It promotes global environmental justice, which it defines as “equal access to a secure and healthy environment for all, in a world where wildlife can thrive alongside humanity.”[1] EJF exposes environmental crime and destruction and the connected threats to human rights, telling the stories of those at the frontlines, and takes local fights to the very heart of governments and business across the world to secure lasting, global change.

The organisation conducts hard-hitting investigations which take place on land and at sea – providing irrefutable evidence, detailed data sets, and first-hand witness testimony – these are combined with strategic advocacy which reaches the highest levels in government to secure durable, systemic change.

[2] Much of EJF's work involves training and equipping communities affected by environmental injustices to investigate, record and expose abuses and then campaign effectively for an equitable resolution to the issues.

[3] Emphasis is placed on the power of film,[2] both to record irrefutable evidence of environmental injustice and to create strong campaigning messages which can change the world.

A campaign report called Feast or Famine[11] was produced and presented to policymakers at a meeting hosted by the British Ambassador to Cambodia, proving to be a catalyst for the issue in the country as well as securing international support.

The Environmental Justice Foundation pursues its goals through investigations and campaigns to protect people, wildlife, and wild places across the world, bringing cutting-edge technologies and innovations to conserve global ocean, forests and climate.

It also works on the ground to help train local groups in effective investigative techniques to publicise abuses in their area, contributing high level political engagement on those issues nationally and globally.

Starting with major investigations into illegal fishing in West Africa, with the report Pirates and Profiteers launched in 2005, EJF's ocean work now focuses on seven key areas.

[14] Their investigations into vessels from Panama,[15] Thailand,[16] Ghana[17] and South Korea,[18] among others, have fed into the EU's ‘carding’ system to work with governments to eradicate illegal fishing in their fleets and sanction them if no action is taken.

This has created a wave of trafficked workers forced into slave labour to crew vessels, reduce companies’ costs, and supply the global seafood market with cheap products.

[27] EJF works to document and expose the environmentally destructive fishing techniques[28] that put our ocean's health at risk and the illegal trade[29] and poaching of marine species including sharks, rays and turtles[30] that threaten these creatures’ future.

[36] It has worked with almost 60 communities across the 10 districts in Ghana's Central Region and in the Volta Estuary in a bid to safeguard marine resources for current and future generations of local fishers.

[40] Finally, it identifies and promotes alternative livelihoods to help broaden fisher communities’ economic basis and support the long term sustainability of Ghana's fish stocks.

As global temperatures hit levels not seen since records began, extreme weather events continue to cause major disruption and the rising cost of inaction leaves the poorest and most vulnerable people on our planet worst affected.

This was followed by the report and film Beyond Borders[59] in 2017 and travelling photography exhibitions of portraits of people displaced by climate change, including at the National Theatre in London in 2018.

EJF also purchased an ancient woodland in Wales in 2018 to store carbon and protect wildlife,[65] showing an institutional commitment to tackling climate change directly.

[69] Documenting the testimonies of people directly affected by deforestation in Bangladesh, EJF built both an environmental case against shrimp farming and a human rights one – informed by the suffering inflicted by this industry.

[70] In 2007, EJF worked with the Brazilian coalition SOS Abrolhos to successfully protect coastal areas from plans for a shrimp farm the size of Heathrow.

Previously, their training for the Forum for the Defence of the Ceara Coast led to a film being shown on Brazilian television and at public hearings into shrimp farm development.

[68] Also working to protect terrestrial rainforests, EJF is part of a host of environmental NGOs demanding change and monitoring policy making in Europe closely, as parliamentarians realise that there is nothing ‘green’ about palm oil biodiesel.

[79] EJF also works with local biologists and indigenous people in Brazil's Pantanal wetland,[80] a globally important habitat home to giant anteaters, jaguars and more, publishing the report Paradise Lost?