Practice Guide on Restorative Justice Approaches for Environmental Harm

The European Forum for Restorative Justice has launched Restorative Justice Approaches for Environmental Harm: A Practice Guide, featuring Lawrence Kershen KC and Harry Spurr as authors.

Created by members of the The EFRJ’s Environmental Restorative Justice Working Group, including practitioners, academics, community organisations, environmental defenders, regulators, policymakers, and individuals, the Practice Guide combines guiding principles with practical advice, tools, and real-world insights to support restorative approaches to environmental harm.

Annex D - Outreach guide: Implementing environmental restorative justice, discusses pre-existing mediation schemes that could integrate environmental restorative justice principles. While they are both distinct from one another, their core principles can be brought together to restore peace.

A little bit about the authors:

Lawrence Kershen KC was accredited as a mediator in 1994, and his experience covers a range of disputes including commercial, public sector and voluntary organisations. He practised as a barrister and King’s Counsel for more than 30 years until 1999 and sat as a Crown Court Recorder. Inspired by the effectiveness of restorative justice, he has supported its development since 1998 and was founding chair of the Restorative Justice Council in the United Kingdom. He was accredited as a restorative justice practitioner in 2011. The potential of restorative justice in the current climate crisis has led to a particular focus on environmental restorative justice (ERJ) and he has facilitated the resolution of a number of environmental disputes. He was a member of the ERJ Working Group of the European Forum for Restorative Justice from its formation until 2024. Lawrence has run trainings in mediation skills for lawyers and others in jurisdictions from Iceland to the People’s Republic of Laos. He is included in the Mediator ‘Hall of Fame’ by the Legal 500, is described as one of the world's leading commercial mediators by Who’s Who Legal and listed as Mediator in ‘Best Lawyers in the UK’.

Harry Spurr is a mediator and barrister based in London, United Kingdom (UK). He regularly mediates in conflict involving land and environmental matters. Parties at his mediations typically include landowners and occupiers, commercial organisations, regulators and other public bodies, community groups and individuals. Decades of experience handling conflict over land 18 19 has taught him that in such cases, effective dialogue is the best way of delivering positive outcomes.

You can read the full practice guide here, or download below.