A record number of environmental defenders were murdered last year, according to a report issued this week by advocacy group Global Witness [10]. The report, "Last Line of Defense [11]," counts 227 activists killed around the world in 2020—the highest number recorded for a second consecutive year [12]. Many of the murders were linked to resource exploitation—logging, mining, agribusiness, and hydroelectric dams. Since the 2015 Paris Agreement [13] on climate change, the organization found on average of four activists have been killed each week.
Those slain included South African activist Fikile Ntshangase [16], 65, who was leading the struggle against an open-cast mine near Somkhele in KwaZulu-Natal province. She was shot dead in her own living room [17] in October.
Also profiled was Óscar Eyraud Adams [18], 36, who was murdered in Mexico last September. He was working to help the indigenous Kumiai community in Baja California secure access to local water sources. (BBC News [19], Sept. 13)