Harsh Vardhan Bhati

Short presentation

B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) Jindal Global Law School, O. P. Jindal Global University, India

LL.M. in Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law, Lewis & Clark Law School, USA

Keywords

• world heritage sites
• heritage conservation
• environmental law
• international law
• energy sustainability
• multilateral environmental agreements
• biocultural heritage

Biography

Harsh Vardhan Bhati is a lawyer, researcher and educator specializing in environmental law. He holds a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from Jindal Global Law School, O. P. Jindal Global University, India and an LL.M. in Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law from Lewis & Clark Law School, USA.

Currently a doctoral candidate in environmental law at the Faculty of Law, Uppsala University. His research examines how international obligations under the World Heritage Convention are implemented and interpreted in light of commitments to mitigate climate change across different legal systems and local governance contexts, with particular focus on how UNESCO World Heritage cities such as Visby (Sweden), Jaipur (India), and Bath (United Kingdom) balance cultural heritage conservation with energy transition and sustainability. 

Professionally, Harsh advises and collaborates with governments, municipalities, universities, NGOs, and international organizations on environmental law and policy. A member of the Bar Council of India since 2015, he has worked on a wide range of environmental and human rights issues, including public interest litigation and state government cases on waste management, lake rejuvenation, tiger reserve protection, forest rights, mining in protected forest areas, bio-piracy, and grassland conservation. He has also contributed to advocacy efforts in Ecuador and the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, particularly concerning Indigenous and forest rights.

Harsh has taught environmental law at Jindal Global Law School in India and currently lectures in the Joint Nordic Master's Programme in Environmental Law at Uppsala University.

Research and writing interests: heritage conservation, energy sustainability, international law, world heritage sites, indigenous rights, local communities, waste management, rights of nature, and biocultural heritage.