The online discussion will interconnect speakers from various regions. The aim is to amplify their fight for the environment in countries, where political actors actively hinder their work. Focusing on the combinations of corruption, foreign investments, open and covert political oppression, the discussion will give a voice to activists, who organise the protection of natural habitats and protest against their destruction.

This online discussion will bring together environmental defenders from across regions where authoritarian and oligarchic regimes weaponize development narratives, suppress dissent and exploit natural resources for political and personal gain. These parasitic regimes often criminalize environmental discourse to silence activism, entrench corruption and attract exploitative foreign investment.

Beyond ecological harm, environmental destruction and displacement disproportionately affect women, LGBTQ+ people, Indigenous groups, rural populations and economically marginalised communities. These intersections are rarely acknowledged by regimes—or, at times, by mainstream environmental movements themselves.

This session is one of the three online series on civil society under authoritarian pressure organised by the Civil Society Forum and EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy. Make sure to register.