The Concept of an Environmental Human Rights Defender as a Contribution to the Environmental Movement in the Western Balkans

The Western Balkans continues to be significantly affected by the triple environmental crisis (climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss), coupled with an insufficient response to this crisis by local and national governments in the region. Environmental movements in the Western Balkans have emerged challenging the approach of both the state (local and national) and individuals, groups, and corporations to the environment. These challenges have resulted in a range of state and private reactions seeking to undermine and marginalise them. The analysis contributes to reinforcing these Western Balkan environmental groups by considering them as environmental human rights defenders. The first part discusses the normative foundation for this human rights orientation in the Aarhus Convention 1998 and the Convention’s Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders (2024). In the second part, the concept of an environmental human rights defender is further examined, with a specific focus upon environmental movements. In the third part, the analysis describes the main forms of state and private resistance that these movements have encountered in the Balkans. In the fourth part, the analysis suggests how the concept of an environmental human rights defender can assist in responding to these forms of resistance.