The Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making, and Access to Justice on Environmental Matters (1998) led to a new understanding of the role of NGOs in environmental protection. Once the Convention became part of EU Law, member states were required to adopt it within their national legal systems. Perhaps the most contentious provision is article 9 of the Convention, viz the right of NGOs to challenge public authorities for acts or omissions that harm the environment. Implementation of this Article by EU states has not been uniform, depending in each case on whether environmental protection is an acknowledged legal right, and also on judicial interpretation at national level. This trilogy of papers combines an analysis of the CJEU approach and philosophy, with an exposition of rights afforded to NGOs in France and Cyprus, providing information that could be useful to NGOs and legal practitioners.