Hans Christian Bugge

Hans Christian Bugge (born 1942) is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Law at the Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo. He holds a Doctorate in Regional Planning from the University of Paris II (Doctorat de spéciaité) (1972) and is Dr juris. from the University of Oslo on a thesis on responsibility for pollution in Norwegian law (1998).

He teaches and does research in Norwegian, European and International Environmental Law.

Before he became an academic lawyer in 1991, he held various senior positions in Norway's Ministry of the Environment from 1972 to 1982, inter alia, Director of the State Pollution Control Authority, and Director General of the Department for Urban and Regional Planning. He also served as Deputy Director in the Planning Department of the Ministry of Finance (1976-1977).

Furthermore, he has worked extensively with development and third-world issues, as Secretary General of the Norwegian voluntary development organization Redd Barna (Save the Children Norway) (1982-1991), and as State Secretary for Development Cooperation from 1986-1987. He served also as personal advisor to Norway's Prime Minister, Mrs Gro Harlem Brundtland, in her work as chair of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development.

He has been vice-chairman of the Board of the National Research Council of Norway and has chaired several research committees in the field of environment and development. From 1998-2003, he chaired a governmental commission to review Norway's legislation in the field of regional and land-use planning.

From 1999-2009, he served as chairman of the board of the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo.

From 2001-2003, he held the position of Vice Dean for Research at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo. From 2005 to 2012, he chaired the faculty's Research Group in Natural Resources Law.

He has lectured widely in Norway and abroad and has been advisor to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Namibia. He has authored and edited several books and a number of articles in the field of Norwegian and international environmental law and sustainable development.