Hands Off Nature!
To the European Commission, especially to President Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner Jessika Roswall.
Petition
We call on the European Commission, President Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner Jessika Roswall to protect Europe’s nature and water laws.
Do not weaken the EU’s environmental safeguards. In particular:
- Protect the Water Framework Directive and the standards that safeguard Europe’s rivers, lakes and groundwater.
- Defend the Birds Directive and Habitats Directive and other EU laws protecting habitats and biodiversity.
- Ensure that rules designed to protect nature are not weakened to facilitate mining or other industrial activities.
Keep Europe’s hard-won nature protections strong. Put people, water and nature before polluting interests.
Why is this important?
Clean water is not a luxury. It’s something we all depend on.
For drinking, for growing our food, for swimming, and for the rivers, lakes and wildlife that make our homes feel alive.
But across Europe, rivers, lakes and wetlands are already under enormous pressure from pollution, drought and overuse. And now, instead of strengthening the protections that keep them safe, our EU leaders are considering weakening some of Europe’s most important nature and water laws. [1]
They are willing to put decades of hard-won protections at risk, and for what? To expand mining for tech materials, even in regions already struggling with water scarcity and illness - sometimes as severe as cancer. [2]
We have a powerful chance to make that message impossible to ignore for our leaders across the EU.
917,000 people have already signed the Hands Off Nature petition, backed by more than 200 organisations across the continent, all fighting to defend Europe’s nature and our future. [3]
We have until the 20th of October to reach 1 million signatures. On 23 October, we will take those signatures directly to Commissioner Jessika Roswall in Brussels. A million voices would show that this is not a handful of organisations speaking up - people across Europe want their nature and water protected.
Sign now and help us reach 1 million voices to protect our Nature. #HandsOffNature!
References:
- https://www.eubusiness.com/environment/eu-governments-gut-nature-protection-and-permits-will-be-no-faster/ ; https://corporateeurope.org/en/2026/05/permission-pollute
- https://earthworks.org/blog/galicias-toxic-past-threatens-its-present-and-future/ ; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/20/europe-backs-critical-minerals-mines-water-stressed-regions
- https://handsoffnature.eu/
In partnership with:
