Nate Palmer

Nate is a Lecturer in International Environment Law and a member of the Law Environment and Development Centre and the Centre for Water and Development. He is also an Expert Member at the United Nations Harmony with Nature Programme. Nate also serves as an assistant editor for the Law, Environment, and Development (LEAD) Journal.

Within SOAS, Nate teaches across the specialised LLM/MA in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development and undergraduate modules on international environmental law. He is the co-convenor on the course titled ‘Alternatives to Sustainable Development: Rights of Nature and Harmony with Nature’ and the course titled ‘Law and the Biodiversity Crisis.’

He is also a coordinator at the SOAS Environmental Policy Clinic, working with students on projects partnering with NGOs and charities. The most recent project he coordinated was titled ‘Representing Rights of Nature: A Survey of Representative Forms.’ 

He is the recipient of the Bloomsbury PhD Studentship with a project titled, “Harmony with Nature: Evolving Dimensions of Water Governance in India.”  His current research is focused on rights of nature; water, law and development; and the environmental polycrisis. His supervisors, Professors Philippe Cullet (SOAS) and Izabela Delabre (Birkbeck), inform the interdisciplinary approach of the project (environmental law and development studies). The central aim is to apply the principles of harmony with Nature to multiscalar water governance regimes in order to address issues related to the environmental crisis.

By applying non-anthropocentric approaches to not only our fundamental understanding of water and Nature, but also how we define our ‘neighbors,’ the current paradigm will be challenged, particularly in relation to private property He has also participated on projects related to the rights of Nature with the UNEP, UNDP, and IUCN as a research assistant.

He holds an MA in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development from SOAS, where he was awarded a high distinction for his dissertation, “Towards a Global Recognition of the Rights of nature: lessons from Ecuador and India.” Previously, he received his BA in International Studies with a double minor in Development and Public Policy from the City College of New York CUNY. Here, he also worked extensively with the New York Public Interest Research Group, where he was an advocate for issues regarding clean water, the environment, consumer protection, voting rights, and homelessness. Nate has been a Teaching Assistant in International Studies at the City College of New York. He founded the SOAS Harmony with Nature Society, which holds events, seminar series, field trips, and other activities around recognizing humanity’s interconnectedness and interdependence with Nature.

Harmony With Nature SOAS