Latin America faces one of its deepest contradictions: it is the most dangerous region in the world for those who defend the environment, yet it is also the birthplace of the first international treaty that seeks to protect them — the Escazú Agreement. On the eve of the Conference of the Parties (COP-30), to be held in the Brazilian Amazon, a unique opportunity arises for the region’s governments to move from promises to action.
Will this be the moment when Escazú becomes a reality?
In 2023, at least 196 activists around the world were killed for defending the land and a healthy environment. According to data from the NGO Global Witness, 85% of these crimes occurred in Latin America: Colombia topped the list with 79 deaths, followed by Brazil (25), Honduras, and Mexico (18). However, the organization warns that the real number of victims is likely much higher, as most cases go unreported and many remain unpunished.
These murders do not occur in isolation: they are accompanied by threats, judicial persecution, stigmatization, and sexual violence — especially against women defenders. Even so, many of those on the front lines of territorial defense have become international symbols. Berta Cáceres, Francia Márquez, Nemonte Nenquimo, and Máxima Acuña are just a few examples of women who have been internationally recognized and who embody resistance in the face of environmental destruction.
The COP-30 host as the epicenter of violence
Brazil is a paradigmatic case. In the state of Pará, where COP-30 will be held in 2025, violence against environmental defenders has reached alarming levels. Between 1985 and 2023, at least 612 people were murdered in land-related conflicts in the state, according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT).
A recent report by the organizations Global Justice and Land of Rights documented 486 victims in 318 episodes of violence, particularly targeting Indigenous, quilombola and peasant leaders. In just two years, 55 deaths and 96 attempted murders were recorded. Although the causes of these conflicts vary, more than eight out of ten cases involve the defense of land and the environment.
Behind these conflicts lie structural dynamics: land concentration, delays in the demarcation of Indigenous territories, and the expansion of extractive activities such as mining and monoculture farming. All of this sustains a model of development that threatens both the lives of communities and that of the planet itself.
COP-30: The moment to act
In the words of Brazil’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, COP-30 must be “the COP of implementation.” During the Congress of Ibero-American Universities marking the 10th anniversary of the encyclical Laudato Si’, held in April 2025 in Rio de Janeiro, she was emphatic: “It has to be fair for everyone, especially for the most vulnerable. We have already discussed budgets, we have postponed long enough. Now, there is nothing left to do but implement, implement, implement.” One of the most urgent implementations is the Escazú Agreement, signed by Brazil in 2018 but still awaiting ratification. Putting it into practice could mark a before and after in the protection of those who defend the Earth.
The Escazú Agreement is the first environmental treaty of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the only international instrument that directly emerged from the Rio+20 Conference. Signed in 2018 and in force since 2021, it has been ratified by 17 countries and seeks to guarantee three fundamental pillars: access to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters. But its most revolutionary feature lies in being the first treaty in the world to explicitly protect human rights defenders in environmental matters. Article 9 states: “Each Party shall guarantee a safe and enabling environment for persons, groups and organizations that promote and defend human rights in environmental matters, so that they are able to act free from threat, restriction, and insecurity.”
The ratification of Escazú by Brazil would have immense symbolic and practical value. As one of the countries with the highest levels of violence against activists, and as the host of the upcoming COP-30, Brazil is called to lead by example.
Moreover, the lack of implementation of such legal frameworks is not due solely to state inertia. Global Witness reminds us that companies must also be held accountable. For example, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund recently recommended excluding the company Prosegur from its investments, after its Brazilian subsidiary Segurpro was linked to acts of violence against Indigenous peoples in Pará.
Escazú can help reverse this impunity, promote transparency, and foster an environmental democracy that leaves no one behind — in line with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
We must remember that COP-30 will not be just another conference: it will be the first held in the Amazon. This carries unprecedented political and ecological symbolism. The Amazon region is not only a global climate regulator but also home to hundreds of Indigenous peoples — ancestral guardians of ecological balance.
This COP can and must mark a paradigm shift. New emission reduction commitments are not enough. It is necessary to transform the very structures of climate governance, including the voices of those historically excluded: local communities, women defenders, Indigenous peoples, quilombola and Afro-descendant populations, and rural youth, among others.
The environmental democracy envisioned by Escazú is not a utopia — it is an urgent necessity. In a region where defending the environment can cost one’s life, protecting those who protect becomes an act of historical justice.
COP-30 in Belém do Pará represents a singular opportunity for the region’s governments to demonstrate their commitment to life, justice, and the planet. Ratifying the Escazú Agreement, allocating funds for it, ensuring its effective implementation, and building mechanisms for citizen monitoring are essential steps. Escazú is not just a treaty — it is an open door to a new era of environmental protection with social justice, where living in harmony with nature is not a privilege but a right for all. In the Amazon, where everything begins, a new pact for life can also begin.
Autor
Political scientist. Professor of International Relations at Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). PhD in Political Science from the Complutense University of Madrid.
