The European Environmental Bureau

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is the largest network of environmental citizens’ organisations in Europe, comprising over 190 members across 41 countries. It works at EU, regional, and global levels on climate, biodiversity, pollution, agriculture, and governance, including through institutions such as the United Nations and OECD. 

The EU is under economic pressures to weaken environmental protections, such as the Habitats Directive, threatening both biodiversity and the laws that safeguard it. Once driven to the brink of extinction by hunting and habitat loss, wolves illustrate why strong protections matter, as they have now begun to recover under the Directive. As apex predators, they are vital for healthy ecosystems, helping to regulate prey populations and support wider biodiversity. While EEB leads coordinated efforts to oppose the weakening of legal protections for wolves in Europe, it works to protect not only the species itself but also the integrity of the EU’s flagship nature law. 

The ERF’s first grant supports EEB’s Defending Wolves and Nature Laws project, which is focused on promoting coexistence and resisting the downgrading of wolf protections. ERF has also given EEB a second grant helping them and partnering NGOs WWF, ClientEarth and BirdLife, launch the Hands-Off Nature campaign. The campaign aims to defend the Habitats Directive and related nature laws from broader legislative weakening and to push back against the shrinking space for civil society.