Alvin Gachie is a law professional with key strengths and experience in technical legal assistance, legal analysis, project management, and both establishing and managing partnerships with ...
IUCN COMMISSION GROUP
IUCN WCEL Early Career Specialist Group
Group leadership
Mr Alvin GACHIE
Chair
Alvin Gachie is a law professional with key strengths and experience in technical legal assistance, legal analysis, project management, and both establishing and managing partnerships with stakeholders. With over 10 years of experience of working in the United Nations system (UN Environment Programme – UNEP, UN Human Rights - OHCHR), in international civil society (Amnesty International, ActionAid) and in the private sector, Alvin has sound knowledge of various global political and social issues including environmental law, policy, and governance, human rights, and humanitarian action. He seeks to meet the needs of people and communities for a better world. You can contact him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvingachie
Ms RIA DAS
Deputy Chair
Ria Das is a human rights lawyer and early career researcher based in India. Her work areas are anti corruption, human rights, illegal detention, juvenile justice, and environmental crimes. She is also IUCN’s Early Career Environmental Law Specialist Group co- lead for ‘Networks and Partnerships’.
She is presently serving as a youth advisor to prestigious international organisations including UN's Youth Advisor on Environmental and Climate Justice in the Asia-Pacific region; Jane Goodall Institute India, and National Rapporteur for Sabin Centre on Climate Change Litigation Columbia Law School, New York.
Her research interest and published work in leading peer-reviewed journals, including including Oxford University, Berkeley university, University of Southampton, and European Union that forms a coherent body reflecting the thematic issues including access to climate justice, youth rights, climate litigation and environmental crimes.
Ria Das is a human rights lawyer and early career researcher based in India. Her work areas are anti corruption, human rights, illegal detention, juvenile justice, and environmental crimes. She is ...
About the Specialist Group
The purpose of the IUCN WCEL Early-Career Specialist Group (ECSG) is to foster relationships among early-career environmental law professionals and encourage their participation in the activities and mission of the Commission, in line with the 2025-2029 mandate of the World Commission on Environmental Law and the 2025–2029 IUCN Programme.
The ECSG is focused on achieving three overarching goals:
- Provide next-generation, cutting-edge perspectives in environmental law to the World Commission on Environmental Law and the broader IUCN Programme.
- Provide a cross-cutting platform for the next generation of lawyers, policymakers, decision-makers, and scholars to exchange information and ideas on emerging and interdisciplinary topics in environmental law and meaningfully engage in environmental law research and practice.
- Promote innovative environmental law solutions to tackle the socio-ecological crisis, fostering intergenerational partnerships.
Our members
'Early-career' can be defined as "35 years or younger or within five years of completing a postgraduate degree in law or ten years or less since completing an undergraduate degree in law." Nonetheless, all World Commission on Environmental Law and broader IUCN community members are welcome to engage in and contribute to the ECSG's activities.
ECSG members include leading early-career professionals working across all environmental law fields, from biodiversity to climate change law. The ECSG seeks to leverage its members' expertise by developing projects focused on emerging environmental law topics
Strategic Framing
The IUCN WCEL Early Career Specialist Group (ECSG) four-year workplan (2026 – 2029) is designed to support the implementation of mandates arising from the IUCN World Conservation Congress, in alignment with the IUCN 20-Year Strategic Vision. The Vision emphasises long-term transformation, intergenerational equity, inclusive governance, and strengthening the environmental rule of law: principles that are central to ECSG’s role within WCEL. The ECSG is a platform that enables early-career professionals to contribute meaningfully to WCEL’s work while developing leadership, expertise, and professional networks. The ECSG does not replace or duplicate WCEL’s formal mandates. Rather, it functions as an enabling platform through which early-career professionals contribute research support, knowledge generation, networking, mentorship, and engagement in global environmental governance processes.
Workplan structure
The workplan is structured around four projects, each supporting clusters of WCEL-relevant Congress motions. Activities are intentionally modest, decentralised, and scalable, recognising volunteer capacity and using available WCEL resources as seed funding.
Projects will be led by co-leads, identified through calls for expressions of interest among ECSG members, ensuring regional diversity, shared ownership, and manageable workloads. The Chair and Deputy Chair, in consultation with the co-leads, will provide light-touch coordination, oversight, and annual review.
Project 1: Networking and Connectivity
Objective: To strengthen ECSG’s function as a global network and communication channel supporting WCEL priorities across regions, Specialist Groups within WCEL, and institutions. Activities will include periodic virtual and in-person networking sessions, promotion of members’ events and initiatives, and targeted engagement alongside WCEL and IUCN activities. The emphasis will be on maintaining open channels rather than organising large-scale events, enabling ECSG to amplify opportunities across regions and Specialist Groups within WCEL.
Project 2: WCEL–ECSG Mentorship & Training Programme
Objective: To foster intergenerational exchange, leadership development, and professional growth for early-career environmental lawyers. The mentorship and training programme will be reintroduced in a streamlined and structured format, pairing early-career specialists with senior WCEL members or practitioners. The programme will focus on professional development, exposure to environmental law practice and policy processes, and intergenerational exchange through mentorship, training and capacity building. Activities may include fixed-term mentorship cycles, thematic mentoring sessions, and guidance on research, advocacy, training, and engagement with international institutions.
Project 3: Knowledge Generation and Thought Leadership
Objective: To support WCEL’s normative and policy work by contributing early-career research, analysis, and dissemination. This project will support ECSG contributions to WCEL’s intellectual work through short articles, commentaries, or briefing notes on issues linked to WCEL resolutions, Congress outcomes, or emerging legal questions. Outputs will be designed to complement WCEL documentation and outreach, while reflecting early-career perspectives. This mirrors practices within intergovernmental youth initiatives, where youth contribute substantively to policy-relevant knowledge.
Project 4: Engagement in Global Environmental Governance and MEAs
Objective: To build ECSG capacity to engage in MEAs and global fora, while supporting WCEL’s international engagement. This project will track and engage with developments under multilateral environmental agreements and related global processes. Activities may include informal briefings, knowledge-sharing sessions, and exploratory support for ECSG member participation in selected COPs or international meetings, using WCEL resources as seed funding where available.
Are you interested in contributing to our activities?
We invite you to create a new account in the IUCN Commissions Membership portal, log in, and apply to become a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law. Please indicate in your application form that you would like to join the “WCEL Early Career Network,” even if you received your law degree more than five years ago. Similarly, please indicate your interest in joining the group in the “brief outline” section. Click here for a general video on how to apply. We are eager to welcome you to the ECSG!
Check out our "get involved” page to learn about WCEL membership. Please do not hesitate to write to us should you have any questions!