BeLIFE

International conference on "The impact of the hostilities in Ukraine on the Environment and Human Rights - Civilizational Challenges for the Humanity", July 4 - 6, 2022 in Korytyshche village, Drohobych district, Lviv region, organized in hybrid format by the NGO Environment-People-Law (EPL, Ukraine) and the Guta Association. The event was attended by international and Ukrainian speakers, including high level-policy makers, such as the representatives of the European Union’s Presidency, the Embassy of the Netherlands, the Ukrainian Parliament, the head of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, First Deputy Minister of the Environment. The 28 speakers/experts also included 9 international and 14 Ukrainian speakers/experts, including several Guta members. The conference discussed Ukraine’s green recovery through international perspective, the destruction and impact of the war on the environment, legal liability and reparation mechanisms, methodologies for monitoring and calculating losses and possible compensation mechanisms, the use of international environmental agreements as a tool for environmental protection, the role of CSOs in assessing the impact of the war on the environment, minimizing damage, restoring the environment and rebuilding the country, the three pillars of Aarhus Convention during the war, the protection of environmental rights and interests in court, the protection of environmental defenders in Ukraine during the war situation and the future reconstruction, the Aarhus Convention’s Rapid Response Mechanism and its possible role in general and in Ukraine. Based on the conference, a resolution was developed to call for action by the government of Ukraine and international organizations and bodies.

‘A step forward for environmental rights in Latin-America and the Caribbean”, webinar on the occasion of the first Conference of Parties of the Escazú Agreement, April 19, 2022, organized by EarthJustice, the Geneva Environment Network, European ECO Forum and UNEP, where the Guta Association was one of the speakers.

’Defending the defenders 2021’, online side event held on October 12, 2021, before the Aarhus Convention MOP7, the Guta Association was co-organizer of a side event together with Arnika, the European ECO Forum and EarthJustice on October 12, 2021. The representative of Guta Association was also a speaker. (A similar in-person event on this topic was also organized by the Association in cooperation with Arnika, EEB, J &E, EarthJustice, Ecohome in September 11, 2017, in Budva, during the Aarhus MOP-6.)  

’Cooperation and between the Aarhus Convention and Escazú Agreement to promote the protection of access rights and of environmental defenders’, online side event on October 15, 2021 was organized before the Aarhus Convention MOP7 by the Guta Association, in cooperation with CIEL, EarthJustice, EarthRights, EEB and ECLAC. It was moderated by Guta Association, and included high level speakers from UNECE, ECLAC, the Aarhus Compliance Committee, government representatives, and NGO speakers from both the Aarhus and Escazú communities.