Giulia Sajeva

SCELG Affiliate

Giulia Sajeva is researcher in Political Philosophy at the Department of Cultures and Society of the Università degli Studi di Palermo. She is currently working on the project Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Development in Sicily. Small-scale and artisanal fisheries and the rights of local communities.

The project focuses on the rights of small-scale and artisanal fishing communities, with particular attention to Sicily and other Mediterranean areas. It dwells on the recognition of the fact that local communities are often holders of traditional knowledge and practices that allow them to manage ecosystem and natural resources in a sustainable way. 

Giulia was previously a Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellow at the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, under Prof. Elisa Morgera’s supervision. Her two years project on Rights for Ecosystem Services: a framework to protect the environment and sustainable local communities in the EU aimed at developing an innovative theoretical and legal framework – labelled Rights for Ecosystems Services (RES) – to guide policy and legal developments towards reducing the risk of local communities abandoning their sustainable practices due to the lack of effective protection. 

Giulia Sajeva is a researcher whose background builds, mostly, on political philosophy and legal theory, and concentrates on human rights and the conservation of the environment. She collaborated with the NGO Natural Justice: lawyers for communities and the environment on issues concerning the recognition of indigenous peoples rights on lands and natural resources (Biocultural Community Protocols), doing field-work in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. She worked with the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens’ Conventions and Policies Section, researching on the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the International Trade on Endangered Species, and on Ethical Guidelines for research with indigenous peoples.

Giulia has Master in Conservation Science (Imperial College London), a Master in Global Rule of Law and Constitutional Democracy (Università degli Studi di Genova), and a PhD in human rights from the Law Department of the Università degli Studi di Palermo for which she researched the biocultural rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. On this topic, she recently published her first book When Rights Embrace Responsibilities. Biocultural Rights and the Conservation of Environment with Oxford University Press.

Giulia’s Marie Curie Project website is available here.

Giulia’s full profile is available here.

Areas of expertise:

  • Human Rights
  • Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge
  • Environmental Justice
  • Legal Theory
  • Islands

Giulia Sajeva