philippe cullet

Dr Philippe Cullet, LLM, MA (Lon), JSM, JSD (Stanford) is Professor of International and Environmental Law and the Director of the Law, Environment and Development Centre (LEDC) at SOAS University of London, the Convenor of IELRC and a Visiting Professor at the National Law University, Delhi in New Delhi.

Professor Cullet’s main areas of interest include environmental law, natural resources, human rights and the socio-economic aspects of intellectual property. He works on these at the international level and in India. His current research includes work on water law and governance with a particular focus on groundwater, drinking water, sanitation and institutional reforms in India; equity in environmental law; biodiversity, including benefit sharing and biosafety; and justice, with a particular focus on environmental and water rights.

Professor Cullet has published widely in his various areas of research. His monographs include Water Law, Poverty and Development – Water Law Reforms in India (Oxford University Press, 2009), Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development (Butterworths, 2005) and Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law (Ashgate, 2003).

He engages regularly with policymakers at the national and international levels. He was the Convenor of the Sub-group on Legal Issues Related to Groundwater Management and Regulation of the Planning Commission of India that prepared the draft Model Bill for the Conservation, Protection and Regulation of Groundwater, 2011, and a Member of the Planning Commission of India’s Sub-group that prepared the draft National Water Framework Law, 2011. In 2015-2016, he was a Member of the Government of India, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation’s water law drafting committees, the Committee that prepared the Draft National Water Framework Law, 2016, the Committee that drafted the Model Groundwater (Sustainable Management) Act, 2016 and a Member of the Committee to ‘Draft River Basin Management Bill’.

Professor Cullet is also the Founding Editor of the Law, Environment and Development Journal (LEAD Journal), a peer-reviewed academic journal jointly published by IELRC and SOAS.

Email: pcullet 'at' ielrc 'dot' org

Books and edited books