Dr. jur. Mohamed Azouagh est un citoyen Franco-Marocain. Il a obtenu une Licence en Droit public à la Faculté de droit de Oujda (Maroc) en 1995, un DEA en Droit et économie du développement à l'Institut du Droit de la Paix et du Développement de Nice (France) en 1999, un Certificat en Droit international à New York Hofstra University School of Law en 2001. Enfin, un Doctorat en droit à l'Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis (France) en 2004. Sa thèse de Doctorat a essayé de démonter dans quelle mesure les règles du GATT/OMC prennent en compte les intérêts environnementaux. Dr. Azouagh a travaillé comme Conseiller pour la Division du Commerce et Environnement (PNUE) à Genève, pour des organismes publics français et pour des ONG œuvrant dans le domaine de la protection de l'environnement et/ou des droits de l'homme. En tant que membre du Groupement d'Etudes et de Recherches en Droit International et Comparé (Nice) et au PNUE, Dr. Azouagh a participé à plusieurs séminaires et colloques portant sur le commerce et l'environnement et à la rédaction d'études et rapports.

Dr. jur. Makane Moïse Mbengue, a native of Senegal, is a Lecturer at the Geneva Master in International Dispute Settlement (Geneva U Law Faculty/IHEID). Previously he was a Fellow in the Global Visitors Program of the New York University Law School. In 1997, he received his LL.B. from the University Gaston Berger of Saint-Louis (Senegal) in Public Law, in 1998 a Masters degree, followed in 1999 by an LL.M. in Business and Economic Law.  2001-2007 he was a Teaching Assistant and Researcher at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva. His doctoral research was devoted to the topic of "Anticipation in International Law: A Legal Theory on the Regulation of Environmental and Sanitary Risk". The thesis explores new avenues such as e.g. the distinction between scientific uncertainty and the insufficiency of scientific evidence. Dr. Mbengue is also the author of a number of articles in scientific journals and books on trade and environment, on international dispute-settlement, on the law of treaties, on the law of international watercourses and on WTO law. He has been a consultant for the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the Nile Basin Initiative and the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health.

Maria Julia Oliva joined the Union for Ethical BioTrade in January 2009 as Senior Adviser on access and benefit sharing, with a focus on intellectual property-related issues. She has extensive experience on the interface of trade, intellectual property and sustainability, having served as a Senior Programme Officer for Trade, Natural Resources, and Environment at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), legal consultant for the UNCTAD BioTrade Facilitation Programme, and Director of the Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development Project at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). Ms. Oliva is also on the Board of Directors of IP-Watch, an independent reporting service on intellectual property issues; and is a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law. She holds a Masters of Laws (LL.M) in environmental law, cum laude, from Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, and a law degree from the University of Mendoza in Argentina.

Urs P. Thomas was born in Zürich and spent most of his adult life in Montréal. He began his professional activities in international business and then went back to school obtaining a BSc in Environmental Biology and an MBA at Concordia University, Montréal. At age 40 he embarked on a career change through a PhD thesis in Political Science on UNEP's first 20 years, including the Rio Conference, at the Université du Québec à Montréal. The focus of this research was placed on interorganizational and intergovernmental relations and on UNEP’s institutional aspects. He then continued to work in this field of international environmental affairs and in their relationship with economic globalization, through his involvement in research, teaching, consulting and administration. This research was carried out subsequently within a small group of researchers focused on trade and environment studies at the University of Geneva's Law Faculty from 2000 until his retirement in 2008. Financing was provided through grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Réseau universitaire international de Genève. In 2002 he founded EcoLomics International with other members of this group, and he continues to administer this Internet-based NGO.

Dr. Noriko Yajima is a native of Japan. In 2006, she obtained a PhD in international relations/international law at the University of Melbour, Australia with a thesis on “International regulation of the environment: Conflicting approaches of the World Trade Organization and multilateral environmental agreements”. The thesis analyzes the relationship between two different sets of international law, i.e. the cases of the WTO and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Prior to her PhD studies, she obtained a Masters degree at Bonn University, Australia with associated research on sustainable development issues at Aalborg University, Denmark in 2001. She also joined a 1-year program at Shenzhen University, China, to study policies of sustainable development in developing countries. She has presented papers in several international academic conferences in the field of trade and environment and has also participated in meetings of international organizations on food safety and biosafety. Subsequently she has collaborated with academics in their work on international standards of animals, plants and food.