Editorial Board
Advisory Board
Managing & Assistant Editors
EDITORIAL BOARD
Prof. Philippe Cullet, LLM, MA (Lon), JSM, JSD (Stanford) is Professor of International and Environmental Law and the Director of the Law, Environment and Development Centre at the School of Oriental and African Studies – University of London (SOAS) and the Convenor of IELRC. He is also a Visiting Professor at the National Law University Delhi in New Delhi and Professor in residence at the National Law University Meghalaya in Shillong. His main areas of interest include environmental law, natural resources, human rights and the socio-economic aspects of intellectual property. He works on these at the international level and in India. His current research includes work on water law and governance with a particular focus on groundwater, drinking water, sanitation and institutional reforms in India; equity in environmental law; biodiversity, including benefit sharing and biosafety; and justice, with a particular focus on environmental and water rights. He has published extensively on these issues.
Dr Lovleen Bhullar is an Assistant Professor in Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham. Her current research focuses on constitutional environmental duties of individuals and on the regulation of antimicrobial resistance in the environment. She has also written on the rights to environment, sanitation and water, as well as climate change, forest, and water governance. She holds an undergraduate degree in law from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an LLM in Environmental Law and PhD in Law from SOAS University of London.
Dr Yuan Qiong HU is a legal research and advisor, and currently pursuing the PhD study with School of Oriental and Africa Studies in University of London. She attained M. Phil in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights from Oslo University in Norway, as well as Master of Law from Shandong University in China. She works as Legal and Policy Advisor for Access Campaign of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) with focus on access to medicines and intellectual property, and has also worked as Head of Policy and Research Division of Save the Children China programme, and Environmental Law Attorney of Natural Resources Defense Council with focus on environmental health regulation and access to environmental information in China. She is the Founder and Coordinator of China Access to Medicines Research Group, and has engaged in the patent law revision process in China, with a number of academic papers published on patent law and public health. In addition, she has conducted consultancy works for UNDP, MSF and TWN on the issues related to patent and access to medicines, and for Save the Children on post-2015 development policies concerning health. As a licensed Chinese lawyer, she also worked as a practicing lawyer and a teacher of economic law.
Dr Thoko Kaime is a Lecturer in international and environmental law in the School of Law, University of Leicester and also a Senior Teaching Fellow in the School of Law, SOAS University of London. He has previously served as Lecturer in Law and Deputy Director of the Environmental Regulatory Research Group at the University of Surrey and as a corporate consultant for business advisory firm Exclusive Analysis Limited where he was Head of Africa Division. He has been associated as a researcher with leading research and strategic institutions in various countries including the Centre for Human Rights (Pretoria), Children’s Institute (Cape Town), and the International Environmental Law Research Centre (Geneva). He is co-Chair of the Community of Practice on Legal Aspects of Sustainable Access to Energy and a founding member of the Law Environment and Development Centre at SOAS.
Prof. Patricia Kameri-Mbote is a law researcher and teacher based in Nairobi. She studied law in Nairobi, Warwick and Stanford. She is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Nairobi, the Director of the Law Division of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and a programme director at IELRC. Her research interests include public international law, environmental law and policy, human rights, women rights, intellectual property and economic law.
Dr Sujith Koonan is an Associate Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He completed his PhD from SOAS–University of London where he was a recipient of the SOAS Doctoral Research Scholarship (2013-16). He holds a M.Phil. in International Law from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and LL.M. in Environmental Law and Human Rights from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi. His main areas of interest are Environmental Law, Water and Sanitation, Law and Natural Resources, Human Rights, International Law and Agro-biodiversity.
Dr Feja Lesniewska
Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Transitions and Environmental Law at the University of Surrey
Dr Feja Lesniewska is a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Transitions and Environmental Law at the University of Surrey, UK. Feja is an interdisciplinary legal scholar who has collaborated with colleagues in disciplines including engineers, computer scientists, economists, and international relations as well as law. Her research interests lie in exploring the interconnections between law, economics, resources, digital technologies and justice in transitioning to sustainable futures. Feja has undertaken field work research in China, West Africa, Russia, the European Union and internationally.
In her recent research Feja has focused on the conceptualisation of the circular economy as an alternative to the current linear economy in law and policy, particularly in construction and the bioeconomy. Her research focuses on the implications that law and governance approaches to transition to a circular economy can have economically, socially and environmentally globally.
Prof. Dr Eva Julia Lohse
Professor of Public Law, European Law and Comparative Law, University of Bayreuth
Dr Eva Julia Lohse is Professor of Public Law, European Law and Comparative Law at the University of Bayreuth.
Prof. Collins Odote is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with a Doctor of Philosophy in Law from the University of Nairobi. He is currently an Associate Professor of Law and the Associate Dean at the Faculty of Law and Research Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law and Policy (CASELAP) both at the University of Nairobi. He is also an arbitrator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the Law Society of Kenya. Professor Odote also serves as the Chairperson of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Africa (ASELLAU) and member of the International Council of Environmental Law. His teaching and research interests include property and land use law, environment law, sustainable development and governance.
Roopa Madhav
Professor of Law (Research) at the National Law University Delhi, New Delhi
Dr Roopa Madhav is a Professor of Law (Research) at National Law University Delhi. She is also a consultant with the Law Programme of Women in the Informal Economy, Globalising and Organising (WIEGO) and is currently working on a co-edited book project (along with Dr Thomas Coggin, University of Witwatersrand) – a collaborative effort between WIEGO (Law Programme) and International Research Group on Law and Urban Space (IRGLUS) – to be published by Routledge in 2023. She holds a PhD in Law from SOAS, University of London, an LL.M (Public Service Lawyering) from New York University and a B.A.L.L.B (Hons) from National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Post her graduation in 1993, she practised law in the fields of labour law, service law, property law, commercial law and family law before the courts in Mumbai and Bangalore. Her research interests include environmental law, regulatory governance, labour law and human rights.
Dr Birsha Ohdedar is a Lecturer of Environmental and Climate Change Law and Governance and SOAS, University of London. His current work focuses on environmental and climate justice, water, human rights, climate litigation, and political ecology. Prior to academia, Birsha worked as a lawyer in areas of environmental and climate change law in law firms and NGOs in UK, New Zealand, and India. He holds undergraduate degrees in law and political studies from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and an LLM in Environmental Law and PhD in Law from SOAS University of London.
Dr Virginie Rouas
LEAD Journal Developments in the Field Editor and Social Media Editor
Research Associate, SOAS University of London and Legal Advisor, Milieu, Brussels
Dr Virginie Rouas is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a Legal Advisor for Milieu, a multi-disciplinary consultancy specialised in EU law and policy. She holds a PhD in Law from SOAS and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Law from the University of Strasbourg, France. In her doctoral thesis, Dr Rouas provided an analysis of access to justice in the EU (mainly France and the Netherlands) in the context of human rights and environmental litigation against multinational enterprises. She looked extensively at the foreign direct liability of transnational corporate actors. At Milieu, she has been involved in research projects on various environmental and human rights topics, such as the precautionary principle in EU environmental law, the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing and effective access to justice in the EU. In the past, Dr Rouas has worked for various international organisations and NGOs, including the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Global Witness, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, SOAS and Frank Bold. Her research interests include access to justice, business and human rights, global environmental law and EU law.
Prof. David Takacs, BSc, MA, JD, LLM, PhD is a Professor of Law at UC Hastings where he teaches environmental law, biodiversity law, international environmental law and climate change law. He holds a PhD in Science & Technology Studies from Cornell University, an LLM from SOAS and a JD from University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He is the author of The Idea of Biodiversity (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). He has worked as a professor in Earth Systems Science & Policy at CSU Monterey Bay, a lecturer in the John S. Knight Writing Program at Cornell, a Peace Corps Forestry Volunteer in Senegal and more recently as a consultant on law and policy issues related to forest carbon for USAID and Conservation International.
ADVISORY BOARD
Prof. Upendra Baxi
Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Warwick
Prof. Upendra Baxi is a Professor of Law at University of Warwick. He served as a Professor of Law at University of Delhi (1973-1996) and as its Vice Chancellor (1990-1994.) He also served as Vice Chancellor of University of South Gujarat, Surat (1982-1985) and Honorary Director (Research) of the Indian Law Institute (1885-1988.) He was the President of the Indian Society of International Law (1992-1995). Professor Baxi graduated from Rajkot (Gujarat University), read law in University of Bombay, and holds LLM degrees from University of Bombay and University of California at Berkeley, which also awarded him with a Doctorate in Juristic Sciences. Professor Baxi has taught various courses in law and science, comparative constitutionalism and social theory of human rights at Universities of Sydney, Duke University, the American University, the New York University Law School Global Law Program, and the University of Toronto. Professor Baxi’s areas of teaching and research include comparative constitutionalism, social theory of human rights, human rights responsibilities in corporate governance and business conduct, and materiality of globalization.
Prof. Ben Boer
Emeritus Professor, University of Sydney
Prof. Ben Boer is an Emeritus Professor in the University of Sydney. In 2011, he was appointed as Distinguished Professor at Wuhan University Law School in its Research Institute of Environmental Law, where he works for around three months a year. He was the international Co-Director of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Academy of Environmental Law from 2006 to 2008, based at the University of Ottawa. He is the Deputy Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. His research interests include international environmental law, comparative environmental law, natural and cultural heritage law, environmental law in the Asia Pacific, human rights and environmental law, and international and domestic law relating to protected areas, soils and forests. He has published extensively on the above-mentioned areas.
Prof. Yves Le Bouthillier
Professor of Law, University of Ottawa
Prof. Yves Le Bouthillier is Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa where he teaches international law, including international human rights and international environmental law and related areas such as immigration law and refugees. He has published extensively in these areas. He is, for instance, the co-editor of Poverty Alleviation And Environmental Law (Edward Elgar, 2012), Climate Law And Developing Countries (Edward Elgar, 2010). He is currently the Director of the Academy of Environmental Law of IUCN. From June 2005 to December 2006, he served as President of the Law Commission of Canada. He also served on the Board of Governors of the Law Commission of Ontario. He was Dean of the common law programme in French at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa from July 2002 to June 2005. In 2001, the negotiating team to which he belonged was awarded the Prize of the Head of the Public Service for his contribution to the development and adoption of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. From 1999 to 2000 he was responsible for projects in human rights at the Agence de la Francophonie in Paris. He also appeared before various parliamentary committees. For many years he was vice-president of the Canadian Council on International Law and co-edited two for books for the Council. In 2008 the Association of French Speaking Jurists of Ontario presented him the Order of Merit for his contribution to the promotion and improvement of legal services in French in Ontario.
Prof. Graham Dutfield
Professor of International Governance, School of Law, University of Leeds
Prof. Graham Dutfield is a Professor of International Governance at the School of Law, University of Leeds. He holds a D.Phil. from the Oxford University. He is the founding Course Director of LLM in Intellectual Property Law at University of Leeds. He holds several other positions including Research Affiliate of the Intellectual Property Law and Technology Program at the Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto and Adjunct Professor at the Center for Studies of Intellectual Property Rights at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China. He was elected as the Vice Chairperson of the Specialty Committee of Research on Traditional Knowledge, World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) for the period 2013-17. He is also a member of the Expert Advisory Group for the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA), which is based at Griffith University in Brisbane and the Australian National University in Canberra. His research on intellectual property crosses several disciplines, including law, history, politics, economics and anthropology. His research areas include intellectual property and access to knowledge, human rights, sustainable development, health, agriculture, genetics, biotechnology, traditional knowledge and folklore, bioprospecting, and indigenous peoples’ rights.
Melinda Janki
Executive Director of the Justice Institute, Guyana
Melinda Janki is an international lawyer. She holds a BCL from Oxford University as well as LLM and LLB degrees from London University. She provides advice to international financial institutions, governments, tribal peoples, NGOs and transnational corporations on legal issues relating to development and environment. Her research interests include corporate social responsibility, indigenous peoples and environmental protection.
Prof. Martin Lau
Professor of South Asian Law, SOAS University of London
Prof. Martin Lau is Professor of South Asian Law at the SOAS University of London and a Barrister at Essex Court Chambers. He teaches courses on South Asian law, modern Islamic law and comparative environmental law at both postgraduate and undergraduate level. He was the Director of the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law from 1995 to 1998, the Head of the SOAS Law Department from 2002 until 2005 and has been the Chief Examiner for Islamic Law of the External LLB of the University of London for more than ten years. He was a visiting scholar at the universities of Nagoya (2005) and Harvard (2005/06) as well as a legal advisor to European Commission in Afghanistan (2007). Martin combines his academic research with advisory work on environmental law projects, for instance with the IUCN, and expert opinions on South Asian and Islamic law. His publications include the Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law.
Chee Yoke Ling
Director of Programmes, Third World Network
Ms. Chee Yoke Ling is the Director of Programmes of Third World Network (TWN), which has its international secretariat in Malaysia. She is based in the Beijing office. Ms. Chee is trained in international law, with degrees from the University of Malaya (Malaysia) and Cambridge University (UK). She has been involved in sustainable development work since 1980s, and teaching public interest law at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya for 5 years. She was part of the Malaysian government delegation to the 1992 Rio Summit on Environment and Development, and provided technical support to the Chair of the Group of 77 in the negotiation of the Rio Declaration. She has participated as an accredited observer in the Commission on Sustainable Development, the UN Framework Convention Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. She also worked closely with key officials from several developing countries on the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing related to genetic resources and traditional knowledge. She has published a number of articles on issues she works on, and is currently a lead author in the chapter on Sustainable Development and Equity of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III on Mitigation. She is also a visiting scholar at the Minzu University in Beijing; and a Board member of the Dag Hammarksjold Foundation.
Dr Daanish Mustafa
Reader in Politics and Environment, Department of Geography, King’s College, London
Dr Daanish Mustafa is a Reader in Politics and Environment in the Environment, Politics, and Development Research Group, Department of Geography, King’s College, London. He obtained his BA in Geography from Middlebury College in Vermont, USA. He worked for two years in Pakistan for the non-profit sector on donor funded social development and environmental preservation projects. He subsequently obtained his MA in Geography from the University of Hawaii-Manoa in 1995 and his PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA in 2000. He was a visiting assistant professor of geography at George Mason University, and then an assistant professor of Geography, at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, before joining the Department of Geography at King’s College, London in 2006. His research interests lie at the intersection of environmental hazards, water resources and development geography.
Prof. Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos
Professor of Law and Theory at the University of Westminster
Prof. Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, LLB, LLM, PhD, is Professor of Law and Theory at the University of Westminster, and founder and Director of the Westminster Law & Theory Centre. His research interests include environmental law, human rights, law and space, continental philosophy, gender studies, and law and art. He holds permanent professorial affiliations with the Centre for Politics, Management and Philosophy, Business School, Copenhagen since 2006, and the University Institute of Architecture, Venice since 2009. His books include the edited volumes Law and the City (2007), Law and Ecology (2011), Radical Encounters (2013), and the monographs Absent Environments (2007), Niklas Luhmann: Law, Justice, Society (2009), and Spatial Justice: Body, Lawscape, Atmosphere (2014). Forthcoming books include an edited collection by Springer called Space and Knowledge (2015) and the edited The Routledge Research Handbook on Law and Theory (2016). Andreas has been awarded the Oxford University Press National Law Teacher of the Year Award 2011. He has since been invited to join the Judging Panel of the Award, which he gratefully accepted.
Dr Usha Ramanathan
Law Researcher, Delhi
Dr Usha Ramanathan is an internationally recognized expert on law and poverty. She studied law at Madras University, the University of Nagpur and Delhi University. She is a frequent adviser to non-governmental organisations and international organizations. She is for instance a member of Amnesty International’s Advisory Panel on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and has been called upon by the World Health Organisation as an expert on mental health on various occasions. Dr Ramanathan is also the South Asia Editor of the Law, Environment and Development Journal (LEAD Journal), a peer-reviewed academic journal jointly published by SOAS and IELRC. Her research interests include human rights, displacement, torts and environment. She has published extensively in India and abroad. In particular, she has devoted her attention to a number of specific issues such as the Bhopal gas disaster, the Narmada valley dams or slum eviction in Delhi.
Prof. Jona Razzaque
Professor of Environmental Law, University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE)
Prof. Jona Razzaque is a Professor of Environmental Law at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE). She holds a PhD in law from the University of London. Prior to joining the UWE, she worked as a staff lawyer with the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD). She previously taught at the University College London, School of Oriental and African Studies and Queen Mary University of London. She has held visiting fellowships at Wuhan University, China. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Environmental Law and serves as a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. Her area of interest include international environmental law, natural resources law, environmental governance, EU environmental law and policy, environmental law in developing countries, water law and policy. She has researched widely on access to justice and participatory rights in environmental matters and her publications include Public Interest Environmental Litigation in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (2004, Kluwer), Globalisation and Natural Resources Law (2011, Edward Elgar), Natural Resources and the Green Economy (2012, Brill), Environmental Governance in Europe and Asia (2012, Routledge) and International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
Prof. Qin Tianbao
Professor of Environmental Law and International Law, Wuhan University
Prof. QIN Tianbao (Dr.) is Professor of Environmental Law and International Law, the Assistant Dean for International Affiliations for School of Law and the Research Institute of Environmental Law and Part-time Professor of the European Studies Centre and the China Institute of Boundary Studies, Wuhan University, China; Co-Editor of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Journal and Catalan Journal of Environmental Law; the Secretary-General of China Association for Environment and Resources Law and Vice Chairman of its Academic Committee, a Board Member of Chinese Association of European Law, Chinese Association of WTO Law; a Member of Commission on Environmental Law and Commission on Ecosystem Management of the IUCN, a Member of Teaching and Capacity Building Committee of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law; and a member of the Committee on the Legal Principles relating to Climate Change of the International Law Association. In addition, he is also the Head of Environmental Rights Department of the Centre of Protection of Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens. He is a Legislative Expert for the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Agriculture of China, an Advisor of Chinese Delegation to negotiations on biodiversity and climate change issues, a Legislative Expert for the UNEP Division of Environmental Law and Conventions, and an Environmental Law Expert for several projects of International Financial Institutions in China. He had been visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ghent University, the Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica in Chinese Taipei, University of Manchester, and Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt.
Prof. Qin is author of several books and articles in the fields of environmental law, comparative law and international law. His current research focuses on the areas of laws and policies concerning climate change, energy security, bio-safety and biodiversity, trade and environment, corporate environmental responsibility, air and water pollution control, trans-boundary environmental issues.
Prof. Can Fa Wang
Professor of Environmental Law, China University of Political Science and Law
Prof. Can Fa Wang is Professor of Environmental Law at the China University of Political Science and Law and Director its Environment and Nature Resources Law Institute. He is also Visiting Professor at the Environmental Law Research Institute of Wuhan University, Standing Committee Member of the Chinese Environmental Science Association, Standing Committee Member and Deputy Secretary of the Environmental and Nature Resources Law Research Committee of China Law Society, Guest Professor of the Training Centre of China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Professor Wang has participated in drafting and researching on a large number of the current environmental legislation and regulations in China. His publications have covered a number of foundational research areas for establishing Chinese environmental law academia, including those concerning theory of environmental law, international environmental law, and leading cases of environmental enforcements.
Professor Wang has also devoted his time to environmental justice for victims of pollutions in China. In 1998, he founded the Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV), the first centre of its kind in China to focus on providing free legal help to pollution victims. CLAPV has handled numerous cases and scored victories against chemical, steel, mining, waste incineration and other plants. CLAPV’s legal victories have led to the suspension of some environmentally-destructive projects and secured compensation for victims.
Due to his contribution to the environmental law in China, Professor Wang was recognized by Time Magazine in the list of Heroes of the Environment in 2007, and received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2014.
MANAGING & ASSISTANT EDITORS
Ms Jessy Thomas has decades of experience in managing civil society and research-based organisation. She has been the managing editor of LEAD Journal since 2010.
Nate Palmer
LEAD Journal Assistant Editor
Mr Nate Palmer is a PhD candidate in the School of Law at SOAS University of London. His doctoral project is entitled: Harmony with Nature: Evolving Dimensions of Access to Water in India. He holds an MA in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development from SOAS and a BA in International Studies from the City College of New York, CUNY.