Dr Antonio Cardesa-Salzmann
Senior Lecturer
Law
Personal statement
I am an academic at the Strathclyde Law School, whose main area of expertise is international and EU environmental law. As a researcher, my main interest lies in assessing how legal systems, from global and comparative perspectives, interact and contribute to, or hinder, more sustainable patterns of social reproduction. De/coloniality and critical perspectives on ‘global’ law are important perspectives to my teaching and research.
My recent work is developing along two specific lines of research. One focuses on the subjectivisation of ecosystems and Nature as an emerging trend in comparative environmental law. Another seeks to develop critical, socio-legal perspectives on the complex relationship between sustainability and tourism, which is a globally burgeoning economic sector with major -increasingly contested- social and environmental impacts.
More generally, I have an established track-record of published research about the compliance with and enforcement of international environmental law and, more specifically, of multilateral environmental treaties. My recent publications in this field discuss the respective remits and performances of international courts and treaty-specific compliance procedures.
After joining the Strathclyde Law School, I have also engaged extensively in knowledge exchange activities. These have focused on the implications of the UK’s decision to leave the EU on environmental law and governance in Scotland, as well as the sentencing of environmental crimes in Scotland. I have also collaborated with the UN Environment Programme for the development of CPD materials on the international legal framework for the protection of the ozone layer.
Prize And Awards
- Juan de la Cierva Fellowship
- Recipient
- 31/10/2013
Qualifications
PhD, University of Barcelona
LLM, University of Barcelona
Diplôme des Hautes Études Européenes et Internationales, Institut Européen des Hautes Études Internationales (Nice, France)
LLB, University of Barcelona
Publications
- El control de la aplicación del Derecho internacional del medio ambiente
- Cardesa-Salzmann Antonio
- Derecho internacional del medio ambiente (2025) (2025)
- Multispecies lawscapes in the anthropocene : priorities for a critical, constitutional turn in climate change and biodiversity law
- Offor Iyan, Cardesa-Salzmann Antonio
- Research Handbook on Climate Change and Biodiversity Law (2024) (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800370296.00027
- Towards the bottom-up pluralisation of public international law : revisiting the role of inter-judicial dialogues on rights of nature between courts in the Global South
- McEntee Iona, Cardesa-Salzmann Antonio
- 2024 ESIL Research Forum on "Revisiting Interactions between Legal Orders" (2024)
- Reflections on international environmental adjudication : international adjudication vs. compliance mechanisms in multilateral environmental agreements
- Cardesa-Salzmann Antonio
- The Environment Through the Lens of International Courts and Tribunals (2022) (2022)
- https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-507-2_19
- Brexit, the 'unwritten' constitution and the populist policy agenda of the elective dictatorship
- Kenny Mel, Cardesa-Salzmann Antonio
- El Brexit y sus Consecuencias (2022) (2022)
- Compliance mechanisms in MEA, International Courts, and the "best-available-science" standard : discussing the pros and cons against the backdrop of the Paris Agreement
- Cardesa-Salzmann Antonio
- PluriCourts Research Conference on Compliance Mechanisms (2021)
Teaching
At PGT level, I lead or co-lead the following subjects within the LLM in Global Environmental Law and Governance:
- Global Environmental Law: Issues of Equity and Sustainability (with Dr Saskia Vermeylen)
- Public International Law & the Environment
- EU Environmental Law
I also contribute to modules such as ‘Environmental Treaties: Fragmentation and Regime Interactions’, ‘Fisheries Law and Sustainability’, and ‘Blue Economy and International Law’.
At undergraduate level, I lead the 'Environmental Law (Hons)' module. I have designed and will lead the new 2nd and 3rd year elective 'An Introduction to Environmental Law'.
In the past years, I have also lectured Public International Law and led tutorials in Public Law.
Research Interests
Global law, Public International law, EU law, comparative law, decoloniality, rights of Nature, global justice, Anthropocene
Sustainability and tourism, critical tourism studies
Regime interactions, compliance with and enforcement of multilateral environmental treaties, transnational environmental crime
EU environmental law, external environmental policy of the EU
Brexit and environmental law and governance in Scotland
Professional Activities
- Sustainable Tourism? Toward a new socio-legal research agenda
- Organiser
- 5/6/2025
- Scientific Committee of the Xth Tarragona International Environmental Law Colloquium (External organisation)
- Member
- 4/2025
- RI&C Week: Enhancing Strathclyde's Research Culture
- Participant
- 11/3/2025
- RI&C Week: Can we measure research cultures responsibly?
- Participant
- 11/3/2025
- Subdirección de Proyectos de Investigación, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología, Conocimiento e Innovación (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 11/2024
- Tourism and Sustainability: Academic & Stakeholder Workshop
- Organiser
- 31/10/2024
Projects
- The International Legal System for Sustainable Tourism Governance
- Huici Sancho, Laura (Principal Investigator) Álvarez Verdugo, Milagros (Principal Investigator) Cardesa-Salzmann, Antonio (Researcher)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2026
- Development of an online intermediate level course on the International Legal Framework on Ozone Depletion for the Ozone Secretariat at UNEP (InfoMEA Phase III Project - amendment)
- Cardesa-Salzmann, Antonio (Principal Investigator)
- 20-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2022
- SRSS Strathclyde Excellence Award PGR Studentship
- Cardesa-Salzmann, Antonio (Principal Investigator) McCorkindale, Christopher (Co-investigator) McEntee, Iona (Post Grad Student)
- National courts and North-South legal ecumenism. Exploring the role of transnational inter-judicial dialogue between the Global North and the Global South for the promotion of climate justice. PGR Student: Iona McEntee
- 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2024
- UKRI CoA Covid Extension
- Garvey, Brian (Principal Investigator) Portes Virginio, Francis (Researcher) Cardesa-Salzmann, Antonio (Researcher)
- UKRI sponsored extension of projects affected by Covid-19
- 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2021
- Literature Review of Environmental and Wildlife Offences in Scotland and other Jurisdictions
- Cardesa-Salzmann, Antonio (Principal Investigator) Campbell, Donald (Co-investigator)
- 09-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2018
Contact
Dr
Antonio
Cardesa-Salzmann
Senior Lecturer
Law
Email: antonio.cardesa-salzmann@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3330