Introducing Mediation Championship India 2025 — and our two winning posts

Kluwer Mediation Blog is pleased to spotlight the Mediation Championship India 2025 (MCI 2025), hosted by The PACT, and—alongside it—the MCI Mediation Blog Writing Contest, under which the two winning essays are being published on Kluwer Mediation Blog.

The Mediation Championship India 2025 is a competition designed as a “league of champions” for India’s exceptional negotiators and mediators, and described by its organisers as globally unique, exceptionally Indian.

Alongside the Championship, The PACT and the Kluwer Mediation Blog ran a Mediation Blog Writing Contest, inviting submissions (up to 1,000 words) on one of two themes: (i) climate conflicts and mediation in environmental governance, or (ii) geopolitics and peacebuilding—lessons for commercial mediation.

Over the next few days, we will publish two award-winning contributions:

1. “Negotiating Power via Process: Diplomatic Lessons for Mediation” explores what commercial mediators can borrow from international diplomacy when power imbalances are baked into the room. Using examples such as the Oslo Accords and the Havana talks, it argues that process design—sequencing, safeguards, and inclusion—can be a practical way to promote fairness without pretending power does not exist. 

    

2. “Environmental Governance in India – Can Mediation Help?” examines why mediation remains underused in environmental disputes in India and what might change that. It considers legal and institutional barriers (including the current statutory landscape) and points to domestic and international examples to make the case for mediation-enabled frameworks that can support transparent, multi-stakeholder environmental governance.