Through our resources and outreach work, we aim to make individuals, community groups and organisations more aware of their environmental rights and identify areas for policy and law reform.
Resources
- FAQs – our ‘frequently asked questions’ provide basic information on key environmental issues
- Guides – our guides on environmental law are useful for detailed information
- Voices for justice – these blogs give voice to the lived experience of people across Scotland fighting environmental injustices
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Briefings & reports
- Webinars & presentations
- Consultation responses
For specific legal advice, please use the enquiry form
Guides
- Guide to Tree Preservation Orders, June 2023
- Guide to statutory nuisance, updated May 2023
- Guide to Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), updated May 2023
- Guide to the right to protest, October 2021
- Guide on environmental information and how to obtain it, May 2020
FAQs & information sheets
- Snapshot of Advice Service 2021-22, April 2023
- Right to a healthy environment FAQ, March 2023
- Water pollution FAQ, November 2022
- Air pollution FAQ, updated November 2022
- Greenspace FAQ, October 2022
- Access to justice on the environment, and whether Scotland is providing it, updated September 2021
- Access to environmental information: the importance of the European framework, June 2020
Videos
September 2023: watch our animated video on the human right to a healthy environment and find out what it is, why it is important and how we can use it to protect people and the environment.
September 2021: watch our 4-minute presentation on why the human right to a healthy environment should be included in the Human Rights (Scotland) Bill, given at the Glasgow People’s Health Inquiry.
Podcasts
April 2022: listen to Shivali, our Chief Officer talking to Kezia Dugdale on the University of Glasgow Spotlight – The public policy and political process podcast.
March 2022: listen to Cornell, our Rights Officer talking about our rights work on the Common Weal Policy podcast.
Briefings & reports
- The Substantive Right to a Healthy Environment (report), June 2023
- The clear and urgent case for a Scottish Environment Court (briefing), May 2023
- The clear and urgent case for a Scottish Environment Court (report), Gemmell, March 2023
- Protective Expenses Orders remain a barrier to justice, November 2022
- Equal rights of appeal and access to justice , August 2022. You can also read our formal communication to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee
- Advocacy Manifesto – An enforceable human right to a healthy environment, December 2021. Or you can just read our one-page Summary of Recommendations
- Recommendations for a plan of action on judicial expenses, November 2021
- Why Scotland needs an environmental court or tribunal, October 2021
- Commissioned by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland, the relationship between our right to a healthy environment and three other rights:
- How the human right to a healthy environment advances the rights of disabled people – joint briefing with Inclusion Scotland, September 2021
- How the human right to a healthy environment advances our right to health, September 2021
- The relationship between the human right to a healthy environment and the right to food, September 2021
- Human right to healthy environment – summary joint briefing with Scottish LINK, March 2021
- Human right to healthy environment – full joint briefing with Scottish LINK , March 2021
Consultation responses
- Review of the Effectiveness of Environmental Governance (draft template response), September 2023
- Human Rights (Scotland) Bill, September 2023
- Human Rights (Scotland) Bill – Part 5: Recognising the Right to a Healthy Environment (draft template response), August 2023
- Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill, March 2023
- Access to Information Rights in Scotland, March 2023
- Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation, Oct 2022
- Environmental Standards Scotland – Strategic Plan, Aug 2022
- Court Fees, March 2022
- Land Court Merger, October 2020
Webinars & presentations
- September 2023: we held a joint webinar with Poverty Alliance on how the human right to a healthy environment can be used to challenge causes of poverty.
- May 2022: we presented to the Advisory Board to the Human Rights Bill on The human right to a healthy environment: What it is and why it matters.
- January 2022: we were delighted to be the first to present to the Equality and Human Rights Portfolio Group. Facilitated by Inspiring Scotland, we presented a webinar on Environmental human rights. It was great to begin exploring the intersection between environmental human rights and the equality groups that are represented or supported by other organisations from the portfolio.
