Lorena Villa

Lorena Zenteno is a Chilean attorney with experience in human rights and environmental issues. She is a former member of the judiciary in Chile. Since 2015 she has been a Law Clerk for the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, drafting judgments for the Justices, mainly in environmental cases.

Lorena is a member of the Environment and Human Rights Commission of the National Association of the Chilean Judiciary, dedicated to train judges and discussing climate change and environmental impacts on human rights.

She was a senior researcher for the former UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights, Karima Bennoune, from September 2018 until September 2021.   Supported and assisted the UN Special Rapporteur to fulfil his mandate to the UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council.

Lorena Zenteno got her LL.M. in Environmental Law from the University of Davis, California, in 2020, where she focused specifically on the intersections between human rights, cultural rights, and the environment. She also holds a master’s in business law from the University Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona, Spain.

Lorena’s primary research interests include the human rights dimensions of climate change and environmental impacts, climate change justice, gender, and the judiciary’s role in the climate change crisis. Currently, Lorena is undertaking her Ph.D. in Law at the University of Edinburgh.

Since January 2022, she will start as a Senior Research Fellow for the Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, focusing on climate, energy, and gender justice.