On December 8-9, 2025, Bob Percival and Bill Piermattei participated in a workshop hosted by the Center for Transnational Environmental Accountability (CTEA) in partnership with the University of Nairobi.
CTEA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting communities affected by Chinese international investments and climate change by promoting corporate and governmental transparency and pursuing public interest litigation. Founded by renowned environmental lawyer Jingjing Zhang, CTEA works with partners across Africa, Latin America, and Asia to bridge knowledge gaps between Chinese NGOs and Global South organizations while encouraging China to uphold international environmental and human rights obligations. A former groundbreaking litigation director at China’s first environmental law clinic, Jingjing now focuses on transnational environmental and climate accountability. She and CTEA continue to advance legal accountability and environmental justice for impacted communities worldwide.
The purpose of the workshop, was to continue the collaboration between UMD Carey Law’s Environmental Law Program and CTEA that began in the Fall of 2024 when UMD Carey Law and CTEA hosted a conference (Environmental Law Clinics and NGOs: Creating a Global Network, see: Environmental Law News: Environmental law experts from across the globe convene at Maryland Carey Law. The Nairobi workshop focused on efforts to bring together African NGOs and Environmental Law Clinics to form a regional network of environmental advocates.
The first day of the conference focused on environmental law clinics from around the world with presentations from:
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- Kenedy Kihangi Bindu (Université Libre de Pays de Grand Lacs, DRC)
- Chikosa Banda (University of Malawi)
- Robert Kibugi (University of Nairobi, Kenya)
- David Rossati (Vrije Universiteit)
- Bill Piermattei (UMD Carey Law)
- Andrea Dominguez (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)
- Songkrant Pongboonjun (Chiang Mai University, Thailand)
- Jingjing Zhang (CTEA founder)
The second day of the workshop featured presentations from NGOs in Africa, their work building civil society capacity and their collaboration with environmental law clinics. The second day of presentations focused on the importance of NGOs as a bridge between academia and civil society to advance public interest goals. Combined, both days highlighted the importance of expanding a regional clinic-NGO network in Africa to both build civil society capacity and provide an important opportunity to train the next generation of environmental advocates in Africa. The day was capped with Percival’s presentation at the University of Nairobi. Percival reviewed the evolution of global environmental law in the decades since the University of Nairobi hosted the second colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law in 2004.
The initiative launched at UMD Carey Law in September 2024 continues to build momentum. In addition to an emerging African network of environmental law clinics and NGOs, a Global Network of Environmental Law Clinics has emerged to further future collaboration, support institutions developing environmental law clinics and create a community of advocates supporting environmental justice in the climate change crisis. In addition, both the U.N. Environment Programme (building a Southeast Asia environmental clinic-NGO network) and the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law have both supported this emerging network of environmental clinics and their NGO clients. Both UMD Carey Law’s Environmental Law Program and CTEA have plans to continue this work through a further conference in Cape Town, South Africa at the IUCN Academy’s next Colloquium in December 2026.