The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 29, is currently underway in Azerbaijan.

Leaders at this year's meeting are being pressed to address, among other things,

the rising threats to environmentalists and defenders of human rights.

Ali Rogan looks at the challenges facing those activists around the world.

Close to 200 people died defending the environment in 2023.

That's according to a new report by Global Witness, a UK-based environmental watchdog and advocacy

group. Latin America accounted for 85% of the documented killings, and for a second year in a row, Colombia is the most dangerous

place for activists.

But experts say the lack of data from other parts of the world is obscuring a more pervasive

trend.

Philippine environmental defenders are experiencing various forms of attacks such as from

terrorist tagging, vilification, surveillance, intimidation, up to abduction,

killings, and having trumped up charges.

To do this kind of work, I don't feel safe at all in South Africa because there's quite a lot of the dead threats that is pointing

on me. Now, those dead threats, I know that are not just empty threats, are real because I've

already experienced seeing our comrades being assassinated in the struggle of defending the land.

I have a very good close friend who's been, you know, in and out of court

because she was defending her area from being logged and, you know,

slap is here and there, slapping everybody.

We are being a silence to make sure that you cannot question development.

We've been put our lives in line of being killed because of asking that question.

The last green lands are always at the indigenous communities' territories.

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