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Marta Lang

• Academic Profile
• Current Research
• Teaching
• Publications

Academic Profile

Marta Lang joined the School of Geography and the Environment in August 2009. She is also a Fellow at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security.

A Barrister and Solicitor, Marta holds a BSc in Environmental Studies (2000) and a Honours degree in Law (first class, 2001) from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She completed an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management (with distinction) on a Commonwealth Scholarship jointly funded by Oxford University in 2007-08. In 2011, Marta was admitted to King's College, Cambridge, to begin study towards a PhD in Geography, funded by a Cambridge International Scholarship.

Marta has held the role of Programme Manager Marine, Conservation Science at Fauna and Flora International, and served as Associate Crown Counsel (Treaty and International Law) in the New Zealand Crown Law Office for much of 2010.

From 2004 to 2007, Marta was marine and international lawyer to the New Zealand Department of Conservation. She was part of national ocean policy, coastal policy and marine reserves law reform teams, and led the Department's response into a claim by Maori tribes into the management of New Zealand flora and fauna. She served on government delegations to three UN negotiations: the 2006 Working Group on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, and the 2005 and 2006 Informal Consultative Process on the Law of the Sea.

Current Research

Marta's main research interests are coastal ecosystems, fisheries, marine protection and pollution management, from community to international scales. Her research has ecological, justice and human development dimensions, and a geographical focus on the Asia-Pacific.

Marta received a three year Department for International Development (DfID) Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE) grant in September 2010. The DelPHE project assesses priorities and protection strategies for unprotected coastal sites of high ecological value in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Academics from the Universities of Dhaka and Karachi, and IUCN Bangladesh, IUCN Pakistan and WWF Pakistan programme managers are also on the project team.

Her PhD work is on ways to incentivise reductions in the chemical and metal loadings of industrial pollution discharges into river systems, to better protect both underground drinking water sources and ecosystems in coastal Asia.

Consultancy work has included rapid assessments of capacity-building efforts in developing country coastal communities for the Commonwealth Fisheries Programme (2008-2010). This took Marta to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and Samoa in November 2008, and India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in September-October 2009. She also moderated the civil society Environment and Climate Change assembly at the Commonwealth People's Forum, in the lead up to the 2009 Trinidad and Tobago Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

Teaching

Marta delivers the School's 'International Environmental Frameworks and Policy' course, a core course for the MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management, MSc in Environmental Change and Management and MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy. Marta coordinates the annual Oxford Oceans Policy Symposium, and runs postgraduate marine biodiversity field trips with other faculty members.

Selected Publications

Book Chapters

• Lang, M. and Trebilco, R. (2009) Marine Protected Areas as a Strategy for Sustainability. In, Bourne, R. and Collins, M. (eds.) From Hook to Plate: The State of Marine Fisheries. A Commonwealth Perspective. London: Commonwealth Foundation.

Conference Publications

• Lang, M. (2009) Histories of Cornwall's Large Marine Predators 1602-1878: Perspectives for Restoration. Oceans Past II conference, University of British Columbia.
• Lang, M. (2006) 'Biodiversity' in Area-based Marine Protection Law. Australia-New Zealand Ecological Societies conference, Victoria University of Wellington.
• Lang, M. (2006) Exclusive Economic Zone MPAs and New Zealand's MPA Policy. Australia-New Zealand Maritime Law Association conference, Taupo.
• Lang, M. (2005) Responding to a Major Oil Spill in New Zealand. Australia-New Zealand Maritime Law Association conference, Auckland.
• Lang, M. (2005) Ecosystem-based Protection and the New Zealand MPA policy. Seachange conference, Environmental Defense Society, Auckland.

Reports

• Lang, M. (2009) South Pacific Coastal Fisheries Scoping Study: Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Samoa. London: Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit.
• Mitcalfe, K. and Lang, M. (2002) Breaking Down The Barriers: The Resource Management Act Made Easy. Wellington: Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.