Environmental Defender Law Center

Programs: The environmental defender law center (edlc) finds lawyers and law firms around the world to advocate, negotiate, and litigate on behalf of individuals and communities in developing countries who are fighting against harm to the environment and whose human rights are being violated. Edlc staff also provides strategic advice, legal support, and resources for environmental defenders in developing countries. Edlc staff, nine law firms, and half a dozen scientists recruited by edlc, as well as numerous other lawyers acting in conjunction with edlc and the above firms, worked on over thirty different matters on behalf of environmental defenders in in two dozen countries. The number of individuals helped in each case ranged ranged from one to seventy thousand, with the majority being on behalf of communities of hundreds or thousands of individuals. Edlc provided advice to environmental defenders in numerous countries. Edlc staff worked on legal briefs filed in several matters pending before national courts, and provided grants and funding to groups in seven countries for out-of-pocket expenses in litigation against corporations and governments harming the environment and human rights. The objective of all of these efforts was to assist environmental defenders by helping to: 1) defend against violation of their civil and political rights resulting from unfounded criminal charges and civil lawsuits, and to seek to end the culture of impunity for such violations; 2) try to stop unwanted resource development projects that threaten the health, way of life, and environment of affected communities; 3) obtain redress from corporations and governments for harms caused to communities by resource development projects.