Ecopravo-Lviv. Organization

Organization

address

2, Krushelnitska Str.,
Lviv, 79000 Ukraine
tel. +380(322) 72 27 46
fax +380(322) 97 14 46
E-mail:

Our Location in Lviv

Ecopravo-Lviv

is an independent nongovernmental public interest environmental law firm aimed to provide legal services and education in the sphere of environmental protection for citizens and NGOs.

Goals

Environmental Protection — empowerment of individuals and groups in their relationship with decision makers leading to resolution of environmental issues at a higher level;

Legal Education — raising the level of environmental and legal culture of citizens and NGOs;

Public Interest Professionalism — training a new generation of environmental lawyers, providing practical education with a high level of professionalism in the public interest;

Promotion of Professional Support — increasing awareness of lawyers and judges in environmental issues and need for action;

Networking — development of a coordinated network of legal professionals and experts throughout Ukraine; sharing the experience of EPAC with other related groups;

Civil Service — protection of citizens' environmental rights, raising the level of responsibilities of government administrators, increasing the transparency of governmental actions.

A little bit of history

Charitable Foundation Ecopravo-Lviv was founded by Svitlana Kravchenko, an experienced professor in Environmental Law, a member of Ukrainian Academy of Ecological Sciences, who has been working in the sphere of legal environmental protection for over 20 years and who is the author of more than 120 publications in this area, and by two young lawyers-ecologists. They decided to enforce and to implement new environmental laws of independent Ukraine in order to protect both the environment and citizens` rights, to raise the environmental and legal consciousness and culture of population. Officially our public interest environmental law organization was registered by the Lviv regional branch of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine in March, 1994.

Our pro bono work brought representatives of Central and Eastern Law Initiative American Bar Association (CEELI ABA) in collaboration, so they have become our main partners and have given us financial support and ensured our sustainability. We developed our joint project - the Environmental Public Advocacy Center, which was started in October, 1994.

We have understood that the level of the environmental consciousness and legal culture of citizens, NGOs, and even of professional lawyers and governmental officials is very low, therefore one of our main tasks is to cultivate them as well as to educate people. We have started our seminars and training programs for judges, prosecutors, and inspectors of the Ministry for Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety and NGOs. We have been preparing the “basis” for future practice of court defense of the citizens` environmental rights, which is also a new phenomenon and is in the process of formation in Ukraine now.

We would like to bring up a new generation of environmental lawyers, so we have started a clinical program together with the Law Department of Lviv State University and CEELI/ABA. It was an entirely new phenomenon in Ukraine and the first clinic in NIS. Students are working at the problems taken from actual cases under supervision of experienced lawyers.

Of course, cases and litigation form the core of our work. We understand our pioneer role and all responsibility in creating the practice of court defense of citizens` rights. We were very careful in our first cases because we wanted to have only victories at the beginning. Later we understood that even failures create public opinion and make us stronger. Today we have both victories and failures in our practice. We learn from them and become more experienced.

Ecopravo-Lviv participates in law - drafting as well: it elaborates law drafts and other environmental and relating regulations.

As a part of group of NGO Coalition at the Secritariate of European Environmental Committee of UNO the representatives of Ecopravo-Lviv took part in preparation and discussion of the text of Convention on Access to information, access to justice and public participation in environmental decision - making.

In the situation of acute shortage of books and legislation in the sphere of environmental protection we have organized a small library and a computer data base of laws and regulations. We share this information with all clients who need it. Many citizens and NGOs use these library data on a regular base and find them extremely useful.