Stories

From courtrooms in Spain to rivers in Berlin, from legal breakthroughs to the people driving this movement across Europe, this is where you can follow our campaign as it unfolds.

News

  1. New Hope for Europe’s Nature: New Citizens’ Initiative to Start Collecting Signatures this Autumn

    On 19 May 2026, the European Commission confirmed that the European Citizens’ Initiative “Rights for Nature: Empower Citizens to Represent and Protect Ecosystems” meets the admissibility requirements of Regulation (EU) 2019/788 and has been formally registered. The initiative calls for an EU directive that would recognise ecosystems as legal entities with the right to exist, to regenerate, and to be defended in court, and empower ordinary citizens to act as their legal representatives. Signature collection is set to begin in autumn 2026.

  2. Push to Grant European Ecosystems Legal Rights Begins

    An idea whose time has come, a movement that could change EU environmental law for good, one million signatures to go: On 27 March 2026, a coalition of civil society organisations from 14 countries submitted a formal request to the European Commission to register the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) titled “Rights for Nature: Empower Citizens to Represent and Protect Ecosystems.”

Media reports

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