IGS: Current and Recent Graduate Research
Caroline Schmidt
Avoiding deforestation and the geography of law in the Brazilian Amazon
Supervisor(s):
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Profile
Caroline's doctoral thesis applies critical legal studies and critical human geography theories as well as socio-legal studies methods to understand the role of forestry laws on supporting forest cover outcomes in the Amazon Region. She is looking at environmental law design, strategies on legal implementation to reduce deforestation, and the interplay between land users' legal consciousness and legal compliance in the forestry sector. The final aim of her project is to draw lessons that can support national policies to reduce deforestation and an evolving international climate policy that aim to provide carbon finance for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD plus).
Caroline holds an LL.M in International Commercial and Business Law from the University of East Anglia, England; an LL.M in Business Law and Fundamental Rights from the Catholic University of Paraná, Brazil; and an MBA on Business Management from the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil. She earned her BL from the Catholic University of Paraná in Brazil.
She was granted national and international awards, and she currently holds the prestigious CAPES Scholarship awarded by the Brazilian National Government. For her LL.M in England she was granted The European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America - Alban Scholarship.
Caroline is a qualified lawyer, and practiced law for a few years in Brazil, providing consultancy and litigation services in Business, Taxation and Environmental Law, mainly to multinational companies of the Telecom Sector. During that period she also worked as a pro-bono consultant for local environmental NGOs. She has previous experience with consumer law and environmental impact assessment regulations and practices. Her main research interests at the time were environmental taxation law and the use of environmental taxes in public management to support environmental policies.
Caroline is a member of the Environmental Change Institute and of the Forest Governance Research Group, both at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment. She is also a member of the Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) at McGill University.
Current Research Interests
Caroline's current research interests include: law in society; environmental law design; international climate law and policies; forest laws and governance; legal implementation in developing countries.
Publications and Conferences
Presentations
- 2010 - Theorizing Climate Governance, Durham University, 29th September 2010
Presentation of the work named Law and the Production of Space: Implications and Lessons for REDD Policies. - 2009 - Key Issues for the Future of Tropical Forests, University of Oxford, 22nd July 2009
Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests and The Prince's Rainforests Project Initiative - Presentation of the work named Geography of Law in the Brazilian Amazon and Impacts on Deforestation.
Invited Presentations
- 2010 - Children of the Amazon Film Screening: Documentary Film Followed by a Panel Discussion, University of Oxford, 15th February 2010, Panel Discussion
Previous Relevant Publications
- Schmidt, C.A. et al. (2004) Tratados Internacionais de Direito Ambiental: Textos Essenciais Ratificados pelo Brasil. Curitiba: Juruá, 2004, 324p. (International Treaties on Environmental Law: Essential Texts Ratified by Brazil).