Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders

As we conclude the third quarter of 2026, the ongoing fight to safeguard our environment and protect those who defend it remains as urgent as ever. Across Asia and the Pacific, environmental defenders continue to face severe risks—from arbitrary detentions and judicial harassment to systemic violence and state-sponsored repression—while standing on the front lines of escalating climate disasters, including devastating flash floods in Nepal, widespread flooding across the Philippines and Thailand, and the looming threat of a Super El Niño alongside destructive mining, deforestation, and climate inaction. 

On this International Day of the Disappeared, we stand in unyielding solidarity with the land and environmental defenders who have been forcibly taken from their families and communities. These courageous individuals put their lives on the line every day to protect the natural ecosystems, ancestral lands, and vital resources that humanity depends on. 

The Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders (APNED) stands in solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples and local communities of Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines, who are defending their lands, livelihoods, water sources, and environment from the mining exploration activities of North Luzon Mineral Resources Corporation (NLMRC).

For many of the world’s Indigenous Peoples, defending the environment is inseparable from defending their collective rights, identities, cultures, livelihoods, and ways of life. Their spiritual and material relationships with their lands, territories, waters, and resources sustain their communities and carry responsibilities to future generations. These relationships are protected under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the rights to maintain their institutions and cultures, determine their own development priorities, and conserve and protect their environment.