The discipline of the environmental and resources law of China University of Political Science and Law was founded in the 1980s. The Environmental and Resources Law Institute was established in 2002. The first director is Professor Wang Canfa, and the current director is Professor Yu Wenxuan. The Institute offers doctoral program and academic master degree programs since 2003. It is the vice-chairman unit of the Association of the Environmental and Resources Law of the China Law Society and the chairman unit of the Division of the Environmental Law of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences.
Faculty and Teaching
There are 10 full-time faculty members, 2 part-time faculty members and 1 post-doctoral researcher in the Environmental and Resources Law Institute, among whom there are 2 professors of the second grade, 6 doctoral supervisors and 10 postgraduate supervisors. The Institute is responsible for the teaching tasks of the undergraduate courses of environmental law, natural resources law and environmental law clinic, as well as the cultivation of doctoral and postgraduate students in the four research directions of environmental law, natural resources law, international environmental law and energy law. The Institute also invites world-famous environmental law scholars to give lectures via the platform of international summer school.
The Environmental and Resources Law Institute attaches great importance to the cultivation of students' academic ability, generating positive results. It has fostered the only winner of the national excellent doctoral dissertation in the major of environmental and resources protection law, and provided the society with many excellent researchers and practitioners in this field.
Scientific Research
Since the 1990s, the faculty members of the Environmental and Resources Law Institute have presided over several textbooks and monographs, including the compilation of Environmental Law, a key textbook funded by the Research and Construction Project of Marxist Theory. They have also compiled other textbooks such as Environmental Law, Environmental and Resources Protection Law, Environmental Resource Law, etc.. Meanwhile, they have published many monographs such as A New Probe into the Basic Issues of Environmental Law, Swedish Environmental Law, Theories and Practices of Environmental Dispute Resolution, Thematic Study on the Evaluation of the Implementation of the Environmental Protection Law, New Exploration of Ecological Law, Environmental Tort Law, Justification of Environmental Law and Institutional Choice, Basic Issues of China's Environmental Tort Law, Dialogue Between Environmental Law and Civil Law, Preliminary Study on International Biosafety Law, Biosafety Legislation, Biodiversity Policy and Legislation, Energy Law in the Context of Low-Carbon Economy, Oil and Gas Law, Renewable Energy Policy and Law, Research on the Key Issues of Energy Law, Research on the Legislation of Compensation for Environmental Pollution Damage, German Criminal Code and On Burden of Proof etc.. Moreover, they have published the annual Review on Environmental, Resources and Energy Law.
In recent years, the faculty members of the Environmental and Resources Law Institute have published dozens of academic papers in the core journals of law, and have presided over dozens of research projects funded and entrusted by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, China Law Society, Beijing Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, Beijing Law Society, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Commerce, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, etc..
International Exchange and Social Services
The Environmental and Resources Law Institute attaches great importance to international exchanges and cooperation. Over the past ten years, it has established good cooperative relations with dozens of foreign universities and scientific research institutions, actively carrying out academic exchanges and providing a good international cooperation environment for the development of the faculty and students.
The Environmental and Resources Law Institute is actively involved in national and local legislation. Many faculty members participate in the research and argumentation of important legislation and amendments such as Environmental Protection Law, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Marine Environment Protection Law, Law on Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes, Environment Impact Assessment Law, Circular Economy Promotion Law, Law on Combating Climate Change (draft), Nature Reserve Law (draft), etc.. The faculty members have also provided dozens of valuable suggestions and offer policy advice in the past decades.
The faculty members of Environmental and Resources Law Institute also sets up or leads the UN Environment – CUPL Environmental Law Research Base, Research Center of Procuratorial Public Interest Litigation of CUPL, Center for Legal Assistance for Pollution Victims of CUPL, Research Center for Ecological and Resources Law Studies of CUPL, Research Center for Climate Change and Natural Resources Law of CUPL and conduct the academic research in these related fields and provide social services.
The Environmental and Resources Law Institute is running the WeChat official account of the “Environmental and Resources Law Institute of China University of Political Science and Law” (WeChat ID: IERL-CUPL). It shares latest and cutting-edge information on the theory and practice of environmental and resources law at home and abroad, becoming a high-profile media platform for the academic exchange of environmental and resources law.
