Silencing such a prominent activist is, in our view, part of a pattern of global violent repression againstdefenders in ecological distribution conflicts (henceforth EDCs) (Scheidelet al., 2020). EDCs refer to disputesarising from the unequal distribution of environmental benefits and costs of projects such as extractiveindustries, transport facilities, or waste dumping (Martinez-Alier and O'Connor, 1996). The origin of suchconflicts is often unequal ecological exchange (UEE) (Hornborg, 1998).