PhD defence

The Global Legal Framework on Forests: Seeing the Forest with the Trees

• F. Perron-Welch

Date

Thursday 22 October 2026

Time

13:00 - 14:00 hour

Address

Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden

Supervisor(s)

• Prof.dr. N.J. Schrijver

• Prof.dr. D.A. Dam-de Jong

Summary

Examining the international law framework on forests from a historical and legal perspective, this dissertation shows that an emerging global legal framework on forests is emerging, consisting of the Biodiversity Convention, the Climate Change Convention, and the Desertification Convention (the Rio Conventions). Drawing on legal and environmental history materials from 1400-2025, the thesis finds that an integrated global legal framework on forests under the aegis of the Rio Conventions and their secondary lawmaking processes can be identified that contributes to overcoming legal and policy fragmentation - particularly if the principle of systemic integration is applied. However, on a rapidly changing planet, the interpretation and implementation of global forest law will also need to adapt to new scientific findings, particularly those issued by intergovernmental science-policy bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and science-based international organizations like the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Forests and trees are not uniform and provide very different values and services. Despite legal flexibility to do otherwise, governments and stakeholders must prioritize protecting and conserving native old growth forests based on their significant Nature’s Contributions to People rather than replacing them with planted, managed forests, or other land uses that do not provide the same values or services to humanity.

PhD dissertations

Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.

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