Elisa Morgera is a Professor at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. She specialises in European, international and comparative environmental law, having researched specifically in the area of environmental integration in European Union external relations, biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, international environmental governance, and corporate environmental accountability. She is particularly interested in the protection and promotion of the rights of indigenous and local communities in the context of the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of biological resources.
Elisa teaches International Environmental Law (LLM), European Environmental Law (LLM) and Comparative Environmental Law (LLM), as well as undergraduate courses in Environmental Law and in International Law of the Global Economy and the Environment. She has been a consultant for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
She is leading the One Ocean Hub on transformative, sustainable and inclusive ocean governance (2019-2024). The One Ocean Hub is an independent programme for collaborative research for development, delivering the UK AID strategy and putting research at the heart of efforts to realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Hub is a community of scholars from 22 leading international Universities and Research Centres from the UK, South Africa, Ghana, Namibia, Kenya, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. The Hub collaborates with 30+ Project Partners, including UN Agencies, regional intergovernmental organisations, national government departments, community representatives, NGOs, charities and media organisations.
Previously, Elisa held a European Research Council Starting Grant (2013-2018) on the legal concept of fair and equitable benefit-sharing in different areas of international law (environment, oceans and human rights) and a grant under the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme (funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)) investigating specifically fair and equitable benefit-sharing in international fisheries law and policy (2015-2016).
Elisa has also contributed to Scottish Government’s initiatives on human rights leadership, leading on the human right to a healthy environment. She was appointed by Scotland’s First Minister to an Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership in 2018 to provide independent advice to the government on how Scotland can continue to promote and support human rights, with a focus on social, economic and environmental rights. From 2019-2021, she was appointed to the National Task Force for the development of a legal framework on human rights leadership for Scotland. The Task Force engaged in a broad programme of public participation and capacity-building to ensure not only that new legislation on human rights responds to the needs of different sectors of society, but also that human rights become “everyday practice so as to improve people’s lives.” The Task Force’s report, published in March 2020, includes Recommendation No2 and Annex D on the recognition of the human right to a healthy environment in Scotland. Elisa also contributed to international and EU debates on human rights and the environment, with a focus on biodiversity, including by contributing to the work of the UN Special Rapportuer on Human Rights and the Environment and the European Parliament.
Currently Elisa is collaborating with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to develop a legislative study on Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights to territories, lands, waters and other natural resources to be presented to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, as well as a training manual to integrate the inter-linkages between the environment and human rights in the FAO’s legal work (together with Prof John Knox). She is also working with the UN Environment Programme to develop an InforMEA course on SDG 14 that explains the relevant linkages between multilateral environmental agreements and human rights in the ocean governance context, and advance work on the governance of plastics.
As a former legal officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, she advised over 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the South Pacific on improving domestic legislation on natural resources. Previously, she also served as environmental management officer for the United Nations Development Programme in the Eastern Caribbean.
Her publications include:
Books
Morgera, E, Corporate Accountability in International Environmental Law (2nd ed, OUP, 2020)
Morgera, E, “Biodiversity as a Human Right and its Implications for the EU’s External Action”, Report to the European Parliament, (2020) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/603491/EXPO_STU(2020)603491_EN.pdf
Morgera, E., et al, The Right to Water for Food and Agriculture30 May 2020, Rome:Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.130 p.(FAO Legislative Studies; no. 113), 2020
E Morgera, E Tsioumani and M Buck,Unraveling The Nagoya Protocol: A Commentary of the Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing to the Convention on Biological Diversity(Martinus Nijhoff, 2014
Morgera, E, Wildlife law and the empowerment of the poor (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2011)
Alan Boyle et al, “Study for the European Commission of the Legal Framework on Human Rights and the Environment Applicable to European Enterprises Operating Outside the European Union” (University of Edinburgh, 2010).
Morgera, E, Corporate Accountability in International Environmental Law (Oxford University Press, 2009)
Morgera, E, Forest fires and the law – A guide for national drafters based on the Fire Management Voluntary Guidelines (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009) with Maria Teresa Cirelli
Edited Books
E Morgera and J Razzaque (eds), Encyclopedia of Environmental Law: Biodiversity and Nature Protection Law (EE, 2017)
E Morgera and K Kulovesi (eds), Research Handbook on Natural Resources and International Law (EE, 2016)
With Kati Kulovesi and Ambra Gobena (eds.) Case studies on bioenergy policy and law: options for sustainability (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009)
Journal Articles and Papers
“Under the radar: fair and equitable benefit-sharing and the human rights of indigenous peoples and local communities connected to natural resources” (2019) 23 International Journal of Human Rights 1098-1139
“Fair and equitable benefit-sharing in a new international instrument on marine biodiversity: A principled approach towards partnership building?” (2018-19) 5 Maritime Safety and Security Law Journal 48-77;
“Dawn of a New Day? The Evolving Relationship between the Convention on Biological Diversity and International Human Rights Law” (2018) 54 Wake Forest Law Review 691-712;
*”The Need for an International Legal Concept of Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing” (2016) 27:2 European Journal of International Law 353-383;
“Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing at the Crossroads of the Human Right to Science and International Biodiversity Law” (2015) 4 Laws 803-831;
“Justice, Equity and Benefit-Sharing Under the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity” (2015) Italian Yearbook of International Law 113-141
‘No Need to Reinvent the Wheel for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Tackling Climate Change: The Contribution of International Biodiversity Law’ at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/**
Elisa Morgera, Kati Kulovesi and Miquel Muñoz ‘Environmental integration and multi-faceted international dimensions of EU law: Unpacking the EU’s 2009 climate and energy package’ (2011) Common Market Law Review 48(3), 829-891
‘Far away, so close: A legal analysis of the increasing interactions between the Convention on Biological Diversity and climate change law’ (2011) Climate Law vol 2, 85-115
Elisa Morgera, Elsa Tsioumani ‘The Evolution of Benefit-sharing: Linking Biodiversity and Community Livelihoods’ (2010) Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 15, 150-173
Elisa Morgera, Soledad Aguilar ‘“Delivering as One” for the Environment: Reflections on the Report of the UN Panel on System-wide Coherence’ (2007) Environmental Policy and Law 37, 271-280
‘Significant Trends in Corporate Environmental Accountability: The New Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation’ (2007) Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy 18, 147-184
‘Competence or Confidence? The Most Appropriate Forum to Address Multi-Purpose High Seas Protected Areas’ (2007) Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 16, 1-11
Elisa Morgera, Gracia Marin-Duran ‘Towards Environmental Integration in EC External Relations? A Comparative Analysis of Selected Association Agreements’ (2006) Yearbook of European Environmental Law 6, 179-210
‘An Environmental Outlook on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises: Comparative Advantages and Legitimacy in relation to Other International Initiatives’ (2006) Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 18, 751-777
‘The 2005 UN World Summit and the Environment: The Proverbial Half-Full Glass’ (2006) Italian Yearbook of International Law 15, 53-80
Elisa Morgera, Gracia Marin-Duran ‘The UN 2005 World Summit, the Environment and the EU: Priorities, Promises and Prospects’ (2006) Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 15, 11-22
‘The UN and Corporate Environmental Responsibility: Between International Regulation and Partnerships’ (2006) Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 15, 93-109
‘An Update on the Aarhus Convention and its Continued Global Relevance’ (2005) Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 14, 138-147
Elisa Morgera, Gracia Marin-Duran ‘EU Enlargement and Development Policy: An Environmental Perspective’ (2004) Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 13, 152-163
‘Whale Sanctuaries: An Evolving Concept Within the International Whaling Commission’ (2004) Ocean Development and International 35, 319-338
‘From Stockholm to Johannesburg: From Corporate Responsibility to Corporate Accountability for the Global Protection of the Environment’ (2004) Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 13, 214-222
Elisa Morgera, Gracia Marin Duran ‘Enlargement and EU Development Policy: An Environmental Perspective’ (2004) Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 13, 152-163
Chapters
‘OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises’ in David Held and Thomas Hale (eds) Handbook of Transnational Governance: Institutions and Innovations (Polity, 2011) 314-322
‘Participation, Balancing of Rights and Interests, and Prior Informed Consent’ in John Costenbader (eds) Legal Frameworks for REDD: Design and Implementation at the National Level (IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper No. 77, 2009) 35-56
Elisa Morgera, Annalisa Savaresi ‘Ownership of Land, Forest and Carbon’ in John Costenbader (eds) Legal Frameworks for REDD: Design and Implementation at the National Level (IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper No. 77, 2009) 15-34
‘Human Rights Dimensions of Corporate Environmental Accountability’ in Pierre-Marie Dupuy, Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, and Francesco Francioni (eds) Human Rights, Investment Law and Investor-State Arbitration (Oxford University Press, 2009)
‘CSR for the International Protection of the Environment: The impact of UN Policies and Emerging Problems’ in M.A. M oreau and F. Francioni (eds) The Pluridisciplinary Dimension of Corporate Social Responsibility (Presses Universitaires d’Aixe-Marseille, 2007) 97-115