Малиновка. Фото: "Ахова птушак Бацькаўшчыны"
Since 2021, more than 80 environmental organizations have been forcibly dissolved in the country, while another 60 have ceased operations voluntarily due to pressure from the authorities. This is stated in an analytical report prepared by Ecohome with the support of the Green Belarus alliance and the Green Network.
More than 140 thematic NGOs have been dissolved in total. They include some of the country’s oldest and most influential environmental organizations, such as BirdLife Belarus, Ecohome, Bahna and the Minsk Cycling Society.
In 2022, Ecohome was designated an “extremist formation,” while the Green Network received the same designation in July 2025. A number of environmental media outlets were added to the list of “extremist materials,” and some activists and experts faced administrative and criminal prosecution and were forced to emigrate.
The authors of the report note that before 2020, the environmental sector actively cooperated with state institutions, participated in the drafting of relevant legislation and took part in public consultations. However, following the presidential election and the mass protests that ensued, the situation changed dramatically.
Some environmental activists faced administrative detention, criminal prosecution, searches, dismissals and forced emigration. As of early May 2026, at least 19 political prisoners in Belarus were linked to the environmental movement.
After the Meeting of the Parties to the UN Aarhus Convention in 2022 recognized the dissolution of Ecohome as persecution and called for its registration to be restored, the Belarusian authorities decided to withdraw from the convention. In 2023, the country also officially left the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats.
“The narrowing of public oversight of environmental policy inevitably reduces the quality of decisions made in the country and directly affects the safety of the environment, food and water. Independent expertise within Belarus is now effectively blocked.”, the authors of the study said.
Despite the continuing pressure, some environmental initiatives continue to operate, the report says. Within Belarus, activists have shifted to non-public forms of work and localized niche support. Abroad, experts have focused on international advocacy, analytical research and public education. New initiatives have also emerged to develop strategies for future environmental reforms and monitor the impact of the war in Ukraine on the region’s environment.