Events

In recognizing the crucial role of the justice sector in the protection and enforcement, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in partnership with the Sri Lanka Judges Institute, held the Workshop for Sri Lanka High Court Judges on Environmental and Writ Laws as a follow-up to the very successful Asian Judges Roundtable on the Environment that was hosted by the Chief Justice’s office and the ADB in 2014 in Colombo. It is part of ADB’s regional strategy in enhancing judicial capacity through sessions that facilitate knowledge and experience sharing, and aims to strengthen the judiciary in discharging the duties of its roles more effectively.

ADB co-hosted the Fourth South Asia Judicial Roundtable on Environmental Justice on 28-29 November in Kathmandu, where Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha of Nepal and Deputy General Counsel Ramit Nagpal opened the event. Attendees included judges, legal professional, and participants from South Asia and other regions. The event was co-organized with the Supreme Court of Nepal and supported by WWF-Nepal.

On 15 and 16 September 2014, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in partnership with the Supreme People’s Court of Viet Nam, convened the first meeting of the ASEAN Judicial Working Group on Environment in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Senior justices representing eight ASEAN countries met to (i) discuss their proposed contributions to the ASEAN Chief Justices’ Roundtable on Environment with a view towards accelerating the implementation of A Common Vision on Environment for ASEAN Judiciaries (or the “Jakarta Common Vision”), (ii) consider the contribution of ASEAN judiciaries to the Asian Judges Network on Environment, and (iii) prepare the agenda for the upcoming Fourth ASEAN Chief Justices’ Roundtable on Environment scheduled in December 2014.

The papers submitted for the Symposium will be compiled and edited as a volume for publication by ADB. Participants will be requested to provide papers and presentations well prior to the Symposium. The papers and presentations submitted for the Symposium will also be uploaded to the AJNE website. The Symposium will also provide an opportunity for the consideration and adoption of an AJNE Statement on Environmental Justice from the reports from break-out groups, together with prior statements and declarations.

The Second South Asia Judicial Roundtable on Environmental Justice brings together Chief Justices, senior judges, and experts to consider common environmental challenges in the region, share experiences, and discuss opportunities for cooperation between judiciaries to enhance environmental adjudication and enforcement.

From 7-10 December 2012, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chief justices and their designees convened in Melaka, Malaysia for their second roundtable on environment. The roundtable provided a forum for experts to discuss common ASEAN environmental challenges and for ASEAN judges to share their experiences in handling environmental challenges. Towards the end, the participants discussed the draft Melaka Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation among ASEAN Courts, which aims to provide an operational framework for environmental cooperation among the ASEAN judiciaries, and agreed to establish a technical working group of judges to formulate the terms of the memorandum of understanding toward attaining the Jakarta Common Vision with the support of ADB.

Constitutional rights to a healthy environment, and good environmental laws protecting forests, oceans, marine-life, and wildlife, and requiring environmental impact assessments for new development projects, exist in abundance in many countries in the Asia-Pacific. Yet, everywhere such environmental rights and laws exist, there are abundant examples of them being denied, going unimplemented, or unenforced.

South Asia is a developing region comprising 3% of the world’s land mass and inhabited by 23.6% of the world’s population. Due to its geographical expanse, it’s full of natural and cultural wonders. However, rapid population growth and various development initiatives have caused immense degradation to its ecological diversity. The challenge of sustainable development and scarcity of natural resources are common to the whole region, giving rise to similar environmental concerns. Bhurban Conference managed to provide the common platform, much needed by the stakeholders to bring urgent attention to these serious and complex issues.