Senior justices from Thailand visited Land and Environment Court of New South Wales to better understand court policies on adjudicating environmental cases.

Challenge

Over the last decade, court systems across Asia have been working to strengthen institutional arrangements and to build capacity to cope with the increasing number of environmental cases. As one approach, countries have established specialized courts, specialized court divisions (also known as “green benches”), independent tribunals, ombudsmen or special com-missions to resolve environmental disputes. Through the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network (AECEN), with funding support from USAID, Thailand’s Courts of Justice has established green benches at the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, though are still faced with implementation challenges due to outdated court procedures and policies and limited judicial capacity.

Initiative

To help develop new policies and procedures to support green benches, the Courts of Justice and Supreme Court of Thailand established a “twinning” partnership with the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales of Australia with coordination assistance from AECEN and funding assistance from USAID. Over the last two years, both courts have engaged in a series of technical exchanges and court visits to support the formulation of new court policies and practices for the environment in Thailand.

Results

Through their partnership with the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, the Thai Courts of Justice developed a new draft legal framework on environmental adjudication, and new draft rules on expert witnesses and on mediation for environmental adjudication. While the Thai courts studied the Australian experience in detail, they adopted procedures that reflect needs in Thailand. To finalize their new policies and practices, the Supreme Court organized a meeting of judges from a range of countries – Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines and the United States – to gather feedback and share ideas on Thailand’s proposed approach. Thailand will formally adopt the new policies and procedures in 2011.