Mara Tignino

Reader and Lead Legal Specialist
University of Geneva/Geneva Water Hub
Switzerland

Nov 6, 2018

Mara Tignino is a Reader at the Faculty of Law and at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Geneva and Coordinator of the Platform for International Water Law at the Geneva Water Hub. She works on the intersection of international law (in particular human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international water law) and peacebuilding, focusing on the role of water in cooperation, prevention, and settlement of conflicts. Her passion for international law emerged from her studies in Political Science (her Bachelor’s degree) and International Relations in Rome, specializing in International Law, in which she earned a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. She was recently awarded the highest diploma, Habilitation à diriger des recherches, from the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3 in France. She has drawn on experiences in universities across France, Italy, Spain, China, and the United States to inform her interest in water and international law. In her work, she has combined practical and academic work through various consultancies with diverse organizations such as United Nations Environment Programme, the Global Water Partnership, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Her projects have included working as Legal Adviser in the Pulp Mills (Argentina v. Uruguay) case before the International Court of Justice and as a Researcher and Coordinator for a project on non-state actors and the management of international freshwater resources funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. In recognition of her research on international water law and peacebuilding, and her dedication to creating new generations of international lawyers, she received the 2017 “Women Peacebuilders for Water” award from the Milan Centre for Food Law and Policy.

Mara’s work has had diverse interdisciplinary impacts as she bridges the gap between different facets of law with a passion for the protection of water resources and the ways in which they can be used after conflict to build peace. For example, much of Mara’s work combines international law with human rights law, environmental law, and water law to address water resources during and after armed conflict. With the Geneva Water Hub, she is working to establish a List of Principles on the protection of water infrastructure during and after armed conflict. She conceptualizes her work in terms of water as a global issue and the ways in which water can be used to promote and build peace. She has contributed importantly to the understanding of water as a global issue, citing a recent experience at the Meeting of the Parties of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (in Astana, Kazakhstan), where many countries across diverse regions, including Africa, Asia, and South America, discussed efforts to strengthen the peaceful management and protection of shared water resources.  

One of the elements that makes Mara’s work so important is her twin positions as a practitioner and scholar, and her effectiveness as both. Her various consultancies and position at the University of Geneva and the Geneva Water Hub have involved real-world applications of international humanitarian law, human rights, and water law in diverse regions, while her position as a scholar has helped to expand the field of international water law. In this capacity, she has also helped to train and inspire the next generation of scholars and practitioners of international water law. Mara’s work on water and peace has also led her to an interest in the connection between multinational corporations and human rights, and the role of water in this relationship.

As for her interest in environmental peacebuilding, Mara talks about the connection between water and peace: “I have a strong interest in the relationship between water and peace. Many times there is an idea that water is causing conflicts and social tensions, but I think we should focus on how to use water as an instrument of peace. It’s important to be a part of a community like the Environmental Peacebuilding Association that stresses water as a tool of peace.” She also credits the Association as a place where she can develop this idea with a diverse community of practitioners, scholars, and students.