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Bharat H. Desai

Ph. D, M.Phil, LLM, LLB, B.Com, Professor Dr. / Chairperson

Bharat Desai

Professor Dr. Bharat H. Desai holds the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Chair in International Environmental Law as well as is Professor of International Law and Chairman of Centre for International Legal Studies in School of International Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Yearbook of International Environmental Law (OUP: UK) and Chairman of Centre for Advanced Study on Courts & Tribunals (India).

Prof. Desai’s significant books include: (i) International Environment Court: A Legal Study of an Ideal (Boston: Brill Nijhoff, 2018; forthcoming) (ii) International Environmental Governance (Boston: Brill Nijhoff, 2014) (iii) Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Legal Status of the Secretariats (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2010); Paperback edition 2013) (iv) Institutionalizing International Environmental Law (New York: Transnational Publishers, 2004).

Prof.Desai mooted a proposal for United Nations Environment Protection Organization (UNEPO) as well as revival of the UN Trusteeship Council with a new mandate for environment & the global commons in an invited talk on 15 January 1999 at Legal Department of the World Bank, DC. These have been published in important recent research papers such as: (i) The Quest for a UN Specialized Agency for the Environment, The Round Table (London), vol.101, no.2, April 2012 (ii) “UNEP: A Global Environmental Authority?”, Environmental Policy & Law (IOS Press, Amsterdam), vol.36, nos.3-4, 2006.

Prof. Desai has been consulted by the Union Ministries of Environment & Forests as well as Ministry of External Affairs and inducted as a member of the official Indian Delegations to various intergovernmental negotiations.

Prof.Desai has initiated and coordinates three inter-disciplinary and Inter-University Consortiums on themes of Himalayan Cryosphere, Amospheric Aerosols and Geo-spatial Information Systems (with 4, 4 and 9 Partner Universities respectively) as unique knowledge platforms to generate futuristic cutting-edge knowledge in respective fields.

 

Publications

  • Introduction to International Law: General Lectures to University Students (under preparation; likely to be ready for publication in 2019).
  • Introduction to International Environment Law (draft manuscript; proposal being presented to Cambridge University Press, New York, NY; 2018).
  • International Environment Court: A Legal Study of an Ideal (Boston, USA: Brill Nijhoff, 2018) (co-authored with B K Sidhu).
  • “Climate Change as a Common Concern of Humankind: Reflections on International Law-making Process” in Jordi Jaria-Manzano & Susana Borràs (ed.) Global Climate (London: Edward Elgar, 2018).
  • “Sustainable Cities: A Governance Challenge” in Harald Ginzky (et al.), International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, vol.3, 2018
  • “Comparative Environmental Law: India (Country Studies)” in Emma Lees, Jorge E. Vinuales (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Law(Oxford: OUP, forthcoming 2017).
  • “Quest for International Environment Institutions: Transition from CSD to HLPF”) in Shawkat Alam, Sumudu Atapattu, Carmen G. Gonzalez, and Jona Razzaque (ed.) International Environmental Law and the Global South: Comparative Perspectives (Cambridge: CUP, July 2015).
  • International Environmental Governance: Towards UNEPO?(Boston, USA: BrillNijhoff, 2014).
  • Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Legal Status of the Secretariats (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2010; paperback edition 2013).
  • Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity: A Retrospective Analysis in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Countries (Kathmandu: ICIMOD, 2011) (with Oli, Sharma).
  • Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversityin the Hindu-kush Himalayas(Kathmandu: ICIMOD, 2011).
  • Creeping Institutionalization: Multilateral Environmental Agreements & Human Security (Bonn: United Nations University-EHS, 2006).
  • Institutionalizing InternationalEnvironmental Law(New York: Transnational Publishers, 2004).
  • “Strengthening International Environmental Governance: An Assessment” in S.Kothari et al. (Eds.), The Value of Nature: Ecological Politics in India (New Delhi: 2004).
  • “International Environmental Institutions: An Overview” in Rudolf Dolzer and Josef Thesing (Eds.), Protecting Our Environment: German Perspectives on a Global Challenge (Bonn: Konrad Adenauer Foundation, 2000).
     

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