APCEL STUDENT OUTREACH PROGRAMME: Raffles Institution

On 4 October 2023, the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL) hosted Year 4 students from Raffles Institution (RI).

The workshop began with a breakfast spread. Students and teachers brought their own cups, lunchboxes, and cutlery to reduce waste by avoiding the use of single-use disposable items.

Selene Tanne (Sheridan Fellow, NUS Law; Academic Fellow, APCEL) kicked off the sessions with an icebreaker discussion session. Students discussed the environmental issues they knew of, those that they were most concerned about, and the role they believe that laws and policies play in correcting environmental problems.

Following that interactive segment, Dr Sroyon Mukherjee (Research Fellow, APCEL) introduced students to international environmental law – where it comes from and how it might percolate through countries’ legal systems. After a brief segment on the mechanism of international treaties, Sroyon led students through an interesting exploration of abstract issues, including distributive justice and the rights of nature.

After that, Sean Tseng (Legal Consultant, ClientEarth; Academic Fellow, APCEL) spoke about how climate change litigation is one of the various tools being used to encourage greater political action in Europe, and his work in the environmental NGO, ClientEarth.

Then, Mark Ortega (Academic Fellow, APCEL) concluded the workshop by taking the students through a comprehensive exercise to understand legislation. Students worked in teams of four to identify provisions in the Resource Sustainability Act 2019 in order to answer assigned questions about the legislation provisions.

During the Q&A segment, speakers responded to questions on the state of environmental law in Europe and Asia, the efficacy of climate change litigation as a tool for climate action, and their personal experiences in practice.