Faculty of Law
Environmental Law
The Faculty of Law’s strength in environmental and resource management law is well-known in New Zealand and abroad.
From left: Ken Palmer, Klaus Bosselmann, David Grinlinton, Valmaine Toki, Tim McBride, Caroline Foster, Prue Taylor and Peter Sankoff
We have one of the world’s largest environmental law programmes with six environmental law courses regularly offered at undergraduate level and up to eight courses in Environmental law offered at postgraduate level. In addition to staff teaching in the LLM (Environmental) programme, the faculty invites top scholars from around the world to teach intensive courses in the areas climate change law, biodiversity law, ocean governance, human rights and the environment, and others.
The faculty is also home to the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law (NZCEL). The centre is directed by Professor Klaus Bosselmann, and its membership is made up by staff from the Faculty of Law, the School of Planning and Architecture as well as academics from the University of Canterbury and the University of Waikato.
Established in 1999, the Centre organises conferences and seminars, hosts legal scholars, publishes the New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law and the NZCEL Monograph Series, and generally engages in research on domestic, comparative and international environmental law. A focal-point of research has been the interface between sustainable development and law and governance.
For further information visit the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law (NZCEL) website.
The following members of staff conduct teaching or research in the area of Environmental Law:
| Name | Field or research |
|---|---|
| Bosselmann, Klaus | International environmental law and governance, comparative and European environmental law, climate change, biodiversity, sustainability and the law |
| Foster, Caroline | Public international law, trade, human rights, international environmental law, law of the sea, Antarctica, international courts and tribunals, international dispute resolution |
| Grinlinton, David | Sustainability, integrated environmental management, property rights in natural resources, mining and oil and gas law, energy law, forestry |
| Palmer, Kenneth | Resource management law, local government law, heritage, public works claims |
| Toki, Valmaine | Indigenous environmental law, recognition of customary rights to the environment (fisheries, seabed and foreshore), marine resource management, Māori and resource management (aquaculture) |
