Photo: SPDATherefore, the 16 students participating in this first edition of the SPDA Environmental Legal Clinic Workshop are young people who successfully graduated from the 23rd edition of the Environmental Law Workshop (TDA) and stood out for their research articles on various environmental issues. These students come from academic backgrounds in Law, Environmental Engineering, Biology, and Social Communication.
In this context, Carol Mora, Director of the Environmental Policy and Governance Program at SPDA, noted that since this workshop is a continuation of the TDA, it offers young participants the opportunity to bring their conceptual knowledge to life:
"The TDA has aimed to continue generating and managing knowledge, while inspiring young people to remain committed to the public and collective good, and to environmental rights (...) Now, this clinical workshop will complete that virtuous circle—where they learned conceptual elements—and allow them to see how those concepts come to life as they work to resolve real cases. What they learned during the 23rd edition of the TDA will now begin to make even more sense," said Carol Mora during the workshop's opening session.
Photo: SPDA About the Clinic Methodology of the Workshop
This first SPDA Environmental Legal Clinic Workshop will be conducted using the clinical methodology. This model will allow students to move from a passive learning role to a more critical and proactive one—one that involves the formulation of concrete actions.
"The clinic is the materialization of environmental law. It's the shift from theory to practice, to pragmatism. It’s about applying the conceptual tools we, as lawyers—and those from other disciplines related to environmental law and the legal world—have learned. It’s about making that traditional theoretical education tangible and operational through tools and strategies," emphasized Carol Mora.
According to Carol Mora, this methodology will guide the 16 students to become agents of change:
"The sensitivity we have toward the world around us must become functional—it must be used to produce meaningful change (...). This is our first experience extending the TDA into a clinical workshop. So, you are the pioneers in this process. I’m confident that the model we establish here can be replicated in other universities across the country or in spaces aimed at strengthening learning capacities," she concluded.
Additional information:
The collaboration with the Environmental Legal Clinics Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean will help facilitate the exchange of experiences for youth training and contribute to strengthening environmental governance.
