Successes of 2014/2015 Global Environment LLM students
November 2015: Students that completed the LLM programme in Global Environment and Climate Change Law in 2014/2015 are already gaining professional successes.
November 2015: Students that completed the LLM programme in Global Environment and Climate Change Law in 2014/2015 are already gaining professional successes
Louise Tidman completed a part-time internship at the International Institute for Environment and Development in Edinburgh?, exploring the interface between international investment treaties and climate change adaptation measures in developing countries. In particular, she assessed whether different climate change adaptation measures (in the water, energy, and agriculture sectors) could potentially lead to disputes with foreign investors. She also contributed to a paper that focused on how investment treaties, in addition to intellectual property rights, could further limit the policy space of developing host countries in order to take adaptation measures in the agriculture sector through the development of climate-resilient seeds and/or crops.
Luchino Ferraris is starting an internship at Natural Justice (Cape Town, South Africa), an NGO whose mission is to facilitate the full and effective participation of local communities in the development and implementation of law and policy on biodiversity and traditional knowledge. Luchino will contribute towards the implementation of existing projects and the development of new fundraising proposals in the fields of climate change, food security, benefit-sharing and intellectual property rights.
Marta Juhasz started a traineeship with the international think tank Climate Focus (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). She is providing policy advice on climate finance, forest financing options and the design of benefit-sharing schemes under REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation). In addition, she is to appear as the co-author of the year-in-review report on indigenous peoples of the forthcoming issue of the Yearbook of International Environmental Law.
Mara Ntona has secured a placement at Metaxas & Associates, a Greek law firm specializing in EU energy and competition law, as well as an internship with the Mediterranean Programme for International Environmental Law & Negotiation, a research and training programme operating under the auspices of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences with the support of the Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme. She is also providing volunteer legal services to the Greek branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). In addition, Mara has published two blog posts for the BENELEX project of Edinburgh Law School, on marine scientific research and on marine technology transfer respectively.
Furthermore, during their studies in Edinburgh, Marta Jushaz, Ebele Odumodu, Louise Tideman, Su Shu, Mara Ntona, Luchino Ferraris and Mariano Arrea Salto provided research assistance to the BENELEX project, identifying publications, press releases and legal developments on fair and equitable benefit-sharing, that were circulated to researchers and policy makers through BENELEX social media. Rob Clews, in turn, provided editorial assistance for a Research Handbook on International Law and Natural Resources edited by Prof Elisa Morgera and Prof Kati Kulovesi that will be published by Edward Elgar in 2016.