over Ilva steelworks and Eternit asbestos
Italian courts convicted Stephan Schmidheiny of manslaughter over asbestos deaths linked to Eternit at Casale Monferrato and sentenced Riva family executives over the Ilva steelworks in Taranto. The Ilva verdict was quashed and sent for retrial. The Eternit sentence was reduced on appeal, and in February 2026 the Court of Cassation annulled that appeal ruling because it had not been translated into a language the defendant understands.
UK undercover policing of environmental groups
Mark Kennedy served in the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), and convictions of environmental protesters were quashed because of his role. A tribunal found human-rights breaches in a separate claim against the Met and the NPCC, and a public inquiry has not yet examined the NPOIU.
EDF spying on Greenpeace (France)
In November 2011 a court in Nanterre fined the French utility EDF €1.5 million and ordered it to pay €500,000 to Greenpeace in a surveillance case. In February 2013 the Versailles appeal court acquitted EDF.
José Cláudio and Maria murder
José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espírito Santo were killed on 24 May 2011 in Nova Ipixuna, Pará, Brazil. They had opposed logging and charcoal production in a sustainable-use settlement.
African Parks Odzala-Kokoua abuses (Republic of Congo)
African Parks, which has managed Odzala-Kokoua National Park since 2010, said in May 2025 that human rights abuses occurred in some incidents after an investigation of 21 incidents. It did not publish the report.
Adolfo Ich killing and the Fénix nickel project
Adolfo Ich Chamán was killed on 27 September 2009 in El Estor, Guatemala. He had opposed the Fénix nickel project of CGN, then owned by Hudbay.
Messok Dja ecoguard abuses (Republic of Congo)
A leaked draft UN Development Programme investigation reported credible evidence of beatings of Baka men, women and children by ecoguards at the Messok Dja project. A review commissioned by WWF found the consent process did not comply with international human rights norms. The cited sources show no prosecutions.
WWF-supported ecoguards in Cameroon and CAR (Lobéké, Dzanga-Sangha)
Ecoguards trained and paid with WWF support were accused of beatings and torture around Lobéké in Cameroon, and WWF staff were accused of involvement in a rifle purchase in Dzanga-Sangha in the Central African Republic. An independent panel reported in November 2020 that it found no evidence that WWF staff directed abuses, and that WWF had not taken adequate steps once it knew of the allegations.
Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics: environmental pledges and the Mzymta valley
The 2014 Winter Games were built partly inside Sochi National Park and along the Mzymta river, with a UNEP advisory role and a 2011 declaration of commitments. Peer-reviewed studies recorded the loss of Black Sea trout spawning grounds along 57 km of the river, and an environmental defender from the group that documented the damage was imprisoned and later released.
Khimki forest and the M11 Moscow–St Petersburg toll motorway (km 15–58)
A 43 km toll-motorway section built under a state concession with Vinci crossed the Khimki forest park near Moscow after the Supreme Court upheld the transfer of about 150 hectares of forest land in 2010. Compensation planting was promised in several amounts; the journalist Mikhail Beketov was attacked in 2008 and no suspects have been identified.
Dutch royal couple's Machangulo holiday-village investment, Mozambique
The Dutch heir couple bought plots on the Machangulo peninsula in 2007 as part of a holiday-village project and announced in November 2009 that they would sell. A 2009 report drawn up for the developer, cited by DutchNews, found five schools on the peninsula without clean water and said electricity had never been installed.
WWF Nepal Chitwan ranger death (Shikharam Chaudhary)
A farmer died in 2006 after being held in the park jail at Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Three park officials were charged with murder; the government withdrew the case in 2007.
WWF-funded ranger units accused of torture and killings in Asia and Africa
BuzzFeed News reported in March 2019 allegations of torture and deaths involving ranger units that WWF funded or equipped. A panel commissioned by WWF found no evidence that WWF directed the abuses, but said serious allegations reached senior management.
Pillay panel finds no proof WWF directed ranger abuses it supported
A panel commissioned by WWF and chaired by former UN rights chief Navi Pillay reported in November 2020 that the charity had received reports of ranger abuse since 2008. The case concerns the safety of communities living around parks that WWF co-managed or supported.
Dorothy Stang killing
Dorothy Stang was killed on 12 February 2005 in Anapu, Pará, Brazil. Two ranchers were convicted of ordering the killing; one of them was released in 2018 and ordered back to prison in 2019.
Salonga National Park ranger abuses (DR Congo)
Rangers in Salonga National Park, which WWF co-manages with the Congolese parks authority ICCN, were reported to have killed, raped and tortured people between 2002 and 2016. An independent panel appointed by WWF found no evidence that WWF staff directed abuses, and found that WWF had not fulfilled its human rights commitments in relation to Salonga.
Chico Mendes murder (Brazil)
Chico Mendes, a rubber tappers' leader who opposed forest clearing for cattle ranching, was shot at his home in Xapuri, Acre, on 22 December 1988. A rancher and his son were sentenced to 19 years each, and the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve was created in March 1990.
Kaeng Krachan: Karen evictions and the disappearance of Billy
Park officials burned Karen homes at Bang Kloi inside Thailand's Kaeng Krachan National Park in 2011. Karen rights defender Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen disappeared in 2014 after detention by park officials, and the park was listed as a World Heritage site in 2021.
Kahuzi-Biega National Park: Batwa evictions and killings
Batwa were evicted without compensation when Kahuzi-Biega National Park in DR Congo was expanded in 1975. In April 2022 Minority Rights Group reported that park guards and soldiers killed at least 20 Batwa in 2019–2021.
Standing Rock / Dakota Access: arrests, TigerSwan and the Greenpeace damages award
Law enforcement counted 761 arrests during the Dakota Access pipeline protests at Standing Rock; the Water Protector Legal Collective counted 841 prosecutions. A private security firm described the movement in leaked documents as an insurgency, and a North Dakota jury later awarded the pipeline developer damages against Greenpeace entities.
Dark Basin hacking of climate groups (#ExxonKnew)
An Israeli private investigator was sentenced in a US federal court for his part in a spearphishing campaign that targeted US climate and environmental organisations. Exxon said it had no knowledge of the investigator and had not been involved in any hacking.
Kazakhstan recycling fee operator: arrests in 2022, 7-year sentences in 2023; $1.58 billion reported collected
A private operator that collected Kazakhstan's recycling fee was reported to have gathered $1.58 billion, and its chairman and a deputy minister were arrested in January 2022. In July 2023 an Astana court sentenced both to 7 years in prison, and the verdict was upheld on appeal in September 2023. At stake for nature is whether money raised under the recycling fee reaches recycling.