Dr Melanie Murcott is an academic at the University of Cape Town specializing in climate law, with a dual position as Head of Public Interest at Lawtons Africa, a South African law firm. Her research recognizes that a functioning and flourishing environment creates the conditions in which social justice can occur. It focuses on environmental law, including how the law can be more responsive to the socio-ecological reality that climate crisis is causing social, environmental, climate, and interspecies injustice. Much of her research is about how the causes and impacts of climate change violate and undermine the fulfilment of human rights, particularly in the Global South. Melanie is the chairperson of the Environmental Law Association of South Africa, a non-executive director of Animal Law Reform South Africa, and a director of Socio-Ecological Justice Lab (SEJ Lab). She holds a doctorate in Constitutional Law from North-West University and a Masters (cum laude) in Constitutional and Administrative Law from University of Pretoria. She obtained her LLB (cum laude) from the University of Cape Town.
The CER does crucial legal and advocacy work to address intersecting social, environmental, and climate injustices in South Africa. I hope that my involvement can strengthen collaboration between academia and legal practice in pursuit of, among others, the realisation of the right to an environment not harmful to health or well-being, and to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations.
