Environmental Courts and Tribunals – A Guide for Policy Makers: 2021

In 2021, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) commissioned the National University of Singapore’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL) to undertake a global study on Environmental Courts and Tribunals (ECTs) and produce an updated Guide for Policy Makers. APCEL collaborated with Ghent University (UGent) to create a comprehensive 128-page report on the status and associated developments in ECTs in 197 countries that have taken place since 2016, as well as provide recommendations on how ECTs can be strengthened as a key institution for environmental justice. This Guide was completed in 2021 and published in August 2022.

On 1 September 2022, the Guide was officially launched on a Zoom webinar hosted by APCEL and supported by UNEP and UGent. The event began with opening remarks by Dr. Jolene Lin (Director, APCEL), who shared briefly about the significance and challenges of taking on this ambitious project. Then, Mr. Arnold Kreilhuber (Deputy Director, UNEP Law Division) spoke about the potential application of this Guide and emphasised UNEP’s commitment to building international capacity for environmental justice. Representing the Review Board, Dr. Beatriz Garcia (Senior Lecturer, Western Sydney University) praised the extensiveness of the Guide and explained the thorough review process to the audience, finishing off by highlighting particular areas for further research.

Dr. Linda Yanti Sulistiawati (), who had been the lead author and principal investigator of the Guide, delivered her presentation on the current status of ECTs in Asia, Oceania and the Pacific, the Americas, and the Caribbean regions. Following that, Ms. Farah Bouquelle (Researcher, UGent), delivered her presentation on the current status of ECTs in Africa and Europe.

To conclude the session, all panellists engaged in a Q&A session with the audience. They answered questions on, for example, (1) UNEP’s future plans for judicial capacity building for environmental justice and potential challenges that should be considered; (2) reasons for certain ECTs being discontinued; and (3) how the intersection of environmental and human rights would affect the development of environmental jurisprudence and litigation.

(From top left: Selene Tanne, Linda Yanti Sulistiawati, Jolene Lin
From bottom left: Beatriz Garcia de Oliveira, Arnold Kreilhuber, Farah Bouquelle)

A copy of the ECT report can be found here.