Lorenzo Cotula

Principal researcher (law and sustainable development), Natural Resources; team leader, legal tools

Lorenzo Cotula leads research, policy engagement and field-level projects on the legal arenas where natural resource governance meets the global economy – cutting across international investment law; land and natural resource law and governance; human rights law, business & human rights, and responsible investment; political economy of natural resources and foreign investment; and legal empowerment, citizen agency and public accountability.

Full biography

Lorenzo is also a visiting professor at Strathclyde Law School, and a visiting research fellow at Warwick Law School’s Centre for Law, Regulation and Governance of the Global Economy

Expertise

Land and natural resource governance; economic law, particularly international investment law; human rights; responsible investment, particularly in agriculture and the extractive industries; law and political economy in natural resource investments; legal and socio-legal research methods; legal empowerment approaches; citizen participation in law reform. Extensive country experience in Africa and Asia.

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 Legal Tools for Citizen Empowerment, a collaborative initiative to strengthen rights in the local-to-global arenas associated with natural resource investments – from land governance to international investment treaties.

The initiative develops analysis, tests practical approaches and feeds into policy in areas such as rethinking investment treaties, laws and contracts; advancing legal empowerment to secure rural land rights and support farmers in agricultural value chains; and promoting accountability in local governance and transnational investment chains.

Lorenzo Cotula's projects

A community protests against illegal land development in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia (Photo: World Resources Institute via Flickr)

Recent publications

Land and human rights: Towards a rights-based approach for addressing commercial pressures on land

Land rights and investments: why the IFC performance standards are not enough: A comparison with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure