Marta Simonetti

Marta Simonetti is a doctoral researcher at SOAS and a member of the Law and Development Centre.

 Her key academic interests lie in the areas of environmental rights; the shaping and expressions of environmental rights in indigenous/customary law; and how environmental law can support ecological Marta’s research is motivated by a concern for studying how environmental rights can provide relevant legal remedies to protect the environment, considering anthropocentric, eco-centric and new materialist approaches. 

A key question to explore is the extent to which a rights-based perspective in international and national environmental law is an effective approach to achieving the global objectives of stabilising the climate and combating environmental degradation. Specifically, the thesis wants to explore whether localised answers, as expressed in customary law and other forms of non-state law– such as in Adat in Indonesia and Ubuntu in Rwanda –are more or less significant in providing formal and informal tools to ensure ecological balance. These two cases bring important knowledge to the table, as they each present specific characteristics in the way environmental rights are shaped and applied. These characteristics include expressions of rights that unite singularity with plurality, for example in the merging of individual and community rights (e.g. in the way Ubuntu is lived, as a ‘value system that is rooted in the everyday practices of ordinary people’ according to which progressive roles and responsibilities towards the environment are moral, political as well as social imperatives); the merging of substantive human-centric rights with the needs and rights of nature (as in the Balinese Tri Hita Karana), which – with his focus on harmony with God, people and the environment - simultaneously provides an ontological, ethical and legal approach to environmental governance. 

From a procedural perspective, both Adat and Ubuntu have evolved rights/duties with respect to environmental law and governance that are distinctively based on localised and indigenous perspectives of preparing, informing, participating and enforcing environmental governance. Marta worked initially in the City of London for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where she focused on transition banking, and specifically on building financial support in institutions to boost climate action. In 2018 she set up Globalfields Ltd, a consulting, advisory and training firm specialising in green finance, sustainable development, governance and transformational leadership for climate action. 

In recent years, Marta has carried out several assignments at the senior level for the Green Climate Fund, WWF-US, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, Conservation International, the German Development Cooperation GIZ, IPC - Partners for Development GmbH, the Climate Policy Initiative, Euromoney Learning, Absolute Energy Capital, as well as for private equity companies and governments. She is now focusing on green transition and its interaction with development and environmental rights, working with governments, financial institutions, the consultancy and academic sector in Europe, Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.

Forthcoming (2023/24). Simonetti, M. Procedural and substantive environmental rights as tools for the protection of the environment. A global-to-local perspective, with a focus on Iraq’s environmental rights. 

Simonetti, M. Adat in Indonesian Law and Society: A Tool To Build Resilience And Overcome Diversity Through Cultural And Legal Pluralism. Journal of Postgraduate Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies. 

State of Finance for Nature (2022): 

ADB. Mongolia Green Taxonomy (2021):

The Role of National Financial Institutions (2019)

This thesis is motivated by a concern for studying how environmental rights can provide relevant legal remedies to protect the environment in the context of localised or indigenous customary law. 

In what ways does a rights-based perspective contribute to achieving the global objectives of stabilising the climate and combating environmental degradation? Specifically, are local answers, as expressed in indigenous customary law – such as in Adat in Indonesia and Ubuntu in Rwanda –more or less significant in providing formal and informal rights-based tools to protect the environment? What are the specific characteristics of the genesis, development, and implementation of environmental rights that are unique in the experiences of Adat and Ubuntu? 

How do they shape the governance of resources? To what extent, if at all, do environmental rights enhance business sustainability in the areas that are studied in this work? What specific lessons can be drawn from localised approaches to support the conceptualisation and applications of environmental rights at the global level?

Global Fields