Explaining and Preventing Environmental Conflict in the Amazon

This proposal seeks to generate rigorous empirical evidence on an understudied but increasingly prevalent form of violence while also evaluating potential mechanisms to protect remote, vulnerable communities from harm. These goals align directly with the research priorities set forth by HPI, in particular the Prevention of Physical, Psychological, Social, and Legal Harm. Throughout the Global South, disputes over land use and natural resources have gained particular prominence in recent years as low- and middle-income countries face the dual pressures of containing environmental degradation while pursuing a commodity- and extraction-based economic agenda. Land and environmental defenders have been subject to especially severe threats. According to a recent report by Global Witness (2022), at least 1,247 land and environmental defenders have been killed in Latin America since 2012. In the case of Brazil, data collected by our team indicate that at least 823 people were killed between 2012 and 2020. Additionally, almost 2,000 people have been threatened. The relatively low reported number of deaths related to environmental conflicts, in comparison to civil wars and other “conventional” conflicts, masks the subtle but widespread forms of violence that erode the physical and psychological well-being of directly-affected communities, including indigenous peoples, peasants, fisherfolks, and social movement leaders and activists who live and/or work in territories at risk. Victims face death threats, violent assaults, property damage, and defamation, which often go unrecorded in official statistics. This invisibility has undermined efforts to better understand the causes and consequences of environmental conflict and has hindered the development of effective protection mechanisms.