Technology-facilitated violence against environmental defenders, particularly in the Global South, is part of a continuum of violence, exploitation and extractivism that is increasingly linked to digitalisation – a process marked by intensive extraction of land, minerals, energy, water, labour and data. Indigenous and traditional communities struggling to resist extractivism in their territories are impacted by land dispossession, environmental degradation, exploitation of their knowledge, and violations of their rights. This harsh reality is laid bare in four new research reports investigating online attacks against environmental defenders – and collaborative responses to them – in Mexico, the Philippines, Kenya and Brazil. Set to be launched during a virtual event on 8 October, the reports arrive alongside a comparative analysis and an assessment of laws and policies in the four countries. Ahead of the launch, here is a preview of the key highlights.
Weaving resistance and resilience in lived realities
Violence against environmental defenders, particularly those from Indigenous and traditional communities, has increased in recent years, in a context marked by the resurgence of far-right movements in various parts of the world and the expansion of techno-capitalism into traditional territories. In this scenario, perpetrators of violence increasingly benefit from the technologies of major digital platforms, through the way their design and algorithms operate, generating what has come to be known as technology-facilitated violence. In addition to the direct harm inflicted on defenders and their communities, this situation hinders the struggle for socio-environmental justice, as violence discourages the use of technology by defenders and their communities for political advocacy, activism and learning.
It is in this context that the Resistance and Resilience initiative was created in 2024, working closely with environmental defenders to map experiences of harassment, surveillance and targeted disinformation aimed at silencing resistance to extractive projects. The research was implemented through feminist participatory approaches in collaboration with more than 20 Indigenous communities across four countries, responding to the specific needs and priorities of each community.
Two years on, these reports identify the specific challenges faced in each country, illustrating how online attacks intersect with historical forms of violence and rights violations – including deeply entrenched gender, racial and ethnic dimensions.
In all four countries, the research with communities identifies an important digital divide: limited access to the internet, devices and technological skills has increased the vulnerability of these communities to disinformation, fraud, surveillance and online attacks. Moreover, the dominance of Big Tech companies in the provision of internet services has contributed to the impact of disinformation campaigns in contexts where local media ecosystems have been decimated.
Research in the Philippines shows that environmental defenders from Indigenous and traditional communities experience violence as a systematic, multi-layered and continuous process, rather than as isolated or sporadic incidents. Technology-facilitated violence is increasingly used to silence and intimidate defenders and is becoming an expanding dimension of repression.
In Kenya, research with four Indigenous communities reveals that defenders working to improve environmental education in their contexts face a myriad of hate speech, cyberbullying, surveillance and monitoring, fake news, disinformation, impersonation, doxing and direct cyberattacks.
In Brazil, the most common manifestation of technology-facilitated violence against environmental defenders, particularly those from Indigenous and traditional communities, is the spread of disinformation. While the inequality of access is still a challenge, the arrival of Starlink in the Amazon is having economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts.
The reports also map out diverse forms of resistance and offer concrete recommendations moving forward. In Cherán, Mexico, following years of organised crime violence and government inaction, the community began organising in 2011 to defend its forest and establish a system of self-governance. In response to technology-facilitated violence and disinformation against community members, particularly Indigenous women in positions leadership, the community in Cherán have created their own media outlets (radio, social media, intranet) and community-based digital protection strategies.
Overall, the research has identified a clear need to better evaluate the true cost of digital technologies and infrastructure for such communities, taking into account their rights to and relationship with their environmental and cultural ecosystems.
A collaborative and community-led initiative in support of environmental defenders
The Resistance and Resilience initiative was created as a collaborative effort to build community-led research with environmental defenders at the forefront of closing civic space in the climate emergency. Over the period of two years, the research has been grounded in the experiences, needs and priorities of participating communities, and with community researchers involved at each stage of the process. As a result, the recently published summary reports of the research are richer and more intersectional, including a broader scope to include discussions of how technology enters these communities, and the impacts of Big Tech solutionism on local media ecosystems.
Globally, the Resistance and Resilience initiative is led by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in partnership with Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI), which supports the project overall; Voces del Territorio, which implements the project in Mexico; the Manila Observatory through the KLIMA Centre (MO-KLIMA), which implements the project in the Philippines; Intervozes – Coletivo Brasil de Comunicação Social, responsible for the project in Brazil; and the Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP), which implements the project in Kenya.
The Resistance and Resilience initiative is supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), which is supporting initiatives in Asia, Africa and Latin America that are working with environmental defenders in the context of closing civic space in the climate emergency.
michelle shawna is an environmental justice activist and project coordinator. Currently, they are APC’s environmental justice lead.
*This blog post was written based on findings from in-country research carried out by the following organisations:
The Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP) is a Kenyan non-governmental organisation established in 1999 to advocate for the rights of the Ogiek community and other Indigenous peoples. OPDP is dedicated to protecting human rights, preserving culture and promoting sustainable development among Indigenous populations.
Intervozes – Coletivo Brasil de Comunicação Social is a Brazilian civil society organisation that advocates for democratic communication rights. Founded in the early 2000s, Intervozes works to promote freedom of expression, access to information, media pluralism and the right to communication as fundamental human rights.
The Manila Observatory is a research institution in the Philippines, established in 1865. It focuses on scientific research to empower communities in addressing sustainable development and disaster risk resilience. Within this institution, the KLIMA Center serves as the interface between science and society, aiming to provide science-based policy support, technical assistance, capacity building and information dissemination to various stakeholders, including national and local government agencies, international partners in Southeast Asia, non-governmental organisations and the private sector.
Voces del Territorio is a Mexican civil society organisation led by Indigenous people that works to support Indigenous communities in the defence of their collective rights through the development and implementation of international advocacy strategies. It is responsible for coordinating the work of Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) in Mexico, through a core group of organisations that work in the country.