Staff profile

Elisa Morgera has published extensively on international law on human rights and the environment, with a focus on the climate-nature and climate-ocean nexus, the human right to science, as well as the human rights of small-scale fishers, Indigenous Peoples, and children. She has also published on business responsibility to respect human rights, as well as on the international principle and standards of equity among and within States, based on international environmental and human rights law.

From 2019 to 2024, Prof Morgera directed the One Ocean Hub, a Global North/South research collaboration on human rights and the ocean, which connected natural and social scientists, legal experts, artists, human rights holders and defenders, to support fair, inclusive and transformative decision-making.

Prof Morgera is part-time Professor in International and European Union Environmental Law at the University of Eastern Finland. Previously, she worked with the University of Strathclyde, the University of Edinburgh, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations Development Programme in Barbados. She has collaborated with the United Nations and other international organizations as consultant and independent expert; and advised governments and civil society in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific.

Prof. Morgera holds a Law degree from the University of Trieste, Italy; a Master of Laws in Environmental Law from University College London; a Master of Research and a PhD in International Law from the European University Institute, Italy. She speaks English, French and Spanish, and some Portuguese.

• human rights and the environment
• the human right to science
• children's human right to a healthy environment
• the human rights of small-scale fishers
• the human rights of Indigenous Peoples
• human rights at the climate-biodiversity and climate-ocean nexus
• business responsibility to respect human rights
• international principle and standards of equity among and within States, based on international environmental and human rights law.

Authored book

• Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing in International Law
  
  Morgera, E. (2024). Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing in International Law. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198862130.001.0001

Chapter in book

• Co-developing a Transformative Interpretation of International Law on the Protection of the Marine Environment and Human Rights: A Reflection on the Experience of the One Ocean Hub
  
  Morgera, E. (2026). Co-developing a Transformative Interpretation of International Law on the Protection of the Marine Environment and Human Rights: A Reflection on the Experience of the One Ocean Hub. In S. I. Lekkas, N. Mileva, & P. Merkouris (Eds.), The Practice of Interpretation in International Law (pp. 177-208). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009599122.013
• The Progressive Development of International Biodiversity Law from the 1972 Stockholm Conference to the Synergistic Protection of Biodiversity and Human Rights, Including at the Ocean-Climate Nexus
  
  Morgera, E. (2026). The Progressive Development of International Biodiversity Law from the 1972 Stockholm Conference to the Synergistic Protection of Biodiversity and Human Rights, Including at the Ocean-Climate Nexus. In J. Ebbesson & D. Langlet (Eds.), Fifty Years of International Environmental Law: Developments since the 1972 Stockholm Conference (pp. 451-471). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009445740.020
• Arts-Based Research and Practice in International Governance Spaces: Recognizing Human Rights by Integrating Diverse Knowledges into Ocean Decision-Making Across Scales
  
  Morgera, E., Webster, E., & McGarry, D. (2026). Arts-Based Research and Practice in International Governance Spaces: Recognizing Human Rights by Integrating Diverse Knowledges into Ocean Decision-Making Across Scales. In M. Massimi, A. E. Brown, & M. Jaspars (Eds.), Ways of World Knowing: Local Knowledge, Coastal Communities, and Equitable Ocean Governance (pp. 154-176). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197815335.003.0008
• Tides of knowledge: ocean knowledge co-creation at the science–society–policy ecotone
  
  McGarry, D., Morgera, E., & Sink, K. (2026). Tides of knowledge: ocean knowledge co-creation at the science–society–policy ecotone. In B. Neumann, D. Diz, & B. Boteler (Eds.), The Elgar Companion to Ocean Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 269-285). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803923574.00024
• Conclusions: Equity, Sustainability, and Transformation Under the BBNJ Agreement
  
  Morgera, E. (2025). Conclusions: Equity, Sustainability, and Transformation Under the BBNJ Agreement. In F. Humphries (Ed.), Decoding Marine Genetic Resource Governance Under the BBNJ Agreement (pp. 317-329). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72100-7_15

Journal Article

• Transformative Change Through Human Rights-Based Climate Action: Moving Away From ‘Sacrifice Zones’ and the Broader ‘Logic of Sacrifice’ of Fossil Fuel-Based Economies
  
  Morgera, E. (2026). Transformative Change Through Human Rights-Based Climate Action: Moving Away From ‘Sacrifice Zones’ and the Broader ‘Logic of Sacrifice’ of Fossil Fuel-Based Economies. Tilburg Law Review, 31(2), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.5334/tilr.495

Report

• A/81/217: Rethinking carbon credits according to climate and human rights obligations
  
  Morgera, E. (2026). A/81/217: Rethinking carbon credits according to climate and human rights obligations. United Nations.
• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change - Transforming food systems for a safe climate and health for all UN Doc A/HRC/62/44 (2026)
  
  Morgera, E. (2026). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change - Transforming food systems for a safe climate and health for all UN Doc A/HRC/62/44 (2026). United Nations.