In the past decade, a surge of legal initiatives has addressed environmental protection in the context of armed conflict, a movement of attention unparalleled since the 1970s. Just as the laws developed in that era shaped conflict-related environmental governance for decades, contemporary efforts are likely to define the future. Central to these developments are the 2020 ICRC Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict and the 2022 UN International Law Commission’s Principles on the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts (PERAC), which comprise key instruments for safeguarding the environment during armed conflict.

On a related note, the UN Environment Assembly adopted another resolution on conflict-related environmental protection in March 2024, this time addressing environmental assistance and recovery in areas affected by armed conflict. Additionally, the growing momentum to criminalize ecocide, as evidenced by the recent proposal from Pacific Island States to amend the ICC Statute, highlights an emerging shift toward ascribing criminal responsibility for severe environmental damage.

By examining these developments together, this presentation will attempt to weave a comprehensive framework of environmental protection in armed conflict and explore the role of international law in safeguarding the planet in relation to armed conflict.

Note: This event is open to the public and free to attend live online (via Microsoft Teams).

Speaker: Dr. Stavros Pantazopoulos
Dr. Stavros-Evdokimos Pantazopoulos is a Teaching Associate and Visiting Researcher at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is also a visiting researcher at the Erik Castrén Institute at the University of Helsinki and an Associate Fellow with the TMC Asser Institute. Stavros is a founding member of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association and the Chair of its Law Interest Group. Additionally, he is a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law and serves as the Managing Editor of the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law.

Previously, Stavros was a postdoctoral researcher with the Toxic Crimes Project at the University of Helsinki and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Amsterdam. He has also worked as the Legal and Policy Analyst for the Conflict and Environment Observatory, a UK-based NGO focused on raising awareness about the environmental impacts of armed conflict. Furthermore, he has assisted both UN ILC Special Rapporteurs on the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts: Ambassador Marja Lehto in 2022 and Ambassador Marie Jacobsson in 2015.

Stavros holds a PhD in international law from the European University Institute (EUI), and his research focuses on the legal aspects of environmental protection during and after armed conflict. He has taught international law, international humanitarian law, international environmental law, human rights law, and the law governing the use of force. His publications span the fields of international humanitarian law, international environmental law, international cultural heritage law, and autonomous weapons systems

Chair: Dr. Maria Varaki
Dr. Maria Varaki is a Lecturer in International Law in the War Studies Department at King's College London. Before moving to London, she held research positions at the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights in Helsinki and the Law Faculty of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She was also an Assistant Professor of International Law at Kadir Has University in Istanbul.

Maria holds a PhD in International Law from the Irish Centre for Human Rights in Galway, Ireland, and two LLM degrees—one in International and Comparative Law from Tulane University and another from New York University School of Law. She is currently a Research Associate on the Three Generations of Digital Human Rights ERC project (2023-2028) at Hebrew University’s Faculty of Law.