2019 Environmental Crimes Law Conference Program

The following presentations (in alphabetical order) have been selected for the conference in St. Helier, Jersey, UK October 31 and November 1, 2019 which will take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in downtown St. Helier.

Climate Justice and Human Rights

Dr. Zoi Aliozi is a lawyer – scholar-activist. She is a human rights expert, lecturer, and lawyer/activist. Her academic work focuses on international law and human rights through a multi-disciplinary methodology that is employing philosophy and law. She is a committed human rights scholar that has managed to pursue her international academic career through the continuous awarding of scholarships for talented students. Zoi is a young academic with passion for the new technologies, digital advocacy, international law, human rights, climate and global justice; and a deep appreciation for the arts and cinema. She is an active member of the international civil society, and has extensive working experience from human rights NGOs.

The Tightening of Emission Regulations for Ship-Source Pollution. A Legal Review of Recent Developments

Sarah Caldwell-Brooke is Assistant Vice-President, Claims, at Skuld, Oslo, and a Solicitor (England and Wales). This paper will identify present international regulations which seek to reduce pollution in the shipping industry as well as enforcement and monetary fines. Consideration will also be given to the role of technology in preventing shipping pollution incidents.

Specialist agencies for environmental crimes?

Dr Jesse Elvin is a Senior Lecturer in Law at City, University of London.. He has published in a number of leading journals, including the Cambridge Law Journal, the Law Quarterly Review, the Modern Law Review, and the Criminal Law Review. His research and teaching interests include tort law, criminal law, and contract law.

‘Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry’: prosecuting water theft in the Murray Darling Basin of Australia

Dr Janice Gray is a full-time member of the Faculty of Law, UNSW Sydney, Australia where she specialises in property law, water law and the law of unconventional gas. She is particularly interested in the law relating to: property at the margins; water trading; the water-land-unconventional gas-food nexus; recycled water and sewage and the growing criminalisation of water-related conduct. Dr Gray was part of a research team whose work on sewage recycling won a New South Wales government 2012 Green Globe Award for Innovation. Immediately, before joining the Faculty of Law, Dr Gray was a solicitor in the corporate section of one of the large, commercial, Sydney law firms. She holds a current practising certificate as a lawyer and has served on the Property Law Committee of the NSW Law Society She has also held management positions in the public sector. Dr Gray is an Affiliate of the UNSW Connected Waters Initiative and a member of the Allens Hub for Innovation and Technology, the latter leading to her contribution to the NSW Law Reform Commission’s 2018-2019 Digital Assets on Intestacy and Incapacity reference. She was the Editor-in-Chief of the Australasian Journal of Natural Resources Law and Policy (2011-2016); Editorial Board Member of the Australasian Journal of Natural Resources Law and Policy, (2009-2010); on the International Advisory Board of the Canadian Journal of Native Studies (approx. 1999 to present); and an editor of the Human Rights Defender (mid 2000s to 2016). Since its original publication in 2003, she has been the lead author of all four editions of Property Law in New South Wales, Lexis Nexis, Sydney (4th ed, 2017). She is also a co-author of Water Resources Law, LexisNexis, Sydney, (1st ed 2009; 2nd ed, 2018). Dr Gray is the lead editor of Trans-jurisdictional Water Law and Governance, Routledge, 2016 and co-editor of another four books on ecological integrity. She has also published: articles on water and property law issues in national and international, peer-reviewed journals; book chapters in international and national books; and her work has been cited by the High Court of Australia. She has presented extensively at national and international academic conferences. In 2019, Dr Gray is a Visiting Scholar at the Socio Legal Centre, University of Oxford and the Faculty of Law, Kings College London.

Framing environmental protection during Space conflicts: a focus on Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute

Beatrice Hamilton is a Teaching Fellow in International Law at the University of Edinburgh. Beatrice hold an LLB, MComm Law, MIR, MDipTrade and is a PhD Candidate at Ghent University. Beatrice’s work focuses on environmental protection in the context of armed conflict. Beatrice is a member/researcher at the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute and former Chair in Environment at the United Nations Associations Australia WA.

Unprecedented Development in Kerala and the associated risks to life

Dr Dayana Maliyekkal Kunjachan earned her PHD and LLM in Law from Cochin University of Science and Technology in Kerala. She earned her Bachelors in Academic Laws from Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, India. She has been enrolled as a lawyer in the Bar Council of Kerala since 2003. Her specialties include Intellectual Property Rights, Environmental Law and Human Rights Law. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Law in Government Law College in Ernakulum, Kerala. She also has taught at three other a law schools twice as an Assistant Professor of Law at the Government Law College in Thrissur, Kerala and at School of Legal Studies, CUSAT, in Cochin, Kerala. She was a Lecturer of Law at M.S. Ramaiah College of Law in Banglore. Her research projects have included: Antarctica a common concern of mankind, Land Use Controls with special reference to wetlands, Wetlands protection and its role in global climate change, Changes in Land Use Neo colonial trends, Eco mark and environmental protection, and Tribal protection in Kerala. She is the author of a forthcoming book titled Land Laws in Kerala.

Impacts of environmental courts and judicial reforms on wildlife crimes

Jordan Lesser currently works as Legal Counsel for the New York State Assembly, where he has been able to lead in environmental and energy policymaking. As a former National Park Ranger in Arizona and Louisiana, and with a background in water law and natural resources law, he has brought this expertise to the state capitol during an exciting time for development of energy and environmental policy. He has a Juris Doctor from Tulane Law School with an Environmental Law Certificate, and a B.A. in Medieval History from Cornell University. He also serves as Chair of the International Committee for the American Bar Association Section of State and Local Government Law, as well as Chair of a Water Law Subcommittee. Additionally, Jordan has lead an expedition to Namibia in September 2016 and July 2017 with an international legal team, to look at legislative reforms to address the serious concerns surrounding wildlife poaching which threatens to eradicate the Black Rhinoceros and gravely damage Africa’s elephant population. This work included a first-of-its-kind workshop in Namibia with 60 government officials and stakeholders, influencing enhanced penalties for poaching and wildlife products trade. He was a 2016 Fellow for the Capital Region Chapter of the New Leaders Council and is currently their Mentorship Committee Chair. He was awarded the 40 Under 40 Rising Star award for NYS government/politics by City and State magazine in 2018, and was one of the forty-eight state leaders from across the country who were selected to participate in The Council of State Governments’ 2019 Henry Toll Fellowship, the nation’s premier leadership development program for state government officials.

A Beast So Fierce: can environmental reparations save the Bengal tiger?

Regina Menachery Paulose is an international criminal law attorney based in the US. She was awarded her JD at Seattle University School of Law and her LLM in International Crime and Justice at University of Turin/UNICRI. She is co-founder of A Contrario ICL. She is the editor of the upcoming volume: People’s Tribunals, Human Rights, and the Law (Routledge Publishing UK).

“I Have Had All My Children There” — The Samburu Evictions of Kisargei and the Limits of Incrementalism in Environmental and Human Rights Law

Matt Stannard received a J.D. from the University of Wyoming in 2013, where he participated in clinical legal service through the Center for International Human Rights Law and Advocacy, the Wyoming Defender Aid Program, and the Wyoming Law Review. Since then, he has directed research and communications for several public interest and crisis advocacy organizations. He is currently operations director at Solidarity House Cooperative, where he produces several podcasts including the “Human Rights in a Burning World” series in partnership with the World Peace through Law section of the Washington State Bar Association.


Delivering protection for bats using the criminal law. A UK approach.

Pete Charleston has been the Bat Conservation Trusts investigations officer since 2010. He has a lifetime experience in the prevention and investigation of wildlife crime having previously served 30 years as a police officer. The last ten years of his service were spent on secondment to a statutory nature conservation body where he was a full time wildlife crime officer. After retirement Pete spent a number of years as a consultant to a number of police forces and Chief Constables shaping legislation, policy and strategy relating to wildlife crime. He has also worked as an investigator for Natural England and as a volunteer for the National Wildlife Crime Unit, Sussex Police and the RSPB.   

Environmental Crimes and Tiny Jurisdictions

Professor Claire de Than is a senior legal academic of more than 25 years’ standing, and a Jersey Law Commissioner, currently working on a Criminal Code. She has over 85 legal academic publications in total, including articles in leading national and international journals, and over 15 books. Her research fields include criminal law, comparative law of tiny jurisdictions, and human rights law. She has advised many governments, charities and organisations on criminal law, human rights and law reform issues.