"RIO DE JANEIRO - More than 20 land rights activists have been killed in Brazil so far this year, with most deaths linked to conflicts over logging and agribusiness, data on Thursday showed, reinforcing the country's reputation for being dangerous for environmentalists.

According to data from local watchdog, the Pastoral Land Commision (CPT), 23 activists have been killed in 2016 for trying to protect forests from illegal logging and the expansion of cattle ranches and soy plantations.

Fifty land rights campaigners were killed in Brazil last year, up from 29 in 2014, according to the UK-based advocacy group Global Witness."

Chris Arsenault reports for the Thomson Reuters Foundation August 4, 2016. [2]