About

Edgar Fernández Fernández is associate researcher with the Institut de l’Ouest : Droit et Europe (IODE) of the University of Rennes 1. He holds a PhD in Public Law from the University of Nantes (PhD thesis: “Protection of Natural Spaces and Private Property in Costa Rica”), as well as an LLM in General Public Law and Environmental Law from the same university. He obtained his Law and Notary Public degrees at the University of Costa Rica, and he is a member of the Colegio de Abogados de Costa Rica (Costa Rican Bar Association). He has lectured at the Master on Environmental Law of the University of Costa Rica and has been a research fellow at the IUCN Environmental Law Centre and at the Lyon Institute for Advanced Study (The Collegium).

Edgar’s current research focuses on the implications of an Earth System approach for international environmental law. He has more than 20 years of research and professional experience on the protection of natural spaces and land tenure and property rights issues, including the drafting of bills related to protected areas in Costa Rica. Other research areas include: climate change, access to environmental justice, rights of nature, the non-regression principle, natural resources and food security. Since 2015 he has participated as a Costa Rican delegate in the UNFCCC negotiations, mainly as negotiator on compliance, the operationalization of the local communities and indigenous peoples platform, and agenda items related to ambition and the science-policy interface.

He co-coordinated the AILAC Group’s thematic group on Agenda Item 7 of the Paris Agreement Ad Hoc Working Group on the modalities and procedures for the effective operation of the Article 15 committee. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, where he participates in the Climate Change Specialist Group, and of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, where he participated in the Task Force on Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs).

Selected publications:

  • •Fernández Fernández E. (2019), “Le système de paiement pour services environnementaux au Costa Rica”, in Langlais, A. (dir.), L’agriculture et les paiements pour services environnementaux. Quels questionnements juridiques ?, collection L’Univers des Normes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 193-204.
  • Fernández Fernández E. and Malwé C. (2019), “The emergence of the ‘planetary boundaries’ concept in international environmental law: A proposal for a framework convention”, Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, 28:1, 48-56. https://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12256.
  • Fernández Fernández E. (2018), entries “Droits acquis” and “Droits de la nature”, in Collart Dutilleul F., Pironon V., Van Lang A. (dirs.) and Bréger T. (coord.), Dictionnaire juridique des transitions écologiques, collection Transition & Justice, Institut Universitaire Varenne, 313-315 and 318-323.
  • Fernández Fernández E. and Malwé C. (2018), entry “Planetary boundaries”, in Collart Dutilleul F., Pironon V., Van Lang A. (dirs.) and Bréger T. (coord.), Dictionnaire juridique des transitions écologiques, collection Transition & Justice, Institut Universitaire Varenne, 598-604.
  • Fernández Fernández E., Malwé C. and Negrutiu I. (2018), entry “Ressources naturelles”, in Collart Dutilleul F., Pironon V., Van Lang A. (dirs.) and Bréger T. (coord.), Dictionnaire juridique des transitions écologiques, collection Transition & Justice, Institut Universitaire Varenne, 698-703.
  • Willemen L., Nangendo G., Belnap J., Bolashvili N., Denboba M. A., Douterlungne D., Langlais A., Mishra P. K., Molau U., Pandit R., Stringer L., Budiharta S., Fernández Fernández E., and Hahn T. (2018), “Chapter 8: Decision support to address land degradation and support restoration of degraded land”, in Montanarella L., Scholes R., and Brainich A. (eds.), The IPBES assessment report on land degradation and restoration, Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem services, Bonn, Germany. https://www.ipbes.net/system/tdf/ipbes_6_inf_1_rev.1_2.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=16514
  • Fernández Fernández E. (2018), “Penser autrement la propriété pour mettre en œuvre les transitions écologiques : regard sur les expériences latino-américaines”, in Van Lang A. (dir.), Penser et mettre en œuvre les transitions écologiques, collection Droit, Sciences & Environnement, Mare & Martin, Paris, 207-219.
  • Fernández Fernández E. and Malwé C. (2017), “Accompagner la diversité des droits portant sur le sol : un défi juridique”, in Fall A. B. (dir.), Mélanges en l’honneur de Jean-Marie Breton. Itinéraires du droit et terres des hommes, Mare & Martin, Paris, 965-977.
  • Fernández Fernández E. and Malwé C. (2017), “L’émergence du concept de « planetary boundaries » en droit international de l’environnement. Proposition pour une convention-cadre sur les limites de la Planète”, in Beaugendre S. et al. (dirs.), Mélanges en l’honneur de François Collart Dutilleul. Liber amicorum, collection Etudes, mélanges, travaux, Dalloz, Paris, 357-373.
  • Fernández Fernández E. (2017), “Les évolutions du droit de propriété à la lumière du droit de l’environnement au Costa Rica. Quelle place pour le partage des utilités écologiques des biens ?”, in Chaigneau A. (dir.), Fonctions de la propriété et commun. Regards comparatistes, collection Droit comparé et européen, Société de législation comparée, Paris, 153-170.

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