LIFE

J&E is a network of environmental legal NGOs that uses environmental law as a tool to ensure the protection of people and nature in EU Member States. J&E aims for a better legislation and implementation of environmental law on the national and EU levels to protect the environment, people and nature. J&E supports the implementation and enforcement of EU legislation through the use of European law and exchange of information. Having more than one and a half decade of experience in doing that, we will in 2023 continue striving for our vision of Europe where environmental rules and their application provide and guarantee a healthy environment and sustainable development.

In 2023, similarly to previous years, J&E focuses on the implementation and transposition of horizontal legal issues. The strong grassroots contacts of our members have encouraged J&E to concentrate on horizontal problems with the Aarhus Convention, with special regard to state aid and SLAPP cases. Other pieces of environmental legislation we will focus on are the Strategic Environmental Assessment, the Environmental Impact Assessment, the Water Framework Directive assessment, and indirectly Natura 2000 via the Appropriate Assessment). While we often find overlaps or synergies between these fields, the lack of awareness or lack of capacity of stakeholders – the governments, judicial authorities, investors or the public – may also multiply the problems. Finally, J&E focuses also on the most pressing environmental problems of our days, climate change, from a legal angle and explores legal ways to tackle climate change and to enforce laws that oblige governments to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The project is funded
by the European Union.

The project team consists of all the members of Justice and Environment.

Check here the member organizations of J&E.

BlueLink is a foundation, registered in public interest in Bulgaria with the mission to uphold civil society, democracy, shared European values and environmental sustainability. BlueLink strives to its purpose by supporting internet networking, public interest journalism, policy advocacy and research. BlueLink’s main fields of activity are in:

maintaining the BlueLink Civic Action Network – a networking, coordination and information exchange hub at www.bluelink.net;
supporting civil society participation, access to information and justice, and stakeholder engagement through strategic use of internet and other activities;
operating a virtual newsroom to publish Evromegdan (in Bulgarian) and BlueLink Stories (in English, for Central and Eastern Europe) as e-magazines for ethical journalism in public interest; and
fostering research and analysis of internet freedom, technological and social change, civil society, democracy and sustainable development, and shaping policies that foster them.

Webpage: https://www.bluelink.net/en

Responsibilities in the project:

Polling of national public opinion on adaptation to climate change and related climate rights;
Preparation of a legal study on climate rights and their domestic enforcement;
Organization of national events related to the previous activities;
National level communication of the project.

Team of the project:

Pavel Antonov, pavelan@bluelink.net

Plamen Peev, plamen@bluelink.net

Polina Slavcheva, polina@bluelink.net

Environmental Management and Law Association (EMLA) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working in environmental law and environmental management on national, European and international levels. The main activities of EMLA are public interest environmental legal advice and litigation, environmental legal research, consulting and education, and carrying out of environmental management projects. EMLA is a founding member of The Access Initiative in addition to being a member of the European Environmental Bureau and the Nuclear Transparency Watch. The EMLA Foundation established by the EMLA Association is active in environmental education.

Webpage: www.emla.hu

Responsibilities in the project:

Polling of national public opinion on adaptation to climate change and related climate rights;
Preparation of a legal study on climate rights and their domestic enforcement;
Organization of national events related to the previous activities;
National level communication of the project.

Team of the project:

Csaba Kiss, drkiss@emla.hu

Estonian Environmental Law Center (EELC) was founded in 2007 by an environmental NGO Estonian Fund for Nature (ELF) and 3 public interest environmental lawyers. It is an independent expert organization. EELC’s aim is to shape environmental law rules and their application in Estonia in a manner that takes due account of public interests (health and well-being of citizens, biodiversity).

Webpage: www.k6k.ee

Responsibilities in the project:

Polling of national public opinion on adaptation to climate change and related climate rights;
Preparation of a legal study on climate rights and their domestic enforcement;
Organization of national events related to the previous activities;
National level communication of the project.

Team of the project:

Tarmo Treimann, tarmo@k6k.ee

The law is a fundamental tool in the protection of our the environment. However, in order to guarantee this, it is necessary that its application and use is continually monitored — By not doing so, the destruction of our environment is sure to continue. Thus, over two decades ago, a group of legal and environmental-law professionals formed the International Institute for Law and the Environment to respond directly to this necessity. IIDMA designs and launches its own projects as well as attends to the requests from public and private institutions and organizations requiring support in environmental law and policies.

Webpage: www.iidma.org

Responsibilities in the project:

Polling of national public opinion on adaptation to climate change and related climate rights;
Preparation of a legal study on climate rights and their domestic enforcement;
Organization of national events related to the previous activities;
National level communication of the project.

Team of the project:

Ana Barreira, ana.barreira@iidma.org

Alba Iranzo, alba.iranzo@iidma.org

Legal Informational Centre for NGOs is a non-governmental organisation established in 1997. Primary working areas of PIC can be described as legal protection of the environment and human rights (rights of vulnerable groups as disabled, foreigners and asylum seekers, women victims of violence, socially underprivileged individuals etc.). PIC is active on strategic level (through advocacy and lobbying in legislative procedures, civil initiatives etc.) and on operative/implementation level by offering legal counseling and legal support to individuals and NGOs. One of the main activities is providing comments and recommendations during the adoption of important laws and strategic documents in the field of environmental protection and spatial management and proposing systemic changes in particular towards a better inclusion of the public in decision-making processes and improvements of access to effective legal remedies. PIC is striving for a consistent and correct application of the Aarhus Convention, especially regarding effective exercise of the right to participate of NGOs and the wider public in environmental procedures. In this regard PIC is focusing also on influencing court procedures by filing legal remedies and advocating for their effectiveness. PIC is one of thirteen Slovenian NGOs who have obtained a status of a NGO acting in the public interest in environmental matters on national level.

Webpage: https://pic.si/

Responsibilities in the project:

Polling of national public opinion on adaptation to climate change and related climate rights;
Preparation of a legal study on climate rights and their domestic enforcement;
Organization of national events related to the previous activities;
National level communication of the project.

Team of the project:

Aljosa Petek, aljosa.petek@pic.si

OEKOBUERO is the alliance of the Austrian Environmental Movement. It is comprised of 17 Austrian organizations engaged in environmental, nature and animal protection like GLOBAL 2000 (Friends of the Earth Austria), FOUR PAWS, Greenpeace and WWF. OEKOBUERO works on the political and legal level for the interests of the environmental movement.

Webpage: www.oekobuero.at

Responsibilities in the project:

Polling of national public opinion on adaptation to climate change and related climate rights;
Preparation of a legal study on climate rights and their domestic enforcement;
Organization of national events related to the previous activities;
National level communication of the project.

Team of the project:

Veronika Marhold, veronika.marhold@oekobuero.at

Aarhus Convention

Planned activities in 2023:

Cooperation with UNECE
Improving EU level processes
Testing the Aarhus Regulation with special regard to the Request for Internal Review
Monitoring access to information and public participation
Defending the defenders

For more information please check our Publications.

Environmental Assessments

Planned activities in 2023:

Monitoring of Environmental Assessments Directives
Monitoring and commenting changes in national legislation related to environmental procedures
Monitoring public participation in environmental procedures which do not fall under SEA, EIA, WFD or AA
Promoting public participation in environmental assessments

For more information please check our Publications.