Margaretha Wewerinke Singh

Biography

Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh is a Lecturer in Environmental Law at USP. She is also an Affiliate of the Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research at the University of Cambridge. Margaretha’s work broadly speaking focuses on the role of law in framing and implementing responses to sustainability challenges. Her PhD research at the European University Institute focused on the intersection between climate change, human rights and accountability. Her PhD thesis, ’State Responsibility, Climate Change and Human Rights’ explained when and where state action related to climate change may amount to a violation of human rights. In related publications she examined the competency of human rights treaty bodies and the UN Human Rights Council to deal with climate change-related cases. Current research focuses on the implications of the Paris Agreement for international, regional and national climate governance, and the potential of climate change litigation in shaping environmental governance.  Margaretha was called to the bar of England and Wales in 2014, and has been involved in multilateral processes related to sustainable development and human rights, in different capacities, since 2007. She has acted as a legal adviser to governments at international climate negotiations, and provided substantive input to UN human rights bodies on behalf of different non-governmental organisations. At USP, she supports students in advising Pacific Island delegations at international climate change negotiations, in collaboration with colleagues at the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development and the School of Government, Development and International Affairs. Margaretha is a member of the IUCN Academy for Environmental Law and serves on the editorial boards of the Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law and of the Journal of South Pacific Law. 

Research Interest

Law and jurisprudence