Trust Legal partners with GNLU and UN Environment Program to hold first IUCN Academy of Law Conference in India

In a first, Trust Legal has partnered with Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar and United Nations Environment Program to hold the first ever IUCN Academy of Law Conference in India since its inception in 2003.

It is the 21st Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, organized and hosted by GNLU from July 4 to July 7, 2024, under the guidance and leadership of Prof. (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar, Director of GNLU, Gandhinagar.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network comprising government and civil society organizations. It is a global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures which are needed to conserve and protect the same. IUCN also releases classifications of endangered species, which is the most revered data for environmentalists worldwide.

Recently, in the latest judgement passed by the Supreme Court of India, in order to save the Great Indian Bustard, a critically endangered bird species on the IUCN Red List, from extinction, the Apex Court tried to strike a balance between safeguarding biodiversity and another Sustainable Development Goal to which India is a party and is duty bound to follow the ambitious targets for transitioning to non-fossil fuel resources set by itself in its NDC(Nationally Determined Contribution) up to 2030, aiming to ramp up its installed renewable energy capacity to 450 GW in lines with the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.

The conference theme was “Mission LiFE: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability & Climate Justice through Community Action.” The colloquium brought together the expertise of various stakeholders, including policy makers, practitioners, academicians, and environmental experts from around 20 countries worldwide, who have gathered for meaningful discussions and initiatives through collective action.

The theme “Mission Life” incorporates the India-led mass movement of Mission Lifestyle, wherein both individual and collective actions are important in achieving environmental sustainability. Indian living traditions have always inherently incorporated a sustainable lifestyle and individual and community efforts have always long been the core of the Indian cultural set up.

The Plenary session on Day One of the Colloquium saw the keynote address and opening remarks by Prof. Christina Voigt, Chair, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, Associate Professor Tiina Paloniitty, Chair of the Governing Board, IUCN Academy of Environmental law and Sudhir Mishra, leading Environmental Lawyer.

The colloquium saw the participation of many national and international academicians and personalities of eminence in the field of Environmental Law from more than 20 countries. To mention a few, Associate Professor Tiina Paloniitty, Chair of the Governing Board, IUCN Academy of Environmental law, Prof. Tseming Yang, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University, School of Law, USA, Dr Ivano Alogna, Research Leader in Environmental and Climate Change Law – British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London and many more learned environmentalists, lawyers and professors were part of the stellar panels throughout the conference.

Extending over four days with myriad of topics of Environmental Law and sustainability being discussed by the national and international community, the colloquium was a big hit.

Sudhir Mishra, the Managing Partner of Trust Legal along with Prof. (Dr.) S Shanthakumar, Director of GNLU, Gandhinagar, have been the forerunners of the event, both being key players in prioritizing the planet's health in their own ways and have played a pivotal role in making the conference a huge success. Mishra feels that the global participation at the conference is a testament to our commitment in dealing with the environmental concerns as a global community and would undoubtedly foster a sense of global citizenship in one and all alike.