Profile

Claudia Ituarte-Lima is a Visiting Research Associate at the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests and the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. She is an international public lawyer with theoretical and applied experience in both multilateral and community environmental issues including extensive fieldwork in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Senegal. Dr. Ituarte-Lima holds a PhD (University College London), MPhil (University of Cambridge), and a Law Degree (Universidad Iberoamericana). Among her distinctions count the Human Rights Award by American University, Washington College of Law. During her postdoctoral work at United Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies in Japan she has addressed the linkages between climate change and biodiversity laws and policies including conflict resolution mechanisms. Before that she held the position as legal adviser at the Mexican Ministry of the Environment, and had several short term appointments in NGOs and academia.

Research interests

Discussions on the allocation of forest peoples’ rights and responsibilities, equitable participation in decision-making and human wellbeing are central elements to access and benefit sharing agreements (ABS) and programmes for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing forest carbon stocks (REDD+). Ituarte-Lima’s research addresses biodiversity and climate change law in relation to equity and human livelihoods. It includes the analysis of multilevel environmental governance: from customary norms in forest l communities, to national biodiversity laws, regional legal instruments (e.g. Andean Decision 391 on Access to Genetic Resources) and international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Her research links the analysis of environmental resources access and exclusion to broader discussions on property and sharing in law and in other social sciences. It examines innovative interpretations of provisions under international and national property law that can play an important role in the progressive implementation of environmental, economic, social and cultural rights. Moreover, her research examines the way in which legal innovation may be used to foster climate and forest governance as well as multilevel mechanisms that adequately and effectively ensure equity and participation in environmental decision-making.

Publications

• Ituarte-Lima, C & Subramanian, S (submitted to international peer reviewed journal) 'Environment-related property laws: a means to achieve equity or inequity?'
• Ituarte-Lima, C 2011 PhD Dissertation: 'Negotiating Intellectual Property Rights in the Upper Amazon', University College London, London
• Ituarte-Lima, C 2011 'Legal Mechanisms for Environmental Justice and Intellectual Property Rights' trans S Ishida & T Yamada in Alternative Justice, Osaka University Press, Osaka. (Japanese).
• Ishida, S, Kawamuma, A, Kato, A, Kubo, H, Takano, S, Baba, J and Ituarte-Lima, C 2010 A commentary on S Parmentier's paper 'Global Justice in the Aftermath of Mass Violence: The Role of the International Criminal Court in Dealing with Political Crimes' Journal of Conflict Studies in the Humanities, vol. 2. (Japanese).
• Ituarte-Lima, C 2009 'Categories of Intellectual Property and Biodiversity in Western Inspired Legal Cultures' in Law and Anthropology, Current Legal Issues, vol 12 eds M Freeman and D Napier, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 313-350. ISBN: 019958091X.
• Ituarte, C 2004 'Traditional Knowledge of Biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples' Rights’ in Report of the 2nd International Meeting on Environmental Law, United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), National Autonomous University (UNAM), National Environmental Institute (INE) & The National Lawyer’s Bar, Mexico City, pp. 351-374. ISBN: 968-817-681-8. (Spanish).
• Ituarte, C 2004 'The Progressive Development of Human Rights in the Interamerican System, Indigenous Peoples and the Environment' eds Guevara-Bermudez, JA, Martín, C & Rodríguez-Pinzón, D International Law of Human Rights, American University - Washington College of Law, Universidad Iberoamericana, Fontamara, Mexico City, pp. 563-600 ISBN 968-476-490-1. (Spanish).
• Ituarte, C 2003 A reciprocal connection: habitat and indigenous peoples’ rights Policy Document, General Direction of Public Participation and Equity, Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), pp 1-11. National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI), (Two versions: Spanish and Wixarita version, an indigenous peoples' language).
• Ituarte, C 2003 Compilation of laws related to the environment and indigenous peoples. Policy Document, General Direction of Public Participation and Equity, Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, pp 1-71. (Spanish).
• Ituarte, C 2003 'Participatory Rights of Indigenous Peoples and International Law' in Report of the 1st International Meeting on Environmental Law, Mexico City: National Environmental Institute (INE) and the National Lawyer’s Bar, Mexico. ISBN: 968-817-584-6. (Spanish).