I was born and raised in Porto Alegre, capital of the southernmost state of Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul). I have always been very curious about the world – perhaps as a result of coming from a country forged by immigrants, perhaps because of my explorer nature as a good Sagittarius. Whatever the reason, I always knew life would take me to explore new ideas and new worlds.
I like to define myself as a multifaceted legal professional – or a “non lawyer” lawyer. I never thought I’d become a lawyer, but decided to go to Law School as a means to prepare myself for the exam to get into the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – my dream during high school was to be a diplomat and travel the globe.
Life has its own ways though, and a hard time during the first years at Law School led me to an internship in a big law firm, which eventually became a full time job after graduation, and gave me the full experience of law in practice. However, after a few years I understood it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and decided to go back to the original plan. I drop my job and traveled to Spain, where I lived for one year pursuing a Masters in International Relations and Diplomacy in Madrid. It was a life changing experience, being exposed to a variety of other disciplines and having colleagues from 45 different countries. A year went by, the course ended and so did my savings and my visa, so I went back home, but never went backwards: the decision was made to re-orient my career towards the international sphere.
My diplomat mindset made me believe in law as tool to enable the achievement of society’s common goals. I decided to specialize more in public international law, and to combine that with my interest for the issue of sustainability. As a teenager in Brazil, I remember all the buzz about the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which was my first contact with the concept of sustainable development. I had always loved nature, growing up near the seaside and enjoying being outdoors. Sustainable development and its promotion of a balance between economic development, environmental protection and social justice made a lot of sense to me. I wanted to continue exploring these issues from an academic perspective and, one year later, went to Italy to start a doctoral program.
As a PhD Researcher at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where I was fortunate to stay for four years, my research focused on international law and its relation to the concept/principle of sustainable development, in particular what it means to implement it in practice through policies and legislation. In particular, I looked at these issues through a trade and development lens, studying how regional trade agreements have been integrating sustainability related measures. My main research interests included international environmental and law and policy, legal aspects of implementing issues such as climate change.
Together, these experiences gave me a broad understanding of international affairs, as well as the intellectual freedom to pursue innovative ideas. Since 2012, I have been working as international consultant in this field, having engaged with international and non-governmental organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), ClientEarth, the World Bank and others. These experiences have enabled me to take part in international negotiations and meetings related to sustainable development (such as Rio+20 and Conferences of the Parties of International Agrements such as the UNFCCC and the CBD); in the development of legal tools and guidance to implement these agreements at national level (such as toolkits and training events); and in the provision of direct technical legal assistance to governments in countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, to develop, reform and implement legal frameworks for the promotion of sustainable development related issues – such as climate change, biodiversity, land management and other environmental law topics.
I continued to engage in research in the field of international law, being affiliated with the International Law Association (ILA, as alternate representative of the Brazilian Branch in the Committee on the Role of Int. Law on Sustainable Management of Natural Resources); the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL); and a Lead Counsel with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL). In addition, I developed a passion for teaching, and have been engaging in activities as guest lecturer in different universities in Italy and Brazil – the exchange with students is for me a stimulating and rewarding exercise, which allows me to share what I’ve learned, to also learn back and constantly update my points of view.
In my private life, I am a passionate traveller and love to discover new places and cultures. Between work related and leisure trips, I have visited over 50 countries around the world. I strongly believe that travelling and getting out of our comfort zones is a fundamental step to our own personal development, as well as for the construction of a more peaceful world – I look forward to seeing more of it in the future. I also have a passion for food and photography, as well as for sports and being out in nature.
Carpe diem!
Fabiano de Andrade Correa 