By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru — In less than two weeks Peru will host a key global climate conference.  However, the country has again come under fire for failing to protect activists who were murdered in an attempt to save the country’s quickly diminishing rainforest and other ecosystems.

According to the NGO Global Witness, the South American country has become the fourth most dangerous state in the world for environmental and land defenders.  The NGO also accused Peru’s government of placing too much emphasis on exploitation of the land opposed to conservation.

In a recent report at least 57 activists have been killed in Peru since 2002, where more than 60% of the deaths have been within the last four years.  The other three most dangerous countries are Brazil, Honduras and the Philippines.

The report, with the updated death toll comes just in time as Lima prepares to host ministers from around the world for the United Nations climate conference, even though the host nation hasn’t been spot on addressing green issues.

Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon – which accounts for about half of the country’s carbon emissions – nearly doubled in 2012, as farmers, miners and illegal loggers sawed deeper into the forest.  The World Bank estimates that almost 80% of the country’s timber exports were felled illegally.

Sources detail that most of the activist murders were related to conflicts over land or resistance to mining projects or illegal logging operations.  A large number of the victims were from indigenous tribes who had been granted reserves or applied for land titles, but receive little to no protection or enforcement from the government.

In a recent case, anti-logging campaigner Edwin Chota and three other Ashéninka leaders were killed in Ucayali in September over land they had spent a decade trying to secure for their community.  The community planned to use the forest sustainably.

Chata asked for protection before he and his colleagues were murdered.  He told the police he was receiving death threats from illegal loggers, and sent them photographs of the suspects.  Currently many of the suspects have been arrested, but the authorities are being accused of negligence.

“The murders of Edwin Chota and his colleagues are tragic reminders of a paradox at work in the climate negotiations,” said Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness. “While Peru’s government chairs negotiations on how to solve our climate crisis, it is failing to protect the people on the frontline of environmental protection … The message is clear, if you want to save the environment, then stop people killing environmental defenders.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Widows: Probe Into Peru Activist Killings Stalled – 17 Nov. 2014

the guardian – Spotlight on murders of activists as Peru prepares for Lima climate talks – 17 Nov. 2014

Yahoo news – Peru activist killings condemned ahead of climate talks – 17 Nov. 2014

herald online – Widows: Probe into Peru activist killings stalled – 17 Nov. 2014