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Conservation Litigation

Project Host
Lancaster University
Revenue
£357,900,000 (Project approx. £180,000)
Charity Number
XN4960
Project aims
Enable societal shifts by providing new access to justice for nature, changing corporate behaviours, and educating society about the impacts of environmental crime. Coordinated, precedent-setting cases will hold environmental offenders legally responsible for remedying the harms they cause.
Project description
Our project will bring a Green Wave of litigation – simultaneous legal actions across >5 jurisdictions that highlight one key point: If you injure nature, you are responsible for remedying it. These cases will provide remedies, such as habitat restoration, compensation, apologies. and care for wildlife. Moreover, they will set legal precedents, empower others to exercise their rights, and educate offenders, corporations, and society. These new cases will build on baseline legal analyses we have conducted around the world (e.g., Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia, India) to operationalise liability provisions that can hold offenders responsible for fixing the harms they caused. Such cases are legally-possible in many countries, but still rare in practice. Working with our existing civil society and government partners in each country, we will pioneer these actions on strategic, high-profile cases that target the leading drivers of biodiversity loss, notably deforestation and illegal wildlife trade. Our project will provide plaintiffs with support to identify and select cases; scientific and legal support to prepare for court, and communication support to share their lessons with the public. Strategic liability litigation has been transformative in other sectors (human rights, healthcare), and it can be for nature too.
Contact name
Dr Jacob Phelps
Phone
+44 7880587116
Email
jacob.phelps@gmail.com
Website
https://www.conservation-litigation.org/

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