Our global environment is in danger. Escalating and potentially irreversible damage is being done to the world's oceans, forests and atmosphere. EJF trains and supports local people and organisations in affected areas, enabling them to document, expose and create long-term solutions to environmental abuses.

EJF's MARINE campaign focuses on three key issues that are contributing to the demise of global fish stocks and marine biodiversity, and impacting upon coastal fishing communities.
 
Bycatch - the incidental capture of non-target species is a significant problem at a time when the world's oceans and wildlife are under increasing pressure. In many fisheries where bycatch species have no commercial value, the unwanted catch is simply discarded, dead or dying into the sea. According to the latest estimates of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation 7.3 million tonnes of bycatch are discarded annually by the worlds fisheries.
 
Shrimp trawl fisheries are particularly wasteful: they alone are responsible for 27.3% of the world's discarded catch, despite producing less than 2% of global seafood. Around 16-17 million tonnes of bycatch are taken by these fisheries each year. 150,000 marine turtles are estimated to be drowned by shrimp trawlers each year.
 
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU or "pirate") fishing takes place in virtually all waters. The estimated total annual value of IUU fishing worldwide (for the years 2003-2005) is between US$2.4bn and US$9.5bn. Fishing using banned fishing gears - such as driftnets - or in protected areas exacts a high toll on marine life, including whales, dolphins, marine turtles, birds and countless fish species. Illegal fishing also has a direct impact upon coastal fishing communities in some of the world's poorest countries
 
EJF's shrimp farming campaign has exposed the devastation caused by unregulated and unsustainable shrimp aquaculture. Shrimp farms have been sited in coastal areas, destroying mangrove forests and associated wetland ecosystems, such as salt flats and grasslands. Estimates of total global mangrove loss over the last 20 years range between 25% and 35%. Shrimp farming's contribution to this loss varies between countries, but in those that are the largest producers of farmed shrimp, it is reported that 20-50% of all current mangrove deforestation is due to shrimp farming.
 
Cotton is the world's thirstiest crop and in the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan it consumes vast amounts of water diverted from rivers that once fed the Aral Sea, historically the world's fourth largest inland sea. Desert has been created where once there were rich fishing grounds. The UN Environment Programme described the Aral's demise as "the most staggering disaster of the 20th century"
 

Pesticides

EJF's pesticide campaign has partnered with local groups such as CEDAC in Cambodia, to raise local awareness of the toxic effects of pesticides in common use there, both to people and the environment. Around 70% of the pesticides available in Cambodia are classified as "extremely hazardous" or "highly hazardous" by the World Health Organisation. EJF's report End of the Road for Endosulfan led directly to the Royal Government of Cambodia announcing a ban on the import, sale and use of this dangerous pesticide.