Recording of the WIP:
Course Description:
The 2021 Summer/Winter school programme included a Work-In-Progress (WIP) Seminar which took place on 22 June. Participants had the opportunity to briefly present their work and to discuss their research with David R Boyd (UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment ).
WIP Commentator:
David R. Boyd was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment for a three-year term commencing August 1, 2018. He is an associate professor of law, policy, and sustainability at the University of British Columbia, with a joint appointment in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and the School for Public Policy and Global Affairs.
He has a PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Studies from UBC, a law degree from the University of Toronto, and a business degree from the University of Alberta. His career has included serving as the executive director of Ecojustice, appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada, and working as a special advisor on sustainability for Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. He has advised many governments on environmental, constitutional, and human rights policy and co-chaired Vancouver’s effort to become the world’s greenest city by 2020. He is a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law, an expert advisor for the UN’s Harmony with Nature Initiative, and a member of ELAW, the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide.
Boyd is also the author of nine books and over 100 reports and articles on environmental law and policy, human rights, and constitutional law. His most recent books include
The Rights of Nature (ECW Press, 2017),
The Optimistic Environmentalist (ECW Press, 2015),
Cleaner, Greener, Healthier: A Prescription for Stronger Canadian Environmental Laws and Policies (UBC Press, 2015) and
The Environmental Rights Revolution: A Global Study of Constitutions, Human Rights, and the Environment (UBC Press, 2012).
WIP Co-ordinator:
Astrid Milena Bernal Rubio is a Colombian LL.M student at Pennsylvania State University. She is a lawyer from the Universidad Católica de Colombia, Magister in Environmental Law from the Complutense University of Madrid and Specialist in human rights and critical legal studies from the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) Latin American School of Public Policy- ELAP.
As part of the technical team of GFLAC (climate finance group for Latin America and the Caribbean), she supported the creation of the MRV system (monitoring, reporting and verification) for climate finance in Colombia. She has been a consultant for the WRI (World Resources Institute) and The Access Initiative (TAI) working as the National researcher for the Environmental Democracy Index (EDI), also has worked as a consultant for AVINA Foundation, The Bogotá´s drainage and sewerage company (EAAB) and has worked as a lawyer and researcher on issues associated with public participation, access to information, forests, carbon markets, rights of indigenous peoples and rural communities in Colombia.
Astrid was a volunteer for the Network for Environmental Justice in Colombia and promoted the creation and growth of the climate justice division at the Environment and Society Association (AAS) of Colombia where she worked as area-coordinator for five years. Milena is also part of the founders of the Colombian NGO- CAMBIUM (Climate, Environment and Research-Action Uniting Worlds). This organization aims to, directly and indirectly, influence processes carried out by civil society and decision-makers related to climate change.
Currently, she works at the Global Forest Coalition as an associate for the Unsustainable Livestock Campaign. Astrid also supports the work of Pivot Point and the CLARA group-Climate, Land, Ambition and Rights Alliance-, promoting contents in Spanish to ensure effective participation, access to information and understanding of National Determined Contributions for Spanish speakers in Latinamérica. She is part of the work team of the youth lead organization Fundación Barranquilla + 20 in Colombia working as a senior researcher and coordinator in a joint research project with UNICEF to contribute to the fulfillment of the SDGs (6), focusing its work on guaranteeing the rights of access to sanitation for rural, indigenous and Afro-descendant populations in Colombia.
Astrid is a member of the core team in the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE), she is part of the global network of environmental lawyers (ELAW) and collaborates as a volunteer for The Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition- CAIR coalition.