Elizabeth Hessami

At Johns Hopkins, Elizabeth B. Hessami is a lecturer for the MS in Environmental Sciences and Policy program.

A licensed attorney, Elizabeth Hessami has served as a visiting attorney for the Environmental Law Institute for nearly a decade, researching post-conflict natural resources management and specializing in armed conflict and the environment. She is licensed to practice law by the Washington, D.C., and United States Supreme Court bars.

Hessami has served as a consultant on Afghanistan, natural resources, armed conflict, and peacebuilding. She was appointed in 2019 to serve on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Environmental Law and is active in the Specialty Group on Peace, Security, and Conflict. From 2016 to 2017, she served as the co-chair/vice-editor of the American Bar Association’s International Environmental Law Newsletter (Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources). She has received commendations for her research on Afghanistan from the World Bank Group and her writings on Afghanistan have appeared in Foreign Policy, The Washington Post’s “The Conversation,” The Wilson Center for Environmental Change and Security, and American Bar Association publications.

Hessami is interested in global environmental justice issues, such as the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable populations and less industrialized nations, and the implementation of renewable energy sources in these nations. She was a founding member of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association, for which she is currently producing content and serves on the Education Interest and Law Interest Groups. She has lectured on renewables in Afghanistan, The 2018 Afghan minerals laws, water security in Central Asia, Afghan emeralds and conflict minerals, and other topics related to environmental security.

Featured Works

• “Conflict, Crisis, and Peacebuilding: Afghanistan and Regional Water Security,” Elizabeth B. Hessami, New Security Beat, The Wilson Center, June 12, 2023
• “New Legal Protections for the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflict,” Elizabeth B. Hessami and Karen Hulme, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, July 16, 2022
• “The Uncertain Future of Afghanistan’s Nascent Environmental Laws,” Elizabeth B. Hessami, Bloomberg Law, September 2, 2021

Awards

• Excellence in Teaching award, Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Programs division, 2021