P.O. 316, Lviv, 79000

+380 32 225 76 82

office@epl.org.ua

EPL: Events and Announcements

8 March 2023 News on the session “Accountability for War Crimes against the Environment”

During the “United for Justice” conference held from March 3-5 in Lviv, one of the discussion sessions focused on “Accountability for War Crimes against the Environment.” Speakers at this session included the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Ruslan Strylets, and a number of international experts in the field. A key aspect of the minister’s…

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7 March 2023 The conference was also known as the “legal Ramstein”.

  From March 3rd to March 5th, the “United for Justice” conference took place in Lviv, the city that gave the world two well-known lawyers who laid the foundations of international humanitarian law1. The conference aimed to unite Ukraine and its international partners to hold russia accountable for its crimes and become a global platform…

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24 February 2023 Call to action to the international community

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing immense human suffering and loss of life. This war remains equally destructive for the environment, in turn affecting public health, ecosystems, food security and the climate; its consequences will be felt in Ukraine and beyond for decades to come.On the first anniversary of the full–scale invasion, which started on…

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14 February 2023 Statement of environmental NGOs regarding the initiative of the Ministry of Environment on the reform of the nature reserve fund

  According to the assessment of the European Commission, Ukraine is at an early stage of European integration (acquis communautaire), including in the field of environmental protection and adaptation to climate change. In fact, Ukraine received one point in the five-point rating system. The European Commission emphasized the need to implement the requirements of the…

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31 January 2023 Imitation of the progress of the Ministry of Environment in 2022 – early 2023

At the beginning of 2023, on its official Facebook page, the Ministry of Environment published an infographic about the results of 2022 in terms of implementing the Association Agreement with the EU in the environmental sphere. Description of the infographic was saying about big steps towards the EU, about the approval of nine European integration…

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18 January 2023 EcoSOS 2022: citizens and communities protecting the environment

EPL’s mission is the rule of law for environmental protection. It is impossible to save the environment alone. Therefore, during the year, our EkoSOS 2022 hotline gathered like-minded people in communities across Ukraine whose environmental rights were violated. Together with our clients and colleagues from other organizations, we looked for the root of the problems…

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Ecoanalytics

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The environment is a silent victim of the war in Ukraine without effective legal protection mechanisms

The environment is a silent victim of the war in Ukraine without effective legal protection mechanisms During 9 years of the russian federation’s war in Ukraine, the war brought not only direct threats to lives and health of Ukrainian citizens caused by explosions, destruction, shelling, detonation of mines and other types of hostile actions. As…

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EIA IMPROVEMENT

On February 1, 2023, the government draft law # 8410 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment” was registered in the Verkhovna Rada. This is essentially the first systematic revision of the law on EIA since its adoption in 2017. As indicated in the explanatory table, the draft law was developed…

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About us

EPL is a public interest environmental law organization which since 1994 has been protecting environmental rights, supporting, restoring and improving the environment and providing legal help in protecting other human rights, especially those which overlap with environmental rights.

We care about environment in Ukraine and abroad and are concerned about all the risks, threats and dangers which may lead to deterioration of the environment.

At present environmental protection is the hottest problem of the humankind. There is a growing threat not only for human health and well-being but for existence of life on our planet in general.

Work of the organization is directed towards transformation of safe though often extremely polluted environment into favorable for life and health environment, preservation of biodiversity, protection of flora and fauna, stoppage of uncontrolled emissions and dumps of harmful substances into environment and elimination of other negative factors, fight with non-activity as for global environmental issues in general and climate change issues in particular.

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EPL is a member of:

Updated documents at the EPL website

19 February 2023 Overview of ecosystem services valuation approaches through the prism of their application to determine damages caused by rf hostilities in Ukraine

This analytical document provides fundamental provisions of ecosystem services concept, highlighting its urgency at the current stage of social development. The analytical document explains the notion “ecosystem services”,appoaches to their systematization and value identification, describes accepted methods for ecosystem services economic value assessment and current limitations in their application. Consideration of fundamental provisions of ecosystem…

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16 February 2023 PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF RESIDENTS of Gryada village, violated by the Gryada pig farm

REGION: village Hryada, Lviv district, Lviv region. Merits of the case: Protection of environmental rights of residents of Gryada village from pollution caused by the pig farm of LLC «APP Hryada». Core of the problem: The LLC “APP Gryada” pig farm has been poisoning the air and surrounding land for many years, resulting in suffering…

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4 January 2023 2022 WINNING STRATEGIES FOR COMMUNITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN UKRAINE AND AROUND THE WORLD

Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), USA Environment–People–Law (EPL), Ukraine Winning strategies for Communities and the Environment in Ukraine and Around the World is a collection of success stories compiled by ELAW and EPL, to serve as inspiration for environmental defenders. The publication includes environmental cases initiated by activists and non-governmental organizations in Australia, Argentina, Belize,…

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31 October 2022 Protection of valuable mountain range Svydovets

Region: Zakarpatya and Ivano-Frankivsk regions Essence of the case: Protection of valuable mountain range, glassier lakes, Emerald network site, wetlands from construction of ski resort «Svydovets» Essence of the problem: In May 2017, Rakhiv and Tyachiv state administrations adopted the decisions on approval of the detailed plan of the territory (DPT) and decided on functional designation…

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EPL (formerly Ecopravo-lviv) is a nongovernmental international organization, created in 1994 in order to provide assistance to individuals and legal persons in the protection of environmental rights, to promote the development of the environment protection, environmental education, science and culture.

History of organization

  • 1994 y.
    March 24 – established Charitable foundation “Ecopravo – Lviv.”
    clinic5
  • 1994 y.
    October 14 – created the “Center for Public Environmental Advocacy” with ABA / CEELI.
  • 1994 y.
    1994

    – Еstablished the environmental legal library of the CF “Ecopravo-Lviv”

    – Оrganized the conference of the Association of Environmental Law of the EECCA countries

    – Оrganized the conference of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

  • 1995 y.

    – June – founded Environmental Advocacy Journal

    – The CF “Ecopravo- Lviv” became the Headquarters of Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

  • 1998 y.
    1998

    EPL participated in the negotiations of the Aarhus Convention under the auspices of the UNECE, in the process of signature, ratification and implementation in the European project “Doors to Democracy.”

  • 2001 y.
    EPL became the headquarters of the Guta Association.
  • 2002 y.
    2002

    – Established Ukraine’s first environmental law clinical program for training legal practitioners;
    – EPL’s President elected the Vice Chairman of the Compliance Committee of the Convention of access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters
    – Started implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Ukraine.

  • 2003 y.
    2003

    – Symposium for Judges in Central and Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.

    – Organization of the meeting of the Steering Committee of the IUCN.Environmental Commission

    – EPL realized the project “Promotion of adaptation of environmental law of the EU in Ukraine”

  • 2003 y.

    – International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognized EPL as the center of legal excellency

    – Established cooperation with the Secretariat of the Espoo Convention, Ramsar, Danube and Bonn Conventions and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change with the aim to preserve biodiversity

  • 2004 y.
    2004

    – The project “Development of the Center of Environmental Advocacy”

    – The project “Analysis of possibilities to realize the program of evaluation of environmental activity and release of information”

  • 2004 y.
    2004

    – DOEN Foundation started support of the environmental public advocacy center

    – Launched the institutional support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

  • 2005 y.
    2005

    – 25 November – renaming Charitable fund “Ecopravo – Lviv” to International charitable organization “Environment-People-Law” (EPL).

    – The project “Enforcement of access to environmental information”

  • 2006 y.
    2006

    EPL representative was awarded the most prestigious award in the sphere of environmental protection – Goldman Prize – for strategic case of the organization “The Danube-Black Sea”.

  • 2007 y.
    2007

    – The Project “Sanitary protective zones, nuclear safety and climate change» funded by Sigrid Rausing Trust

    – The Project “Access to environmental information in Ukraine: the experience of NGOs and public authorities.”

  • 2007 y.
    2007

    – The Project “Strengthening public participation in environmental matters through strategic litigation.”

    – The Project ““Improvement of access to justice in environmental matters through public monitoring of courts”

  • 2008 y.
    2008

    – Establishment of the journal “Environment. People .Law. ” .

    – The Project ” Utilization of toxic pesticides in the territory of Lviv oblast in the basin of transboundary rivers Syan and Western Buh”

  • 2009 y.
    2009

    – The Project “Public monitoring of the cases relating to environmental rights of people in Lviv and Ternopil regions.”

    – The Project “New legal tools for effective control of pollution emissions”

  • 2009 y.
    2009

    – The Project “Stimulation of realization of the right to access to information owned by the state”

    – The Open Society Institute (Budapest) started institutional support of EPL.

  • 2010 y.
    2010

    – The Project “Improvement of access to environmental information through stimulation of openness of relevant public authorities”

    – The Project “Stimulating the Ukrainian public to participation in the realization of the European strategy of the Danube region”

  • 2010 y.
    2010

    – Winning the lawsuit at the European Court of Human Rights

    – The Project “Legal protection of environmental rights of citizens.”

    – EPL became a member of the Working group “Envint”, a member of WG3 of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

  • 2011 y.
    2011

    – The Project “Information and activation of public participation in developing the National Action Plan for the EU Strategy for the Danube Region”

    – The Project “Improvement of legal preconditions and activation of the public for protection of environmental rights of citizens»

  • 2011 y.
    2011

    – The Project “Developing preconditions for effective application of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information in the Sphere of Environmental Protection”

    – The Project Public participation and transparency in nuclear safety issues”

  • 2011 y.
    2011

    – EPL became a member the Climate Action Network (CAN)

    – EPL became a member of ANPED.

    – EPL became a member of The Access Initiative (TAI).

  • 2012 y.
    2012

    EPL coordinated the process of drafting Annual report “Public assessment of national environmental policy” in 2003-2012

  • 2013 y.
    2013

    – EPL became a member of the Academy of Environmental Law of the International Union for Conservation of Nature

    – The Project ” Enforcing European standards of environmental impact assessment in Ukraine”

  • 2013 y.
    2013

    – The Project “Improvement of regulation of environmental component in regional programs in Lviv region”

    – EPL signed an agreement with Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) for realization of the project on building capacity of EPL and providing institutional support for the organization.

  • 2013 y.
    2013

    – The Project to develop strategic litigation in Ukraine.

    – The establishment of Ecolitigation National Platform

    – The Project “Strengthening participatory democracy for effective protection of the environment.”

    – Creation of the network of pro bono legal aid in Ukraine.

  • 2014 y.
    2014

    – The opening of the office in Kyiv.

    – International Symposium “Human Rights and the Environment in the new Ukraine, in honor of Professor Svitlana Kravchenko.”

    – Launching the clinical program for students-environmentalists.

  • 2014 y.
    2014

    – Development of the first version of the electronic analytical system of environmental information.

    – EPL became a member of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).

  • 2015 y.
    2015

    – Start of the projects funded by FOSI, TTF, USAID.

    – Revival of the Guta Association of environmental lawyers from Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus

  • 2015 y.
    2015

    – Development of the course for judges “Human rights and the environment”

    – Creation of on-line environmental law library.

    – Co-authorship of the draft law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment”.

  • 2016 y.
    Development of the on-line course on international environmental law.
  • 2017 y.
    Creation of the Ukrainian Center of Environmental Policy and Action