Oshani Amaratunga, a third-year Windsor Law student in the Juris Doctor program, had her paper on climate displaced peoples accepted by the Pace Environmental Law Review within 24 hours of submitting it.

Based out of Pace Law School in White Plains, N.Y., the Pace Environmental Law Review is one of the oldest environmental law journals in North America.

Amaratunga had the support of professor Randall Abate of Monmouth University, who visited Windsor Law in October as a guest speaker for a climate justice panel held at the law school. Amaratunga discussed her paper with Abate, who immediately recognized the potential of her research and volunteered to read and comment on the paper himself.

Her paper, “Climate Displaced Peoples: Utilizing Regional Approaches to Combat Climate-Induced Displacement in the 21st Century” was originally drafted for the International Law of Refugees and Forced Migration course taught by Windsor Law professor Anneke Smit.

The Pace Environmental Law Review will publish it in its Spring 2019 issue.

“It is fantastic to see Windsor Law students not only take the initiative to write strong papers but also to pursue their publication in top-notch journals — and in another jurisdiction, no less,” said Laverne Jacobs, associate dean of research and graduate studies in the Faculty of Law.