Our purpose
Our purpose is to increase the capacity and opportunity of individuals, community groups and organisations to promote environmental justice at neighbourhood, local authority and national levels.
Environmental justice is about ensuring a fair distribution of environmental benefits and burdens. It acknowledges that marginalised groups and communities are more exposed to environmental burdens (such as pollution, proximity to landfill and the impacts of climate change); and have less access to environmental benefits (such as access to good quality greenspace).
It also recognises that these groups are least responsible for contributing to environmental damage on local and global scales. Yet, they have less resources and opportunities to challenge harmful practices and protect the environment now, and for future generations.
We advance environmental justice in two ways:
- by working to address the unequal distribution of environmental problems, and promoting everyone’s right to a healthy environment – these are called substantive rights.
- by working for meaningful participation in decision-making and for fair, timely and affordable access to legal action as a last resort – these are called procedural rights.
Advocacy in policy & law reform
Through our advocacy in policy and law reform, we aim to secure concrete progress on environmental rights in Scotland.
