The withdrawal of the U.S. government presence on environmental and climate-related initiatives removed a powerful diplomatic shield that had once protected environmental defenders, leaving them highly exposed to violent retaliation and harassment, according to respondents in a survey across five countries.
Date: 6/26
Region: Global
Country: Global
Topic: Climate & Environment, Peacebuilding & Stabilization
Policy Lens: Democracy & Governance
Entry Type: System Impact
Additional Context: This information was collected by One Earth Partners by conducting 150 semi-structured interviews across organizations in five countries deemed representative of USAID's environment work. The results were then triangulated with secondary literature reviews including media scanning and a global survey conducted with 175 individuals.
This information was provided by respondents across contexts both in the interviews and survey.
Devex Researcher Note: The impacts of U.S. government retreat from work protecting human rights defenders and civil society around the world was captured in The Aid Report's Democracy, Rights and Governance sectoral brief.
Source: One Earth Partners (Full report forthcoming.)