Key activities

The overall objectives of the EGP-Guizhou project were to to improve the public’s access to environmental justice, to protect the public’s environmental rights and to contribute to the improvement of China’s environmental governance.

In order to reach the overall objective, a number of activities have been carried out aimed at:

• Raising the awareness of the environmental rights of the public among target groups;
• Increasing the capacity for environmental justice and protecting the public’s environmental rights among local governmental institutions and other public environmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, law firms, volunteer lawyers and judicial authorities;
• Designing legislativeproposals covering the improvement and enforcement of the public interest litigation (PIL) system in China as well as legislation on liability and compensation for environmental damages.

As a first important activity, a baseline survey was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the status of environmental justice in the province of Guizhou and the needs and constraints of target groups. Following this, activities to raise awareness amongst the general public and government officials on the public's environmental rights and environmental justice were implemented, including the production of two handbooks, several TV programmes and other information materials.

Additionally, a number of capacity building activities were organized corresponding to the needs and constrains of the target groups including seminars for governmental official, training courses for environmental technicians and workshops for NGO representatives, law firms and volunteer lawyers and law-enforcing personnel. Capacity building is crucial for guaranteeing the success, sustainability and longevity of the project.

Finally, based on the knowledge gained by stakeholders involved in the process, policy proposals on a , for example, public interest litigation system as well as a number of case studies of Guizhou best practice were prepared and submitted to legislative organs on local and national level.