Nathan Cooper

I am an academic lawyer – I work at the interface of environmental law and human rights law, and in particular on questions around the compatibility of ‘rights claims’ with ecologically sustainable governance. I am interested in the way that formal law shapes norms and interacts with other norms, and in the role of ‘vernacular law’ and law-like emanations, in pursuing (ecosystems) solidarity, and in achieving (ecological) justice and (ecocentric) welfare.

My current focus is on the governance of socio-economic necessities – in particular on water governance – through international human rights law, domestic constitutions, development goals, and grass-roots organisation. I am also interested in re-imagining the concept of property in the Anthropocene, and the development of ethico-legal norms for Earth Jurisprudence and Earth Systems Governance in a climate changing world.