Environmental defenders protecting their land, their livelihoods, their culture and ancestry are currently the most threatened human rights activists. They face a threat eco-system that combines the untouchable power of large corporations, the immeasurable influence of the fossil fuel lobby, the greed, corruption and repression of their complicit governments, and the fear of their communities to join the cause. Journalists who report on this face libel and defamation charges. International instruments remain unenforceable, and jurisprudence is evolving at a very slow pace. The deaths of environmental defenders rarely make the news, and only few international organisations provide redress, protection, and support. This is a fight for justice and life of the silenced.  

This project aims to break this silence in several reinforcing ways:

1. By enhancing existing voices and exposing the environmental, communal, and ecological destruction of key projects in the press and diplomatic circles through reports, media pieces, and interactive videos, workshops;
2. It will identify the forms of violence these defenders face and what are the responses defenders and their communities use;
3. It aims to train these defenders on how to keep themselves safe in the digital space and evade human and cyber surveillance;
4. It will seek evidence of intelligence services’ intimidation and surveillance of defenders, and state security collusion with big corporations in intelligence sharing through on the ground research. It will show the reinforcing link between authoritarian governance, corruption, and environmental destruction;
5. It will produce actionable reports on patterns of abuse that can be used for court proceedings, litigation and advocacy;
6. It will conduct an advocacy campaign on the threats faced and the causes being defended with governments, regional organisations.

This is a five year project. At different phases the project will be implemented in different countries namely the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Angola and Venezuela. The project will however for the first year focus on the African continent. African defenders and activists face multiple threats but these are rarely recorded. Africa remains the most underreported area in the world yet faces the biggest coming threats. The continents’ underdeveloped economies -the resource-cursed or the aid reliant – are facing a scramble for minerals crucial for green technology and major investments in oil and gas extraction, which has several nefarious consequences: firstly it links their development debt to the fossil fuel industry that is becoming redundant as the global economy turns towards greener solutions; secondly it opens up a new phase of eco-colonialism on the high-value minerals that will continue perpetuating cycles of poverty, inequality and political pillage; thirdly, it creates incentives for corporate power and authoritarian governments to join forces in silencing, repressing, and surveilling activists, sharing intelligence and legal hurdles for those seeking redress; ultimately, it perpetuates a new cycle of socio-economic injustice, indifference and marginalization in the Global South. 

The first report will focus on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The US$5 billion pipeline, estimated to cover 900 miles across Uganda and Tanzania, has already devastated communities, generated widespread opposition to the TotalEnergies project and increased repression of climate activists. Estimated to become the largest pipeline in the world, it will cross protected areas, indigenous lands, and wildlife habitats. Entire villages were moved without adequate compensation.  Between 2020 and 2023 at least 47 defenders have been arrested in connection to EACOP.