Keywords

1 Introduction

Cross-cutting themes are “important curriculum content which is to be covered across subjects (or disciplines or learning areas), rather than being taught and learned in one particular subject.”Footnote 1 They deal with general principles such as democracy, equality, sustainability, and good governance.Footnote 2 They relate to and must be considered within other categories to be appropriately addressed, such as gender, age, equality, disability, etc.Footnote 3 Cross-cutting themes are frequently covered across several established subjects, rather than being taught and learned in one subject only. Studying cross-cutting themes can stimulate interdisciplinary thinking and mutual learning, relating to subjects such as gender issues, peace education, and education for sustainable development.Footnote 4

Cross-cutting themes as curriculum content are gaining more and more importance.Footnote 5 However, existing legal study programs do not recognize their significance.Footnote 6 Knowledge of different topics and areas is essential for both students and employers and other actors (from civil movements and associations, to political and legislative actors). As stated by Graham, legal education plays an essential but under-acknowledged role in environmental change, legal practicioners and policymakers, since their work can ban and legitimate specific environmental practices. Furthermore, he emphasizes that legal education often excludes environmental considerations.Footnote 7 Other authors point out that law schools have been shifting or diversifying environmental law teaching to keep up with the times, but still, law school curricula need to change, systematically promote, and implement education for sustainable development and sustainability topics in study programs.Footnote 8 Education for sustainability depends on the teacher’s motivation and ability to integrate it into current curricula, so university teachers face new demands and challenges.Footnote 9 Teachers and professors are recognized when we talk about education for sustainable development and environmental law as the most important actors of change and promotion of sustainable development.Footnote 10 “Their knowledge and competences are crucial for the restructuring of educational processes and institutions in the direction of sustainability.”Footnote 11

As Adelle, Hertin and Jordan point out, “sustainable development is a quintessentially cross-cutting issue that necessitates a high degree of policy coordination.”Footnote 12 The issue of sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant in many professions, expanding and integrating into various social spheres. Addressing sustainability issues requires an integrated perspective and core knowledge from several disciplines. Therefore, many faculties and other educational institutions “have been engaged in incorporating and institutionalizing sustainable development (SD) into their curricula, research, operations, outreach, and assessment and reporting.”Footnote 13 However, as Lozano further describes, and based on the data of different authors, sustainable development is still a new idea in most universities. Furthermore, “while law schools have begun to address sustainable development, they have not done so in any organized or systematic way”Footnote 14 which is also confirmed by the review of implementation plans of law faculties in the Republic of Croatia, presented in this paper.

Still, it should be remembered that work in environmental law is more comprehensive than in the beginning, and some new professions are emerging.Footnote 15 It is also emphasized that the relevant areas of the natural and social sciences should be included in environmental law courses, and other environmentally relevant disciplines must also interact with legal scholars.Footnote 16 The available literature also suggests that the extent to which a country is developed plays a prominent role in defining how successful its environmental education programs can be, with exceptions.Footnote 17

Issues of sustainability and environmental protection are also important for young lawyers. In this chapter, the authors show the importance of environmental law in education and how environmental protection issues are represented in the study program at law faculties in the Republic of Croatia: in Osijek, Rijeka, Split, and Zagreb. Other related activities carried out at these faculties will also be highlighted. The chapter furthermore presents the results of a survey conducted at J. J. Strossmayer University, Faculty of Law Osijek, in which students expressed their opinions on environmental protection, whether they consider it important to them, and if they should be educated in more depth about the subject.

2 Legal Regulation of Environmental Protection in the European Union and Legal Education

Environmental protection is being promoted through an interdisciplinary legal approach and the application of legal rules from various different established legal domains. These include international, European, constitutional, traffic, administrative, financial, criminal and civil law, as well as various forms of supervision of the behaviour of subjects in terms of compliance with regulations, prevention of damages, and sanctioning of illegal behaviour. In this sense, an excellent knowledge of legal regulations is necessary for lawyers working in this field, especially when it comes to international, European and national sources of law.

The fight against climate change and pollution prevention requires greater ambition, increased climate actions by the EU and the Member States, considerable financial resources,Footnote 18 as well as extensive legal changes. In 2019 the European Commission adopted ‘The European Green Deal’,Footnote 19 a package of political initiatives with the ultimate goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. In 2021, after a series of non-binding documents, the EU adopted the ‘European Climate Law’,Footnote 20 which bindingly sets the goal of making the EU climate neutral by 2050. In the same year, the European Commission presented a series of legislative proposals in the Communication ‘Fit for 55’,Footnote 21 including a series of proposals for revising the EU’s legislation.Footnote 22 To put them in practice, these ambitious plans will require many lawyers educated in environmental law issues.

Ofak, while stating that the European environmental law is one the most challenging, distinguishes three groups of challenges in European environmental protection law.Footnote 23 The first is related to the translation of the legal acquis into the Croatian language, the second regarding the quality of regulations and their preparation, and the third is the application of these regulations in practice. In dealing with them, lawyers educated in environmental protection law are prerequisites.

The European Commission ensures that all Member States properly apply EU environmental law and launches infringement procedures when this is not the case. “With over 200 legal acts to monitor in 27 Member States, this is a major task in the environmental field.”Footnote 24 The most numerous procedures conducted against the Member States of the EU are in the field of environmental law.Footnote 25

The concept of sustainable development is relatively recent and represents one of the fundamental guidelines in environmental protection policy. The importance of sustainable development is evident because it is mentioned in the constitutions and numerous legal provisions of many countries.Footnote 26 Nevertheless, the concept is defined differently.Footnote 27 As stated in Agenda 21,Footnote 28 it comprises three main components: society, economy, and ecology.Footnote 29 Agenda 21 contains provisions on “Establishing a cooperative training network for sustainable development law”Footnote 30 (chapter 8.20). Boer suggests that this provision has been a starting point for a range of programmes.Footnote 31 The role and importance of the faculties in that process was emphasized. “Education and training should equip young people with the skills to facilitate employability in the common market, especially by enabling them to respond to the changing circumstances the labour market is prone to because a highly qualified and flexible workforce is seen as the backbone of a strong economy.”Footnote 32 However, curricular reform in the Republic of Croatia, which should modernize school curricula and teaching methods is still in progress. It was identified in the European Commission’s Education and Training Monitor 2017 for Croatia as one of the major challenges.Footnote 33 Acceptance and alignment with the concept of sustainable development will involve the adoption and amendments of law, as well as the whole range of new skills besides educated and professional staff. Legal education must also adapt and consider changes in law, work, and society to prepare young lawyers for the labour market.Footnote 34

3 Environmental Law in the Study Programmes in the Republic of Croatia

Starting from Graham’s conclusion: “If the cradle of legal thought and practice is the law school, then the question of the contribution of legal education to environmental sustainability is clear”,Footnote 35 and the fact that legal education often excludes environmental protection issues, we will present the issues of sustainable development, environmental protection, climate change, etc. that are included in the study programmes of law faculties in the Republic of Croatia (i.e. J. J. Stossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Law Osijek; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law; University of Split, Faculty of Law and the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law).

3.1 Josip Juraj Stossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Law Osijek

As for education and information about sustainable development and environmental law, students receive a lot of information while attending the compulsory courses in the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate Study Programme, since the topic is interdisciplinary. In the 9th semester, students choose two out of 38 elective courses. Two are directly related to sustainable development and environmental law, i.e. Environment and Sustainable Development and Traffic and Environmental Law.Footnote 36 Within the framework of the Professional Administrative Study Programme,Footnote 37 students can choose the following elective courses: Agrarian and Water LawFootnote 38 and Environmental Law.Footnote 39 In the same way, topics related to traffic and the environment are discussed within Management of Public Transportation, an elective course in the Specialist Professional Graduate Study Programme in Public Administration.Footnote 40 Furthermore, in the course State Administration and Special Administrative Procedures that is offered within the State Administration module,Footnote 41 students can analyse and compare the General Administrative Procedure ActFootnote 42 as a general act and special administrative procedures according to the Environmental Protection Act.Footnote 43There is one elective course, i.e. Environmental Protection and Social Justice, in the Graduate University Study Programme in Social Work.Footnote 44 There are four elective courses in the Doctoral Study Programme: Sustainable Transport, Environmental Taxes, Sustainable Development—Legal Aspects and Legal Aspects of Environmental Protection.Footnote 45 Transport and Environmental Law and Environmental Protection are courses offered in English to ERASMUS students.Footnote 46

The Faculty of Law Osijek is the only faculty in the Republic of Croatia that has the Green Legal Clinic and the Energy Efficiency Green Library.Footnote 47 In 2022, the Faculty also participated in the project “Environmental Legislation and Sustainable Economic Development—the State of Play in Serbia and Experiences of the Croatian EU Membership” in cooperation with the Institute of European Studies from the Republic of Serbia.

The Faculty of Law Osijek encourages students to write and thus publishes an annual journal called “Paragraf”, which contains the best student papers dealing with legal and social issues. The thematic issue relating to law and environmental protection will be published in 2023.Footnote 48 Students are encouraged and supported to take part in conferences.Footnote 49 Let us also mention the “EU and Comparative Law Issues and Challenges” (ECLIC) conference organised by the Faculty, whose topic for 2023 is also related to the environment: “Digitalization and Green Transformation of the EU”.Footnote 50

3.1.1 Green Legal Clinic of the Faculty of Law Osijek

The role of legal clinics is indispensable to the improvement of legal education. The importance of legal clinics is manifested in numerous advantages, such as improving the quality of the teaching process, working on practical examples and considering legal problems, preparation and active participation, teamwork, greater availability of legal aid and more effective legal protection, a clearer insight into the social environment in which law is applied, and strengthening awareness of the role of lawyers in practice.Footnote 51 Three legal clinics operate at the Faculty of Law Osijek, the youngest of which is the Green Legal Clinic (founded in January 2021).Footnote 52 It was founded to ensure the necessary and appropriate protection of nature and the environment and the legal protection of citizens (free legal aid), as well as provide students with opportunities for adequate professional, scientific and social activation in the aforementioned areas. Numerous activities were organized in which professors involved in the work of the Green Legal Clinic and student clinicians participated.Footnote 53 Cooperation with the Association for Nature and Environmental Protection “Green Osijek”Footnote 54 (and other stakeholders responsible for this area) is particularly significant. The importance of cooperation is evident in solving specific problems in the field of nature and environmental protection, as well as other forms of socially useful learning.

3.2 University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law

Comparing the offer of “green” courses, it was established that at the Faculty of Law in Rijeka there is one elective course, Marine Environment Protection Law, which is directly related to sustainable development and environmental law. It is offered on four different study programmes: the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Study of Law,Footnote 55 the Undergraduate Professional Study Programme in Administration Studies,Footnote 56 the Specialist Graduate Professional Study in Public Administration,Footnote 57 and the Postgraduate Doctoral Study Programme in the field of social sciences, the area of law.Footnote 58 The course is also taught in English.

3.3 University of Split, Faculty of Law

At the Faculty of Law in Split, there are several electives courses at all levels of study. Two—Criminal Environmental Protection and The Right to Protect the Marine Environment—in the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University StudyFootnote 59; The Right to Environmental Protection in the Professional Administrative StudyFootnote 60; and an elective course Health Ecology and Occupational Medicine in the Postgraduate Specialist Study Programme in Medical Law.Footnote 61 In 2022, they launched the lifelong learning programme “Environmental protection issues—yesterday, today, tomorrow?Footnote 62 Courses offered in English to Erasmus students are as follows: Environmental Criminal Law and Marine Environment Protection Law in the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Study of LawFootnote 63 and Environmental Law in the Professional Administrative Study Programme.Footnote 64

3.4 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law

In the fifth year of the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Study of Law (Constitutional and administrative module) students have a mandatory course Environmental Law.Footnote 65 Within the selected module, students can also choose an elective course EU Climate Change Law.Footnote 66 Students also have a course Environmental Law in the Professional Undergraduate Study of Public Administration and Taxation.Footnote 67 The doctoral study programme in legal sciencesFootnote 68 has been completely reformed, and there are no longer as many modules/specializations as before, but there are a couple of doctoral candidates with research topics in environmental law.

4 Survey on the Attitudes of Students

For this paper, a survey on the attitudes of students towards environmental law topics was conducted at the Faculty of Law Osijek in December 2022. Responses were collected anonymously, voluntarily and online. The survey covered the perception of environmental protection, the role of law in environmental protection, and information about environmental protection that one could receive at the Faculty of Law Osijek. A total of 192 students completed the survey (81.3% women and 18.8% men),Footnote 69 from all years of study (16.1% 1st year, 18.2% 2nd year, 21.4% 3rd year, 18.8% 4th year and 25.5% 5th year) and, as Table 1 shows, all study programmes (49.5% Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate Study Programme “Law”, 19.3% Professional Administrative Study Programme, 15.1% Professional Graduate Study of Public Administration and 8.9% Undergtaduated Study of Social Work, 6.3% Graduated Study of Social Work), 52.6% of the respondents had the status of a full-time student, and 47.4% in the status of a part-time student.

Table 1 Number of the surveyed students by study programme
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Answering the questions which courses at the Faculty of Law Osijek where covering environmental protection, sustainable development, climate change or the like, students mostly listed subjects such as: Maritime and General Transport Law, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Public Transport Management, Environmental Law, International Law, Administrative Science, European Public Law but also Economic Policy, Political Economy, Global Social Work and Society Development and Sociology, see Fig. 2. Therefore, also courses were mentioned that do not necessarily have ecology in their title.

Students think environmental protection topics are very important (34.4%), or important (58.9%). 6.3% of students are very interested, and 63% of students (see Fig. 1) are interested in topics related to environmental protection, sustainable development, climate change, etc. In comparison, 5.2% are not interested, or 2.6% are not interested at all. As Fig. 3 shows, only 17.2 of students think that the topics of environmental protection are sufficiently represented at the Faculty of Law Osijek (41.1% respond that they are not, and 41.7% that they are neither important nor unimportant).

Fig. 1
A horizontal bar graph of percentage values of 5 responses. The values are as follows, Extremely interested, 6.3%. Interested, 63%. Neither interested nor uninterested, 22.9%. Not interested, 5.3%. Not at all interested, 2.6%.

Are you interested in topics related to environmental protection, sustainable development, climate change, etc.?

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Fig. 2
12 text boxes for maritime and general transport law, administrative law, constitutional law, public transport management, environmental law, international law, administrative science, European public law, economic policy, political economy, global social work and society development, and sociology.

Courses where environment-related topics are considered

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Fig. 3
A pie chart with 3 sectors for 3 responses. The labels and their values are as follows. No, 41.1%. Neither agree nor no disagree, 41.7%. Yes, 17.2%.

Do you think that the environmental protection topics are sufficiently represented at the Faculty of Law Osijek?

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According to 80.7% of the surveyed students, the Faculty of Law Osijek should design new forms of education related to environmental protection, primarily through workshops and then guest lectures, as part of regular lectures, but also by introducing a compulsory course.

Students recognized the role of law in environmental protection, since 25% of them believe that law and the legal profession are extremely important, and 66.7% state that they are important in environmental protection. For 6.8% of them, it is neither important nor unimportant, for 1% it is not important, and for 0.5% it is not important at all (see Fig. 4). Surprisingly, 44.9% of students do not know the European Green Deal, despite the fact that its publication was widely followed in professional and scientific literature and the media. It is interesting that for 81.8% of students, knowledge about environmental protection is necessary for law students and future lawyers, yet only 62.6% are interested in additional education related to environmental protection law.

Fig. 4
A donut chart for 5 responses. The labels and their values are as follows. Not important at all, 0.5%. Not important, 1.0%. Neither important nor unimportant 6.8%. Important, 66.7%. Extremely important, 25.0%.

The role of law and the legal profession in environmental protection

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From the survey, we conclude that the students recognize the importance of environmental law and related education, but that they still need encouragement to increase activity and work in this area.

5 Conclusion

Law faculties as well as law professors and academics in different fields of law connected to environmental law, will have a significant role in creating and educating sustainable development. Legal education can contribute significantly to developing young lawyers, who will be future lawmakers capable of changing legal norms. Environmental issues and the concept of sustainable development must become part of the educational curriculum and study programs. Directions, reforms, and changes within the higher education system must consider the above as crucial and inevitable (integration into existing courses/programs, involvement of new ones).

Within the framework of the European Union, which has proclaimed its willingness to become a leader in environmental protection and the achievement of climate neutrality, there will be a substantive need for lawyers who work on adopting and amending a large number of documents and regulations. They will also monitor their implementation and enforcement. The deadline for achieving European environmental goals is ambitious and short, while it seems that environmental protection topics are still insufficiently represented in the existing curricula of faculties. Therefore, students and professors should be encouraged to receive additional education, both in postgraduate studies and lifelong education, as well as through dedicated workshops, lectures, etc.

As has been demonstrated in this chapter, the Faculty of Law Osijek should be considered an example of good practice related to environmental law. This research showed that professors at the Faculty of Law Osijek, whose courses do not have any word associated with the environment in their titles, also devote part of their lectures to environment-related topics. Moreover, a large number of professors are members of the Green Legal Clinic, the only one in the Republic of Croatia. This confirms their interest in environmental topics, their willingness and desire to acquire new knowledge, not only in the legal field, within the framework of Green Legal Clinic activities, and pass it on to students. The Faculty of Law Osijek encourages students to do scientific research, publish papers, and participate in various conferences. Some of the students decided to research environmental protection topics, publish their findings and apply for participation in conferences, thus showing interest in acquiring new and additional knowledge. In this way, they study these important issues, so such activities should be encouraged that strengthen their scientific, research and professional work. However, the authors have noticed that a large number of environment-related conferences organized in recent years (outside law faculties) do not perceive environmental protection as a legal category. Environmental protection is most often mentioned in the context of technology, agriculture, food production, water management, forestry, infrastructure, and chemical engineering. In this sense, further work is required to raise awareness of environmental protection as a legal category and strengthen the role of environmental law in protecting nature.