Calling All Environmental & Climate Defenders!

Are you an environmental or climate defender in Europe, particularly involved in the youth movement? We want to hear from you! This is because we are launching BeLIFE - a project which focuses on the role citizens and civil society can play in enforcing and ensuring compliance with European Environmental Law, particularly the European Green Deal.

We’re launching a major consultation to better understand the challenges, risks, and needs you face as a youth climate defender. Whether you’re dealing with legal barriers, threats, or simply in need of more resources – your experience matters.

Please respond here!

The main objective of the project is to enhance compliance with EU environmental and climate law and to strengthen environmental democracy rights. The European Green Deal has introduced numerous new and updated laws, raising the standards of environmental and climate protection across Europe, however, implementation of the EU’s environmental law remains a huge challenge.

BlueLink is part of the BeLIFE project’s implementation through its membership in Justice and Environment (J&E) - one of our Pan-European environmental NGOs each representing vast networks of NGOs: Other partners include Youth and Environment Europe (YEE), and Guta Environmental Law Association. The EEB will lead the project in 2024-2027.

This project aims to facilitate private compliance assurance and enforcement. By providing individuals and NGOs with the tools to access justice, enforce their rights to environmental information, and participate in environmental decision-making, the project will bolster environmental governance across Europe. These tools are rooted in the environmental democracy rights enshrined in the UN Aarhus Convention, which the EU and all its Member States have adopted.

Rather than focusing on compliance with a single aspect of environmental and climate law, the project aims to make a horizontal contribution to compliance with the whole European Green Deal. The project is based on the belief that empowered individuals and civil society will exercise their environmental democracy rights to ensure better compliance with EU environmental and climate law. It aims to influence the “rules of the game” and empower people to use the law to benefit the environment and climate.

It will aim to improve the available resources on environmental democracy rights, to build capacity of environmental and climate defenders, and to improve the quality of environmental rights complaints.

BlueLink has been supporting environmental and climate defenders in Bulgaria and across Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe as a pioneering civic network. Joining BeLIFE is therefore a natural next step, following the successful implementation of DACE - a pioneering J&E-led project promoting climate rights.

The BeLife project has received funding from the European Union’s LIFE programme.
The information and views set out on the project website are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union.

The BlueLink Foundation and the European Climate Foundation are also co-funding the project.