09/06/2026
On this , we want to shine a light on those on the frontlines of combatting the climate crisis, environmental defenders 🌎
Think about what it actually takes to keep a forest standing: people standing in front of bulldozers, filing legal challenges against mining companies, organising communities to assert their rights. That’s the daily, human reality of climate action.
And it comes at a devastating cost. From 2012 to 2024, 2,253 land and environmental defenders were murdered due to their work, with Indigenous defenders massively over-represented among those killed.
In Kenya, defenders helped halt a nuclear power plant threatening a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In Indonesia, Indigenous Moi communities won the revocation of palm oil permits across over 90,000 hectares of forest. In Mexico, communities fought for years to close a landfill poisoning their water, and won.
The evidence is clear: where defenders are protected, ecosystems survive.
Peace Brigades International currently supports 2,184 land, environmental, and Indigenous defenders across the globe. This World Environment Day, stand with them.
