Recently, the 4th East Asian Environmental History Conference, entitled "Ecological Footprint of Civilization: East Asia and the World," was held at Nankai University in Tianjin. The conference was jointly organized by the East Asian Society for the History of Environment and the China Society for Environmental Sciences and other academic groups. Historian, archaeologist, ecologist, geographers, environmental scientists, environmental jurists and other experts and scholars of relevant fields from Harvard University, Oxford University, Princeton University, Heidelberg University, Tokyo University, Kyoto University, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Hong Kong University , Taiwan Donghua University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nankai University, Fudan University, Renmin University of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other world-renowned universities and research institutes, attended the meeting. Professor Ke Jian, RIEL deputy director, was invited to attend this conference.

At the meeting, Professor Ke Jian delivered a speech entitled "The Flat World, Flatting Environmental Law & Disappeared History". During the opening discussion, Professor Ke Jian responded to the questions of history in the cultural context, the relationship between Chinese environmental laws and policies, and the role of party rules in environmental protection.