A new online training module for civil servants around the world has been developed by international law expert Dr Luis Eslava for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The module on ‘Green Cities and Infrastructure’ explores contemporary debates about sustainable development in low income and G20 countries.

Dr Eslava said: ‘The topics covered in the module highlight the role of urban and local development in conversations about the future of the global environment. The module shows how effective and progressive actions at the local level should recognise the impact of past development policies on current urban arraignments, and how meaningful local engagement with communities, in both “developed” and “developing” countries, are an essential step towards global environmental justice.’

The module was commissioned by the FCDO for their Trade Policy and Negotiations Faculty (TPNF) as part of their extensive program for government officials specialising in trade policy across Whitehall and globally.

Dr Eslava said: ‘It was a great privilege, both professionally and academically, to be able to contribute to the training of current and future FCDO officials posted across the world and who are directly dealing with crucial questions about domestic and international development and global trade policies.’

Dr Eslava was supported in the development of the ‘Green Cities and Infrastructure’ module by Kent Law School alumnus George Hill. George graduated from Kent with a First Class Honours degree in European Legal Studies in 2019 and is currently completing an LLM by Research at the European Institute in Florence. George co-authored a chapter on ‘Cities, Post-Coloniality and International Law’ with Dr Eslava for the Research Handbook on International Law and Cities (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021).

Dr Eslava is a Reader in International Law at Kent Law School with teaching responsibilities that span across Law and International Development, Public International Law and International Human Rights Law.

He is an active member of The IEL Collective, the network Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) and is currently writing a book on the changing nature of global poverty, Broken Worlds: New Poverty, Law and Youth Violence. He is also co-editing The Oxford Handbook of International Law and Development (OUP, forthcoming 2022).