Dr. Eric Lokai Kwa
From Siassi Island to legal scholarship, national leadership and community service — a career connecting law, learning and responsibility to others.
Scholarship grounded in service
Dr. Eric Kwa is a Papua New Guinean jurist, legal scholar, educator and consultant from Mararamu village on Siassi Island, Morobe Province. His career spans university teaching, legal practice, constitutional and law reform, environmental governance, justice administration and church and community leadership.
His qualifications include an honours law degree from the University of Papua New Guinea, a Master of Laws with Honours in Environmental Law from the University of Wollongong, and a PhD in Environmental Law from the University of Auckland.
Through Kwa Consulting, he brings that experience to research, advisory work, training, publications and public engagement.
A foundation in Siassi, learning and leadership
Dr. Kwa’s life and professional identity remain connected to Mararamu and the communities of Siassi Island. Family, Christian faith and service to community are recurring threads in his journey. He is married to Dr. Viola Kwa.
He attended Bugandi Provincial High School from 1982 to 1985, serving as Scripture Union President and later as school captain in his Grade 10 year. At Aiyura National High School, where he studied in 1986 and 1987, he became school president. His early leadership was recognised through the PNG Lions Youth of the Year and school awards in 1987.
He studied law at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1988 to 1991, earning an LLB with Honours, and completed professional training at the Legal Training Institute in 1992. Postgraduate study took him to the University of Wollongong in Australia and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, where he specialised in environmental law.
His advanced research explored the relationship between law, customary knowledge, natural resources and sustainable development. These themes continued into his teaching, writing and work with communities and public institutions.
Teacher, legal practitioner and academic leader
Dr. Kwa joined UPNG as a tutor in 1991 and taught in the School of Law from 1995 to 2011. He was appointed Associate Professor in 2009. His teaching included constitutional law, environmental law, international law, natural resources law, criminal law, intellectual property, provincial and local government law, evidence, and law and development.
His university responsibilities included Deputy Dean (Academic), Head of the Law Department, Acting Dean and Executive Dean of the School of Law and Business Studies, leadership of the postgraduate committee, and work with the Human Rights Centre. He also taught environmental governance, biodiversity conservation and ocean resources management in UPNG’s environmental science and geography programmes, and delivered a guest lecture at Texas Tech University in 2005.
Alongside academic work, he practised under Anthony Regan’s UPC and later served as an associate with Mawa Lawyers. This combination of teaching, research and practice provided a foundation for his subsequent work in law reform and public administration.
Constitutional reform and national responsibility
Dr. Kwa served as Secretary of the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission from 2011 to 2018. His public-service record also includes appointment as Secretary of the Department of Justice and Attorney General in 2018 and service as Attorney General of Papua New Guinea from 2020 to 2022.
His responsibilities have extended across law and justice coordination, parole, anti-human trafficking, anti-money laundering, immigration and citizenship, and provincial and local government governance. He has also held leadership roles in the National Oceans Committee and Marine Scientific Research Committee.
In 2022, he headed Papua New Guinea’s delegation to the United Nations Oceans Conference in Lisbon. In December 2024, he worked with the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Hon. Pila Niningi, in leading PNG’s legal team at the International Court of Justice.
His higher education service includes leadership in the Lutheran Institute of Higher Learning, the Lutheran University of Papua New Guinea and Jubilee Institute of Higher Education, as well as membership of the Divine Word University Council.
Explore his professional experience →Connecting policy with communities and natural resources
Environmental and natural resources law have been central to Dr. Kwa’s work. His research interests include biodiversity, biosafety, climate change, intellectual property, sustainable development and community and rural development, alongside constitutional and administrative law.
His earlier consultancy assignments included work on biodiversity and biosafety frameworks, access and benefit sharing, oceans and fisheries policy, protected areas, forestry and climate-related policy. He contributed to community environmental laws in local-level government settings, including Almami in Madang, Talasea in West New Britain and Nali Sopat Penabu in Manus.
Other assignments addressed constitutional questions, the Motu Koita Assembly’s legal framework, domestic violence legislation, women’s representation, higher education and access to legal information. He led the PNG team for the AusAID-supported Access to Laws Project in 2001.
These assignments form part of Dr. Kwa’s individual professional experience and inform the knowledge he brings to Kwa Consulting.
Service beyond public office
Dr. Kwa’s community work includes women’s rights advocacy and pro bono legal support for the National Council of Women. He is a founding director and Deputy Chair of Femili PNG, an organisation supporting survivors of family and sexual violence. His contribution to women’s protection and rights has also been recognised through the Scholla Kakas Award.
Christian faith and Lutheran church service form an enduring part of his life. He served as Third Chairman of Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea from 2010 to 2022, has provided pro bono legal advice to the church, and has supported the UPNG Lutheran Students Congregation as a longstanding patron. His service also includes Gideons International and support for education and student development.
Within national constitutional reform, he helped progress and publicly explain the proposal to recognise Papua New Guinea’s Christian identity, including its relationship to constitutional protection for freedom of religion.
His connections with Siassi include leadership of Siassi Foundation Inc and support for local education and community institutions. He received recognition as Baimbuk, or Paramount Chief, in Aimalu Parish in 2006 and Samanai Parish in 2024.
Writing across law, culture and faith
Dr. Kwa’s writing includes authored and co-authored books, edited volumes, journal articles, book chapters and conference papers. His legal works include Constitutional Law of Papua New Guinea, Kwa’s Legal Dictionary, and Constitution of Papua New Guinea with Commentary, written with Tony Wolfers. He has also contributed to books on administrative law, natural resources, elections, decentralisation and constitutional reform.
His interests extend to cultural knowledge and church history. Kowai Wisdom, co-authored in 2021, records knowledge of the Kowai people of Siassi Island. The co-edited My Faith My Church (2017) marks the Lutheran Church’s 500-year commemoration. His editorial service includes chairing the editorial board of the Attorney General’s Law Journal.
In 2024, the University of Wollongong named him a finalist for its Alumni Award for Professional Excellence, recognising his contributions to legal scholarship and governance in Papua New Guinea.
Explore publications →Experience brought to purposeful work
Kwa Consulting brings together Dr. Kwa’s legal and policy experience, research, leadership and commitment to public learning. Engagements are shaped around the client’s question, the people affected and the practical work required.
The company’s values — Knowledge. Integrity. Impact. — guide its approach: listen carefully, clarify the scope, work with evidence and experience, and communicate in ways that people can use. Mamin Anutu remains part of the consultancy’s local-language identity.