Special economic zones: a rights perspective
Active Project
Lorenzo Cotula
Principal researcher and head of law, economies and justice programme, Natural Resources research group
Lorenzo Cotula leads research and policy work on the place of law in strategies to promote fairer, more sustainable economies – cutting across land and natural resource governance; international economic law; law and transnational value chains; human rights; political economy of natural resources, trade and foreign investment; and legal empowerment, citizen agency and public accountability.
Cotula, who joined IIED in 2002, is also a visiting professor at the School of Law, University of Strathclyde.
Expertise
Land and natural resource governance; economic law, particularly international investment law; human rights; responsible business conduct, particularly in agriculture and the extractive industries; small-scale producers and transnational value chains; legal, socio-legal and cross-disciplinary research methods; legal empowerment approaches; citizen participation in law reform.
Before IIED
- Research consultant to the Legal Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
- Collaboration with two Italian NGOs.
Education
- Postgraduate certificate in sustainable business, University of Cambridge
- PhD in law, University of Edinburgh
- MSc in development studies (distinction), London School of Economics
- Degree in law (cum laude), University "La Sapienza" of Rome
Current work
Lead on law, economies and justice, a collaborative programme on renegotiating the law to promote fairer, more sustainable economies.
Projects
