European consumption causes biodiversity loss far away from the place of consumption and predominantly in countries of the Global South. The research project ”Protecting Biodiversity through Regulating Trade and Business Relations” sets out to contribute to protecting biodiversity and safeguarding human rights outside Europe by analysing how the European Union (EU) and European countries can regulate their impacts abroad through effective, fair and coherent laws and policies.
Dr. Claudia Ituarte-Lima is principal investigator on behalf of RWI and Dr. Radu Mares is also part of this transnational research team, who will work collaboratively on this three-year research project. The project also has an Advisory Committee consisting of officials in intergovernmental organizations, civil society and academics. The consortium consists of scholars from 4 institutions: RWI, the Finish Environment Institute, University of Copenhagen, and University of Bern. The sponsor is BiodivERsA, a network of national and regional funding organisations promoting pan-European research on biodiversity, ecosystem services and Nature-based Solutions.
The research consortium combines expertise in law, policy, and trade and its nexus with biodiversity to uncover the root causes of biodiversity loss and degradation of healthy ecosystems and reveal legal innovations that can be used towards conserving, restoring and sustainably using biodiversity and healthy ecosystems upon which we all depend.
Our project aims to produce novel understanding of current and future European trade rules that impact or target to protect and enhance biodiversity and human rights outside Europe. We examine how EU and European countries can regulate their impacts on biodiversity and human rights in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Eastern Africa to contribute to positive socio-ecological outcomes. The presumption is that by regulating European business relations, European law can extend its positive biodiversity impact elsewhere outside the world, possibly having a major impact in reaching the goals of international environmental and human rights agreements.
The project will increase understanding on how scientific knowledge, other knowledge systems and multiple values of biodiversity need to be brought into the shaping of law and the definition of lawful vs unlawful activities. Taking an ecosystems approach, we examine the way socio-ecological are interconnected: forest, wetlands, farmlands and aquatic ecosystems cannot be effectively protected or restored separately. We weave the ecosystems approach with legal innovations. Fundamental rights are interconnected: the right to a healthy environment cannot be separated from right to life and land rights, and workers’ rights.
Are you interested in hearing more? Please contact:
Claudia Ituarte-Lima, Head of the Human Rights and Environment Thematic Area and Senior Researcher, Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, claudia.ituarte-lima@rwi.lu.se
Project partners
Anu Lähteenmäki-Uutela, Senior Research Scientist, Finnish Environment Institute, anu.lahteenmaki-uutela@syke.fi. Coordinator of the project consortium
Elisabeth Bürgi Bonanomi, Senior lecturer, Center for Development and Environment, University of Bern, elisabeth.buergi@unibe.ch
Carola Glinski, Associate Professor Faculty of Law, Carola.Glinski@jur.ku.dk
Claudia Ituarte-Lima
Dr. Claudia Ituarte-Lima is Leader of the Human Rights and the Environment thematic area and senior researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.
Dr. Claudia Ituarte-Lima an international public lawyer and scholar with over two decades of experience at the intersection of human rights, biodiversity, and climate change law and policy. Holding an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from University College London, she works as Thematic Lead and Senior Researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden and serves as Director of the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment.
Her work bridges legal analysis with sustainability science to address critical environmental and human rights governance challenges. Using participatory approaches, she ensures her research is both impactful for the communities she engages with and innovative in advancing knowledge on environmental justice and social-ecological dynamics. She has authored over 25 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, alongside more than 35 technical reports and policy briefs. Her publications consolidate international human rights and gender equality standards within biodiversity, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and environmental human rights defenders contexts. Additionally, she has conducted empirical research at subnational levels, providing valuable localized insights. Her research has been published in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Burmese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese.
Together with partner organizations, she has designed and facilitated capacity-bridging initiatives with professionals across three continents: blended learning courses with judges, National Human Rights Institutions, public prosecutors and bar associations in Asia; in Latin America and the Caribbean, facilitating UNEP’s Fifth Montevideo Environmental Law Programme Conference in Panama; in Africa, delivering workshops for UNEP and UNDP staff in Kenya. She has also contributed significantly to integrating human rights into the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) decisions. Her proposals on human rights safeguards in biodiversity financing mechanisms were adopted by the CBD’s 193 Parties. Furthermore, she has served as an expert in policy support tools for the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Committed to disseminating research insights broadly, her op-eds and articles have been featured in prominent platforms like The Conversation, the World Economic Forum, The Diplomat, and Inter Press Service News Agency. Living and working across Sweden, Mexico, Kenya, Japan, Canada, and the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon has enriched her understanding of diverse cultural and environmental contexts with unique skills to catalyze research and action with international scope while being contextually relevant.
For further updates on her research, please refer to her Research profile:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claudia-Ituarte-Lima
https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/claudia-ituarte-lima
