Mellese Damtie

Mellese Damtie is an Ethiopian lawyer and biologist who has been pioneering the research and implementation of Earth Jurisprudence (EJ) from his unique position as Dean of the Ethiopian Civil Service College’s Department of Law, Addis Ababa.

Mellese initiated a Masters research programme at the college, supervising university students to study the customary laws that traditional people use to govern their relationship with nature as part of a course on EJ, which he introduced into the syllabus and has been teaching on for several years. He is also Chief Legal Advisor for Ethiopian NGO, Movement for Ecological Learning and Community Action (MELCA), and plays a key role in paralegal training for local communities on their rights and legal opportunities to gain recognition for governing and protecting their territories. He has also been training local government authorities in Ethiopia on policies and international obligations relating to multilateral environmental agreements.

Mellese helped to establish the Sheka Forest Alliance (SheFA), which brings together lawyers, civil society organisations and NGOs to advocate for the strengthening of environmental legislation in Ethiopia. Through this alliance MELCA has been able to prevent the expansion of a tea plantation encroaching into the Sheka forest and the indigenous peoples’ territories.

Forthcoming and recent courses at Schumacher College

September 22—26, 2008: Earth Jurisprudence: Making the law work for nature - course details

Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.