At the end of January, Prof Elisa Morgera visited the AUCEL to present on her work on the 'One Ocean Hub' project. Elisa Morgera is Professor of Global Environmental Law at the University of Strathclyde Law School and Director of the GCRF One Ocean Hub programme. She specializes in international, European and comparative environmental law, with a particular focus on the interaction between biodiversity law and human rights (particularly those of indigenous peoples and local communities), equity and sustainability in natural resource development, oceans governance, and corporate accountability.
In her talk, Elisa discussed the ‘One Ocean Hub’ - an international programme of research for sustainable development, working to promote fair and inclusive decision-making for a healthy ocean whereby people and the planet can flourish. This research group, based at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK) and working in partnership with other Universities in Ghana, Namibia and South Africa, as well as the regional universities in the Caribbean and South Pacific, seeks to bridge current disconnections in law, science and society and integrate governance frameworks to balance multiple ocean uses with conservation and environmental justice. The design for inter- and transdisciplinary research across natural and social sciences, law and arts, as well as for the iterative learning process to build and nurture fair research partnerships has been developed on the basis of the relationship between human rights and a healthy environment. The presentation will reflect on the innovations, challenges and lesson learnt in leading a global, inter- and transdisciplinary ocean research project from an international environment-and-human-rights law perspective.