Lawyers might not be the first group that springs to mind when discussing the climate crisis, but they play a critical role in enabling the operations of the fossil fuel industry ...
The Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016: How to enforce it and does it need to be strengthened?
How can we use lobbying laws to challenge the influence of big businesses and wealthy individuals in politics? Watch our free webinar on the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016 ...
Defending Cullaloe Forest from environmental harm – Mark’s Voice for Justice
This Voices for Justice comes from Mark, who was concerned about the environmental harm of a local quarry and its storage and processing of incinerator waste, contaminating the adjacent forest. Without the commitment and tenacity of Mark, other concerned residents and local Councillors, pollution controls would not be enforced, and environmental harms would be allowed to continue unchecked ...
Environmental and human rights groups urge UK government to back binding Council of Europe Protocol on the right to a healthy environment – press release
Over sixty organisations have written to UK government ministers ahead of a major meeting of the Council of Europe, urging them to back proposals for an additional binding Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that would finally recognise the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. An Additional Protocol would strengthen the rights of all 675 million citizens living in Council of Europe member states. Recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment would harmonise standards in the region, provide legal certainty, strengthen domestic environmental legislation, protect vulnerable communities, and support environmental defenders. It would also reaffirm the European Court of Human Rights’ legitimacy in addressing matters related to environmental rights, allowing it to build on its significant and growing environmental jurisprudence, and improving the protection of lives and livelihoods for current and future generations. The letter, coordinated by organisations including Friends of the Earth, Wildlife & Countryside Link, and the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS), follows an intervention from UN appointed experts on human rights and the environment, who added their voice to the growing calls for an Additional Protocol recognising the right. On 13 May, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Drafting Group on Human Rights and the Environment will decide whether to move forward in drafting an Additional Protocol recognising the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the ECHR. The move is backed by countries including Portugal, Slovenia, Iceland, Georgia, and France, but the UK has yet to make …
Scottish charities call on Holyrood to make environmental policies more inclusive – press release
Ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election, human rights and environmental organisations have urged Scottish political parties to improve how environmental policies affect marginalised and disadvantaged groups ...
April newsletter
Read our April newsletter on defending environmental democracy, with highlights from the parliamentary debate on environmental justice, our work on the Aarhus Convention and campaign updates ...
Defending environmental democracy: Why have newts and bats become public enemy number one?
Clare Symonds from Planning Democracy summarises our latest webinar on the erosion of environmental democracy and the planning system ...
A bit of a waste of time for all of us: the Scottish Government’s Review of the Effectiveness of Environmental Governance
In this long read, our Legal Director Dr Ben Christman breaks down the failures of the Scottish Government’s review on environmental governance, in which they refused to strengthen environmental protections ...
Header image: 'Rainbow joy, Gadloch' by Emma Donaldson.
