50 years from the birth of modern environmental movement: Environmental defenders still face dangers and challenges

22/04/2020 Sara Lorenzini Climate Action, Life Below Water, Life on Land, No Poverty, Peace,Justice and Strong Institutions, Reduced Inequalities, Sustainable Development Goals

50 years have passed since 20 million Americans went down the streets to ask for a change in addressing environmental issues. The contribution of scientific knowledge, as well as the occurrence of big incidents (oil spills, air, and water pollution, among others), fuelled environmental consciousness, and people started expressing their discontent and their requests. From April 22nd, 1970 much progress has been made from the legal point of view: besides national laws, States started to develop international agreements such as the Stockholm and Rio Declaration, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, among others. Despite the well-known limits of this kind of instruments from the legal point of view are well known. However, the rise of environmental law as a recent field of international law is an undeniable evidence of the awareness of a need for change.

However, 50 years after the birth of the modern environmental movements, environmental defenders still face dangers and challenges. According to the UN, environmental defenders can be defined as “individuals and groups who, in their personal or professional capacity, and in a peaceful manner, strive to protect and promote human rights relating to the environment, including water, air, land flora, and fauna”.

On the one hand, environmental defenders such as indigenous peoples continue to be under physical and legal threats. According to a report by Global Witness, more than three environmental activists per week were killed in 2018, with many more being criminalized, due to their commitment to defending the environment.

The spread of COVID-19 has not stopped the trend. It is extremely important that environmental defenders, such as indigenous and native communities, remain vigilant to monitor those attempts to exploit the current emergency to harm nature. However, “killings and intimidations against indigenous leaders are increasing” especially in Latin American countries, with Colombia, Mexico, and Ecuador as the most affected ones.

On the other hand, the outbreak of Covid19 and the measures imposed by most countries (Restriction on freedom of movement and Social distancing among others) push environmental defenders to find new protest strategies.

The war in Colombia does not stop, despite the coronavirus

Since the coronavirus arrived in Colombia, indigenous and civil society organizations, the Truth Commission and even the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, have called a ceasefire. The indigenous leader and senator Feliciano Valiencia from Northern Cauca declared “It is not fair that while people are focused on defending life and monitoring the expansion of the coronavirus, they come out with these types of acts of violence that fill more fear and capsize people. It is not fair that military operations in the country go ahead, precisely, when people are confined to their homes. Stop, think for a moment”.

“The Map of Shame”

This is the name given to a web portal created by the organization Pacifista where the record of the killed social and environmental leaders is kept. Every four days a social leader is killed in the country. According to the latest report presented by Indepaz, between January 1st and November 17th of 2019, 226 social leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated in 112 municipalities in the country. The 80 percent of homicides committed are due to land disputes and the protection of natural resources.

This tough reality, which is repeated hundreds of times throughout the country, reveals the responsibility of a government that is determined to implement an obviously unsuccessful anti-drug policy, systematically breaches the peace accords and stands without a positive outcome into the protection of the life of social leaders.

What happened highlights the indolence with which the government acts against the murder of social leaders. They expose their lives daily pursuing objectives that are in the interest of the whole society, but do not obtain any guarantee of security. Men and women can be great allies in the search for peace and rural development due to their ability to mobilize peasants and dialogue with state authorities. Yet, the government treats them with disdain not even recognizing what has been lost in a territory where the voice of local communities is silenced with violence.

The murder of social leaders deserves the same attention and effort that national and local governments are putting in to contain COVID-19. While in large cities people organize and prepare for quarantine, in the regions the leaders continue to work for in the face of absolute indifference.

Civil society must continue to defend their right to exercise leadership and to live with dignity in their territories, supporting them both nationally and internationally. The fight and valuable contribution of leader defenders must be recognized and their lives must be guaranteed. These communities are essential when it comes to protecting numerous ecosystems, preserving cultural diversity and helping fight poverty and hunger.

What Environmental Activism do we expect in the era of social distancing?

On Friday 24th the 5th Global Climate Strike was supposed to take place. However, the measures imposed by governments to contain the spread of COVID-19 do not allow taking to the streets. Environmental activism is then forcibly reduced to digital activism. Since the quarantine has started, every week Fridays For Future invites people to take part to a digital strike, and so will they this week. Podcasts, digital conferences and meeting are flourishing.
However, there are two considerations that should be made. First, are we sure that this is going to have the same impact on decision-makers and politicians? Secondly, there is no certainty about the possibility to return to mass demonstrations in the very next future. Therefore, we shall ask: for how long will the COVID situation be used as a justification to stifle activism?

Looking Ahead

We need to keep building on what the founders of environmentalism have taught us. Their fights have shown enormous motivation and a collaborative spirit among people. We shall overcome skepticism and learn to work together in the defense of the environment not only for us but for future generations. Now, more than ever, we shall think about how to make our voices heard and our requests fulfilled.