International Perspectives on the Challenges of Water Law and Governance

Join us for an impactful conference where we will address the pressing topics highlighted by Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published on March 20, 2023. The purpose of the conference is to examine in a comparative manner the different mitigation and adaptation strategies. We will focus on the need to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects, an urgency underscored by extreme weather events observed across the world. Panels will discuss a variety of topics, including legal and policy responses to displacement and migration linked to the impacts of climate change, harnessing the blue economy for sustainable growth, and innovative water governance strategies as well as the management of coastal areas in response to sea level rise. This conference will promote a dynamic exchange of ideas and best practices, aimed at improving global understanding and responses to climate challenges. A selection of the communications presented will be published in a special issue of the “Governance” journal.

Guest Speakers:

Cristina D'Alessandro, PhD, is responsible for territories and sustainable development at the National Council for Statistical Information within the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies in France. She is an associate professor at Sciences-Po Paris and an affiliated researcher at the Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa. She is also an associate researcher at the PRODIG Research Center (UMR PRODIG), University of Paris 1 Sorbonne and an affiliated associate professor at Riara University, Nairobi, Kenya. Her areas of research include urban planning, management and transformation; natural resources and environmental governance; and in particular water governance.

Professor Hubert Ta is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Civil Law at the University of Ottawa. She is an associate researcher at the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Law, the Research Group on Natural Resources and Energy Law in Africa and the Interdisciplinary Center for Research on Africa and the Middle East at Laval University. Since May 2021, she has also been an advisor on climate change and environment to the Ministry of International Relations and La Francophonie of Quebec. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the protection of biodiversity in the context of mining development in Madagascar, and she is particularly interested in the role of multinational companies in the mining sector in the implementation of environmental protection measures and the issues of social legitimacy they face.

Marcel Klassou holds a bachelor's degree in Biology and Environment from Paul Sabatier University (France) and a master's degree in Environment and sustainable development from the University of Montreal (Canada). He was a program specialist in strategic sustainable development planning at the Institut de la Francophonie pour le Développement Durable (IFDD) for more than ten years. He is now a project coordinator within the International Organization of La Francophonie and he supports environmental initiatives in the Congo Basin. As an expert in blue economy, he carries out numerous missions in Africa to help several countries on the continent strengthen their capacities in this area in order to face climate challenges.

Nessan Akemakou is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ottawa Forum on Water Law and Governance. His current work focuses on the blue economy and public policies for water resources management within the African Union (AU) and Canada. He is also the president of L’Afrique des Idées, a pan-Africanist think tank which aims to contribute to the public debate within the African continent, particularly through analysis accompanied by concrete recommendations on political, economic, social and cultural subjects.

Emnet Gebre holds a doctorate in international law from the University of Toulouse 1 Capitole. Her thesis focused on The International Protection of People Displaced by Climate Change. She has extensive international expertise in climate migration. She worked as a consultant within the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Morocco, Ethiopia and Somalia. She now works for the NGO Save the Children and for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). This is an economic community bringing together 8 East African countries to improve their cooperation and fight against climatic disasters including drought.

Colince Pougoue Tchameni is a doctoral student in the Public Administration program at the School of Political Studies and a student researcher at the Centre on Governance at uOttawa. He works under the supervision of Professor Éric Champagne and in his thesis, he is particularly interested in the issues of governance of decentralized local authorities in the management of shared waters: the case of Lake Chad.

Eric Champagne is a full professor of public administration at the School of Political Studies and director of Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa. His current research focuses on infrastructure financing and the management of public assets in the context of multilevel governance (basic infrastructure, transport, water). He is the co-researcher of the University of Ottawa Forum on Water Law and Governance. Before joining the University of Ottawa, he spent a decade as a specialist in public sector reform primarily in Africa at the World Bank and as a senior strategic advisor to the Government of Canada. He has directed and is directing several master's and doctoral theses on the issue of water governance. He is the co-author of the work entitled Canadian Water Agency: Multisectoral Issues in Law and Governance published by LexisNexis Canada in 2022. 

Dr. Adrien Coly is a coordinator of the Water Pole Pôle EAU-Governance of Water Territories GTE at Gaston Berger University of Saint-Louis in Senegal. He is also a researcher in the Department of Geography. Adrien is recognized as an international expert in the field of water and watershed management. He founded the Campus Eau Association and chaired the College of the Scientific Community of the OMVS Basin Committee. He currently chairs the Senegal National Water Partnership. Dr Coly also sits on the executive committee of the Nature-Communautés-Développement association of which he is a founding member and first President.

Laurent A. Lambertis a professor at the School of Economics, Administration and Public Policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar, and at Sciences Po Paris, France. Previously, he was a senior policy analyst at the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) and a senior administrator at the Qatar Humanitarian Innovation Lab initiative, both at Qatar University. For more than 15 years, Laurent has worked as a sustainable development researcher, project/program manager, consultant and government advisor in the areas of international risks, public policies and conflicts with several governments and international organizations. He is a former member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Green Technology Transfer (CTCN) of the United Nations Climate Convention, a former representative of the research community at the United Nations Climate Negotiations (UNFCCC) and an expert responsible for the science-policy interface for the latest synthesis report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). His work focuses in particular on the political and geopolitical issues of rising sea levels in Africa and the Middle East.

Elie Klee is a doctoral student in international law under joint supervision between the Universities of Aix-Marseille in France, under the supervision of Professor Sandrine Maljean-Dubois, and of Ottawa in Canada, under the supervision of Professor Thomas Burelli. He is also co-directed with the University of Toulouse 1 Capitole under the direction of Professor Christel Cournil. He is doing his thesis on the disappearance of States due to climate change. He is also a coordinator at the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability at the University of Ottawa. Elie holds a master's degree in International and European Law and a master's degree in Public International Law obtained at the Faculty of Law of the University of Aix-Marseille as well as an LLM in law from the University of Ottawa.

Loriel Koudoha is a researcher at the University of Ottawa's Center for Governance Studies (CoG) and a data analyst at Transport Canada.

Following a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Ottawa in 2020, Loriel completed a Master's degree, where he gained expertise in several areas of economics. During this same master's degree, he began his adventure at the CoG, where he assisted Professor Champagne with course preparation and research.

In his role as data analyst, Loriel uses statistical and economic tools to search, extract, clean and create relationships with raw data. Working in marinee safety and security at the Department of Transport, the raw data is often linked to the department's oversight activities, and has helped him gain technical and operational expertise in the sector.

As a CoG research assistant, Loriel contributed to the paper Adaptation and management of coastal zones in response to sea-level rise: West African initiatives. Passionate about the environment and water management in Africa, he has helped to identify and comprehensively describe issues and initiatives in this part of the world. His ambition remains to continue researching and writing scientific texts in topical areas such as the environment, health and education.