Patricia Kameri-Mbote

Professor Patricia Kameri-Mbote is Founding Research Director of the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC), and was Programme Director for Africa for over 20 years. She is a member of the Senior Counsel Bar in Kenya and has been a Professor of Law at the School of Law, University of Nairobi, where she has taught for over 30 years and served as Dean. She has also taught environmental law at Kansas University, University of Zimbabwe and Stellenbosch University.  She served as chair of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in African Universities, an initiative started in collaboration with UNEP to build environmental law capacity through training and research; and has contributed  to the development of similar initiatives for North Africa and Middle East and for judges.

Patricia has in-depth knowledge of environmental law acquired in research, environmental law and policy making and implementation at local, national, regional and international levels. She has consulted for UN Environment in the review of programmes; legal instruments and the rules of engagement of major groups. She has been engaged in the Montevideo Programme on Environmental Law since 2007 and is a member of the Governing Board of the Council on Environmental Law (ICEL). 

Patricia holds doctorate (1999) and Masters  (1996) degrees in law from Stanford University and a higher doctorate from the University of Nairobi (2019). These have focused on environmental law and its interactions with other areas of law such as property law and women’s law. She also holds a Masters’ degree from Warwick University (1989) and was awarded an honorary degree in law by the University of Oslo (UiO) in 2017 for her work cutting across established fields of Women’s Law, Natural Resources Law, Human Rights and Law and Development.

Patricia has published widely on different aspects of environmental law.