At least 207 environmentalist activists were murdered last year, campaign group Global Witness has found.

The NGO's report highlighted government-sponsored killings had soared, with police or soldiers responsible for 53 of the deaths.

Environmental defenders were often killed as a result of protecting land from development projects that include the production of coffee and palm oil.

Filipino environmentalist Ruben Arzaga, seen here in a forest in Palawan last February, was one of the 207 killed last year as part of operations to protect land

Mourners in El Nido, Philippines pay respects to Ruben Arzaga after he was shot dead in an attempt to prevent developers illegally cutting down woodlands

Lucrative projects by vast agriculture corporations often led to deaths, according to the global rights watchdog.

It has made 2017 the deadliest year on record for environmentalists.

A drive in demand for consumer goods brings a need for 'massive amounts of land' to grow products.

'When people stand up for their rights and demand that the environment be protected they are silenced in the most brutal way,' Global Witness campaigner Ben Leather said.

Government-led or big company development projects often strike a country's indigenous peoples, such as these Munduruku natives scuffling with security in Brazil in 2013

The watchdog said it had found evidence that government actors — soldiers or police — were responsible for at least a quarter of last year's deaths.

But Leather added the state 'may well have been involved' where criminal gangs had carried out murders.

Brazil was the most dangerous country for land activists with 57 killed in 2017, while the Philippines accounted for 48.

It included the death of dedicated environmentalist Ruben Arzaga who was shot dead in Palawan, El Nido, during an anti-logging operation on September 14.

His murder prompted outcry from residents on the island popular with tourists, who demanded justice for the spiteful killing.

Global Witness documented harrowing crimes against communities who speak out against big businesses and government-led development.

Hydro aluminium factories in Brazil are just one of the industries who exploit local surroundings at the expense of communities living there

Abuses led to deaths but also death threats, intimidation, arrests, cyber attacks, sexual assault and lawsuits.

'Governments have a legal and ethical duty to protect human rights defenders but they're usually attacking them verbally and, as our statistics show, through their armed forces who are conducting some of the killings,' Leather said.

Their report links the violence to what we put on our shelves.

Jessel Mae Arzaga, daughter of land activist Ruben Arzaga, cries hysterically during her father's funeral ceremony in El Nido, Philippines on September 28, 2017

Arzaga's murder prompted outcry from residents who launched a campaign demanding justice for the environmental para-enforcer

Consumer products, including timber for furniture, often lead to the deaths of land defenders who speak out against projects that need huge supplies of natural resources

Mass-scale agriculture, mining, logging and poaching all produce ingredients for everyday products such as palm oil for cosmetics, soy for beef and timber for furniture.

Global Witness singled out the government of Brazilian President Michel Temer for special criticism, accusing his administration of seeking to reduce regulation on big agribusiness during what is an election year.

'Michel Temer and the Brazilian legislature are actively weakening the laws and institutions designed to protect land rights and indigenous peoples,' the report said.

'At the same time, they have set about making it easier for big business -- apparently unperturbed by the devastating human and environmental cost of their activities -- to accelerate their exploitation of fragile ecosystems.'

Campaigners say they receive death threats '24 hours a day' for speaking out against the hydro aluminium factories in Brazil

In addition to being the deadliest single year for environmentalists since Global Witness began documenting their deaths, 2017 saw the most massacres of land activists on record.

The watchdog found seven cases in which more than four activists were killed at the same time, including the massacre of eight villagers protesting a coffee plantation by soldiers in the Philippines.

By far the most frequent victims of violence were indigenous peoples, who are often already maligned by governments and society.

'Of course, my life is at risk,' said activist Mario do Socorro Costa da Silva, who campaigns with indigenous communities in Brazil against hydro aluminium factories.

'I receive death threats 24 hours a day because I'm not going to shut my mouth in the face of this atrocity.'

As well as calling for more accountability and greater protection for at-risk communities, Leather said agribusiness investors and even consumers could help reduce the violence by demanding better transparency.

'We should be asking questions of those producing the products on our shelves,' he said.

'The palm oil sector absolutely needs to clean itself up and anyone investing needs to do proper due diligence to know that their money is not going to fund land grabs, human rights abuses and ultimately killings of those who denounce it.'