Land defender

A Land defender is an activist individual who works to protect the earth's land.[1][2] They are also referred to as land protectors or earth defenders.[3][1] Land defenders are primarily members of Indigenous communities in North America. They do not consider themselves to be simply demonstrators or protesters, but are performing a sacred duty through non-violent resistance to activities which endanger the land.[4] Land defenders reject the term "protestor" because of its links to colonialism and its negative connotations.[4] Land is considered sacred by Indigenous peoples and caring for and protecting land is considered a duty to honour ancestors, to current peoples, and future generations.[5]

Not to be confused with Land Rover Defender.

Role and activism

Land defenders play an active and increasingly visible role in actions intended to protect, honour, and make visible the importance of land. There are strong connections between the water protector movement land defender movement and Indigenous environmental activism.[6] Land defenders resist the installation of pipelines, fossil fuel industries,[7] destruction of territory for development such as agriculture and resource extraction activities such as fracking because these actions can lead to the degradation of land, destruction of forest, and disruption of habitat. Land defenders resist activities that harm land, especially across Indigenous territories and their work is tied to human rights.[8]

Activism can come in the form of the erection of blockades on reserve lands or traditional territories to block corporations from resource extraction activities.[4] Water and land protectors also erect camps as a way to occupy traditional territories and strengthen cultural ties. Land defenders also work through legal frameworks such as government court systems in effort to keep control of traditional territories.[5][9]

Dangers facing land defenders

Land defenders often face perilous conditions in the face of state powers, resource corporations such as gas or mining corporations, others seeking to develop land or extinguish Indigenous land rights. For example, it was revealed that the Canadian national police force, the RCMP, were prepared to use deadly force against land defenders in a 2019 protest in British Columbia.[10]

The human rights organization Global Witness reported that 164 land defenders were killed in 2018 in countries such as the Philippines, Brazil, India, and Guatemala.[11] This same report stated a significant number of the people killed, injured, and threatened were Indigenous.[11] The UN has reported that many land protectors are labelled as terrorists by state governments in an effort to discredit their claims.[12] Such labelling can create dangerous conditions for those working to protect land rights.[12]

Amnesty International has called attention to the dangers facing those seeking to protect the earth, water, and communities, calling Latin America the most dangerous location for land defenders.[1] The Environmental Defence Fund has reported that over 1700 defenders have been killed with less than 10% of those responsible brought to justice.[13] The Extinction Rebellion (XR) has worked to bring attention to the situation of land defenders and have honoured those who have been killed.[14]

Land defenders who have been killed
  • Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores (4 March 1971 – 2 March 2016) Honduran environmental activist, indigenous leader
  • Paulo Paulino Guajajara, Brazil, killed in 2019 an ambush by illegal loggers the Amazon region.[15][16]
  • Chico Mendes, Brazil, Environmentalist and activist.
  • Hernán Bedoya, Afro-Colombian land rights activist.
  • Julián Carrillo, Mexico.[17]

See also

Further reading
  • Amnesty International (2016). "They Will Not Stop Us. Ecuador: Justice and Protection for Amazonian Women, Defenders of the Land, Territory, and Environment" (PDF).

References
  1. "Earth Land and Water Defenders". Amnesty International Canada. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  2. Ducklow, Zoë (10 January 2019). "Judy Wilson's Message for Canadians: 'The Land Defenders Are Doing This for Everybody'". The Tyee. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  3. "Protesters? Or land protectors?". The Indy. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  4. "Standing Rock activists: Don't call us protesters. We're water protectors". Public Radio International. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  5. "Illegal protest or protecting the land? An Indigenous woman gets ready to face a Canadian court - APTN News". aptnnews.ca. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  6. "Meet Josephine Mandamin (Anishinaabekwe), The "Water Walker"". Indigenous Rising. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  7. "Mi'kmaq water protectors blocking fossil fuel infrastructure in Nova Scotia | rabble.ca". rabble.ca. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  8. "Beatings, Imprisonment, Murder: The World's Environmental Defenders Are Being Terrorized". Global Citizen. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  9. "Beatings, Imprisonment, Murder: The World's Environmental Defenders Are Being Terrorized". Global Citizen. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  10. Parrish, Jaskiran Dhillon Will (20 December 2019). "Exclusive: Canada police prepared to shoot Indigenous activists, documents show". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  11. "164 land defenders murdered in 2018, Global Witness reports". Climate Home News. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  12. Brown, Alleen (30 July 2019). "More Than 160 Environmental Defenders Were Killed in 2018, and Many Others Labeled Terrorists and Criminals". The Intercept. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  13. "Murder in the rainforest: 1700+ defenders killed, but their legacy lives on". Environmental Defense Fund. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  14. "Extinction Rebellion honours land defenders killed for protecting the environment". rabble.ca. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  15. Paulo, Sam Cowie São (2 November 2019). "Brazilian 'forest guardian' killed by illegal loggers in ambush". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  16. "Brazil Amazon forest defender shot dead by illegal loggers". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  17. "Julián Carrillo defended the forest with his life". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
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