Environmental Legal Cases

Environmental Law in Advocacy Campaigning dr. Csaba Kiss EMLA Justice & Environment 24-26 September 2013 Palic, Serbia What is environmental law? Environmental law is a collective term describing international treaties (conventions), statutes, regulations, and common law or national legislation (where

applicable) that operates to regulate the interaction of humanity and the natural environment, towards the purpose of reducing the impacts of human activity. (wikipedia) What is environmental law? (g) "environmental law" means Community legislation and legislation adopted to implement Community legislation which have as their objective the protection or the improvement of the environment, including human health and the protection or the rational use of natural resources, in areas such as:

i) water protection ii) noise protection iii) soil protection iv) atmospheric pollution v) town and country planning and land use vi) nature conservation and biological diversity vii) waste management viii) chemicals including biocides and pesticides ix) biotechnology x) other emissions, discharges and releases in the environment. xi) environmental impact assessment xii) access to environmental information and public participation in decision-making.

(Art. 2.1.g of the Access to Justice Directive Draft 2003) What is advocacy? Advocacy is a political process by an individual or group which aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions. (wikipedia) What is advocacy? Outreach Preparation of an output and presentation of

the output to recipients. Lobbying Exercising influence on policy-makers and/or decision-makers. Advocacy Gathering support (critical mass) for exercising support on policy-makers and/or decision-makers. Effective advocacy? Capacities Eight capacities for effective advocacy: organizational characteristics, leadership, board

leadership, adaptability, management, networks, technical skills, and organization culture Strategies Four strategies for effective advocacy: community and grassroots organizing, coalition building, public education, and legislative advocacy (Morariu Brennan: Effective Advocacy Evaluation) Suggestions from a lawyer Capacities Organizational characteristics: affection to legal

issues Leadership: lawyer in decision-making Board leadership: lawyer in leading position Adaptability: reaction to legal developments Management: lawyer on the staff Networks: membership of or contact to legal networks Technical skills: monitoring of legal developments Organization culture: ability to manage legal issues Suggestions from a lawyer Strategies

Community and grassroots organizing: ability to communicate legal message (translate to real life examples) and inspire people Coalition building: networking with legal NGOs Public education: raise public awareness/ capacities to understand legal issues Legislative advocacy: reactive and proactive National organizations and networks

Association for Environmental Justice (AJA, Spain) Bankwatch Association Romania (BWA, Romania) Environmental Action Alliance - Ireland (EAA-I, Ireland) Environmental Law Service (EPS, Czech Republic) Environmental Management and Law Association (EMLA, Hungary) Estonian Environmental Law Center (EELC, Estonia) Front 21/42 (FYR Macedonia) Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU, Germany) International Institute for Law and the Environment (IIDMA, Spain) KOBRO (B, Austria) Legal Information Centre (PIC, Slovenia) VIA IURIS (VI, Slovakia) Zelena Akcija (ZA, Croatia)

= Justice and Environment Example 1: EIA Directive Letter to EC by EEB, FOE, GP and J&E on what we expect from a revised EIA Directive 2010 Case studies and EIA seminar (Romania) 2011 EIA meeting (Brussels) 2012 EIA position paper 2012 Letters to members of the EP ENVI Committee, to MEPs, to rapporteur on the

EP 2013 Example 2: A2J Directive Impacts of an A2J Directive on a few MS 2007 Impact assessment of an A2J Directive in a number of MS 2012 Analytical study on access to justice 2012 Participation at EC Expert Group Meetings 2012 Communication with the EC 2009-2012 Green Week satellite event (Brussels) 2013 Online consultation by J&E members on the A2J Directive 2013

Positon paper to EC on the consultation by EEB and J&E 2013 Thank you and good luck in environmental legal campaigning!