IUCN WCEL Soil and Sustainable Agriculture Law Specialist Group

Dr. Irene Lucia Heuser 

Since July 2018 Dr. Heuser is Chair of the Specialist Group on “Soil and Sustainable Agriculture Law“ of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. Dr. Irene Heuser is active in the field of environmental policy and law since more than 30 years. She received a “summa cum laude” in Law for her PhD thesis on European Soil Protection Law in 2005 from the University of Trier, Germany (with a scholarship of the German Research Council). Irene currently lives near Berlin and works as Head of the Unit “EU Policy, EU Law, Development Policy” as well as Deputy Head of the International Department of the Ministry for Europe in Potsdam. She previously worked as Head of the Minister’s Office or Senior Legal Officer in the State Chancellery of Brandenburg, the Ministry of Environment and the Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission. She has written several articles on soil protection, agriculture and sustainability law and is co-editor of the International Yearbook on Soil Law and Policy (IYSLP). She spoke at major conferences around the world on topics related to soil protection and environmental law (FAO, UNCCD, Global Soil Week etc.). She speaks English, French and German.

Edwin Alblas is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Law at the Law Group of Wageningen University & Research (tenure track). He completed his PhD in environmental law and regulation at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin (UCD) and pursued a postdoc in environmental democracy at the University of Groningen. He is a graduate of Tilburg University (BA, LLM) and KU Leuven (LLM).

His fields of interest include biodiversity, agriculture, soil health and nature conservation. Using a variety of legal and social science methodologies, the underlying research theme concerns how law can help drive positive environmental action and how to best include various societal groups in this exercise ('environmental democracy').

Edwin has teaching experience in various fields including environmental law & policy, environmental politics, and regulatory governance. He has published in international peer-reviewed journals, including Land Use Policy, International Environmental Agreements, Regulation & Governance, European Union Politics and Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law. Alongside his research, Edwin has wide volunteering experience, among others for agri-environmental organizations in the Netherlands and as spokesperson for the successful climate litigation action Climate Case Ireland.