Dispute settlement is often more efficient solution to legal disputes than having them solved in court battles. Therefore, EELC considers it important to increase the number of its cases where disputes are resolved by a mutual agreement of the parties. For that purpose we have just launched a project titled “Enhancing the EELC team’s negotiation skills”. The project is financed by Estonian National Foundation of Civil Society and Ministry of the Interior.
The project aims at developing our teams’ skills for employing negotiation techniques to better protect the environment both in specific cases as well as in drafting legislation and strategies.
The project activities include:
- two trainings
- analyzing literature on negotiation skills
- applying theory in practice in ongoing legal cases and advocacy
- compilation of EELC’s internal handbook for negotiations.
Why? Developing our skills as negotiators is important as long-lasting and costly court proceedings are not always the best solution for protecting peoples’ living environment and biodiversity. In some cases the court disputes may be only a temporary solution to the problem – the court may repeal the administrative act but the authority can issue an overhauled act that is similarly damaging to the environment. Also, the court intervention is often limited in the cases where public authority has been inactive (e.g. not exercising proper environmental supervision).
Therefore, it can be often more efficient for the parties to reach a settlement in which the interests of all parties and also the environmental aspects have been considered and balanced. These agreements are usually cost-effective, more timely and their outcome can be better controlled by the involved parties.
Negotiation and dispute settlement skills are also essential in our participation in drafting legislation and strategies, where we aim to protect environmental public interests and have them properly considered alongside with economic and social interests.
The project’s total budget is 10 419, 86 euros.
For additional information, please contact:
Siim Vahtrus, Project Manager, siim@k6k.ee, phone +372 55 68 3880
