Dr. Akpezi Ogbuigwe is a respected and high-profile expert in transformational change in higher education in Africa, environmental law, environmental education, and climate change education. Her International Career saw her in various leadership positions with the United Nations where she was opportune to initiate and promote several initiatives on environment and sustainable development issues. She has a passion for equity, freedom and transparency in the promotion and execution of sustainable development policies and goals. She believes we can all in the context of respect for all peoples and the environment, achieve the sustainable development goals for a more peaceful and prosperous future for all. She is a Board Member of the Earth Charter International where she helps promote the Earth Charter Principles of respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, social and economic justice, and democracy, nonviolence, and peace.

She nurtured a young Faculty of Law as Ag. Dean for 5 years at the Rivers State University (RSU) where she was appointed Reader in 1999 before she left for the UNEP (2002-2014). Between 2010 and 2012, she was appointed a guest professor at the prestigious Tongji University, Shanghai, China. She has served in several international scientific committees and travelled the world and throughout the African continent extensively facilitating cooperation and partnerships for sustainable development.

She has several published articles and books on environmental law and sustainability issues such as Legal Issues in the Niger Delta Resource Dilemma, 2nd Edition, ACFED;  SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals: A view from inside Africa’s Higher Education Institutions, in Approaches to SDG 17 Partnerships for the SDGs (SDGs), GUNI, 28-36 (2018);  ‘Lessons from the UNEP Ogoniland Environmental Assessment for New Oil & Gas Frontiers in Africa’, in Rivers State University Oil & Gas Journal, 2017; ‘Climate Change Education in Africa’, Southern African Journal of Environmental Education,2009.

She is a recipient of awards and honours such as the Environmental Creation Awareness Award by the Environment Outreach Magazine (2010); The Outstanding Young Persons of Nigeria Award in recognition of contribution to Moral and Environmental Leadership by the Nigeria Junior Chamber on the occasion of their 40th Anniversary Convention (1997). Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecturer, The Centre for Environmental & Sustainability Education of Florida Gulf Coast University, USA. 2011; TEDXFGCU talk on Africa: An Alternate Narrative (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyLgMFMS6QI); Plenary Keynote Speaker at the 2015 Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI’s 9th International Congress, St Louis, USA); Moderator, 2nd Plenary: ESD 2030 – What will it look like? At the UNESCO World Conference on ESD, November, 2014, Aichi-Nagoya, Japan; “Empowerment of Women and Environmental Change”, special opening paper at the 4WEEC, July, 2007; ‘Millennium Development Goals – A voice from the South’, Lecture at United Nations, Association, International Week, Kristiansand, September 2006. And more recently, plenary keynote lecture at the 2018 Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference in Pittsburgh. https://youtu.be/1NU-JKLcw0w.