US-China Partnership for Environmental Law

Program Partners

About the Program

Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School’s environmental law program is consistently ranked as the best in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. The Environmental Law Center at VLS received the American Bar Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy. The curriculum includes over 50 courses in energy, pollution prevention, land use, natural resources law, and international environmental law.

VLS is committed to leading the field of environmental law and policy, with particular attention to the emerging challenges and opportunities of environmental law in an international context. In addition to the US-China Program, VLS has established international exchange relationships with McGill University in Canada, University of Paris, University of Cergy-Pontoise in France, University of Trento in Italy, and the University of Seville in Spain. An early VLS project, funded by the US State Department, established the first environmental legal clinic in Russia with the law school at Petrozavodsk State University. These are just a few examples that reflect the law school's strong commitment to implement meaningful environmental change on a global level.

VLS offers a Juris Doctor (JD) curriculum that emphasizes the public service role of lawyers, a Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP) degree for lawyers and environmental professionals, a JD/MELP degree program for law students seeking an environmental concentration, and two post-JD degrees, the Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law and the LLM in American Legal Studies (for international students).

Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), a vibrant community of scholarship and learning characterized by its pioneering spirit, is among the leading educational institutions in China. SYSU is located in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, and is known as China's "southern gate" because of its proximity to the ocean. With a population of over 11 million people, Guangzhou is among China's largest cities. As one of China's first "open" cities, Guangzhou experienced one of the fastest growing economies in China, which helped raise the province's GDP to one of the highest in the nation. This rapid economic growth, largely the result of an intense manufacturing industry, has come at a steep price in terms of environmental degradation.

The partnership works directly with the SYSU School of Law, which established one of the first environmental law clinics in China and is now pursuing development of a juris master program in environmental law. Through its work with the law school, the Partnership expects to make a significant impact on the training of future and current lawyers in South China with respect to environmental governance and the rule of law and to leverage the extraordinary influence of legal scholars on government policy to strengthen the rule of law in environmental protection.

Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims at the China University of Political Science and Law

With the three-year funding extension from USAID, the Partnership will be working closely with the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) at the China University of Political Science and Law to engage in training of legal professionals in environmental law and strengthening China's environmental governance system. The China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing is one of the country's top law schools. It also hosts CLAPV, China's premier environmental legal NGO. Law professor and lawyer Canfa Wang founded CLAPV in 1998. The center is officially registered as a civil society organization with China University of Political Science and Law, where it operates an environmental legal clinic. CLAPV was influential in pioneering environmental litigation in China. Since its inception, the Center has directly assisted pollution victims in over 130 cases. CLAPV continues to influence China's blossoming environmental NGO movement and build the capacity of China's legal system.

China's National Development and Reform Commission Training Center

In March 2009, Vermont Law School's President and Dean Jeff Shields and Ping Du, director of the Training Center of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on short-term and longer-term training activities. NDRC is China's primary macroeconomic planning and management agency under the State Council. The National Energy Administration, the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection, and the Department of Climate Change are 3 of the more than 25 departments within the NDRC. Under the MOU, both institutions will collaborate on training workshops and seminars in China, training workshops in the U.S., and a potential master's degree program on energy and environmental law. These training programs will focus on environmental protection laws and concepts used in the U.S. and other countries. Participants will include government officials, state-owned enterprise management personnel, researchers, and others.

The China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

As an expansion of activities, the Partnership has engaged the China Environment Forum (CEF) at the Woodrow Wilson Center as a new implementing partners. Since 1997, the CEF has implemented projects, workshops, and exchanges that bring together U.S., Chinese, and other Asian environmental policy experts to explore the most imperative environmental and sustainable development issues in China and to examine opportunities for business, governmental, and nongovernmental communities to collaboratively address these issues. With extensive networks of energy and environmental practitioners in the government, business, non-governmental organizations, and research sectors in the U.S. and China, the CEF will contribute important program support and outreach resources to the program at VLS.