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Message from the Director of U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law

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Vermont Law School's U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law seeks to build capacity in China and throughout Asia for individual and institutional action to solve environmental and energy problems, as well as generate scholarship and research on Chinese and global environmental policy and provide academic programming and educational exchanges for both Chinese and American students and faculty.

The Asia Partnership has been fortunate to work with organizations and academic institutions in both the United States and China, including the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, and Sun Yat-sen University Law School in Guangzhou.

Vermont Law School faculty and our partners have trained over one thousand individuals in environmental and energy law, initiated an exchange program for a group of young environmental professionals focusing on environmental justice and climate change issues, and facilitated joint research projects among American and Chinese law students. VLS faculty have presented on environmental and natural resources law, global climate policy, energy law, and U.S.-China relations at universities, public interest organizations, government institutions, and conferences throughout China. Vermont Law School has hosted a number of Chinese law scholars and students on campus, as well as symposia on environmental challenges in China and China's environmental governance.

These developments represent exciting opportunities for us to continue and expand the partnership's work in building China's capacity to solve environmental and natural resource problems. Over the past several years, we have found an enormous amount of dedication by our partners and many others to improving environmental quality and justice. Their efforts are in many instances pioneering and commendable. As environmental challenges such as climate change grow in urgency and the role of China in solving these problems becomes more important, the China Partnership endeavors to engage individuals and institutions in improving global environmental law and policy.

 

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Siu Tip Lam
U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law
Vermont Law School