Join the celebration this Earth Day
This Earth Day, let’s celebrate the land and environmental defenders overcoming attacks to defend our planet
All over the globe, increasing demand for land and natural resources is driving unscrupulous business into new territories, devastating thousands of communities. Those whose land is grabbed or water polluted are often misled about the plans afoot, with promised jobs or much-needed infrastructure failing to arrive. Those who take a stand against the human and environmental impacts of unchecked commercial expansion on their land can find themselves in the firing line.
At PBI, we recognise that these ordinary citizens taking extraordinary risks are crucial allies in the fight against climate change. From Kenya to Mexico, from the Houses of Parliament to the corridors of Climate Change Conferences, our aim is to ensure that the voices of land and environmental defenders are heard.
Good news! Freedom for illegally imprisoned defenders in Honduras and Colombia
2021 saw governments make renewed promises to tackle climate change, but the criminalisation of the frontline environmentalists holding them to account continued unabated across the countries where PBI has a presence. In the past two months, however, we have seen what can be achieved when individual resilience inspires tireless local campaigning that is backed by international solidarity.
Nine jailed defenders from our networks are now free to continue their activism.
In early 2012, the Honduran Congress adjusted the boundaries of a national park to accommodate an iron oxide mine in a biodiversity hotspot. The mine’s owners are known for their links to the then ruling National Party. In response, community leaders campaigned to halt the mine and protect the park’s water sources. On spurious charges, and with due process ignored, eight Guapinol river defenders were imprisoned for their peaceful resistance efforts in 2019.
During their 914 days of imprisonment, PBI helped build international momentum around the campaigns for their freedom which successfully concluded in February. On an emotional day, our volunteers accompanied community members to the courthouse, where an initial verdict actually found six of the eight defenders guilty for their alleged crimes, condemning them to a further 14 years of prison. However, within 24 hours, the ruling was reversed by the Supreme Court following international condemnation.
The relief felt by the men and their families was there for all to see. But the verdict also breathes life into their struggle to prioritise the environment over short-term profit. It also sets an early precedent in the term of the new President in a country that has long been one of the world’s most dangerous for environmentalists.
A similar case came to a head in Guatemala last month, when indigenous leader Bernardo Caal Xol was released after four years jailed on cooked-up charges. In Guatemala, indigenous peoples account for nearly 40% of the population, and often face coercion, threats and violence from those wishing to access the plentiful natural resources found in their territories.
Bernardo is an example of the risks that many members of his Maya Q’eqchi’ community have faced in protecting the land and their sacred Cahabón river from theft and destruction. PBI accompanies Bernardo and has worked to generate international pressure to end the criminalisation of land and environmental defenders in Guatemala. For example, last month we held an online event at which Abelino Salvador Mejía called for action to free four members of the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu, jailed in retaliation for their defence of the rivers being diverted from their communities to fuel large-scale sugar cane production.
The persistent threat of physical violence
Criminalisation is a favoured tool of those wishing to silence activists, as it ties communities into years of legal struggles, diverting resources away from their environmental campaigns. But physical violence is also a daily reality for many standing up for their land and our planet. In fact, 59% of the human rights defenders killed in 2021 worked on land, environmental, and indigenous rights, according to Front Line Defenders. 26% of those killed were indigenous peoples. This is why PBI continues to work with these defenders to evolve and adapt our strategies to keep them safe and generate international action to dissuade would-be attackers.
In the UK, this sometimes means advocating for parliamentary action. A recent example is the parliamentary question tabled by MP Fabian Hamilton regarding the situation in Antioquia, Colombia. There, Carlos Arturo Morales - President of the farmers association Cahucopana, which advocates for the rights of rural communities and the implementation of the country’s peace accords - was shot at in March, together with his wife.
Combining local presence with international action
At the court hearings of criminalised leaders, in the rural communities where armies and paramilitaries impose their will, and at the international forums where the voices are so often drowned out by vested interests, PBI will continue to stand alongside brave land and environmental defenders, working to ensure their voices are heard. We are motivated not only by a desire to ensure that nobody faces jail or murder just because they took a stand, but also by the need for urgent action to stem the climate emergency.
The latest IPCC Assessment Report was clear that this will only be possible if indigenous and local knowledge is harnessed to develop cost-effective, participatory, and sustainable environmental strategies. This is why we continue to advocate with governments, to amplify defenders’ voices, to connect local activists with international legal experts, and to implement our tested protection tactics, standing alongside land and environmental defenders, to keep them safe.
This Earth Day, join us in celebrating extraordinary land and environmental defenders, the PBI volunteers that accompany them, and the community that makes our work possible.
Today and every day, thank you for being a PBI supporter.
