Defend water as a right: join the #HandsOffNature campaign

Across the European Union, a process of environmental deregulation is accelerating, putting at risk key laws that protect nature, water and people’s health. Under the narrative of “simplification” and economic competitiveness, EU institutions are opening the door to rolling back regulations that are the result of decades of social and political struggle.

This rollback has very real consequences. When environmental laws are weakened, the exploitation of common goods is facilitated, an extractivist economic model is reinforced, and the human right to water is put at risk. This is not a technical issue: it is a deeply political decision.

One of the most worrying examples is the attack on the Water Framework Directive, the EU’s main legal framework for protecting rivers, aquifers and aquatic ecosystems. This directive establishes that water cannot be managed solely according to economic criteria and that its protection must safeguard life, ecosystems and the public interest. Today, this principle is under threat due to growing pressure to relax environmental objectives and enable highly polluting activities.

Weakening the Water Framework Directive means accepting more pollution, greater overexploitation and a reduced capacity to protect rivers and aquifers, at a time of climate crisis and increasing water scarcity. It also means undermining public tools to guarantee access to water and to protect this common good from private interests.

In the face of this offensive, Enginyeria Sense Fronteres (ESF) joins the #HandsOffNature campaign, a European initiative that aims to stop this environmental rollback and defend that the protection of water and nature is not negotiable.

✍️ Take action and defend water

Sign the #HandsOffNature petition and help us send a clear message to EU institutions: no step backwards in the protection of water and our common goods.

This campaign builds on recent experiences of citizen mobilisation at the European level. At the end of 2025, a first action led by this coalition showed that public pressure works: nearly 200,000 people sent their message to the European Commission in just ten days, successfully halting some of the planned attacks on environmental legislation. This massive response made it clear that there is a social majority ready to defend water as a common good.

However, attempts to deregulate continue. That is why an open-ended European petition has been launched, designed to maintain pressure on the European Commission, the European Parliament and EU Member States during key political moments ahead.

At ESF, we believe that weakening water protection is a direct threat to human rights. Putting rivers and aquifers at risk means putting life at risk, especially for the most vulnerable people and communities, both here and globally.