Eliza Northrop specialises in international environmental law and is Director of the UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform. She was previously at the World Resources Institute (WRI) in the United Kingdom, and played a leading role in the establishment of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, a global panel of 18 current and serving heads of state and government to which Australia is a member. Eliza led the global policy and governance work for WRI's Global Ocean Program, focusing on issues related to ocean and climate, sustainable tourism, governance of the high seas and ocean based carbon dioxide removal, plastics and implementation of the SDGs. Prior to that Eliza worked  extensively in the UNFCCC, building global research coalitions, undertaking research on the design of the Paris Agreement and subsequent implementation frameworks and governance of global financial mechanisms. Eliza has supported national policy development and capacity building in Africa and Pacific. Eliza has also worked in state government in Australia, leading on native title and indigenous land management and in environmental law practice of Minister Ellison. She was admitted to the New York Bar in December 2014 and the Supreme Court of South Australia in August 2008 

She publishes on issues of international public law and the interaction and development of global regimes for ocean conservation, climate action and plastic pollution.  She provides advice, undertakes consultancies and is available for media on issues related to international climate, biodiversity and ocean law and policy. Eliza is a contributor to the Third World Ocean Assessment (WOA III), a member of the Executive Committee (EC) for the UN Ocean Decade for Ocean Sustainability (UNDOS) programme Global ONCE (Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions), member of the Nairobi Work Programme Expert Group on Oceans under UNFCCC and advisor to the Legal Response Initiative.