Introduction

Climate Change (CC) is currently the most urgent and profoundly complex environment-related problem for the international community. Solutions are urgently needed in policy and governance to mitigate and reduce impacts. To promote international cooperation and ensure the effective implementation of CC agreements, the system of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), applying a “bottom-up” approach, was confirmed by the landmark Paris Agreement, 2016. Thus, there has been a wave of climate-specific legislative reform that has been sweeping across the globe over the last decade.

For Malaysia, addressing and responding to the Paris Agreement means that they have to strengthen their institutional and policy framework on CC; enhance information on CC decision-making; create partnerships to address CC; and develop a sustainable financial mechanism to address CC.

In order not to be caught behind, Malaysia needs Climate Change experts with both global knowledge and understanding on the local socio-economic development. The advancement in higher education needs to focus on producing academic leaders with the right blend of knowledge, skills and attitude to drive Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the right direction for sustainable development. 

Towards this objective, AIKOL researchers work under an international research project funded by Erasmus grant called the Erasmus+ CBHE Project ID618874_ccp-Law. The main goal is to look at developing and designing new curricula on climate change policy and law at LL.M level as well as creating a centre on climate change policy and law (CCP_Law).

Objectives

The objectives of this study are:

• To create a physical centre on climate change policy and law (CCP_Law); 
• To develop the CCP_LAW curriculum; 
• To seek accreditation and offer the course as a postgraduate diploma or as an LL.M. 

Members

This research project consists of an international consortium consisting of 2 higher education institutions (HEI) from Malaysia, two from Vietnam, two from India, one from UK, one from Spain and 2 research institutions from Greece. 

The team members from IIUM are the following:

1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maizatun Mustafa (Principal Researcher)
2. Prof. Dr. Farid Sufian Shuaib
3. Prof. Dr. Sharifah Zubaidah Syed Abdul Kader
4. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sonny Zulhuda
5. Dr. Wan Mohd. Zulhafiz bin Wan Zahari

CCPL Centre

The establishment of the Climate Change Policy and Law Centre (CCPLCC) is necessary to provide a space where prospective and registered students may converge and have discussions. The Centre will also host classes for the LLM Programme to be offered by the Centre. Such establishment is also meant to strengthen our capacity on research and curriculum design to ultimately deliver innovative education methodology and hybrid learning.

The activities of the Centre include:

1. Offering the postgraduate course of Master of Laws (LLM) in International Law (Climate Change) 
2. Research and publication on CC policy and law.
3. Organising events, conferences and seminars on CC policy and law.
4. Networking and organising meetings with partners and stake holders

Events and Activities

1. Welcoming meeting for all the grant recipients (12 January 2021)
2. Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) grant-holders´ meeting with the European Association of Erasmus Coordinators officials (25-29 January 2021).
3. Fact-finding meetings on the establishment of Climate Change Policy & Law Centre (15 & 28 July; 6 September 2021).
4. Desk survey on the existing LLM programmes on environment curriculum in Malaysia (September 2021).
5. Engagement with CCPL stakeholders through questionnaires (September 2021).
6. Erasmus CCPL Focus Group Forum on Climate Change Policy and Law Curriculum (virtual forum) (3 October 2021).
7. Designing CCPL programme accreditation plan (5-10 October 2021).
8. Meeting with HMH Law Centre, AIKOL on the accreditation and program launching plan (15 October 2021)
9. Organized Regional Conference and Roundtable On Climate Change Policy And Law on 03.11.2022

Resources and Publications

1. A Climate Change Policy and Law Programme Should Be Imbued with Experiential Learning to Ensure Full Realisation of the Crisis and What It Requires for the Resolution.

2. Mustafa, Maizatun and Alias, Intan Aidura (2021) Positive effects of green space, gardening. New Straits Times, 05 August 2021. 

3. Mustafa, Maizatun (2021) Ramadan a good time to adopt green habits. New Straits Times, 19 April 2021.

4. Mustafa, Maizatun (2020) Climate change litigation: a possibility for Malaysia? In: Climate change litigation in the Asia Pacific. Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, pp. 207-232. ISBN 978-1-108-47846-5

5. Mustafa, Maizatun (2020) Opinion: Will there be an end to water pollution? Malaysia Gazette, 11th September 2020.

6. Mustafa, Maizatun (2020) Review laws to protect water sources. New Straits Times, 10th September 2020.

7. Mustafa, Maizatun (2020) NST Leader: Danger on the hill. New Straits Times, 10th September 2020.

8. Mustafa, Maizatun (2020) Malaysia’s environmental laws don’t relate to climate change — Academician. Borneo Post Online.

9. Mustafa, Maizatun (2019) Malaysia kekal komited tangani isu iklim dunia. In: Komentar isu-isu Antarabangsa perspektif Malaysia Edisi Kedua. International Law Unit, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai Negeri Sembilan, pp. 22-24. ISBN 978-967-5852-43-5

10. Mustafa, Maizatun and Sufian, Azlinor and Syed Abdul Kader, Sharifah Zubaidah (2019) Progression of policies and laws towards addressing climate change and sustainability issues: recent initiatives from Malaysia. In: Human and environmental security in the era of global risks. Springer, New Zealand, pp. 133-147. ISBN 978-3-319-92827-2

11. Ghazali, Farahdilah and Ansari, Abdul Haseeb and Mustafa, Maizatun and Wan Zahari, Wan Mohd Zulhafiz (2019) Renewable energy development and climate change mitigation in Malaysia: a legal study. Journal of Sustainability Science and Management, 14 (3). pp. 110-116. E-ISSN :2672-7226

Contact

To communicate with us relating to this research, please contact:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maizatun Mustafa at maizatun@iium.edu.my 

For further information on the project, please consult the official project website at https://ccp-law.eu/