About us

(2006-2016)

José Rubens Morato Leite is a professor at the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Santa Catarina/Brazil, within which he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate (MSc and PhD) courses on environmental law and related subjects. He is also a fellow of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq/Brazil), the President of the Law for a Green Planet Institute (Brazilian Non-Profit Organization) and the Coordinator of the "Environmental Law and Ecological Politics in the World Risk Society" Research Group at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. 

Mr. Morato Leite holds an MSc degree in Law from the University College London/UK and a PhD in Environmental Law from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, with a doctoral internship at the Faculty of Law from the University of Coimbra/Portugal. Besides, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Alicante/Spain (from 2013 to 2014), at the University of Florida/U.S. (from 2008 to 2009) and at the Centre of Environmental Law – Macquarie University/Australia (from 2005 to 2006). 

Furthermore, he has done research in a wide range of topics including civil liability for environmental damages, environmental hermeneutics, constitutional environmental law, biodiversity law and solid waste law; acting as a coordinator of research projects - supported and funded by governmental bodies such as the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES/Brazil) and the CNPq - within these subjects. 

He has also published several books, book's chapters and peer-reviewed articles in environmental law related topics. The full list of publications is available at http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/visualizacv.do?id=K4781165U6&idiomaExibicao=2.

Melissa Powers is an Associate Professor of Law at Lewis & Clark Law School.  She teaches energy law, climate change law, the Clean Air Act, torts, and administrative law. Her research interests include energy law (with a specific focus on laws designed to promote renewable energy), domestic policies aimed at mitigating climate change, and U.S. pollution control laws. She is also interested in comparative law study in each of these areas.

Melissa is a Governing Board member of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, representing the North American and Caribbean region.  She was the co-chair of the Research Committee of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law and is currently the ex-officio representative from the Governing Board serving on the Research Committee.  Melissa has also taught as a visiting professor at several schools, including the University of Trento, Italy, in 2008, 2011 and 2012, the University of Navarra, Spain, in 2011, and the University of Maine School of Law in 2007.

Melissa began her legal career as an attorney at public interest environmental law firms doing pollution control litigation. From 2003-2008, Melissa was a Clinical Professor at the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center (PEAC), the environmental law clinic at Lewis & Clark.

Elizabeth Kirk is a Reader in Law at the University of Dundee. Prior to joining the Dundee University she qualified as a solicitor in Scotland and worked as a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia.

Elizabeth is co-editor of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law's journal - "The eJournal".  She also sits on the Managing Board of the European Environmental Law Forum.

Elizabeth is Director of the Law PhD programme at the University of Dundee and supervises several PhD students working across areas including International Law of the Sea, International Environmental Law, International Law, Public and Stakeholder Engagement in Environmental Regulation.  She also teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.  Her courses cover International Law, International Law of Marine Resources, Ecosystems and International Law, and International Law and Security.

Elizabeth's research focuses on adaptability within legal regimes, in particular the ability of regimes to respond to changing circumstances, scientific understanding or actors. Her work, which has been supported by a number of research grants from various funding bodies in the UK and Europe spans both the international law of marine governance (and marine resources) and domestic environmental law.  It demonstrates that traditional theoretical distinctions between national and international law are irrelevant in explaining the production of normativity (that is, the processes by which individuals come to regard rules as binding). Instead the key to normativity (and hence compliance) lies in the role played by a variety of actors in shaping the development of legal norms, through formal participation in legislative decision-making, direct and indirect lobbying, the linking of disparate legal regimes and the creation of new cultural norms, which influence the development of legal norms. 

Elizabeth is also experienced in delivering advice to intergovernmental, non-governmental and governmental bodies, drawing upon her academic expertise in doing so. 

Professor Amber Prasad Pant has taught almost 37 years at Tribhuvan University (TU) and was promoted to Professor of Law in 2002. He has however started teaching environmental law only since 1994. He holds the Degree of Ph.D in Law for his research on Common Environmental Problems. He was also a recipient of Senior Fulbright Fellowship for Post- Doctoral research on Transboundary Water Resources Law at Washington University in St.Louis School of Law during 2002 to 2003. He also attended the Four Weeks Training of Trainers Programme for Professors of Environmental Law of Asia Pacific Region at National University of Singapore in 1997 and thereafter associated with IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, and IUCN Academy of Environmental Law since its luncheon. All these have helped Prof .Pant to contribute to the development of Environmental Law in Nepal in many ways such as by curricula design, research and teaching in LL.B, B.A.LL.B, LL.M and Ph.D. He has also assisted as advisor and researcher to Environmental Law NGOs and to Government of Nepal. He established Centre for Environmental Law (CEL) TU during his term as Campus Chief and introduced B.A.LL.B.programme and reformed overall legal education during his term as Dean of Faculty of Law TU. He is a founder Chair and now a Member as Environmental Law Expert of CEL Nepal and has also served as Co-ordinator of Environmental Law Committee of Nepal Bar Association. He is Senior Advocate, and also an Executive Member of SAARCLaw which is a regional body of Professors, Lawyers and Judges of South Asia. He has done several researches and published many articles in the field of Environmental Law. He is now involved in teaching and research on international environmental law, land use law, climate change law, energy law, biodiversity law and law dealing with pollution.

LYE Lin Heng [LLB (Hons)NUS, LLM (King’s College, London), LLM (Harvard)] is Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL), Law Faculty, National University of Singapore (NUS).  She was former Vice-Dean and Director of Graduate Studies at the NUS Law School. She chairs  the NUS  multi-disciplinary program on environmental management - the MSc (Env Mgt) [MEM] Programme, hosted by the School of Design and Environment. She teaches Comparative Environmental Law and Property Law to law students, and Environmental Law to students in the MEM programme at NUS. She is Visiting Associate Professor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.   She is a former Vice-Chair of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law and co-chaired its Teaching Committee.

Prof. QIN Tianbao is the Luojia Professor of Law, and serves as the Director of the Research Institute of Environmental Law (RIEL) and the Associate Dean for the School of Law, Professor of China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies, Wuhan University, China; He is the Secretary-General of Chinese Society of Environment and Resources Law (CSERL); and a Lead Author and Review Expert of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

He is a Legislative Expert for China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Agriculture, and Hubei Provincial Parliament, and headed or participated in drafting of several major environmental bills. He is an Advisor for Chinese negotiations on biodiversity, ocean and climate change issues, and an Environmental Law Expert for several projects of International Financial Institutions in China.

Prof. Qin is author of several books and more than 100 articles in these fields. His recent publications include: Research Handbook on Chinese Environmental Law (Edward Elgar, eds), Principles of International Biodiversity Law (CUPL Press), Legal Issues on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing (WHU Press).