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COVID-19 crisis: Attacks on environmental defenders continue in Latin America

Communities protect ecosystems that provide fundamental services and prevent the transmission of zoonotic viruses. Español Português

By Andrés Bermúdez Liévano
COVID-19 crisis: Attacks on environmental defenders continue in Latin America
The struggle of environmental leaders like Isaac Herrera, who was murdered this year in Mexico, to prevent the degradation of ecosystems takes on new relevance in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. - Courtesy of Mónica Romero García
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“Violence has not been quarantined”. That phrase, repeated by social and environmental leaders in Colombia, is sadly true in many Latin American countries.

At least five defenders of the environment have been killed in different Latin American countries since March 11, the date the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

This figure shows how, in addition to communities’ concerns about the possible advent of COVID-19 in rural regions with precarious medical services and limited state presence, the violence continues. This despite the fact that one key way to reduce the transmission of many infectious diseases is precisely to preserve the ecosystems these leaders care for and defend, according to several scientists.

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