A Look at Violence and Conflict over Indigenous Lands in Nine Latin American Countries

May 31, 2022 | Astrid Arellano and Yvette Sierra Praeli
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Indigenous people make up a third of the total number of environmental defenders killed across the globe, despite being a total of 4% of the world’s population, according to a report by Global Witness. Conflicts over extractive industries and territorial invasions are a major cause of violence against Indigenous communities. “The biggest problems are territorial invasions, as well as deforestation, oil drilling and mining activities, and even the construction of roads,” said Teresita Antazú, an Indigenous leader who sits on the governing board of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana – AIDESEP) and runs AIDESEP’s Indigenous Women’s Program.

Silvana Baldovino, from the Peruvian Society of Environmental Law (Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental – SPDA), believes that Indigenous leaders have become more visible thanks to their participation in international summits. Baldovino recalled how the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) included Indigenous peoples as a member for the first time at their Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2016. The same thing happened in Peru in 2014, Baldovino said, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 20, when indigenous peoples were represented for the first time in the history of international climate summits.