Elizabeth Hessami

At Johns Hopkins, Elizabeth B. Hessami, J.D., LL.M. serves as a lecturer in the MS in Environmental Sciences and Policy program where she teaches International Environmental Law and Policy, Environmental and Natural Resources Security, and Public Lands and Private Interests. She is interested in Environmental Justice issues at the global level, such as the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable populations and the fair implementation of renewable energy sources. She has lectured on renewables and environmental security in Afghanistan, conflict minerals, water security in Central Asia, Afghan emeralds and conflict minerals, and other topics on environmental security.

Hessami, a member of the Washington, D.C. and United States Supreme Court Bars, was a founding member of The Environmental Peacebuilding Association for which she is currently a Visiting Scholar and Co-Chair of the Law Interest Group. She has researched post-conflict natural resources management and armed conflict and the environment with a focus on water and Central Asia for over a decade.

A consultant on Afghanistan and Ukraine, natural resources and armed conflict, peace treaties, and peacebuilding, Hessami was appointed in 2019 to serve on the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. Previously, she served as the Co-Chair/Vice-Editor of the International Environmental Law Newsletter (Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources) for the American Bar Association (2016–2017) and has received commendations for her research on Afghanistan from The World Bank Group. Her writings on Afghanistan have appeared in Foreign Policy, The Washington Post (via The Conversation), The Wilson Center for Environmental Change and Security, and The American Bar Association Publications. She was honored to be awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award from Johns Hopkins’ AAP division in 2021.