Ketevan Vardosanidze
Ketevan is a Ph.D. Student at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Currently, she conducts a one-year doctoral research project "The Implications of Climate Change on Human Rights in Georgia and Ukraine, National and International Law Analysis and Perspectives" at the University of Cologne, Institute of Eastern European and Comparative Law.
Ketevan Vardosanidze holds a Master's Degree in "Globalization and Law" from the University of Maastricht and Master's Degree in "Public International Law and Human Rights" from Riga Graduate School of Law as well as BA and MA degrees in law from Tbilisi State University.
Ketevan worked for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Georgia and advised the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia on the Paris Agreement implementation, including the development of Georgia's Climate Strategy and Action Plan and the update of Georgia’s Nationally Determined Contribution. Ketevan is a co-founder and researcher at non-commercial and voluntary organization, Climate Basics, based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Ketevan received scholarships from DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), Nuffic (The Dutch Organisation for Internalisation in Education), and the Soros Foundation Latvia.
Areas of Research
- Nationale Umsetzung der internationalen Verträge zum Klimawandel
- Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf die Menschenrechte
- Jüngste Trends bei Klimaprozessen und Menschenrechten
- Jüngste Trends in der Gesetzgebung und Politik zum Klimawandel
Past professional positions
- National Adviser of the Projects “Capacity Development for Climate Policy (CDCPIII)” and “Information Matters – Transparency Trough Reporting”, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 2017-2021
- Visiting Lecturer (Course: Legal Methods), Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, 2018 –2019
- Visiting Lecturer (Course: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), Georgian National University (SEU), 2017 – 2018
- Vice - President for Seminars and Conferences, The European Law Students' Association Georgia, 2011 –2012
- Senior Specialist Scientific Research and Development Department, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, 2010 – 2011
- Co-founder and President, The European Law Students' Association Tbilisi, 2010 - 2011
- Intern, The Supreme Court of Georgia, 2008 – 2009
Current research project
"It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred," and the total human-caused global surface temperature has increased from 1850–1900 to 2010–2019 with a best estimate of 1.07°C (IPCC, 2021). In parallel to the alarming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other authoritative reports about the severe changes in the current climate, impacts and risks for natural and human systems, the urgency of climate action, the Greenhouse Gas emissions continue to rise globally (World Bank Global Emissions Data, 2019). Worth mentioning that the human dimension of climate change was recognized as a concern only lately since climate change originated as an environmental problem, and the international community still gravitates to discuss it in those terms without considering the unprecedented impact on human beings (Atapattu, 2018).
The research project is on the human rights dimension of climate change, more precisely, impacts of climate change on human rights in Ukraine and Georgia, focusing on national and international law analysis and perspectives, including the rights-based climate litigation potentials. Climate litigation has been used as a tool to implement international treaties and to influence policy outcomes and corporate behavior for decades. Noteworthy that in 2018, Jacqueline Peel and Hari M. Osofsky observed a 'human rights turn' in climate change litigation (Urgenda case strengthening the rights-based direction), and in 2021, Joana Setzer and Annalisa Savaresi revisited 'human rights turn', did the mapping and confirmed the "growing trend." Even though there is no dispute on the impacts of human-induced climate change on human rights, this inter-relation faces serious legal challenges, including a causal link between specific state obligation and failure in relation to climate change, specific causation, enforceability, diversity of actors, and others.
During the first phase of the Ph.D. research, the detailed scanning and analysis of the international climate change treaties and their national implementation, including tools and mechanisms, in Georgia and Ukraine were conducted. Current research is on the potential of climate change litigation in both countries, focusing on human rights-based climate change litigation.