ILC Africa launched the African Defenders Emergency Fund, a forum which supports environmental and land defenders in critical situations on the ground
The land defenders fund
In their work, land and environmental activists often face harassment, intimidation, criminalisation and death. In 2019, ILC Africa members documented abuses on over 100 land and environmental defenders from across the African continent, while other records show 15 persons killed in the same year. This makes defending land environment dangerous and put activists at high risk.
Though ILC is committed to protecting land defenders and has a strategy and a platform that works on this area in Africa, it recognises the increasingly worrying conditions land defenders are working under.
That is why it designed this platform to give land and environmental defenders all over the continent a unique portal for help. Administered by Natural Justice, an organisation that supports communities impacted by the ever-increasing demand for land and resources, the fund allows for immediate action when defenders are at risk.
About ILC Africa
ILC Africa is a Regional Platform of the International Land Coalition (ILC), a global alliance of civil society and intergovernmental organisations working together to promote secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor women and men.
The shared goal of ILC's over 300 members is to realise land governance for and with people at the country level, responding to the needs and protecting the rights of women, men and communities who live on and from the land.
The Regional Platform- ILC Africa's membership is 95, across 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.