Live session: Saturday 20 May 2023, 10:00 – 16:15 (BST)
The Sustainable Development Goals can only be achieved by 2030 if we work together. SDG 17 is a vision for improved and more equitable trade, as well as coordinated investment initiatives to promote sustainable development across borders. This module will focus on discussing the targets of SDG 17, introducing experts who work to support global partnerships, and highlighting actions that the legal community can take to do so.
Dr Alexandra Harrington will be introducing to participants the concept of sustainable development and the sustainable development agenda.
Dr. Alexandra R. Harrington is a Lecturer in Law (Environment) at Lancaster University Law School and Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Agreement on Plastic Pollution Task Force. She has held two Fulbright terms in Canada at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, focusing on global governance issues, including the 2018 – 2019 Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Global Governance. She is the Director of Studies for the International Law Association of Colombia, International Legal Advisor, University of Silesia Just Transitions Committee, and sits on the editorial boards of multiple academic publications.
Dr. Harrington is the author and co-editor of several books, including International Organizations and the Law, International Law and Global Governance: Treaty Regimes and Sustainable Development Goals Interpretation, Just Transitions and the Future of Law and Regulation, and several forthcoming monographs relating to intergenerational equity, transitional justice, international organizations governance, and just transitions.
She routinely advises international organisations and governments on legal issues relating to climate change, governance issues, environmental law, sustainable development and international human rights law. She holds a Doctorate of Civil Law (McGill University Faculty of Law), in addition to a JD, LL.M. and BA degrees in Politics and History.
Christina Pak will take participants through the Asian Development Bank’s partnerships in the Asia Pacific region that support and promote the Sustainable Development agenda.
Christina Pak specializes in international development finance, law and policy reform, dispute resolution and ESG standards and drives thought leadership on sustainable development issues. She is currently Principal Counsel of the Asian Development Bank and manages the Office of General Counsel’s Law and Policy Reform Program which designs and implements legal and judicial reform technical assistance projects across the Asia and the Pacific region. Christina oversees a diverse portfolio in the areas of environmental protection and climate change, gender equality, private sector development, public-private partnerships and digital economy. She also serves as ADB’s Accountability Mechanism Policy Counsel advising the Board of Directors, the Office of the Compliance Review Panel and the Office of the Special Project Facilitator.
In her previous role as a project counsel at ADB, Christina worked on complex multi-sector projects in Central Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia regions. Prior to joining ADB, Christina was a legal counsel and vice president for markets and international banking at a UK bank based in Singapore and a finance associate at a large law firm in New York City. She is currently a Steering Committee Member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Christina is a US-qualified lawyer, admitted in the States of New York and New Jersey.