2026 ESIL Research Forum “Sustainable International Law Reconciling Stability and Change”, Krakow
Online Pre-Conference Workshop
Meeting ID: 385 441 793 171 23
Passcode: Bd2bE3LL
Tuesday 7 April 2026, from 14:00 to 17:00 CET.
What could be the Future of a Sustainable International law? Lessons from History
The Interest Group on the History of International Law is organizing an online workshop for early-career scholars on the histories of sustainable international law in the context of the 2026 ESIL Research Forum, ‘Sustainable International Law. Reconciling Stability and Change’, set to take place on 9–10 April 2026 in Kraków and hosted by the Centre for Advanced Sustainability Studies and the Jagiellonian University.
Theme of the workshop
The sustainability of international law — and the international law of sustainability — are often framed as distinctly contemporary concerns. Yet the underlying ideas are far older. Although the vocabulary of “sustainability” is recent, earlier centuries produced comparable reflections on how to protect nature and human communities, and how to craft an international legal order capable of lasting across generations.
Across different contexts, jurists, administrators, activists, and thinkers proposed solutions aimed at preserving nature, restraining extractive practices, and stabilising international order. Some ideas persisted; others were discarded; still others reappear today under new names. This call has invited international lawyers and historians to examine how earlier generations conceived of what we now call “sustainability”.
Programme
14:00 – 14:05 Introduction and words of welcome (Monica Garcia-Salmones. ESIL IG History IL Committee)
14:05 – 15:30 Panel 1: Imagining History and Critique
Xuan W Tay (New York/ Adelaide University), ‘Narrating National History, Reimagining International Law
E. Prema (Vellore Institute of Technology), ‘The Technician and the Dead Ball Reclaiming the Science of International Law from the Grotian Legacy of Extraction’
Antiqua Zaki (New Delhi University), ‘Colonial Conservation and the Unequal Foundations of Sustainable International Law: A Comparative TWAIL Perspective’
Moderator: Andre Nunes Chaib (University of Maastricht)
15:30-15:45 Break
15:45-16:45 Panel 2: Sustainability, Economy and History
Carolina Fabara (University of Otavalo / China University of Political Science and Law) ‘Historical Pathways to Sustainability: How International Law’s Concepts and Debates Inform ESG Contracts and Contemporary Investment Law’
Anaïs Mattez (Asia Center, Harvard University) ‘Rare Earths, Borders, and the Sustainability of International Law’
Moderator: Monica Garcia-Salmones
16.45-16:50 Final remarks (Monica Garcia-Salmones)
Conveners
Anastasia Hammerschmied – Florenz Volkaert – Sze Hong Lam – Monica Garcia-Salmones
More information is avalaible on ESIL webpage.
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