Archive News

We are thrilled to announce the dates for the 21st Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, scheduled for July 4-7, 2024! This year, our esteemed hosts at the Centre for Environment, Sustainability, and Climate Justice, located at Gujarat National Law University, have selected a captivating and pertinent theme: "Mission LiFE." This theme delves into the core principles of environmental sustainability and justice, as well as the pivotal role of communities in advancing these ideals.

We eagerly anticipate the opportunity to convene in Gandhinagar and engage in meaningful discussions surrounding these critical topics. We extend a warm invitation to all members of our community to join us for what promises to be an enriching and enlightening event. Learn more

The 12th Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law will be hosted by Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain, from 30 June to 5 July 2014. Please save the dates.

A Call for Papers will be sent out in the Fall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YBV8ELO_so

It is with deep sadness that the IUCN Academy has learned of the passing of Dr. Françoise Burhenne-Guilmin on Saturday, August 24th. She was a pioneer and lifelong champion for environmental law education, research and advocacy. She was instrumental in developing many of the international environmental law instruments which we teach in our courses today. Francoise was an ardent supporter of the IUCN Academy since its inception ten years ago and, as the Academy, we will proudly pass on her rich legacy to future generations.

The IUCN Environmental Law Centre in Bonn has created a tribute in her honour which details her remarkable achievements at http://cms.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/environmental_law/?13562/A-tribute-to-Francoise-Burhenne-Guilmin. Individual messages may be posted there.

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law


An exciting opportunity to strengthen environmental law collegial links with Australia and New Zealand

Colleagues coming to Waikato for the 2013 IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium may enjoy the opportunity to strengthen links with fellow environmental lawyers in Australia while exploring a selection of urban, coastal and rural landscapes. An exciting post-Colloquium programme, designed to stimulate collaboration and to give colleagues ‘a taste of Australia’ has been designed.

As many Colloquium attendees will be passing through Sydney on their return journey from New Zealand, we have organised a programme to capitalise on this. Delegates will participate in a full day field trip to the University of Western Sydney where peri-urban environmental issues are a focus and this will be followed by a Reception and Panel Discussion back in Sydney City with colleagues from the University of Technology Sydney. Delegates will then have the opportunity to see some of Australia’s fabulous coastline, with a bus tour to the University of New England in Armidale via Port Macquarie. We will also travel via Dorrigo where environmental land use conflict issues have emerged in recent times. Along the way, there will be opportunities to witness stunning scenery, and to interact further with colleagues. Following our arrival in Armidale, delegates will participate in a two-day symposium on land use change law and policy.

The Australian Side Event organizers look forward to a leisurely and enjoyable opportunity to build on the collegial links which will be created and strengthened by your attendance at Waikato.

For more detailed programme information, and online registration, please visit: www.une.edu.au/aglaw/environmentallawsymposium/ or email Amanda Kennedy: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Final Program

He Tapuwae: footprints left on the land, symbolizes the human journey into new territory as we explore and develop our world. This Colloquium will therefore focus on key emerging themes of international, comparative and domestic environmental law and our journey in responding to them. The experience of low lying coast and island communities, for example, reflects the fact that at the heart of environmental pressures and conflicts lie frequently fractious relationships and interactions between power and vulnerability. All around the world, there are deep tensions, frequently, between vastly different understandings of how to live as human beings in the complex ecologies in which we find ourselves and with which we are co-formed.

Local and traditional communities across the world share multiple forms of environmental vulnerability. Indigenous peoples in the critically endangered forests; communities suffering from the effects of irresponsible mining or hazardous wastes; subsistence farmers whose resources are degraded or appropriated without fair recompense. A wide range of human communities suffer from forms of deep environmental injustice in the name of 'business as usual'. Meanwhile, innumerable predations affect animal populations and the fragile ecosystems upon which all life on earth depends.

Those who depend most intimately and directly upon the living world for their physical and cultural existence tend to suffer most from environmental destruction and degradation. While all of human life depends upon the living world, communities vulnerable to the socio-cultural effects of environmental degradation suffer particular and well-documented forms of environmental injustice, exclusion and marginalisation. This IUCN Academy Colloquium invites participants to address this challenge and the various ways in which law could more effectively 'speak truth to power'.

Our hope, as organisers, is that members of the Academy will contribute to a critique of environmental injustice and offer 'sacred footsteps' into new frontiers of environmental justice. We hope for fresh jurisprudential, doctrinal, institutional and tactical insights, and practical mechanisms for the delivery of resilience to vulnerable communities, animals and ecosystems.

For further details, please visit the website of the University of Waikato. Once we have further information on the Colloquium, we will update our website accordingly.

Final Program

The Draft Program is now available. For further details, please visit the website of the University of Waikato. Once we have further information on the Colloquium, we will update our website accordingly.

The IUCN Academy was featured in the October 2012 North America issue of the International Innovation Magazine. Click here to download the article.