[Academic Exchange]The First Sino-Swedish Colloquium on Global Sustainability Governance Held at Wuhan University

News Network (Correspondents Zhang Yunrui, Hao Wentin, Liao Xinyu, Qin Dan) From March 18th to 19th, the first Sino-Swedish Colloquium on Global Sustainability Governance and the 29th Luojia Environmental Law Forum of Wuhan University's Institute of Environmental Law were grandly held at Wuhan University's Institute of Environmental Law.

On the morning of March 18th, the opening ceremony of the symposium was held in the School of Law. Tang Qizhu warmly welcomed everyone. He pointed out that the theme of this symposium, "global sustainable governance," is a very important and hot topic in both the theoretical and practical fields. This symposium provides a good platform for experts from China and Sweden to exchange views on legal, economic, social, and other issues related to global sustainable governance.

Cecilia Ekholm, Ambassador for Sustainable Economic and Trade Affairs of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, delivered a speech via video, mainly discussing the importance of companies in sustainable development, social responsibility, and transparency. Liu Zhumei, Vice President of the Chinese Society of Environmental and Resources Law of the Chinese Law Society, emphasized the increasingly important role of the judiciary in ecological environmental governance, stating that Chinese courts have always adhered to the concept that green waters and green mountains are as good as mountains of gold and silver, and have provided strong judicial services and guarantees for building a beautiful China where humans and nature coexist harmoniously. Bie Tao, Chief Legal Counsel of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China and Vice President of the Chinese Society of Environmental and Resources Law of the Chinese Law Society, reviewed and looked forward to China's environmental legislation, stating that China will actively promote the compilation of an ecological environment code and initiate legal clearance work in a timely manner.

In the keynote speech session, Jonas Ebbesson, Director of the Center for Environmental Law and Policy Research at Stockholm University in Sweden and former Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention, and Qin Tianbao gave keynote speeches on legal governance under the background of cross-border environment and climate transformation.

In the roundtable discussion and Q&A session, Zhang Meng asked questions to two keynote speakers. This session focused on international environmental law issues such as the formulation of treaties to guarantee public environmental participation rights, balancing interests during carbon neutrality processes, and how to coordinate carbon emission reduction and biodiversity protection. The discussion was full and lively, generating many sparks of wisdom in a serious yet lively atmosphere.

It is learnt that this symposium is a further result of the cooperation between Chinese and Swiss scholars following the visit of teachers and students from Wuhan University's Institute of Environmental Law to Lund University in August 2023. It is not only a platform for exchanging and sharing cutting-edge topics in environmental law, but also strengthened friendship between Chinese and foreign colleagues in environmental law.

(Photography: Liang Yang, Editor: Zhao Jifan)