The first edition of the European Forum on Environmental Human Rights Defenders, held on June 3 and 4, 2026, in Strasbourg, France, brought together environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) from across the Council of Europe’s 46 member states.
The Forum gave them a safe space to tell their stories and discuss protections in a world that is not always kind to them. It was unique in this way, providing defenders with a place to be vulnerable and speak about the challenges they’ve faced while trying to protect the environment and humanity.
Following the event, Impakter had the pleasure of interviewing three inspiring defenders involved in the Forum: Sara Tuševljak, who co-chaired the event, Louisa Tyrrell, a speaker on behalf of defenders, and Anna Trevisan, who took part as an attendee.
Despite coming from different countries and having different reasons to act, these three EHRDs came together at the beginning of June to share their stories and fight for change. Each defender we interviewed expressed a similar message of hope. Hope that their voices would be heard. Hope that more people would join the fight. Hope that they would not stand alone. Hope for the future.
These are their thoughts and stories.
Introducing the environmental human rights defenders
Sara Tuševljak, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sara Tuševljak is from Bosnia and Herzegovina and was a co-chair of the Forum. Her beginning as an environmental human rights defender was very close to home.
Like her grandfather and generations before her, Sara grew up along the Kasindolska River in East Sarajevo, the country’s capital. She described her childhood relationship with the river, sneaking away to throw rocks and play along its shores.
When Sara saw hydropower plants threatening this river she loved, she joined the fight to protect it. After the first plant was constructed in 2018, Sara knew she had to do her part to prevent further river pollution. In 2020, she started her fight for the river.
She joined her close friend, attending meetings and writing letters. They noticed discrepancies in the construction of the plants and took action, filing a lawsuit against the Bosnian ministry.
“We had the evidence that they are not doing these things by the law. So, for example, in their permit, the road should be on the left side, and they were building it on the right, and things like that. It was very specific things that you could see; you just read the document, and then you go to the field, and you see this is not how it’s supposed to be done,” Sara told us.
While she was largely successful in protecting the river, Sara’s story doesn’t end there. As co-chair of the Forum, she expressed feeling reenergized during and after the event: “When environmental human rights defenders gather, it’s healing, because we can see that we are not alone, that we do not stand alone, that we are not the crazy ones. It’s a 2-day forum, but you go back to your country, and you get the strength. These are the people that bring back hope.”
Anna Trevisan, Italy
Anna Trevisan is from the Veneto region of Italy. During her 15 years living in Venice, she noticed the area’s fragility: “I experienced the contrast between this city’s beauty and its vulnerability firsthand: the problem of high water, the constant and silent pollution of its lagoon and canals, friends who suddenly fall ill and die of cancer.”
She became involved in climate activism after the birth of her daughter. “My daughter was born in Bassano, and thanks to her, for her, I opened my eyes,” Anna said. “I changed my view of my beautiful homeland, made of hills and rows of cherries and vines and olive trees, a blue river along which to take splendid walks. I began to educate myself. I changed my perspective on my beautiful land.”
After dealing with her own medical complications, Anna joined the No PFAS Movement and Mamme No PFAS in Veneto with Michela Piccoli and Giovanna Dal Lago. Her independent research found PFAs, or “forever chemicals,” in the waters of her hometown of Bassano, the water she drank every day, the water she gave to her little girl. She eventually aided in the formation of Rete Zero PFAS Italia in 2024 in Florence together with formal and informal groups from all over Italy and Veneto, such as Greenpeace, Mamme No PFAS, ISDE, PFASland, CiLLSa and Medicina Democratica.
Speaking about the Forum, Anna echoed Sara’s sentiment: “The framework of the Forum was high-profile, inside the heart of a European institution like the Council of Europe, and this element created a very important comfort zone for us activists, especially because in our experience as Rete Zero PFAS, one of the biggest obstacles continues to be the lack of responses from some Italian institutions.”
“This Forum gave us back hope and trust in the European institutions by motivating us to go on,” she added.
Louisa Tyrrell, Ireland
Louisa Tyrrell was the youngest environmental human rights defender we interviewed. At 19 years old, Louisa has been involved in the human rights space for almost five years, joining a student union at the age of 14 and attending her first protest at 15.
In her home country of Ireland, Louisa has always loved nature and hiking. When I asked her what motivated her to be an active voice for the environment and human rights, she simply said that in her mind, there was no alternative.
“When I would see humans suffering and things like human rights being violated, that’s just emotionally something very difficult to look at,” she said. “I don’t really see how I could go through life and not care about that immensely and not attempt to say or do anything about that.”
For Louisa, the Forum was her first of this magnitude. She said that “the energy levels and the emotions were very high” throughout the Forum, especially on the last day.
“Day two was an emotional roller coaster. There were so many people who were just laying their hearts bare and telling these stories about what was going on, their own personal stories, which must have taken so much emotional energy,” Louisa told us. “It was incredible. It was very impactful to hear, and there were excellent speakers.”
The challenges of activism
When asked about the challenges EHRDs face, Louisa Tyrrell told us that it is ridiculous that we even have to have this conversation.
“Persecution shouldn’t be in the job description,” she said. “People are just trying to defend their home and nature and the places they care about. And they’re facing the most astronomically disproportionate attacks,” Louisa continued.
One of the central ideas of the Forum was the protection of EHRDs. Sara Tuševljak shared that activists have experienced physical attacks, been thrown in jail, and had powerful people come after their families.
During the Forum, significant focus was placed on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). According to Anna Trevisan: “There are many ways to intimidate and block our activists’ actions, not only physically. One of the most common in Europe is the use of SLAPPS. These are indirect forms of dissuasion, designed to discourage us from continuing to investigate and report.”
As Anna said, SLAPPs are forms of dissuasion. They aim to silence defenders (as well as activists in general, journalists, researchers, etc.) through legal action and expensive legal battles.
Sara is currently in her own battle with a SLAPP lawsuit. After she was successful in protecting the Kasindolska River, the Belgian investor in the project filed a SLAPP suit in 2022 against Sara and her friend, Sunčica Kovačević, claiming defamation. The fight is ongoing.
Sara and Sunčica have received immense support from various organizations, most notably Amnesty International. Backed by over 160 organizations, Sara remains positive. “No matter what the court decides, we know that we did nothing wrong,” she said. “That is something that I can live with. Just feeling good about myself and not feeling I did something wrong, because all I did wrong was protect the river — I would have done it in every lifetime.”
Recommendations from the Forum
As a message carrier for the event, Louisa shared 10 key messages, presented across three pillars: criminalization and SLAPPs; environmental deregulation and the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment in Europe; and corporate harm.
The recommendations from the first pillar on SLAPPs and the criminalization of EHRDs highlighted the need for international legal standards to prevent the misuse of defamation, extremism, or terrorism laws; to guarantee the protection of EHRDs; and to counter SLAPPs.
The second pillar emphasized environmental deregulation and the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment in Europe. This includes ensuring transparency with communities, encouraging participation, adopting a legal framework, and creating and strengthening binding obligations for participating countries.
The final pillar focused on corporate accountability, recommending criminal offenses if corporations are found to harm the environment. It stressed impact assessments and reporting obligations as tools to combat misinformation regarding climate harm.
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Each of the three defenders we interviewed expressed frustration in implementing protections for EHRDs. When asked about which of the Forum’s recommendations they would most like to see implemented, Sara pointed to the need for more anti-SLAPP legislation, while Anna called for a free ombudsman for EHRDs at the European level.
“The possibility of seeking free legal representation should be provided at the European level. Too often, we activists lack the financial resources to cover legal costs. But economic inequality and poverty cannot and must not undermine the right to defense. Otherwise, the law ceases to be equal for everyone,” she explained.
Lousia, meanwhile, stressed the importance of listening to those who have been affected by SLAPPs or physical attacks. Without listening and understanding what is happening, change will be impossible.
The future for environmental human rights defenders
The next edition of the European Forum on Environmental Human Rights Defenders will be held in 2028. The defenders hope that this next edition will bring stronger state representation.
“It would be wonderful if representation from individual European states also participated in the next edition of the Forum. It would be an important opportunity to create a link between civil society and nation states, which is often lacking also due to intermediate institutions that are not sufficiently responsive to the gravity of the environmental and health issues we all are experiencing around the world,” stated Anna.
Louisa called the lack of state representation “diminishing” as EHRDs from across Europe, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were vulnerable and open on stage.
While discouraging, Sara wasn’t surprised that few state representatives were present. She argued that the only way to encourage more involvement from state representatives and policymakers would be to increase political pressure, and that pressure can only be built if more people speak out.
While it may feel like taking action is a significant task, even the smallest things can make a difference.
Louisa’s message for people wanting to get involved:
“I say if you want to get involved in this kind of work, the first thing to do is to find a community. To do it on your own is often not feasible because it can be very draining. When you’re talking about the environment, you’re confronting these big existential questions. You’re questioning everything, and then you begin to see how interconnected it is. I always compare it to the mycelium network between trees. It’s like that. The first thing you see are the individual trees; then you learn about all these roots and things that connect.”
Regardless of what draws people to do the work or what happens while they do it, the work of environmental human rights defenders like Sara, Anna, and Louisa is vital, and they deserve to be celebrated. They deserve to be protected.
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Quotes from the interviews featured in this article have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: Council of Europe.
