On 29-30 August 2018 in Ghent University (Faculty of Law and Criminology) took place the 5th EU- China Conference on Environmental Law on green law, economic instruments and environmental crime.

During the conference topics such as the use of economic tools in environmental legislation, protection and management of natural resources as well as the theory and legal practice on confronting environmental crimes have been discussed. 

The Coordinator of the Environmental Law Observatory of West Crete, Mrs Maria Maniadaki took part in the Conference and presented the LIFE NATURA THEMIS project in front of the participants and especially "The use of European subsidies as a tool to prevent environmental crime in targeted groups: The spectacular decrease of fires set in grazing lands by farmers in West Crete".

Mrs Maniadaki's presentation is available in pdf format in this post.

The program of the conference was the following:

Program

Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Day 1 The use of economic tools in environmental legislation

Protection of natural resources

08:30-09:00 registration, coffee and tea

09:00-12:30 Green law, climate change, emissions trading and carbon tax

Chair: Prof. Luc Lavrysen (Ghent University, Belgium)

09:00 Environmental legislation and economic development: a love and hate relationship?: Prof. Lorenzo Squintani (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

09:20 Collective obligations and the limits of green law: Prof. Alexander Zahar (Wuhan University, China)

09:40 Emissions trading and the rule of law: any place for soft law?: Prof. Mariolina Eliantonio and prof. Marjan Peeters (Maastricht University, The Netherlands)

10:00 The Green Belt and Road: A challenge for environmental law: Prof. Ben Boer (Wuhan University, China)

10:20-10:40 Coffee/tea

Chair: Prof. Tianbao Qin (Wuhan University, China)

10:40 The construction of China’s carbon emissions trading system compared with the EU: Ran Zhang (Renmin University and Indiana University Robert McKinney School of Law, USA)

11:00  Reforms in the EU maritime carbon tax regulation: better prospects for policy makers in China? Wang Kunjie (PhD candidate University of Macau)

11:20 The legal nature of emission units in the intersection of climate change law, private law and financial markets regulation: Emilie Yliheljo (Phd candidate University of Helsinki)

11:40-12:30 Panel debate or Q&A on the topic of emissions trading and carbon tax under the climate change regime

12:30-13:30 Lunch

13:30-15:00 Product fees, taxes and subsidies to achieve environmental standards

Chair: Prof. Lorenzo Squintani (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

13:30 Can the problem of coercive collection be improved after the environmental “Fee to Tax Reform” in China?: Prof. Tianbao Qin (Wuhan University, China)

13:50 Implementing extended producer responsibility by means of fiscal measures - the case of “product fee” in Polish regulations on packaging waste and WEEE: ass. prof. Karolina Karpus (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland)

14:10 Feed-in tariffs (FITs) on renewables in the EU and the reference served for China: Yunxiang Shi (PhD candidate, University of Birmingham)

14:30 Reflection on subsidy adjustments and fisheries conservation in China: dr. Wang Jinpeng (Lecturer Ocean University of China)

14:50 Life-Cycle Costing, Eco-Labels and Green Public Procurement: Promoting Environmental Interests in the US and EU: Prof. Jason J. Czarnezki (Pace University, USA)

15:20-15:40 Coffee/tea

15:40-16:20 Natural resources: protection and management

Chair: Prof. Ben Boer (Wuhan University, China)

15:40 The limits of integrated water resources management: a case study of Liangzi Lake basin in China European Law: Liping Dai, ass. prof. Herman Kasper Gilissen, Prof. Marleen van Rijswick and Qiu Qiu, (University of Utrecht, The Netherlands)

16:00 Recent challenges in managing protected areas in China: Dr. Miao He (Wuhan University) and Prof. An Cliquet (Ghent University)

16:20-17:20 Panel debate or Q&A on the topic of fees, taxes, subsidies and natural resource management

19:00 Conference dinner

Thursday, 30 August 2018

Day 2 Environmental crimes

09:00-10:00 Environmental crimes and the law: theory and legal practice

Chair: Prof. Frank Maes (Ghent University, Belgium)

09:00 Research on China’s judicial pattern of the crime of environmental pollution based on judicial big data: Yanpeng Jiao and Yajia Wang.

09:20 Application of restorative justice in environmental crime - A review of 1010 verdicts on the crime of environmental protection against environmental destruction: Wenjuan Tian (Sun Yat-sen University, China).

09:40 Revisiting penalty functions for environmental violations: evidence from Bangladesh: Nabil Haque (PhD candidate Stony Brook University, New York)

10:00-10:20 Coffee/tea

10:20-13:00 Environmental crimes and the law: wild life

Chair: Prof. Jan Darpö (Uppsala University, Sweden)

10:20 Illegal wildlife trafficking from Africa, through the EU, to China: Prof. An Cliquet and PhD Cleo Mashini (Ghent University)

10:40 Empirical research on Chinese criminal judicial protection of rare and endangered wild animals based on cases from 2016-2018: Li Juan and Wu Yi-ran (Xuzhou Intermediate People’s Court Environmental Resources Trial division)

11:00 Wildlife crime and animal victims: improving access to environmental justice: ass. prof. Amanda Whitfort (University of Hong Kong)

11:20 Turkye and UK wildlife criminal law comparative analysis: Yeliz Figen and Tilak Ginige (Bournemouth University, UK)

11:40 Belgian case law on wild life trafficking: Prof. Luc Lavrysen (Justice Constitutional Court & Ghent University, Belgium)

12:00-13:00 Panel debate or Q&A on the topic of environmental crimes

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-16:40 Environmental crimes and the law: Ozone, waste, water, fires and enterprises

Chair: Peter-Tobias Stoll (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany)

14:00 Criminal enforcement on Ozone-depleting substances in China: framework, application and compliance: Xiaolong Shi (PhD candidate Indiana University, USA)

14:20 In search of effective protection from hazardous waste in Asia through the instruments of international law. An assessment with focus on China: Karolina Jackowicz (PhD candidate University of Bialystok, Poland)

14:40 Dieselgate: unveiling the weakness of European Unions’ inspection powers: Prof. Delphine Misonne (Université Saint-Louis & Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)

15:00 Corporate environmental criminal liability in Spain: Miriam Ruiz Arias (PhD candidate University of Salamanca, Spain)

15:20 The use of European subsidies as a tool to prevent environmental crime in targeted groups: The spectacular decrease of fires set in grazing lands by farmers in West Crete: Maria Maniadaki (Environmental Law Observatory of West Crete)

15:40-16:40 Panel debate or Q&A on the topic of environmental crimes

16:40-17:40 Closing reception with Belgian beer