Global crackdown on climate activists escalates as indigenous defenders face greatest risk, new study reveals

A groundbreaking study published in Environmental Politics exposes an alarming worldwide trend: governments and corporations are increasingly using violence, legislation, and intimidation tactics to silence climate activists. The research, analyzing data from 14 countries, reveals that Indigenous land defenders face the most severe persecution in this escalating campaign of repression.

The study’s findings are stark. Between 2012 and 2023, more than 2,100 environmental defenders were killed globally, with 43% being Indigenous peoples, according to Global Witness data. While some countries like the United States and United Kingdom create new laws criminalizing protests near “critical infrastructure” like pipelines, non-state actors including corporations and private security firms are responsible for the deadliest violence. In Latin America, where most killings occur, researchers found that governments create “a permissive environment and culture of impunity” that enables these attacks.

The repression operates through what researchers call a coordinated “playbook” involving three key strategies: legal intimidation that diverts activist resources, public vilification campaigns that delegitimize environmental movements, and violent enforcement that shifts focus away from climate issues. Examples range from the Philippines’ “red-tagging” of Indigenous activists as terrorists to Georgia’s domestic terrorism charges against “Cop City” protesters, where activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán was shot 57 times by police.

Co-author Oscar Berglund warns this trend will intensify as authoritarian leaders roll back climate policies. With President Trump’s recent executive orders targeting environmental groups and the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the study suggests governments increasingly view accepting climate change’s inevitability as politically easier than addressing it.