Establishing an environmental law clinic in China: A review of relevant factors and various models

This paper looks at the factors which affect the establishment of Environmental Law Clinics (ELCs) with a particular focus on models that might be most effective in a Chinese context. The paper is the result of desktop research and a clinical program where five law students and one supervising academic from an Australian Law school attended a Chinese law school in early December 2016. During the visit, Australian law students conducted a workshop with Chinese law students as well as visited several NGOs in Wuhan and Beijing to grasp a better understanding of the environmental issues the country faces. The observations in this paper are preliminary in nature and further discussion of educational goals and community needs will be required before settling on a particular model. Brief recommendations and a list of relevant factors for consideration for Chinese ELCs are provided at the end of the paper

Pro Bono partnerships : community lawyering to promote environmental justice

Rural communities across Australia are increasingly being asked to shoulder the environmental and social impacts of intensive mining and gas projects. Escalating demand for coal seam gas (CSG) is raising significant environmental justice issues for rural communities. Chief amongst environmental concerns are risks of contamination or depletion of vital underground aquifers as well as treatment and disposal of high-saline water close to high quality agricultural soils. Associated infrastructure such as pipelines, electricity lines, gas processing and port facilities can also adversely affect communities and ecosystems great distances from where the gas is originally extracted. Whilst community submission (and appeal) rights do exist, accessing expert independent information is challenging, legal terminology is complex and submission periods are short, leading ultimately to a lack of procedural justice for landholders and their communities. Since August 2012, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has worked in partnership with not-for-profit legal centre - Queensland’s Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) - to help better educate communities about mining and CSG assessment processes. The project, now entering its third semester, aims to empower communities to access relevant information and actively engage in legal processes on their own behalf. Students involved in the project so far have helped to research chapters of a comprehensive community guide to mining and CSG law as well as organising multidisciplinary community forums and preparing information on land access and compensation rights for landholders. While environmental justice issues still exist without significant law reform, the project has led to greater awareness amongst the community of the laws relating the CSG. At the same time, it has led to a greater understanding by students and academics of real life environmental justice issues currently faced by rural communities

Community projects: extending the community lawyering model

Law schools in Australia and the United Kingdom are increasingly adopting clinical legal education (CLE) as an important part of their curriculum. Models of CLE are emerging in those jurisdictions which draw on local experience and the strong tradition of CLE and community lawyering in the United States. The purpose of this article is to examine the pedagogy that underlies CLE and to consider how it can be applied to newly emerging models of CLE. In particular, it will evaluate a community project legal clinic in which students work on social justice projects in partnership with a range of community organisations, not limited to legal centres, with a view to determining whether pedagogical goals are being met in the way that the course is being delivered. This article argues that community project legal clinics can result in positive student learning outcomes in relation to the development of a pro bono ethos and commitment to social justice, lawyering skills including client communication, and the development of a positive professional legal identity. Part II of the article provides a brief overview of the history of CLE in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, noting the trend towards the development of community lawyering clinics. Part III examines the benefits of community lawyering clinics focusing on the benefits for student learning and the service-learning pedagogy applied in community lawyering clinics in the United States. Finally, part IV looks at a case study of a new community project clinic in Australia that draws upon the service-learning pedagogy of community lawyering CLE. In the community project clinic, students engage in service-learning through undertaking projects with not-for-profit community organisations. Community partners identify relevant issues and needs, and the students work in interdisciplinary teams to address these. Law students working in these teams are often exposed to a broader social problem or issue than they would experience in a traditional ‘in-person’ legal clinic. Initial evaluation suggests that this model for community clinics in law schools assists students to develop lawyering skills and a positive legal identity including awareness of and support for pro bono legal work and a sense of belonging in the legal profession

Illicit Cigarette Trade in Indonesia: Trends and Analysis from the Recent Judgments

The illicit cigarette trade has begun to receive scholarly attention globally. Empirical studies on the illicit cigarette trade are available in the context of Indonesia. However, the Indonesian judicial system lacks a focus on treating illegal practices. To fill the gap, we examine Indonesian court decisions involving the illicit cigarette trade between 2010 and 2019. We provide an overview of the enforcement of Indonesia’s Excise Law 2007 relating to offences related to the illicit cigarette trade. By using a systematic quantitative literature review, we collected data on Indonesian court decisions and found the following: (1) convictions for the practice of illicit trade in cigarettes were relatively steady, with a total number from one to six court decisions annually; (2) certain offences from Indonesia Excise Law 2007 have not been found in the convictions, suggesting their underutilisation in terms of monitoring and enforcement effort; (3) the primary motivation of illicit cigarette traders as reported through the judicial system is the economic benefit or “profit” available to the enterprise; and (4) the sentencing decisions are dominated by the application of the “cumulative principle” with fines and imprisonment applied at the same time. The finding on the average length of imprisonment for illicit cigarettes, which was around 18 months, shows that this crime has low risk compared with the punishment for illicit trade in drugs and narcotics in Indonesia

Scrutinizing the impact of policy instruments on adoption of agricultural conservation practices using Bayesian expert models

Policy instruments—such as regulation, financial incentives, and agricultural extension—are commonly applied by governments to promote sustainable agricultural practices and tackle ecosystem degradation. Despite substantial investment, little data are available to gauge the impact of evolving policy mixes. We constructed a Bayesian network model to explore relationships between pol-icy instruments, contextual factors, and adoption. Applying a series of scenarios, we present examples of how different instruments influence adoption and how their effectiveness is shaped by contextual factors. Scenarios highlight that the effect of policy instruments is often modest, and constrained by diverse practice and population characteristics. These findings allow us to reflect on the role of policy instruments, and the conditions necessary to support practice change. For example, our findings raise questions about the role of financial benefits versus financial capacity, and highlight the potential importance of concepts such as mental bandwidth in shaping both motivation and capacity to adopt

Save the Reef! Civic crowdfunding and public interest environmental litigation

This article examines the emerging area of civic crowdfunding, a subset of crowdfunding, as a means of financing public interest environmental litigation. The literature surrounding civic crowdfunding and third party litigation funding is currently underdeveloped. The link between those areas and public interest environmental litigation takes a further step into the unknown. As a case study, the Sea Dumping Case presents exciting opportunities for civil society and access to justice, but further research is needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn

Bilateral agreements for the protection of migratory birdlife: the implementation of the China-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (CAMBA)

Every year, millions of migratory birds journey along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). The scope of the EAAF encompasses Asia Pacific nations like Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. The effective conservation of these birds rests upon the implementation of bilateral legal agreements as well as non-binding regional initiatives along this North-South nexus. This article evaluates the implementation of one of the most important bilateral bird agreements in the region – the China-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (CAMBA). The main obligations in CAMBA are identified; as are the legal initiatives adopted by both China and Australia which reflect CAMBA’s obligations. Whilst Australian law makes specific reference to CAMBA, Chinese law is far less direct, though perhaps no less effective. The argument is made that the findings in this article have relevance for an improved understanding of the mechanisms for transboundary governance of migratory birdlife, especially in the Asia Pacific

The influence of environmental NGOs on project finance: A case study of activism, development and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

Project financiers often influence not only the standards against which a project is managed, but also whether the project goes ahead at all. Non-government organizations (NGOs) are acutely aware of the leverage that project financiers possess. In today’s media-driven world, banks are especially sensitive to public opinion and bad press. Perception and reputation are important. In Australia, we have seen this play out with several of the world’s biggest financiers refusing to fund projects which might impact the Great Barrier Reef. In this paper, I explore some of those decisions and the influence of NGOs on the project finance industry. My aim is to better understand the context in which certain financial decisions are made, including who wields influence and how such influence is brought to bear. What seems apparent is that while financiers are powerful gatekeepers of major projects, their influence appears closely connected to that of civil society

Wetland restoration in Japan: What's law got to do with it?

Decades of destruction, land reclamation and pollution have wreaked havoc upon Japan’s wetland environments. The government has responded by implementing new laws and policies that seek to reverse the declines by encouraging the involvement of the local community and NGO sector. At the same time, the government has also engaged with international and regional frameworks such as the Ramsar Convention and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership. This paper explores the interrelationship between Japanese law, international law and a ‘restoration ethos’ in Japan. It argues that the Japanese government’s desire to restore the natural environment is ably supported by a legislative and policy framework which draws upon best practice in collaborative governance. By focusing on wetland restoration, the paper sheds light on the connections between local, national and international stakeholders. Wetlands provide important habitat for biodiversity (especially birdlife) as well as filtration and sediment control, and act as a natural buffer against disasters. Japan appears well-placed to reverse the declines in wetland health, although more needs to be done to reconnect with traditional socio-ecological landscapes such as satoumi and satoyama

Clinical legal education and environmental law: The benefits of non-casework approaches

Environmental law clinics (ELCs) are generally thought of to be a specialist type of Clinical Legal Education, though very little has been written about them. This short note argues that there are benefits to designing environmental law clinics using non-casework approaches which focus on research, teamwork, community lawyering and outreach work. Litigation is expensive and time consuming and often students will be exposed to only a fraction of relevant work