Ambassador Marja Lehto awarded for her pivotal role advancing environmental law
The 2023 Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy has been jointly awarded to Ambassador Marja Lehto of Finland and former Ambassador Marie Jacobsson of Sweden for their pivotal roles advancing environmental law and policy to protect the environment in times of armed conflicts. An award ceremony and panel discussion with both Laureates was held in New York on Monday, October 23, 2023.
The Elisabeth Haub Award(Link to another website.) for Environmental Law and Diplomacy is the world’s most distinguished award in the field of environmental law. The award was created in 1997 by the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, in cooperation with the Haub Family, to honor the legacy of Elisabeth Haub (1899 – 1977), a noted philanthropist and advocate for strong laws for the conservation of nature.
The award is chosen annually by an esteemed jury of leaders in environmental law and was first established to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Stockholm Conference and the 5th anniversary of the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.
Dr Marja Lehto is Ambassador (international legal affairs) at the Legal Service of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. She is also Adjunct Professor of international law at the University of Helsinki. Dr Lehto has served formerly, inter alia, as Ambassador of Finland to Luxembourg, Director of the Unit for Public International Law, MFA, Counsellor and Legal Adviser of Finland’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, New York. She has participated in numerous international negotiations and conferences and has chaired several international bodies, including at the UN, European Union and the Council of Europe. Dr Lehto is a member of the Council of the International Institute for Humanitarian Law (IIHL) since 2019.
Ambassador Lehto served as a member of the UN International Law Commission and Special Rapporteur for the topic ‘Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts’ from 2017 to 2022. Ambassador Jacobsson was the first Special Rapporteur for the topic from 2013 to 2016. The work was finalized in 2022 with the adoption of a set of draft principles by the ILC and endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2022 in resolution 77/104. The principles and commentaries lay out a legal framework for the protection of the environment before, during and after armed conflict, including in situations of occupation. The principles were prepared in close consultation with States through the UN General Assembly as well as with inter-governmental and other expert organizations.