In Memoriam: Prof. Dr. Johan G. Lammers, “Hans” (1941-2025)

Hans Lammers died on April 1, 2025, in Zandvoort, The Netherlands. The field of International Environmental law is indebted to Hans for his inquiring mind, his prodigious legal research and advocacy, and his commitment to a “search for substantive rules and principles of law”[1] to protect the environment. His vision was global as well as local. He began his inquiries studying the law of rivers in 1971. His family recalled his philosophy at his passing: “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”

Recipient of the Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law in 1999 for his “outstanding and sustained contributions to Environmental law,” Hans contributed a rich body of insightful research,[2] including preparing the Hague Yearbook of International Law in 2008.[3]  His academic career included his initial appointment to the Department of International Law at Leyden University as a Professor of Public Law, and in 1990 as a Professor of International Environmental law at the University of Amsterdam.

Beyond scholarship, he was also an architect guiding the international decision-making building the framework of environmental law. In 1999 he was named Legal Advisor in the International Law division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. He was involved in litigation before the Permanent Court of International Arbitration and the UN International Court of Justice.[4] He was an active participant in the Legal Experts Group established for the UN World Commission on Environment & Development, which produced the legal recommendations in the Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (1987). With IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law,[5]  he participated in the preparation of the IUCN Draft Covenant on Environment and Development under the leadership of Dr. Parvez Hassan as WCEL chair.[6]

Hans was generous with his time and always collegial, His careful legal analysis and insights genuinely furthered stewardship of the environment through law. His life’s work inspires us. All of us in IUCN are fortunate to have had his wise counsel and friendship. He is missed.

Nicholas A. Robinson

 

[1] This is the title of his doctoral thesis, in 1984.
[2] See the publications assembled at https://independent.academia.edu/JohanGLammers.
[3] Johan G. Lammers, Hague Yearbook of International Law / Annuaire de la Haye de Droit International, Vol. 21 (2008) .
[4] His leadership in the courts was celebrated in The Netherlands in Court: Essays in Honour of Johan G. Lammers, by Niels Blokker (Editor), Rene Lefeber (Editor), Liesbeth Lijnzaad (Editor), Ineke Van Bladel (Editor)
[5] Then known as the Commission on Environmental law & Policy (CEPLA), see Barbara Lausche, Weaving a Web of Environmental Law (Chapter 19.27 to 19.33), pp. 240-241 (2008), available at https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/9235.
[6] Barbara Lausche, ibidum, pp. 379-378. 


Links:
EPL (Environmental Policy and Law)
Talk of Prof. J.G. Lammers: International Responsibility and Liability for Damage Caused by Environmental Interferences - Johan G. Lammers, 2001 [EPL, Vol 31, no 1, 2001]