Citation

Correa-Salazar C, Marín-Carvajal I, García MA. Lancet Planet. Health 2021; 5(3): e113-e114.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00006-1

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Planetary health science aims to address climate change while protecting human health and ecosystems, ensuring the future of our societies. However, planetary health science is primarily driven by initiatives and organisations from high-income countries, which largely ignore the role of violence for communities striving to protect the environment and its resources in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Every week since 2015, four activists have been murdered for defending environmental causes. Latin America accounts for two thirds of such killings and threats worldwide and eight of the ten countries most violent towards environmental leaders.The COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation even more dire exacerbating the use of violence as a social control mechanism, making leaders and communities more vulnerable. Indigenous communities, who are strong proponents of sustainable economies and of the rights of nature, are disproportionally impacted by environmental and social violence, with Indigenous activists 12% more likely to be assassinated than non-Indigenous activists. In Colombia, the country with the highest count of leaders killed and the second most violent country per capita after Honduras,2. 242 Indigenous leaders have lost their lives since the 2016 Peace Agreements, 91 in 2020 alone. Indigenous people represent 37% of all killings but less than 5% of the population....

Language: en