Forty-nine environmentalists were killed in Brazil in 2016, more than in any other country. By July 2017, another forty-five had been killed in Brazil. Rarely was anyone prosecuted for such crimes, which were often brutal and brazen. One environmentalist had his ears severed and sent to his family. A nun who had been protesting logging in the Amazon rain forest was shot in broad daylight. Over the past decade, roughly half the murders of environmentalists worldwide took place in Brazil.
