David L. VanderZwaag

Professor David VanderZwaag (’82), Canada Research Chair in Ocean Law and Governance and former director of the Marine & Environmental Law Institute, retired after 38 years of researching and teaching international environmental law. VanderZwaag initiated the granting of Schulich Law’s Marine and Environmental Law Program certificates and was a co-founder and first co-director of Dalhousie’s interdisciplinary Marine Affairs Program. He is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL), was co-chair of WCEL’s Specialist Group on Oceans, Coasts and Coral Reefs and was a co-founder of the Australian-Canadian Oceans Research Network. His research spans topics including polar law, principled ocean governance, fisheries and aquaculture management, species at risk protection and transboundary conflicts and cooperation. Upon retirement, he will remain active on many research fronts, including serving as one of the lead authors in the North American Biodiversity and Climate Change Assessment, led by the United States Geological Survey in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada and the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity in Mexico.