Vt. law school gets $3M to extend China partnership
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By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: October 6, 2009
SOUTH ROYALTON — Vermont Law School has received $3 million to continue its work to expand environmental law in China.
The money comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development and will allow VLS to expand its work on the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law through the next three years, according to VLS President and Dean Geoffrey Shields.
"We thank USAID and the American people for their continued support for and recognition of the importance and effectiveness of this program," Shields said. "The U.S. and China share a deep interest in reversing environmental degradation. Vermont Law School has proven to be an effective bridge in those efforts. VLS is now the leader among academic institutions in furthering efforts to support China as it strengthens its legal environmental framework."
The $3 million comes on top of $1.8 million VLS received in 2006 to begin its work with China, and the new money will be used to expand on that groundwork, said Jingjing Liu, associate director for the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law at VLS.
"We're going to continue to train Chinese environmental law scholars," said Liu. "There's definitely a growing environmental awareness from the civil society up through the central government."
Liu, who is from southern China and attended law school there, said law schools in China have expanded their slate of environmental law courses, from a single course when she was in school to sets of classes. Liu said there is also a rise in grassroots environmentalism and recent reports have shown an increase in the number of Chinese citizens who are willing to pay more money for environmentally friendly products, including her parents' recent purchase of an energy-efficient refrigerator.
VLS launched the U.S.-China Partnership with Sun Yat-sen University, located in the capital of Guangdong province in southern China, in 2006, the same year China's government mandated that every law school must teach environmental law, Shields said. At the time, there were only 40 environmental law professors among the country's 600 law schools.
In response, VLS hosts Chinese students, professors, lawmakers and judges for residencies that range from several weeks to as long as a year, Liu said.
"We're not just teaching environmental law," Liu said. "We're building a partnership between China and the United States."
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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