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Empowering the victims of environmental pollution and the creation of a strong base for good environmental governance – this is the goal of a two-year project that is launched in November 2012 within the EU-China Environmental Governance Programme (EGP). The main beneficiaries will be the people of Guizhou, but much effort will also be made to build know-how within local governmental institutions, law firms, volunteer lawyers, enterprises and non-governmental organizations.
Today many people in China suffer from environmental problems relating to water, air and solid waste pollution. At the same time, they are often unaware of their environmental rights. The project brings together knowledgeable Chinese organizations such as the All-China Environment Federation (ACEF), the Guizhou International Cooperation Center for Environmental Protection (GZICCEP) and the Guiyang Public Environmental Education Centre (GPEEC) with international experts from the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) with the purpose of strengthening the public’s access to environmental justice. The project has a budget of 1.2 million ？(CNY 9.7 million) and is financed through Europe Aid.
The project will focus on the Guizhou province, which has previous experience in protecting the environmental rights of the public – for instance, the first Chinese environmental tribunal was founded here in 2007. Within this project, experiences from the Guizhou Province will be matched with established practices from Swedish environmental laws and governance.
The first part of the project involves a background study with the purpose of gaining a thorough understanding of the environmental justice situation in the Guizhou province. Over the next two years this work will result in a number of activities, for example a handbook on environmental legal advice, TV documentaries, and tailor-made courses for environmental managers and other stakeholders. In addition, the project activities could result in suggestions and input on how to improve laws on environmental protection and administrative procedures, ultimately strengthening environmental governance in China.
— If we succeed in our ambition to integrate experiences from the Swedish system for litigation in environmental issues with the Chinese judicial practice, it could be a definite improvement to the people's access to justice in environmental matters, says Mikael Olshammar, project leader at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL).
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