Abstract
Recent research and policies recognize the importance of environmental defenders for global sustainability and emphasize their need for protection against violence and repression. However, effective support may benefit from a more systematic understanding of the underlying environmental conflicts, as well as from better knowledge on the factors that enable environmental defenders to mobilize successfully. We have created the global Environmental Justice Atlas to address this knowledge gap. Here we present a large-n analysis of 2743 cases that sheds light on the characteristics of environmental conflicts and the environmental defenders involved, as well as on successful mobilization strategies. We find that bottom-up mobilizations for more sustainable and socially just uses of the environment occur worldwide across all income groups, testifying to the global existence of various forms of grassroots environmentalism as a promising force for sustainability. Environmental defenders are frequently members of vulnerable groups who employ largely non-violent protest forms. In 11% of cases globally, they contributed to halt environmentally destructive and socially conflictive projects, defending the environment and livelihoods. Combining strategies of preventive mobilization, protest diversification and litigation can increase this success rate significantly to up to 27%. However, defenders face globally also high rates of criminalization (20% of cases), physical violence (18%), and assassinations (13%), which significantly increase when Indigenous people are involved. Our results call for targeted actions to enhance the conditions enabling successful mobilizations, and for specific support for Indigenous environmental defenders.
Highlights
Environmental defenders are individuals and collectives who protect the environment and protest unjust and unsustainable resource uses because of social and environmental reasons
In an effort to advance statistical political ecology, we present here the largest analysis of environmental conflicts up to date, based on 2743 recent, visible, and previously documented cases registered in the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas)
Based on the data provided by the EJAtlas, we focus in this study on three aspects of violence: a) assassinations, b) physical violence against activists and c) criminalization of environmental defenders
Summary
Environmental defenders are individuals and collectives who protect the environment and protest unjust and unsustainable resource uses because of social and environmental reasons. The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council has unanimously recognized the vital role of environmental defenders for environmental protection and sustainability (UN, 2019) While this formal recognition of the role of environmental defenders for sustainability is recent, already previous research has highlighted how civil society groups and grassroots movements shape the politics and practices of resource use, frequently towards positive social and ecological outcomes Bebbington et al, 2008; Escobar, 1998; Guha and Martinez-Alier, 1997; Kenney-Lazar et al, 2018; Martinez-Alier, 2002; Scheidel et al, 2018; Villamayor-Tomas and García-López, 2018) Such movements in defense of nature and equitable resource use are a promising force for global sustainability and just environmental futures (Nagendra, 2018; Temper et al, 2018b).
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