37th Helsinki Summer Seminar on International Law

Description

The 37th Helsinki Summer Seminar on International law 'Despair, Hope, Action.' took place on 24-27 August 2026 at the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki organized by the Erik Castrén Institute.

The summer seminar examined the escalating crisis in international environmental law in the context of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. As global governance frameworks struggle to keep pace with accelerating ecological disruption, the seminar brings together researchers to reflect on emerging actors, shifting responsibilities, environmental democracy, and the evolving role of courts in environmental protection.

Co-organised with the Center for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law (CCEEL), the seminar created a space to critically engage with the limits of existing legal responses while exploring new pathways for collective and institutional action. Against a backdrop of systemic strain, the programme asked what forms of legal imagination, solidarity, and practice remain available, and how they might sustain both responsibility and hope in times of ecological crisis.

Period	24 Aug 2026 → 27 Aug 2026
Event type	Seminar
Location	Helsinki, FinlandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International