Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders - APNED

The Philippines remains the most dangerous country for environmental defenders in Southeast Asia. Despite this and the ongoing attacks, people's resistance persists.

🎥 Watch this video to hear about the situation in the Philippines and how environmental defenders push back against worsening attacks.

Link to video: https://youtu.be/nblDGk1fdsI?si=w3wpr-WdukPXUz2-

📖 Want to learn more? Read the full research: “Enabling Climate Action: A Participatory Action Research on Attacks Against Environmental Defenders and Recommendations for Their Recognition and Protection.”

Full report: https://tinyurl.com/enablingclimateaction

Enabling Climate Action Research Findings Video 1: Philippines Country Report The Philippines remain the most dangerous country for environmental defenders in Southeast Asia. Despite this and the ongoing attacks, people's resistance pe...

Lalong lumalakas araw‑araw ang laban para ipahinto ang pagmimina sa Brooke’s Point — at hindi ito mapipigilan. Isang malaking saludo sa lahat ng kasama sa matagumpay na kilos‑protesta noong Mayo 4 sa Brooke’s Point. Patunay ito na kapag nagkakaisa ang mamamayan, umaalingawngaw ang ating panawagan at napipilitan ang mga nasa kapangyarihan na makinig.
https://icmagazine.org/indigenous-peoples-and-civil-society-rise-up-against-destructive-mining-in-brookes-point-palawan/

Indigenous Peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, and civil society groups in Brooke’s Point, Palawan are standing together against destructive mining projects threatening their ancestral lands, forests, rivers, and livelihoods.

As demand for “critical minerals” grows, communities continue to face displacement, environmental destruction, and attacks for defending their land and environment. Climate solutions should never come at the expense of Indigenous rights and biodiversity.

Stand with the people of Palawan.
No to destructive mining.

Read more here: https://icmagazine.org/indigenous-peoples-and-civil-society-rise-up-against-destructive-mining-in-brookes-point-palawan/

The forests of Beutong Ateuh in Aceh, Indonesia are under threat from large-scale gold mining projects.

Indigenous communities and environmental defenders are calling for global solidarity to protect their ancestral lands, rivers, forests, biodiversity, and livelihoods from destructive extractive activities.

Beutong Ateuh is a vital ecological corridor connecting the Leuser and Ulu Masen ecosystems — home to rich biodiversity and critical for climate resilience in the region.

The sign-on statement calls for:
✊🏽 The rejection of mining permits and exploration activities
🌱 Protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights and ancestral lands
⛰️ The declaration of Beutong Ateuh as a protected area
🤝 International solidarity with communities defending their forests

Join organizations and advocates around the world in supporting the call.

Sign the statement here:
https://www.regenwald.org/csl/903dc1fa-2799-4e8d-8171-a15f6068b86f/en

Rettet den Regenwald e.V. - Ihre Stimme hilft Schützen Sie den Regenwald. Hier können Sie Petitionen einsehen und aktuelle Hintergrundinformationen lesen. Jetzt online protestieren und Stimme abgeben!

📢 SIGNATORY UPDATE📢

As of 4 PM today, May 21, our sign-on statement has reached 95 individuals and 73 organizations as signatories. As calls for justice for the persist a month after, our campaign remains in need of more signatories. Let us continue to demand urgent justice for the Negros 19 massacre.

Sign on here: https://urli.info/JusticeForToboso19

🌏 Today, the UN adopted a resolution which affirms the legal obligations of nations to limit emissions and prevent further climate harm!

The resolution has been backed by a vast majority of countries, reinforcing that urgent climate action is not an option, but an obligation.

This legal victory is one step closer to a future where clean, affordable energy is available for all. But that can't happen without your help.

Last month, we launched The Great Power Shift campaign - a global effort to deliver climate justice. Let's take this moment and push it even further.

Check out the campaign here - https://to.350.org/iopaf - and help us tell governments that we demand a liveable future NOW.

The Supreme Court recently slammed the practice of filing pleas to stall developmental projects, questioning how the country will progress if such pleas are filed.

“Show us even a single project in this country where these alleged environmental activists have said that we welcome this project. Country is progressing well, we welcome this project. Everything you drag to the court,” a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said on May 11.

‘Show us a single project in this country welcomed by environmental activists’: Supreme Court The Supreme Court was hearing a plea over the environmental and coastal regulation zone clearance granted for the expansion and modernisation of the Pipava Port in Gujarat.

Asia is one of the most dangerous regions in the world for environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs). Those at the greatest risk are often the very individuals ensuring our ecosystems, climate commitments, and shared future remain intact.

In the lead-up to the International Day for Biological Diversity, UN Human Rights (OHCHR) and UNEP, alongside regional partners, are proud to launch the 2026 Webinar Series on EHRDs in Asia.

Across seven sessions, we have one shared purpose: advancing protection, accountability, and rights-based environmental governance.

Join our first session:
📍 Topic: "Environmental Human Rights Defenders in Asia: Regional Trends, Subregional Perspectives & Policy Developments"
🗓 Tuesday, 19 May 2026
🕒 15:00–16:30 Bangkok (UTC+7)
💻 Online via Zoom

Hear from the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Indigenous leaders, and defenders’ voices from across South, South-East, East, and Central Asia.

🔗 Register now: https://un-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__XZ6qAu-TFKPxp7rYys6kg

The 790 attacks documented in 2025 were against Indigenous Peoples, youth, women defenders, journalists, climate and environmental defenders, and many others raising concerns about risks and harms by business actors – affecting individuals, their families, communities, and public participation in society more broadly.

Navigating a global crossroads: Human rights defenders and business in 2025 - Business and Human Rights Centre Check out this page via the Business and Human Rights Centre

✊🏽 Indigenous communities in Itogon, Benguet continue to resist the expansion of the Sangilo Mines through APSA 103 — a large-scale mining project that threatens ancestral lands, water sources, livelihoods, and the fragile mountain environment they have protected for generations.

Despite years of petitions, protests, and legal action, affected communities continue to raise concerns over violations of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the impacts of mining expansion on their future. The struggle of the Ibaloi, Kankanaey, and Kalanguya peoples is a reminder that “development” should never come at the expense of Indigenous rights, environmental protection, and community wellbeing.

Read the issue brief by the Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy and Cordillera Peoples Alliance here:

[Issue Brief] Philippines: The Struggle Against APSA 103 Indigenous Peoples in Itogon, Benguet – particularly the Ibaloi, Kankanaey, and Kalanguya – are intensifying their resistance against the proposed  expansion of gold and silver mining Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc. through the Application for Production Sharing Agreement (APSA) 103. The project c...