*Registration for this event will be made available soon

A healthy ocean and the services it provides helps satisfy the material conditions for everyone’s human rights to life, health food, water and culture. This illustrates the interdependencies of human rights, the climate and the ocean, and indicates the importance of integrated and inclusive governance to mitigate and adapt to the effects of global climate change. 

This panel aims to explore the different human rights challenges arising from the interface of climate change and the ocean (the ocean/climate nexus). Students will gain an understanding and appreciation of interactions between the relevant international legal instruments in this context, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and numerous international human rights instruments. Topics covered by international experts in this area include the intersection between the ocean and climate in science and law, ocean acidification, fisheries, and deep-seabed mining. Students will also gain insights into legal developments in this area, and better shape their legal thinking to a more integrated and inclusive approach. 

Panellists and topics

Chair: Professor Elisa Morgera, Director of the One Ocean Hub

(1) Mitchell Lennan, One Ocean Hub: Introduction: Human rights at the ocean/climate scientific and legal nexus;

(2) Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb, UEF Law School, University of Eastern Finland: The human rights impacts of ocean acidification;

(3) Julia Nakamura, One Ocean Hub: The protection of human rights of small-scale fishers and their communities in the climate change context; 

(4) Joanna Dingwall, University of Glasgow: The international regulation of seabed mining and its potential impact on climate change and human rights

Speakers time: 60mins 

Q&A: 30mins

Meet our Panellists

Prof Elisa Morgera

(University of Strathclyde, Glasgow)

Elisa Morgera specializes in international biodiversity law and its linkages with human rights, notably the rights of indigenous peoples and small-scale fishing communities, everyone’s right to health and science, and business responsibility to respect human rights. She is the director of the One Ocean Hub, a global inter-disciplinary research collaboration of research institutions in the UK, Africa, South Pacific and the Caribbean, as well as UN agencies and other international partners. The One Ocean Hub is pioneering research on human rights and the marine environment with a view to better connecting marine and social sciences, and the arts, to support fair and inclusive decision-making for a healthy ocean whereby people and planet flourish.

Mr Mitchell Lennan

University of Strathclyde & University of Aberdeen

Mitchell Lennan is a PhD Researcher in International Law of the Sea at the University of Strathclyde, and a member of the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance and the UKRI GCRF One Ocean Hub. He will begin a new role as Lecturer in Energy and Environment Law at the University of Aberdeen in July 2022. Mitchell holds a BSc and MSc in Marine Biology as well as an LLM in Global Environmental Law. His interests are in International Law of the Sea, International and European Environmental Law, Biodiversity Law, Human Rights, and how science and law interact more generally. His current research focuses on the legal issues emerging from climate impacts on the marine environment, particularly in international fisheries regulation. Mitchell is also active in international dispute settlement as part of a counsel team for the Republic of Maldvies in a case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, where he also interned in the Legal Office in 2018.

Dr Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb

University of Eastern Finland

Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb has over two decades of experience working in environmental conservation and governance, primarily focused on issues related to protecting the marine environment, and the intersection of climate, ocean and biodiversity governance. Ellycia is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in Climate Law and Policy at the UEF Law School, a Visiting Academic at the Climate and Energy College of the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Melbourne and an Advisor at Rationale Advisors. Ellycia has also consulted for several NGOs and institutions, including the GCF, Heinrich Böll Foundation and the UNEP.

At the UEF Law School, Ellycia is working on the TRANSCLIM project, examining the effects of transparency arrangements within the international climate change regime. Ellycia completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne, in which she explored how problem framing interacts with treaty interpretation to open new avenues for addressing the emergent problem of ocean acidification under existing multilateral agreements. Prior to her PhD, Ellycia worked in Washington DC as a Marine Scientist for Oceana, the largest NGO focused on marine conservation. In this role, Ellycia sat at the science-policy interface, advocating on Capitol Hill, and at multilateral negotiations for stronger policies to protect the ocean from climate change. Ellycia’s publications can be found in top ranked journals, including Climate Policy, Conservation Biology, RECIEL, Environmental Science & Policy and Marine Policy.

Ellycia lives in Melbourne, Australia with the loves of her life, her partner Jonathan and their sons, Gabriel and Zachary.

Ms Julia Nakamura

University of Strathclyde

Julia Nakamura is a Brazilian qualified lawyer, a PhD Candidate at the University of Strathclyde’s Law School (Glasgow, UK) and an international legal consultant. She holds an LL.B. with additional domain in international politics (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio) and an LL.M. in Global Environment and Climate Change Law (University of Edinburgh). She currently works as a consultant with the Development Law Service of the Legal Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Her PhD research explores the linkages between international law and small-scale fisheries, based on ecosystem and human-rights based approaches, with a view to clarify the legal requirements and guidance relating to the participation of small-scale fishers in co-managing transboundary aquatic species.

Dr Joanna Dingwall

University of Glasgow and Scottish Government

Dr Joanna Dingwall is a public international lawyer, qualified to practice law in New York, Scotland, England and Wales. Dr Dingwall lectures on international law at the University of Glasgow. Previously, she taught international law at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), University of London for several years.

Dr Dingwall holds an LL.B. (first class honours) from the University of Glasgow and an LL.M. (International Legal Studies) from New York University Law School, where she was a Saint Andrew’s Society scholar and recipient of the Rankin-Stone Award. Dr Dingwall has a PhD on public international law/law of the sea from the University of Glasgow, sponsored by a College of Social Sciences Scholarship. She has written extensively in the field of law of the sea, especially in relation to deep seabed mining. Her monograph, International Law and Corporate Actors in Deep Seabed Mining was published by Oxford University Press in 2021, as part of the series of Oxford Monographs in International Law.

In addition to her academic career, Dr Dingwall is also an experienced practitioner of international law, law of the sea and international dispute resolution. Throughout her legal practice to date, Dr Dingwall has advised and represented States, international organisations and private entities on an extensive range of public international law matters. Currently, Dr Dingwall is a lawyer to the Scottish Government, advising the Scottish Ministers and Marine Scotland on issues of public international law, law of the sea, European law and domestic law concerning all aspects of Scotland’s offshore renewable energy industry, maritime zones/boundaries and in relation to legal protection of the marine environment. Previously, she worked as a London-based public international law and international dispute resolution practitioner for several years.