Long Institute Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series 

Can Law Save China's Environment?
Professor Benjamin van Rooij

China's rapid growth has created severe industrial pollution, causing major economic, health, and ecological damages. To mitigate pollution, China has developed an increasingly comprehensive set of environmental laws and standards. Unfortunately, China's written environmental law has had disappointing results in practice. China faces an implementation problem as enforcement is weak and compliance levels remain low. Using empirical data from a series of studies conducted over the last decade, this lecture discusses how environmental law functions in everyday practice. The lecture first addresses structural problems and recent innovations in administrative environmental enforcement. It also analyses the impact of recent developments, including the introduction of specialized environmental courts, the rise of green civic organizations, the increased collective action by pollution victims, as well as the recent cases of environmental public interest litigation. 

Prof. Benjamin van Rooij
Amsterdam University | Faculty of Law
The Netherlands China Law Centre
Professor of Law | Director

Benjamin van Rooij is Professor of Chinese Law and Regulation at the University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Law. Concurrently, he is director of the Netherlands China Law Centre. By affiliation, he is also Hauser Global Faculty member of NYU Law School, Fellow at the International Institute of Asian Studies Centre for Regulation and Governance, Fellow at the Law and Society Centre at Koguan Law School at Jiaotong University, and Permanent Guest Professor at Yunnan University School of Law. His expertise covers Chinese law, law enforcement, compliance, lawmaking, access to justice, law and development, and socio-legal theory.