ABUAD and MENA ASSELLMU Collaborate on Climate Change Conference
2023 Edition of Environmental Law and Policy Scholars’ Conference
Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and sustainable Development, Afe Babalola university (ABUAD), Nigeria in collaboration with Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Law, Doha, the University of Jordan and the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Middle East and North African Universities (ASSELLMU) to jointly organize the 5th and the 2023 edition of MENA Environmental Law and Policy Scholars’ Conference held in Amman, Jordan.
The theme of the conference is “Law on Biodiversity, Nature Conservation and the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Middle East and North Africa Region,” the conference has educators, industry experts and researchers from the environmental sector to cross-fertilize ideas and deepen the knowledge base on how to bolster biodiversity law practice, education, and implementation in Nigeria, MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa.
So many experts in the education sector and industry spoke during conference keynote addresses. They include Patricia Mbote, Director of the Law Division, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); H E Dr. Leila Chikhaoui, Minister of the Environment of Tunisia; Dr. Nathir Obeidat, President, University of Jordan; Professor Randall Abate, Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies, George Washington University, USA; and Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi, SAN, Professor of Law, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnership (ARISP) Afe Babalola University(ABUAD), Director of OGEES Institute, Afe Babalola University and UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at HBKU and Chair of ASSELLMU.
Other participants from Afe Babalola University, (ABUAD), Nigeria included Dr Adebayo Ogundipe, Director ICT, ABUAD, Dr Yinka Ajiboye, Director, Space Development, ABUAD, and Mr Abraham Adeniran Research and Sustainable Development Desk Officer, ABUAD while the remaining participants from HBKU included Dean Susan L. Karamanian of HBKU Law; Dr. Andreas Rechkemmer, Professor of Public Policy, HBKU’s College of Public Policy, and Elena Athwal, third-year Juris Doctor (J.D.) student and research fellow to the UNESCO Chair at HBKU.
It is a notorious fact that “Biodiversity law is a powerful tool that protects our cultural heritage as much as our natural environment. Through this partnership with ASSELLMU, the University of Jordan and the financial support of UNEP, we hope to strengthen both the framework of environmental law in the region and strengthen the pedagogy of educational programs in this field. Together, we are eager to continue contributing to realizing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Nigeria’s and Qatar’s National Vision 2030,” said Dean Karamanian.
Previous Edition
As part of its commitment to building key partnerships with like-minded organisations, the OGEES Institute of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) recently participated in the 2021 annual conference of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Middle East and North African Universities’ (ASSELLMU).
The conference which was hosted in Doha, Qatar, has faculty in environmental law, practitioners and policymakers that came together to deliberate legal innovations, methods and strategies to climate change and its impacts in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).
The conference affords a great privilege to promote the integration of climate change law teaching in the curriculum of Law school.
It was organised through the support of the United Nations Environment Programme and in conjunction with the duo of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and Hassan the First University, Settat, Casablanca. The organisation that strategically partnered with UNEP to organised the conference are as follows Morocco’s Laboratory for Research on Comparative Democratic Transition, LexisNexis MENA
“This conference outlined the important roles of academics, and non-teaching that are carefully selected from government, financial and industrial organisations, in addressing the challenges bedeviling MENA in relation to the worrisome effect of climate change. We shall continue to foster this relationship with all stakeholders for creative research and innovative solutions” according to Prof Damilola S Olawuyi, SAN, Director of the OGEES Institute.