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Service Learning Experiences in the Master's Degree in Environmental Law

Environmental Law Clinic

  • Coordination: Maria Marquès i Banqué (maria.marques(ELIMINAR)@urv.cat)
  • Summary: One of the places where Law students can do their work experience programme is CEDAT, the Tarragona Centre for Environmental Law Studies, which contains the Environmental Law Clinic. In the field of Law, one of the most common types of international service learning programme is Clinical Legal Education, a global movement for social justice that involves students and teachers from all over the world. The services offered by students under the supervision of the institution's teaching staff include: the writing of legal reports and statements, the writing of local legislative proposals, and conciliation and mediation in environmental matters. Between the academic years 2005-2006 and 2017-2018, the Environmental Law Clinic worked on a total of 55 cases for 30 clients.

2007: Award of the Social Council of the URV to the Teaching Quality. Collective modality.

2018: Award of the Social Council of the URV to the Teaching Quality for the project Social Gardens at the URV: The environmental education to the social innovation. Collective modality coordinated by professorsÁngeles Galiana Saura, Maria Marqués Banqué and Susana Borràs Pentinat.

2018: Project award-winning with the distinction Jaume Vicens Vives to the Universitary Teaching Quality of the Generalitat de Catalunya for the project Social Gardens: Environmental education to the social innovation. Collective modality.

             

Final Master's Thesis - Strategies for the territorial conflict of European regulations on areas of natural interest that are not mandatory

  • Coordination: Aitana de la Varga Pastor (aitana.delavarga(ELIMINAR)@urv.cat)
  • Community organization:  Salvem la Platja Llarga i el Bosc de la Marquesa Platform.
  • Summary: In 2007 a complaint was made to the European Commission on the Extension of Areas of Natural Interest. The problem of the Punta de la Móra EIN (too small and isolated) was specified, taking the European Habitats Directive as a reference. The regulations are approved at the European level, but they are not mandatory and this is a territorial conflict. The student explores a possible legal solution to the protection of the area and the environment of the Long Beach in Tarragona. You can see the student's testimony on student video

Final Master's Thesis - The conflict over natural resources and the application of World Labor Organization Convention No. 169 in Guatemala

  • Coordination: Antoni Pigrau Solé (antoni.pigrau(ELIMINAR)@urv.cat)
  • Community organization: FRENA - Frente de Resistencia en Defensa de los Recursos Naturales y los Derechos de Los Pueblos de Guatemala.
  • Summary: This TFM is the result of a petition by the indigenous organization Frente de Resistencia en Defensa de los Recursos Naturales y Derechos de los Pueblos (FRENA), of San Pablo - Tacaná, Guatemala. FRENA proposes that the student write a legal report that will support the start of the micro-hydroelectric power plant project in the municipality of San Pablo. This report will be one of the first steps towards achieving the energy independence of the large hydroelectric power plants that have been massacring the land and population of Guatemala for so many years. FRENA's application proposes a specific content and is the study of the authorizations of licenses for the use of the rivers, on the one hand, and on the other, the licenses of construction of megaprojects hydroelectric without previous consultation, free and informed. This second part of the report, which will have to be drafted, aims to shed light on the protection that may be required in the face of this situation in which, in fact, they find themselves. The study that the student will carry out will be of an environmental and legal nature, and will serve to reinforce, with legal arguments, the struggle of FRENA and the people of Guatemala against the great international projects that exploit their natural resources.
  • 2021: Awards the Social Commitment Immaculada Sastre Miró of the URV in the Master's Thesis category.

Final Master's Thesis - Strategic planning for renewable energies

  • Coordination: Endrius Cocciolo (endrius.cocciolo(ELIMINAR)@urv.cat)
  • Community organization: SEO/BirdLife
  • Summary: The master's thesis (TFM) has been developed in service learning mode with the environmental NGO Sociedad Española de Ornitología, a Spanish partner of Birdlife International. The results of the work had to answer three questions:
    1. Is a strategic plan on renewable energy mandatory, in addition to the EIA of each project?
    2. What should be its content?
    3. Which Autonomous Community Do you have a strategic plan? Should this be regional or statewide?
    Scientific reports have warned of the impacts on biodiversity caused by industrial projects for the use of solar and wind energy. The impact on birds in general is a matter of special concern. The idea of implementing a strategic plan that regulates the deployment of renewable energy is being defended from multiple areas and with different approaches.

Final Master's Thesis - Legal actions in relation to plastic rejections of agricultural production

  • Coordination: Aitana de la Varga Pastor (aitana.delavarga(ELIMINAR)@urv.cat)
  • Community organization: Espai Verd Association.
  • Summary: The Espai Verd Association requested through the 8th social projects market the possibility of studying "legal actions in relation to plastic rejections of agricultural production". This proposal has been accepted in the framework of the Master's Degree in Environmental Law and the Master's Thesis, prepared by the student, will consist of the analysis of the problems raised, the study of the applicable regulations and the proposal of legal action in this regard.

Final Master's Thesis - Legal report of a micro-hydroelectric power plant project in Guatemala

  • Coordination: Antoni Pigrau Solé (antoni.pigrau(ELIMINAR)@urv.cat)
  • Community organization: FRENA - Frente de Resistencia en Defensa de los Recursos Naturales y los Derechos de Los Pueblos de Guatemala
  • Summary: During the summer of 2019, the student participated in an international cooperation project in Guatemala, organized by the URV Solidaria. Specifically, its activity took place in the offices of the International Commission of Jurists, which, under the direction of Lawyer Ramón Cadena, defend the right of access to justice and judicial independence. Here he was able to learn about the country's conflict, as well as people from indigenous communities who are suffering first-hand from the consequences of Guatemala's current economic and political system.
    Motivated by this experience, Raquel Llop visited the municipality of San Pablo - Tacaná, where she lives in one of the communities affected by the energy problem that has plagued the whole country for more than 20 years. Here he became aware of the struggle of the FRENA collective, which defends nature and human rights.
    Due to this link created last summer, FRENA proposes to the student to write a legal report that will support the start of the micro-hydroelectric power plant project in the municipality of San Pablo.
    This report will be one of the first steps towards achieving the energy independence of the large hydroelectric power plants that have massacred Guatemala's land and population for so many years.
    FRENA's application proposes a specific content and is the study of licensing authorizations for the use of rivers, on the one hand, and on the other, the construction licenses of mega hydroelectric projects without prior consultation, free and informed.
    This second part of the report, which will have to be drafted, aims to shed light on the protection that may be required in the face of this situation in which, in fact, they find themselves.
    The study that Raquel will carry out will be of an environmental and legal nature, and will serve to reinforce, with legal arguments, the struggle of FRENA and the people of Guatemala against the great international projects that exploit its natural resources.

Final Master's Thesis - Legal strategies to fight the environmental problem of overfishing on the Chocuan coast

  • Coordination: Andrea Rocio Torres Bobadilla (alexandre.moreno(ELIMINAR)@urv.cat)
  • Community organization: Center for Social Justice Studies of Tierra Digna
  • Summary: It is a project for the 2022-2023 academic year, which responds to the needs of: Center for Social Justice Studies in Tierra Digna, Colombia. The external tutor belongs to this organization and is its legal adviser. This is a TFM of the University Master's in Environmental Law which aims to review what have been the answers that have been given from environmental law to situations related to the environmental problem of overfishing. The work will start from an analysis at a global level, highlighting the strategies and legal tools that have led to a better response to these environmental threats, and will end up focusing on the Colombian context, specifically, on the possibilities of preparing a strategic litigation that attends to this reality on the Chocuan coast, in Colombia.

Final Master's Thesis - Comparative study of protection alternatives for the Serranía de San Lucas, departments of Antioquia and Bolívar (Colombia)

  • Coordination: Franco Hernán Gómez (antoni.pigrau(ELIMINAR)@urv.cat)
  • Community organization: International Action for Peace / Associació Campesina del Valle del Río Cimitarra
  • Summary: This is a TFM for the 2022-2023 course of the University Master's in Environmental Law whose object is a comparative study of possible alternatives for the protection of the "Serranía de San Lucas, in the departments of Antioquia and Bolívar, in Colombia ". The analysis will differentiate between areas not affected by human activities and areas already affected by mining, livestock or agricultural activities. The project responds to the needs of the Association, and the tutor belongs to this organization.