The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Policy and Law

Robert C. Brears is an internationally recognized author and consultant who has dedicated his career to advancing water security, green growth, and comprehensive environmental stewardship through policy and legal innovation. He is the founder of Our Future Water, a platform addressing urgent water-related challenges, and Global Climate Solutions, which shares actionable insights across renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and urban resilience.
Robert contributes to international environmental governance as a member of the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund Roster of Experts (Water), where he evaluates project proposals to ensure alignment with environmental policy frameworks and sustainability standards.
As an author of 15 books, his work explores the intersection of environmental policy, law, and sustainable development. His publications include Financing Water Security and Green Growth (Oxford University Press), Sustainable Water-Food Nexus (De Gruyter), Urban Water Security (Wiley), The Green Economy and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (Palgrave), Blue and Green Cities (Palgrave), Natural Resource Management and the Circular Economy (Palgrave), Climate Resilient Water Resources Management (Palgrave), and Financing Nature-Based Solutions (Palgrave), among others.
He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Palgrave Handbook of Sustainable Futures series with Springer Nature, further contributing to thought leadership in global environmental sustainability.
His editorial role in the Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Policy and Law reflects his continued commitment to examining how legal and policy tools can be strengthened to support effective, equitable, and ecologically sound environmental governance.

Dr. Jade Lindley is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia (UWA) Law School and a member of the UWA Oceans Institute. As a criminologist, her research focuses on transnational organized crime and its intersection with international law, particularly in the context of maritime and environmental crimes such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and maritime piracy.
She joined UWA in 2016 after holding research positions within Australian state and federal government agencies, including the Corruption and Crime Commission and the Australian Institute of Criminology. She consults to and advises various United Nations bodies, such as her contribution to the Legislative Guide on Combatting Crimes in the Fisheries Sector and invitation to present at the 25th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna.
Since 2021, she has been part of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime’s Network of Experts. She is an active member and reviews various aspects of their bi-annual Global Crime Index. She is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology, contributing to thematic groups on green criminology and corporate crime.
Her recent publications address topics such as maritime justice, environmental crime and prevention, and the nexus between IUU fishing and other organized crimes, such as fraud and corruption, linked back to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.