On November 14, the 9th session of the series of introductory lectures on law of Wuhan University hosted by the law school of Wuhan University was held in Room 202, teaching building 4, Ministry of Arts and Science. The theme of the lecture was "response to the challenge of environmental problems: construction of ecological civilization and the progressive development of environmental law in China". Professor Ke Jian, the deputy director of the Research Institute of Environmental Law of Wuhan University, delivered the speech. All the 2019 undergraduate students from Wuhan University Law School attended the lecture.

At the beginning of the lecture, Prof.Kejian humorously introduced himself. He said that the main contents of the lecture would include three problems: the challenge of environmental problems and the situation of environmental protection in China, the construction of ecological civilization and Xi Jinping's thought of ecological civilization, and the development of the theory and practice of environmental law in China.

The first part was "the challenge of environmental problems and the situation of environmental protection in China". Prof. Ke pointed out that with the emergence of environmental problems, the problem of intergenerational equity also came to our life, which promoted the large-scale environmental protection movements and the development of environmental law. Prof. Ke further mentioned that we should not only protect the natural resources of Wuhan University, but also protect the historical buildings.

Next, Prof. Ke talked about the construction of ecological civilization and Xi Jinping's thought of ecological civilization. Prof. Ke introduced to us the measures taken by Japan, Germany and other countries on environmental protection. He explained the connotation of ecological civilization through the proposal of ecological civilization and the review of its developing process.

The third part of the lecture was about the development of the theory and practice of environmental legal system in China. The development of environmental law could be divided into two stages. The first stage was that the traditional legal departments had changed to meet the requirements of environmental protection. The second stage was that there were more and more national legislations on natural environmental protection.

Finally, Prof. Ke concluded that the severe situation of environmental protection of China determined the importance of ecological civilization construction, and the rule of law was undoubtedly the most important guarantee of ecological civilization construction.

In the Q&A, Long Xiaoling asked how the environmental law could perform a function in the face of large amount of environmental policies in China. Prof. Ke first talked about the western norms and functionalism, pointing out that these two dimensions should rely on the rule of law, and the rule of man can only be short-term but not long-term. Zheng Zixin asked how to protect the environment under different environmental value orientations. By analyzing the specific situation of the United States, Prof. Ke explained the two sides of interests and environmental protection to the students.

Prof. Ke taught a vivid introductory course of environmental law to the freshmen in a rigorous and humorous tone, which benefited the students greatly. He introduced environmental law around the three key words, that was, the situation of environmental protection, ecological civilization construction, and environmental legal system. He called on us to make contributions to environmental law and environmental protection. The lecture came to an end in warm applause.

Edited by Su Yi & Wu Liuqing