Bio

Jonathan Verschuuren is a professor of international and European environmental law law. He received his doctorate degree in 1993 cum laude. His research focuses primarily on the impact of environmental law on the environment. His current research interest is the relationship between climate change and food security. In 2015, Jonathan received a prestigious EU Marie Sklodowska Curie fellowship to develop a new regulatory framework for climate smart agriculture. He was a research fellow at the Australian Centre for Climate and Environmental Law for one year (2016). In 2017, Jonathan was awarded the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law senior scholarship prize for his work in the field of environmental law. He has written numerous publications  in the field of environmental law, including several books and many articles in outstanding peer reviewed journals throughout the world. He is often asked to give advice on a range of environmental policy issues.

Expertise

Jonathan has more than 30 years of experience in environmental law research. Over these years, he has addressed such research themes as climate change mitigation and adaptation, greenhouse gas emissions trading, climate litigation, coastal adaptation, climate engineering, climate change and armed conflicts, climate change and biodiversity, carbon farming, climate change and food security, environmental justice, human rights and the environment, the anthropocene, nature conservation law (especially EU Wild Birds and Habitats Directives, Wetlands Convention), the precautionary principle, codification of environmental law, globalisation and the environment, corporate social responsibility and environmental law, the role of civil society in sustainable development law, transboundary cooperation.

Teaching

At Tilburg University, Jonathan has taught a range of courses in the fields of administrative law, constitutional law, European law, international law, human rights law, environmental law. His current main courses are 'Climate change law', 'International and European environmental law' and 'The EU and global environmental risk'. Abroad, Jonathan taught in several LLM programmes in the area of environmental and climate law, such as at Leuven University (2002-2011), University of Malta (2013-2017), University of Connecticut (2000, 2009), University of Sydney (2011), North West University, South Africa (2005-2014), and video lectures at Cambridge University (2014) and Columbia University, NY (2011). In the PhD programme, Jonathan has supervised 24 PhD students (13 of whom now have senior academic positions at universities in the Netherlands, USA, Australia, China, South Africa, and Ethiopia), with 5 current (2021).

Courses

Collaboration

Jonathan currently is an extraordinary professor at the North West University and at the University of the Western Cape (South Africa) and a fellow at the Sustainability College Bruges (Belgium)

Other examples of major collaborations:

Legal Forum on Climate Change Adaptation (2011-2019): Universities of Leuven, Malta, Maastricht (METRO), Madrid (IE), Insubria, Utrecht (UCWOSL), Imperial College London

Legal framework for carbon farming (2016-2017): University of Sydney (ACCEL)

EU FP7 project ‘Economic instruments to achieve climate targets in Europe’ (Entracte) (2012-2016): Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW Mannheim), Imperial College Business School, FEEM Milan

Highlights

Tilburg Law School's website on sector plan 'Constitutionalizing the Anthropocene' (2019/2024)

Tilburg Law School's website on the NWO project 'regulating greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture' (2020/2022)

INCLUDE's website on the NWO/WOTRO project on sustainable development CSOs in Ethiopia (2017/2019)

Tilburg Law School's Environmental Law Blog (2011/2019)

IUCN Academy of Environmental Law's senior scholarship award report (2017)

Some of the books Jonathan edited: Research Handbook on Climate Change Adaptation Law (2013), Regional Environmental Law (2015), Environmental Law and Climate Change (2015).

Jonathan is the series editor of the Research Handbooks in Climate Law and the Elgar Studies in Climate Law. He also edited a special issue of Sustainability, titled 'Governance for climate smart agriculture' (2017/2018)

Recent publications

  1. Reflectie met beleidsaanbevelingen naar aanleiding van het rapport ‘D…

    Bastmeijer, K., Boerema, L., Gilissen, H. K., Kistenkas, F., Miltenburg, L., Van Rijswick, M., Trouwborst, A., Verschuuren, J., & Zwier, W. (2024). Reflectie met beleidsaanbevelingen naar aanleiding van het rapport ‘De Europees- en internationaalrechtelijke status van de Waddenzee’. Waddenacademie. https://www.waddenacademie.nl/fileadmin/inhoud/pdf/04-bibliotheek/2024-01_Reflectie_met_beleidsaanbevelingen_nav_rapport_De_Europees-_en_internationaalrechtelijke_status_van_de_Waddenzee.pdf
  2. De rol van het recht bij de opkomst van kweekvlees en kweekzuivel als…

    Verschuuren, J. (2024). De rol van het recht bij de opkomst van kweekvlees en kweekzuivel als baanbrekende technologie in de landbouw- en voedseltransitie in de EU. In Duurzame handelsketens en het recht: een decennium later (Vol. VMR 2024, pp. 13-35). (Publicaties van de Vereniging voor Milieurecht; Vol. 2024). Uitgeverij Boom.
  3. Legal assessment explaining why COPA*COGECA's objections against the …

    Aragao, A., Born, C.-H., Ciscato, E., Cliquet, A., Decleer, K., Dotinga, H., Fleurke, F., Leucci, F., Mauerhofer, V., Meertens, M., Mendes, A., Reese, M., Schoukens, H., Trouwborst, A., van Hoorick, G., & Verschuuren, J. (2023). Legal assessment explaining why COPA*COGECA's objections against the Nature Restoration Act proposal are misleading. Society for Ecological Restoration. https://serchapter2018.wpenginepowered.com/europe/files/2023/07/legal-assessment-of-Copa-Cogeca-objections-.pdf
  4. De Europees- en internationaalrechtelijke status van de Waddenzee - E…

    Bastmeijer, K. (Ed.), Boerema, L., Gilissen, H. K., Kistenkas, F., Miltenburg, L., Van Rijswick, M., Trouwborst, A., Verschuuren, J., & Zwier, W. (2023). De Europees- en internationaalrechtelijke status van de Waddenzee: Een analyse van de relevantie van EU-richtlijnen en internationale verdragen voor de bescherming en het beheer van de Waddenzee met een doorkijk naar de Nederlandse implementatie. Waddenacademie. https://www.waddenacademie.nl/fileadmin/inhoud/pdf/03-Thema_s/Natuur_en_Recht/Rapport_De_Europees-_en_internationaalrechtelijke_status_van_de_Waddenzee_Bastmeijer_2023.pdf
  5. Legal assessment of the Proposal for an EU Nature Restoration Law - R…

    Cliquet, A., Aragao, A., Born, C.-H., Bouquelle, F., Ciscato, E., Decleer, K., Dotinga, H., Fleurke, F., Leucci, F., Mauerhofer, V., Meertens, M., Mendes, A., Queffelec, B., Reese, M., Schoukens, H., Trouwborst, A., van Hoorick, G., & Verschuuren, J. (2023). Legal assessment of the Proposal for an EU Nature Restoration Law: Report by the Legal Working Group of the Society for Ecological Restoration Europe. Society for Ecological Restoration.

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