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_{Women protesting the construction of a dam in India.��© KAREN ROBINSON/ INTERNATIONAL RIVERS}

The motivation for devoting an entire issue of Policy Matters to the topic of environmental defenders is clear. Global Witness (2020) reports that environmental defenders are being murdered at record numbers globally, with almost four defenders – defending their customs, territories, human rights, and environmental health – killed per week.��In 2020, 331 environmental and human rights defenders were murdered, a majority of whom were acting in defense of their ancestral territories and forests ().��

John Knox, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, noted that “[t]here is now an overwhelming incentive to wreck the environment for economic reasons. The people most at risk are people who are already marginalized and excluded from politics and judicial redress, and are dependent on the environment […]. Everywhere in the world, defenders are facing threats. There is an epidemic now, a culture of impunity, a sense that anyone can kill environmental defenders without repercussions”. Mining, agribusiness, illegal logging, and even conservation are among the mega-projects threatening environmental defenders and their territories. Land claims are often swept aside to pave the way for controversial ‘development’ projects that increasingly have the ‘green’ stamp of approval.

At the same time, there is growing evidence about the outsized role that Indigenous peoples and local communities – many of whom are environmental defenders – play in the governance and conservation of the world’s biodiversity and nature.¹ At the , members discussed��Motion 039, on “protecting environmental human and peoples’ rights defenders and whistle-blowers”.��As such, it is crucial that the conservation community takes a stand on the dire situation of environmental defenders worldwide and recognises and upholds their rights.

Our goal with this issue is to provide a broad and diverse perspective on the current reality of the struggle of environmental defenders, stressing the urgent need to change the mindset of the conservation community and spread awareness of these issues, hopefully resulting in practices that are at the same time respectful of Indigenous peoples and local communities and more effective at nature conservation itself.

Each of the three volumes within this Special Issue contains contributions from academic scholars, activists, community groups, and artists dealing with the complex struggles of Indigenous land rights and environmental conservation – focusing specifically on environmental defenders themselves. Contributions are mostly in English, with some multilingual (English, French, Spanish, Zulu) contributions (poems, songs). We’ve tried to give voice to the regions of the world where defenders are the most at risk.

CEESP

The first volume highlights the struggles, pains and successes of some environmental and and defenders around the world.

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In the second volume, authors look at initiatives taken by defenders to protect the environment and themselves, in often adverse contexts.

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Policy Matters 22 Vol 3

In the third volume, we present calls for action and examples of initiatives that have been taken to support environmental defenders.

This special issue of Policy Matters seeks to cultivate tangible change within the conservation community and to inspire self-reflection on the role each of us plays, vis-a-vis our own responsibilities towards protecting local and indigenous environmental defenders worldwide, in the current conservation system and in our work.

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We acknowledge each and every defender who, day after day, put their lives in peril in the defence of nature and their community. We hope that this special issue brings awareness to their plights and their struggles and serves as a catalyst for transformative action.

• Ameyali Ramos (������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� CEESP)
• Philippe LeBillon (University of British Columbia)
• Caroline Seagle (������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� CEESP)
• Masego Madzwamuse (������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� CEESP)
• Kristen Walker Painemilla (������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� CEESP)
• Iryna Petriv (Independent)
• Liliana Jauregui (������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Netherlands)

_{ICCA Consortium (2021). . ICCA Consortium: worldwide. Available at: ; WWF, UNEP-WCMC, SGP/ ICCA-GSI, LM, TNC, CI, WCS, EP, ILC-S, CM, ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� (2021).}

_{Front Line Defenders. 2020. FLD Global Analysis 2020. Available at:��, Accessed 21.09.2021.}

_{. [Accessed 8 August 2021].}