212 environmental defenders were killed in 2019: this is what emerges from the report published by the British NGO Global Witness on July 29, 2020. This is the highest figure ever recorded.

At the top of the ranking, Colombia, which alone has 64 assassinations of environmental activists. 

It must be said that the militants of Colombia are in the middle of a battle for the control of the lucrative resources of the region which opposes the Farc, rebel and paramilitary groups, drug traffickers and illegal minors.

Francia Marquez, award-winning environmental activist forced to live under escort

Francia Marquez had just taken part in the negotiating table for the peace agreements between the Colombian government and the Farc in Havana in 2016. The 38-year-old Colombian has been campaigning for more than eight years for many causes related to ecology.

She first stood out by protesting against a hydroelectric project. After a long fight against the illegal extraction of gold in her community of La Toma, she had to flee her village in 2014. Her commitment was hailed in 2018, the year of her obtaining the Goldman Prize, considered the Nobel de the environment.

But a few months later, she narrowly escaped a grenade attack, coupled with a shooting. The one who now lives under escort refuses to be silenced. "We have no weapons, but we have a voice to continue to defend the future of the country, to continue to defend the future of humanity," she said.

Latin America is very affected by these assassinations: in Brazil, 24 environmental activists have been assassinated; in Mexico, there were 18.

In the Philippines, 48 ​​activists were also killed, making it the second most dangerous country in the world, according to the ranking of the NGO Global Witness.

>> Read also on France24.com: With more than 210 homicides in 2019, the threat and impunity weigh on the defenders of nature

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