About us

1000013248It is with a heavy heart that we inform the Academy community of the death of Dr. Emily Webster. Most recently, Emily was employed at Cambridge University as an Assistant Professor in Environmental Law. She was also an Official Fellow of Queens’ College and Director of Studies in the Department of Land Economy. Previously, Emily completed her Masters in Transnational Law and PhD in Law at King’s College London. Her PhD was focused on the response of law to climate change. Alongside her PhD studies, Emily was a highly valued member of the teaching teams for tort and environmental law. 

Emily was an active and committed member of the environmental law academy, serving as a member of the Hughes Hall Centre for Climate Engagement, a Research Fellow for the Earth System Governance research project, and as a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. Emily’s exceptional research and teaching contributions will serve as a lasting testament to her unwavering dedication to furthering our understanding of the law and its role in fostering a sustainable planet. 

Within the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, Emily was a regular attendee of Academy Colloquia, and will be remembered as a genuine and warm colleague who was always willing to exchange ideas and welcome new scholars. Colleagues able to spend time with her at the most recent Colloquium in Joensuu will recall her distinguished presentation on private law structures to address the planetary crisis, and shared dialogue over her planned future research. 

CAO MingdeCAO Mingde, Distinguished Professor at China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), Ph.D of law at China Academy of Social Sciences, Vice President of China Association of Environmental Resources Law Research, member of the Advisory Committee at the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the P.R.C., Director of Climate Change and Natural Resources Law Research Center at CUPL, legal expert of All China Environment Federation (ACEF). He was a visiting scholar at Pace Law School from 2005 to 2006, Faculty of Law University of British Columbia 2012. He has earned LLM from Vermont Law School, and SJD from Elisabeth Law School at Pace University in U.S. He was honored the National Ten Outstanding Young Jurists Award in China by China Law Society in 2006. His area is environmental law, particularly specializing in energy and climate change law.

flower memorialIt is with tremendous sadness that we mourn the death of Associate Professor Anita Rønne who died on 13th December after a short illness.

Anita was employed at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen from 1985 and was a highly respected and well liked member of the IUCN Academy. Her expertise in Energy law, Climate Change Law and International Environmental Law meant that her work intersected with the work of many of our members and she was a good friend and colleague to many more.

Anita had many collaborators in Denmark and more widely and participated in numerous international research collaborations on both conferences and publications. She was a prolific researcher including classics such as “Energy Law in Europe – National, EU and International Regulation” of which she was a co-editor.

Carmen G. Gonzalez is a professor of law at Seattle University School of Law. She has published widely in the areas of international environmental law, human rights and the environment, environmental justice, trade and the environment, and food security. Professor Gonzalez was a Fulbright Scholar in Argentina, a U.S. Supreme Court Fellow, a visiting fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and a visiting professor at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in Nanjing, China. She served as the George Soros Visiting Chair at the Central European University School of Public Policy in Budapest, Hungary in Spring 2017 and as the Norton Rose Fulbright Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Houston Law Center in Fall 2017. Professor Gonzalez is member of the Board of Trustees of Earthjustice, and past president of the Environmental Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools. She has worked on environmental law capacity-building projects in Asia, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union, and has represented non-governmental organizations in environmental treaty negotiations. Professor Gonzalez is the co-editor of the highly acclaimed book, Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia (Utah State University Press, 2012). She is also the co-editor of International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015). Professor Gonzalez holds a BA from Yale University and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Atty. Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio is a lecturer at the University of Cebu in the Philippines teaching environmental law, public and private international law, legal research and writing, and human rights law. At the same time, she is the Faculty Adviser and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Research in Law and Policy. She is also one of the faculty members who acts as official representative to the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law (IUCNAEL). She is also a member of IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL). She is also one of the founders and managing trustee of the Philippine Earth Justice Center, Inc. (PEJC), which has filed several environmental cases in the Philippines, including the landmark decision of the Supreme Court in Resident Marine Mammals and Dolphins vs. Reyes where she is one of the two lawyers who were recognized as the stewards of the dolphins and whales of Tañon Strait Protected Seascape in Central Philippines against illegal oil exploration in a protected seascape.

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law announces with profound sadness the passing of Judge Christopher Gregory Weeramantry, Fellow of the IUCN Academy.

Judge Weeramantry passed away peacefully on January 5, 2017 at the age of 90 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Following is a special tribute to Judge Weeramantry written by his former assistant, Dr. Nilupul Gunawardena Somathilaka from the Hague, The Netherlands.

Christopher Gregory Weeramantry

(1926-2017)

Each and every nation treasures a selected band of very special sons and daughters; the eminently gifted ones in any given domain of human endeavour. Christopher Gregory Weeramantry will certainly go down in history as one of the greatest sons of Sri Lanka and as a Global Citizen of the highest order.

The surname Weeramantry is spoken of with respect throughout the country: Judge Christopher Weeramantry’s father Gregory and his elder brother Lucian earned their spurs in national history, but Christopher was to reach well beyond the national compound. He made his name, and that of his beloved Sri Lanka echo worldwide. None perhaps of the eminent legal and social minds, Sri Lanka gave birth to, ever exerted such an impact on global thought as he did. For there was a personal element to it as well. By virtue of his gentle, mild personality, his irresistible charm - topped by that enchanting smile – Christopher Weeramantry, with enviable ease, laced together strings of friends and admirers worldwide.

By: Professor Nick Robinson

wolfgangOn January 6, 2017, a cold winter’s day in Germany, under clear blue sky with bright sunshine, Wolfgang E. Burhenne’s life ended. He died with his daughter Raphaella, and her family at home, peacefully, in Germany. His family plans a memorial celebration of the life and work of Wolfgang Burhenne in the coming months. The funeral was private, for the family.

Wolfgang Burhenne’s passion for inventing laws to protect all manner of flora and fauna is legendary. More than any other single individual, he conceived and nourished laws for nature conservation and environmental stewardship across the Earth. He was as much at home in the Alps of Austria or Bavaria as he was in East Africa or the Arabian Penisula. He loved la chasse and nourished care for wild animals. At the same time, he devoted his life to building what the world now accepts as sustainable development, helping people and nature to live together in greater harmony. He was as much at home in the hallways of the United Nations in New York or Geneva as he was in parliamentary offices across Germany, as he was in the mountains and forests.