Dr. Maria A. Gwynn, MJur (Oxon) is a Senior Fellow at the International Law Institute and at the Centre Ernst Robert Curtius (CERC). She is an international lawyer and an international arbitrator.
In August she was an invited speaker for the COP17 of the UNFCCC:
The 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) took place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Dr. Maria A. Gwynn spoke at the session “Shared Future: Integrated Water Resources Management as a Tool to Combat Desertification” highlighting how conventions such as the UNCCD, UNFCCC, and UN Water Convention offer a legal framework for mitigating risk and supporting sustainable development.
She called for proactive rather than reactive engagement—noting that hydrological services, reforestation, land restoration, and climate monitoring can jointly reduce climate risk, prevent soil degradation, and secure water resources for future generations; and she pointed to joint institutions managing transboundary waters, such as the International Commission for the Protection of the River Rhine and the Itaipu Binational Entity, as models of mutually beneficial cooperation.
The panel also included the Director General of Mongolia’s Water Resources Agency, the President of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the Project Manager of EN+ Group’s Sustainable Development Directorate, and other panelists joining virtually.
Recently she was in Bolivia as UNESCO’s course leader and lecturer on “International Agreements for Transboundary Water Cooperation”:
The UNESCO course on "International Agreements for Transboundary Water Cooperation" took place in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, from September 29 to October 2, 2026. The course participants included governmental officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Defense, Water Directorate and international commissions from North and Latin American countries including Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador, Venezuela and Uruguay.