On Friday 1 April 2022, the Center for Environmental and Energy Law of Ghent University organized a conference on a legal statute for judges and prosecutors dealing with environmental cases. We collaborated with the Belgian Institute for Judicial Training (IGO), the EU Forum of Judges for the Environment (EUFJE) and the Flemish Tijdschrift voor Milieurecht.

After explaining the increasing number of environmental courts worldwide, a French magistrate explained how 36 environmental courts were recently created in France.

This was followed by an explanation of the specialization in environmental law at the Belgian administrative courts (Council for Permit Disputes and Council of State).

We concluded the conference with a debate between MPs, magistrates, lawyers and police, moderated by Liesbeth Indeherberge (VRT).

You can watch the presentations and the debate (in Dutch) (from 2 hours, 25 minutes) here.

The conference was attended by about 100 environmental lawyers from the field (lawyers, academics, Federal Justice Department, magistrates, administrative authorities).

The University of Ghent, Centre for Environmental and Energy Law also contributed to the 2021 UNEP Guide on Environmental Courts and Tribunals:

https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/environmental-courts-and-tribunals-2021-guide-policy-makers

The debate led to a number of recommendations, which you can read here.

Contact person: Farah Bouquelle, assistant Centre for Environmental  and Energy law, Ghent University  farah.bouquelle@ugent.be