Bernama
15 November 2013
BANGKOK — Legal responses to cross border threats from climate change, pollution, deforestation and the illegal trade in wildlife and timber are at the top of the agenda at a meeting of Chief Justices from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok, Thailand.
“Southeast Asia, one of the world’s most bio-diverse regions, faces huge shared environmental challenges, and the judiciary plays a critical role in addressing them,” said Kala Mulqueeny, Principal Counsel at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is a co-organizer of the event.
“The region’s judiciaries must also ensure that environmental laws are properly applied and that the judicial process in environmental matters is accessible and fair to all groups, particularly affected communities.” The Third ASEAN Chief Justices Roundtable on the Environment, which is gathering on Nov 15-18, provides an opportunity for the region’s Chief Justices and senior judiciary to come together to share experiences, and consider ways they can collaborate to enforce and even shape effective environmental law for the region.
ADB is convening the event with the Supreme Administrative Court of Thailand.