Bal Kama

Dr Bal Kama is a Senior Solicitor with the International Program of the Environmental Defenders Office, where he specialises on environmental and climate change related litigation and provides advice on constitutional and law reform initiatives in the Pacific.

Bal is also a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University (ANU) and has held law academic teaching positions at the University of Canberra and at the ANU. He has a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Politics and International Relations, and a Bachelor of Law (Honours) from the University of Canberra, a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Sydney College of Law, and a PhD in Law, specialising in constitutional law from the ANU College of Law. Bal’s PhD thesis won the 2020 ANU Hank Nelson Award as ‘the best academic thesis internationally on PNG’.

His academic research focuses on Papua New Guinea judiciary and Pacific constitutional and public law and their relations to the wider socio-politics and justice issues. Bal also maintains an active presence as an analyst on various domestic and international forums, including media outlets, dealing with Pacific issues including its socio-legal, constitutional affairs, geopolitics, and foreign relations.