EVANGELOS RAFTOPOULOS

Biographical Information

Evangelos Raftopoulos, the Director of the Mediterranean Programme of International Environmental Law and Negotiation (MEPIELAN) is Professor of International Law and International Environmental Law at the Panteion University of Athens and a Legal Adviser to the Mediterranean Action Plan/United Nations Environment Programme (MAP/UNEP) since 1987. He is also admitted as a Barrister in the Athens Bar Association. His areas of specialization include International Law, Theory and Methodology of International Law, Philosophy of International Law, International Environmental Governance, International Environmental Law, Theory and Law of International Organizations, and Theory of International Negotiations.

He holds a Doctor of Pholosophy Degree in International Law from the University of Cambridge (Ph.D Cantab), a Masters Degree in International Law from the University of Cambridge (LL.M Cantab.) and a Bachelor in Law from the Faculty of Law, University of Athens.

His formely held positions include, Educational Counsellor, Institute of Continual Training, National Centre of Public Administration (1985 - 1993), Lecturer in Public International Law, National & Kapodistriakon University of Athens, (1989 - 1993), International Legal Adviser to the Greek Minister of Housing, Public Works and the Environment (1983 - 1985), Assistant Professor of Law (elected), Louisiana State University, U.S.A., 1982. He was also a Ford Foundation European Fellow of International Law at the Yale Law School, Yale University (1980 - 1982).

He represented the Government of Greece in a number of international negotiations conducted within the framework of the UNEP Governing Council, the Mediterranean Action Plan, the European Communities, the Economic Commission for Europe, the Global Framework Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and he initiated the Constitutive Meeting of the Greco-Italian Mixed Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Ionian Sea and its Coasts in 1984. As a MAP/UNEP Legal Advisor he participated in many consultation meetings, including consultations with IUCN, FAO, IMO and a number of Mediterranean Covernments, and in numerous meetings and working group of experts of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention system (1987-2003). He also drafted the MAP Secretariat's proposals on a number of instruments, including the Amendment of the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution, 1995, the Hazardous Wastes Protocol, 1996 and the new Emergency Protocol, 2002.

He is member of the American Society of International Law, the British Institute of International & Comparative Law, the Greek Institute of International & Foreign Law, the Cambridge Society, the Downing College Association, University of Cambridge, the Greek Literary Society "Parnassos", the Hopkins Parry Fellowship Committee, Downing College, University of Cambridge, and the European Society of International Law.

He is also member of the Commitee of Environmental Law of IUCN (CEL/IUCN).