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_{Photo Caption:��High-level panel on environmental defenders, ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Congress 2021 (Credit: Iben Munck)}

The report,����is based on a worldwide survey and consultations with NGO members of ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ��.

Conservation organisations at risk

Peter Bille Larsen, lecturer and researcher at the����and member of��������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� CEESP, who published the report, says: ‘According to over a third of the NGO respondents, conservation has become less safe. We cannot halt biodiversity loss without securing enabling spaces for conservation organisations.’

Key findings of the report

• Civic spaces are rapidly shrinking.
• There is a trend of increasing threats and violence.
• Conservation, ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ��-style, has become hazardous.
• Shrinking civic space is a silent crisis.

Larsen elaborates on the key findings of the report: ‘Conservation, ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ��-style, under threat means that the very principles bringing us together as members, commissions and Secretariat are under threat,’ says Larsen. ‘The conservationists who seek to uphold and achieve what ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� as a Union decides face immediate threats and attacks. These are serious violations of core elements of the Union’s mission and vision on gender, human rights and effective conservation,’ Larsen continues.

Intimidation and violence

Liliana Jauregui, senior expert environmental justice at ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� NL, shared her insights and experiences with shrinking environmental civic space at the launch event of the report. ‘We have seen many cases where our partner organisations on the ground are faced with intimidation and violence. This has created an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship.’ Some CSOs are unable to receive funding due to legal restrictions and employees of local partner organizations are intimidated or wrongly prosecuted. Jauregui adds: ‘Marginalised groups, especially women, are often more strongly affected by shrinking civic spaces.’

Oil extraction in protected areas

One of ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� NL’s partner organisations that is experiencing threats to civic space first-hand is AFIEGO. Diana Nabiruma, senior communications officer at the organisation, says: ‘We worked on pushing for a recommendation to avoid extractive activities in protected areas, made at the 2016 ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Congress, to be implemented in Uganda.’ To do so, AFIEGO sent a letter to ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� on the issue. ‘We placed more pressure on the government afterwards, which eventually resulted in��.’

Safeguarding environmental defenders

Most countries with high biodiversity and large tropical forest areas have either a repressed or narrow civic space. ‘This is why we included the safeguarding of civic space and environmental and human rights defenders as a key objective in our programme Forests for a Just Future,’ says Jauregui. ‘Among other measures, we took up flexible emergency and contingency funds in order to respond quickly to threats to civic space.’

������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Congress

������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� NL has supported multiple initiatives and consultations about the issue of shrinking civic space within the sphere of ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ��. ‘We hosted Peter Larsen and several partners in our Pavilion at the ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Congress to discuss the issue and will remain involved in the next steps following this report,’ says Jauregui. We also invited experts from our partner organisations who have experienced violence and threats first-hand to discuss the issue during a session about Environmental and Human Rights Defenders.

Calling for urgent action from ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ��

‘The research clearly shows that shrinking civic spaces are a common experience of large parts of the ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� membership, calling for a response, especially to less visible forms of threats, violence and shrinking spaces’ says Larsen. Members call for urgent attention from the Union to facilitate their work on the ground – and not having to put their��lives and organizations in danger when doing this.’

Jauregui adds: ‘AS ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� NL, we continue to secure enabling spaces for our partners to operate safely in our projects like�������Ի���. We also call for support and solidarity within the ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� membership.’

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Peter Bille Larsen, Report Author

Liliana Jauregui, Article Author��