Analysing Local Environmental Disputes and Governance in Belt and Road Host Countries: Establishing Legitimacy through the Social License to Operate (SLO)

While the "Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)" infrastructure projects bring socio-economic benefits to host countries, they also come with the risk of triggering environmental issues within local environmental disputes and governance challenges. Utilizing a combination of theoretical analysis and case studies, this paper investigates the role of the Social License to Operate (SLO) framework in addressing environmental conflicts within Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure projects, and how the BRI environmental legal system can be utilised to help BRI projects gain SLOs from local residents in terms of environmental aspects. The findings propose an integrated governance model combining hard and soft law approaches, with specific recommendations for achieving this through improved host country environmental regulation, international investment agreements and oversight responsibilities for Chinese overseas investors, including enhanced public participation and improved environmental impact assessments.