In the first seminar of the 2026-27 Cambridge Seminar Series on Law and the Climate Crisis, hosted in collaboration with the Cambridge Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (CEENRG), Professor Nilufer Oral (National University Singapore) will talk about “Climate Change and Changing Oceans, and a changing international law”.
Come to the Weston Seminar Room, David Attenborough Building (CB2 3QZ) to hear Prof Oral speak at 3:15pm on 14 October 2026, and stay for refreshments and networking afterwards.
Seminar synopsis:
The talk will explore the evolution of international law, and in particular the law of the sea, in addressing the adverse impacts on climate change on the ocean. Despite calls for global action as far back as the 1989 Male Declaration on Global Warming and Sea Level rise, the ocean was largely neglected. The lecture will highlight how small island States strategically employed the tools of international law, such as the International Law Commission, ITLOS and the ICJ. Most recently, on 24 September 2026 the UNGA adopted the first-ever Declaration on sea-level rise marking an important statement of global solidarity for action.
About the speaker:
Nilufer Oral is Director of the Centre of International Law at the National University of Singapore and is a member of the UN International Law Commission (ILC) where she served as Co- chairperson of the 74th session of the Commission, and Co-chair of the ILC Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law.
She is a member of The Hague Academy of International Law Curatorium and an Associate member of the Institut de Droit International. She was a legal advisor and climate change negotiator for Turkish MFA (2009-2016). She is a member of the COP 31 Presidency Committee of Experts; and a member of the Committee of Legal Experts of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS). She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Law of the Sea Institute at Berkeley Law, Senior Fellow of the National University of Singapore Law School, and Senior Fellow of the University of Melbourne Law School. She is currently a member of the Steering Committee of the World Commission on Environmental Law of the IUCN.
She has appeared before the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for advisory proceedings and contentious cases.
She is the series editor for the International Straits of the World publications (Brill); member of the editorial board of different publications. She has published numerous articles and edited several books, and has spoken at numerous international conferences.