Highlights
APCEL's 2025 in review
This 2025 newsletter celebrates another exciting year for the Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL). APCEL hosted several high-profile events, including the Just Transition in Southeast Asia, the Roundtable on COP29, and the Ocean Futures Symposium, co-hosted with Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. These events allowed us to strengthen our local, regional and global partnerships and to foster collaboration on environmental law research and practice. We also welcomed our first Quadrature Climate Foundation (QCF) Fellow, Dr. Param Pandya. Our researchers have been busy and their work has received international recognition such as the European Society of International Law’s Collaborative Book Prize 2025 for Litigating Climate Change in the Global South (Oxford University Press, 2024) We are deeply grateful for the support of our collaborators, fellows, and partners, whose contributions has made 2025 of meaningful progress, and we invite you to read our amazing journey.
[APCEL Workshop] Past and Future Strategies for the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change
On 5-6 February, APCEL hosted a team of practitioners, campaigners, and scholars to discuss the way the past strategies of the movement for the Advisory Opinion should inform our future strategies for climate law and policy. The workshop featured discussions about the ways movement lawyering played a significant role in shaping the legal thought and practice during the Advisory Proceedings.
[Working Paper] Halfway There: Indonesia's Adat Law towards Right of Nature Frameworks, Case-Based Reflections from Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia
APCEL Senior Research Fellow Linda Yanti Sulistiawati's paper explores Indonesia's Adat-based approach to RoN through selected case studies, and compares it with the Philippines (e.g., the recognition of resident marine mammals in the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape) and Malaysia (e.g., the Sabah Nature Conservation Agreement). The study highlights the potential of Indonesia's existing Adat framework to evolve into a more robust system of environmental protection. It recommends legal reforms to formally recognise ecosystems as legal persons, enhance the integration of Adat law into national legislation, and promote judicial capacity-building on RoN principles.
[Policy Brief] Ocean Futures: Advancing Decarbonisation and Innovation in Shipping and Marine Biodiversity
Shipping, which carries about 90% of global trade, is vital for economic connectivity but also contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and marine biodiversity degradation. Addressing these impacts demands coordinated action across law, policy, technology, and industry. Against this backdrop, APCEL and Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi (SUAD) co‑hosted the international symposium “Ocean Futures: Advancing Decarbonisation and Innovation in Shipping and Marine Biodiversity through Law, Policy, and AI” on 14 October 2025. The symposium prompted three key thematic discussions: decarbonisation in global shipping; regulatory and operational approaches to marine biodiversity protection; and the transformative potential of artificial intelligence and robotics in improving ocean knowledge and conservation outcomes; which forms the foundation of this policy brief.
[APCEL Workshop] Biodiversity and Free Trade Agreements
On 22-23 Jan 2026, APCEL hosted a two-day workshop on Biodiversity and Free Trade Agreements that featured 14 early-career and established scholars from Asia, Europe and New Zealand. The symposium spotlights key aspects of the relationship between biodiversity loss and international trade law, including interactions with the international biodiversity regime, and the implementation of sustainability provisions, particularly those found in bilateral and regional trade agreements.
