Killings of environmentalists appear on rise; conflict over shrinking resources intensifies - The Washington Post
►http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/killings-of-environmentalists-appear-on-rise-conflict-over-shrinking-resources-intensifies/2012/06/20/gJQAzkgepV_story.html
A report released Tuesday by the London-based Global Witness said more than 700 people — more than one a week — died in the decade ending 2011 “defending their human rights or the rights of others related to the environment, specifically land and forests.” They were killed, the environmental investigation group says, during protests or investigations into mining, logging, intensive agriculture, hydropower dams, urban development and wildlife poaching.
The death toll reached 96 in 2010 and 106 last year, said the report, which was released as world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for a conference on sustainable development. The report’s annual totals for the six prior years range from 37 in 2004 to 64 in 2008.