Environmental law charity flies into new era

The Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD) has appointed a new director to lead its efforts to ensure that vulnerable nations can use international law to achieve environmental justice.

Joy Hyvarinen is a Finnish-born lawyer and campaigner who, for the past six years, has been advising the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Europe's largest voluntary wildlife conservation body, on international treaties.

"FIELD is a great organisation that has accomplished a lot in its work with developing countries on climate change, biodiversity conservation and world trade," says Hyvarinen. "With FIELD's top class team of international lawyers we are determined to maintain FIELD's status as a centre of excellence and to ensure that its impact grows over the coming years."

Hyvarinen brings to FIELD a wealth of experience in international environmental law and policymaking, management and supporting local partners in developing countries. She holds a Masters degree from the University of Cambridge and has worked with FIELD for many years as an associate.

FIELD's staff are international environmental lawyers from around the world who promote access to environmental justice through research, advice and capacity building. Its work includes strengthening the negotiating power of small island nations threatened by rising sea levels to make international law work for them in UN climate-change talks.

Since 2005 FIELD has been a subsidiary of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), whose director Camilla Toulmin says: "We are so glad to have Joy on board. She has considerable experience of international environmental treaties and a real drive to make them work for poor and vulnerable communities around the world."

FIELD recognises that the people most susceptible to the impacts of environmental degradation are often the least equipped to shape the necessary solutions. It therefore works directly with communities, public interest organisations and governments in developing countries to use the law to make the world a fairer and more sustainable place.

Its projects are organised into three core programmes: biodiversity and marine resources; climate change and energy; and trade, investment and sustainable development.

Hyvarinen has worked extensively on climate change, biodiversity, marine issues and global environmental institutions. She will further develop FIELD's work in these areas and aims to broaden FIELD’s constituency and increase its impact around the world.

"Lawyers have a key role to play in creating a fair and sustainable world," she says. "I can’t wait to join the dedicated team at FIELD and its network of international partners."

Joy Hyvarinen will take up her post in mid-November.

Photo of Joy Hyvarinen (credit: IISD – note, not IIED)
http://www.iisd.ca/biodiv/paws/pix/1joy0086-b.jpg

To find out more about FIELD, please visit: http://www.field.org.uk

… or contact:

Linda Siegele (Staff Lawyer) 0207 872 7311 or Linda.Siegele@field.org.uk

Christoph Schwarte (Staff Lawyer) 0207 872 7313 or Christoph.Schwarte@field.org.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

FIELD is a registered UK charity, founded in London in 1990 to establish a fair, effective and accessible system of international law that protects the global environment and promotes sustainable development.

The RSPB, founded in 1889, works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment through public awareness campaigns, petitions and through the operation of nature reserves throughout the United Kingdom.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is an independent, non-profit research institute. Set up in 1971 and based in London, IIED provides expertise and leadership in researching and achieving sustainable development (see: http://www.iied.org).