Mrs. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes is Professor of international law and Director of the Department of Public International Law and International Organization at the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva. She is also Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva). She is a French citizen. She is a consultant and a member of groups of experts with various international organizations, including the World Bank, WHO, UNDP, ILO and UNEP. Between 1995 and 1999, she was Senior counsel with the Legal Department of the World Bank, in charge of international law and environmental issues. She is a member of the French Society of International Law, the American Society of International Law, the International Law Association as well as the French Society of Environmental Law. She is the author of a large number of publications dealing with international environmental law and natural resources law, public international law, international or ganizations and international economic law. Professor Boisson de Chazournes received her Ph.D. in international law from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva, Switzerland), a Master in private law and a Diploma in political science from the University of Lyon II and Lyon III (Lyon, France). She also passed her bar exam in Lyon in 1980.