Category: News

Across the Asia-Pacific region, rivers that sustain ecosystems, cultures, and livelihoods are increasingly under threat from large-scale infrastructure projects. As we commemorate today’s International Day of Action for Rivers, the Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders also celebrates the important work of our fellow defenders defending their rivers, lives, and rights.

The Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders (APNED) expresses its dismay over the Cambodian Supreme Court’s ruling, which denied the release of five Mother Nature Cambodia activists on March 2, 2026. 

On International Working Women’s Day, March 8, the Asia Pacific Network for Environmental Defenders (APNED) honors the courage, leadership, and resilience of Women Environmental Human Rights Defenders (WEHRDs) across the Asia-Pacific region. Women have long been at the forefront of environmental protection–they have defended forests, waters, and ancestral lands while safeguarding their communities’ rights and livelihoods. 

PHILIPPINES — The Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders, alongside the People’s Rising for Climate Justice, International Commission for Human Rights in the Philippines, and MANINDIGAN, held an International Press Conference on February 9, 2026, to condemn continuing rights violations in Mindoro Island, Philippines, one of the hotspots for militarization in the country.

The Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders (APNED) stands in unwavering solidarity with the Burmese people in their continuing struggle for democracy, freedom, and justice. We affirm the right of the people of Myanmar to determine a future, free from military violence and oppression. APNED also recognized that their resistance is rooted in courage, collective action, and hope, which continues to inspire movements across the Asia Pacific region.

As of today, January 10, 72 organizations from around the world are calling for the urgent release of Chantal Anicoches. This highlights civil society’s pressing demand for the military to release Chantal Anicoche. 

The Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders (APNED) cautions against the effects of the recent mass withdrawal of the United States of America from 66 international organizations, conventions, and treaties, including key international organizations such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,  Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, among others. This mirrors the move that current US President Donald Trump made in his previous term to pull out the USA from the UNFCCC, which weakened the overall strength and legitimacy of UN climate talks and was a huge blow to the Global South’s campaign for financing loss and damage.

As we look back throughout the year 2025, the Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders (APNED) has continued to build solidarity amongst the region, in the name of establishing a strong movement that recognizes and protects environmental defenders throughout the region. We have our members, allies, and donors to thank for our ability to carry […]

As we commemorate this year’s International Human Rights Day, the Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders calls on everyone to take notice and act against militarism as one of the grave threats we environmental defenders continue to face. All too often, when environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) face reprisals, it comes from the state’s own forces protecting the interests of extractive business groups like mining, agribusiness, logging, and many similar ventures. EHRDs not only face intimidation, harassment, and surveillance but also face killings and abductions.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) holds an annual Conference of the Parties (COP), where governments negotiate global responses to the climate crisis. The 30th COP or COP30, held this year in Belém, Brazil, was expected to be a historic moment, taking place at the doorstep of the Amazon and amid escalating climate impacts, shrinking civic space, and rising attacks on environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs). For the Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders (APNED), the outcome of COP30 reinforces a truth we have long carried: there is no climate justice without the full participation and protection of EHRDs.