A report by Global Witness indicates that, the number of killings of environmental activists fell in 2021 compared to the previous year, but they are still concentrated in Latin America, which accounts for more than three quarters of them, led by Mexico, according to a report by the NGO Global Witness

The report further indicates that, In 2021, 200 environmental activists were murdered, following a sad record of 227 environmentalists killed in 2020. The attacks came this year against a backdrop of “a wider range of threats” against environmentalists, targeted by governments.

Global Witness was able to count some 1,733 victims over the past decade (2012-2021), or about one person killed every two days, although this figure is “likely to be underestimated.

While releasing the Report on Thursday, Among those who paid with their lives for their fight to protect nature in 2021 were eight rangers killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo during attacks in Virunga National Park – an area coveted for oil and gas exploitation.