For Immediate Release
March 3, 2016
Global Greengrants Fund
Contact: Katy Neusteter, 303-880-0634, katy@greengrants.org
Environmental Leader Berta Cáceres Assassinated in Honduras
Global Greengrants mourns grantee and celebrated defender of indigenous and environmental rights, calls on international community to support environmental defenders threatened for defending their rights and resources.
Boulder, CO: Global Greengrants Fund is deeply saddened by the assassination of one of our grantees, Berta Cáceres, a Honduran environmental defender and Goldman Environmental Prize winner.
Berta co-founded and lead an organization called the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). For over two decades, Berta and COPINH have fought to protect indigenous homelands in Honduras from the extreme threat of hydroelectric dams. Berta had elevated her efforts to protect people and fight dams across Honduras in recent years, which led to threats against her life. Gustavo Castro Soto, a former Global Greengrants advisor in Mexico, was also shot in the attack.
“I am deeply saddened about the death of my friend and courageous leader Berta Cáceres,” said Terry Odendahl, President and CEO of Global Greengrants Fund, who has known and worked with Berta for fifteen years. “Her assassination is another horrific example of the violence against environmental defenders and the criminalization of people, particularly women and indigenous peoples, around the world who are fighting to protect human and environmental rights.”
Berta’s work was highlighted in the 2014 report by Global Greengrants and the International Network of Women’s Funds, Climate Justice & Women’s Rights, as an example of the increasing violence against women environmental defenders. The report called on the international philanthropic community to analyze violence and address institutions that perpetuate it. Listen to our 2014 interview with Berta, in which she talks about what it is like to live under the constant threat of violence.
“May Berta’s blood bring strength and determination to her immediate family, comrades, and all of us,” said Nnimmo Bassey, an internationally renowned environmental defender in Nigeria and the chair of Global Greengrants’ Board of Directors.
“Berta was a tireless environmental defender who had faced numerous death threats over the years,” said Regan Pritzker, another Global Greengrants Boardmember, who had worked with Berta at the 2014 Summit on Women and Climate. “Words cannot express the sadness I feel to live in a world where hate and fear destroy beauty.”
According to Global Witness, and as described in this Democracy Now! article about Berta’s assassination, Honduras is the deadliest country in the world for environmentalists. Between 2010 and 2014, 101 environmental campaigners were killed in the country.
The work of COPINH and many other front line indigenous organizations around the world to defend the basic human rights of people forced off their land and denied access to water and natural resources is violently threatened. The inability of governments to provide security makes it increasingly dangerous and difficult for communities to protect their rights and environments. The perpetrators of this violent crime must be held accountable. We call on the international community to support community organizations to ensure their safety as they work to protect community rights to lands, forests, water, and natural resources.
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ABOUT GLOBAL GREENGRANTS FUND: Global Greengrants Fund is the leading environmental fund that supports grassroots action on a global scale. Global Greengrants funds local groups to protect the environment, restore places and ways of life that have been harmed, and transform systems for a sustainable future. Since 1993, Global Greengrants has provided over 9,000 grants worth more than $50 million in 165 countries. Learn more at greengrants.org.
Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize