US-China Partnership for Environmental Law

USAID and Vermont Law School Support CLAPV's the 10th Anniversary Conference on Environmental Litigation and Legal Aid

November 7-8, 2009 - Beijing, China

The Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV), China's premier environmental legal NGO, hosted a conference on environmental legal aid and litigation to highlight ten-years of its environmental hotline and work. CLAPV's founder, Wang Canfa, pioneered the use of environmental litigation in China to stop polluters and win compensation for victims. A large and diverse crowd attended the conference's opening ceremony. Over 300 lawyers, NGO leaders, professors and government employees attended. Nine panels on different facets of public interest environmental law were offered to participants.

USAID and Vermont Law School Support the Second Annual Conference of the Environmental Law Branch of the China Society for Environmental Sciences

October 18, 2009 - Beijing, China

On October 17-18, 2009, the US-China Partnership for Environmental Law co-sponsored the second annual conference of the Environmental Law Branch of the China Society for Environmental Sciences (CSES) in Beijing along with Peking University Law School. The two-day event culminated in awards recognizing the top ten papers and books from environmental law scholars around the country, covering such topics as citizens' environmental rights under civil law, the protection of Western China's ecology, remedies for ecological damage, and the role of property law in environmental protection. Professor Zhiping Li from Sun Yat-sen University School of Law, an implementing partner of this program, won an award for her paper on public interest litigation by European environmental NGOs. The conference and awards help to institutionalize a domestic system for the pursuit and recognition of sophistication and excellence in environmental policy analysis and research in China.

USAID and EPA Roundtable Engage Chinese Central Government Officials on Environmental Litigation and Role of Environmental Courts

October 15, 2009 - Beijing, China

The US-China Partnership for Environmental Law led a roundtable in Beijing with the Environmental Appeals Board of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), represenatives from China's Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, and the China University of Political Science and Law. Over the past year, China has focused on the creation of environmental courts as a response to serious pollution issues. However, the design and operation of these courts to effectively administer their specialized jurisdiction and case load have remained a challenge to their effectiveness. The workshop shared the experience of EPA's Environmental Appeals Board and opportunities for assistance to their Chinese counterparts. This roundtable discussion followed other workshops by the Partnership in May and July 2009 focusing on environmental courts issues.

Carl Yirka, Director of the Cornell Library at VLS, Organized Two Workshops for Law Librarians

June 2 & 5, 2009 - Guangzhou and Beijing, China

Professor Yirka organized and led workshops on environmental materials and law libraries on June 2nd at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing and a similar workshop on June 5th at Sun Yat sen University Law School in Guangzhou. The goal of the workshops was to provide Chinese librarians and scholars with knowledge of the highest quality English language environmental law materials available by subscription and for free on the Internet and to discuss other matters of joint interest. Nineteen librarians and faculty from China University of Political Science (Beijing), Tsinghua University Law School (Beijing), Huadong University of Political Science and Law (Shanghai), Sun Yat sen Law School (Guangzhou) and South China University of Technology Law School (Guangzhou) participated. These two workshops will benefit not only those in attendance; participating scholars and librarians were provided with materials that they can use as teaching aids for their faculty colleagues and law students.

Environmental Courts and Litigation Workshops

May 19, 2009 - Guangzhou, China & May 22-23, 2009 - Beijing, China

We held a set of workshops focused on environmental courts and litigation in Guangzhou and Beijing. The workshops were focused on sharing the experiences of environmental court judges in Vermont, Australia, and the Philippines with judges in China. The foreign courts were represented by Judge Maria Cecilia I. Austria of Batangas city court (Philippines), Justice Brian Preston of the New South Wales Land and Environment Court (Australia), and Judge Merideth Wright of the Vermont Environmental Court (USA).

In Guangzhou, the workshop was organized by the Guangdong Judges Association and Sun Yat-sen University Law School together with VLS and focused on options for enhancing the capacity and effectiveness of Guangdong judges at all levels to handle environmental litigation. In addition to the foreign judges, other presenters included Vice President of the Guangdong Judges Association Tan Ling (also Vice President of the Guangdong People's High Court) who presided over the workshop, Vice President of the Guangzhou Maritime Court Zhan Simin, Section Chief Zheng Zewen of the Policies and Regulation Department of the Guangzhou Environmental Protection Bureau, and Professor Zhiping Li of Sun Yat-sen University Law School. The audience of the workshop included both judges from the Guangdong People's High Court, the various Intermediate People's Courts of Guangzhou City, Foshan City, Jiangmen City, and Dongguan City, as well as environmental law scholars and students from Guangzhou.

In Beijing, the workshop was co-sponsored by the National Judges College and the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims of the China University of Political Science and Law together with VLS. In addition to considering environmental litigation issues generally, the Beijing workshop also focused on issues and options for enhancing the effectiveness of newly created environmental courts in Kunming City (Yunnan Province), Guiyang City (Guizhou Province), and Wuxi City (Jiangsu Province). The three foreign judges presented their experiences and raised options for addressing some of the challenges of the three new environmental courts. Presenters on the three Chinese environmental courts were Judge Zeng Zhen of the Guiyang court, Judge Yuan Xuehong of the Kunming court, and Judge Zhao Weimin of the Wuxi court. Other workshop participants included Dean Huai Xiaofeng of the National Judges College, Vice Director Wang Suli of the Law and Policy Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Director Guan Yi of the International Cooperation Department of the National Judges College, Judge Guan Li of the Supreme People's Court, and judges of the National Judges College and scholars and students of CUPL.

Environmental Governance Roundtable

May 13, 2009 - Guangzhou, China

The US-China Partnership led a roundtable on environmental governance at SYSU together with SYSU Law School and the Institute for Sustainable Communities. The workshop included presentations by Jingjing Liu about the VLS-SYSU Partnership, an overview by Prof. Zhiping Li about SYSU's environmental law program with a focus on the positive impacts of USAID funding on capacity enhancements at SYSU, and a presentation by Prof. Dejin Gu on Chinese environmental NGOs and the challenges of environmental information and relevant legal tools to effectively participate in environmental decision-making. Finally, Laura Ediger addressed issues of corporate environmental responsibility with a focus on the implementation of China's environmental information disclosure act.