Elisabeth Veronika Mann Borgese, (24 April 1918 – 8 February 2002) was an internationally recognized expert on maritime law and policy and the protection of the environment. Called "the mother of the oceans", she has received the Order of Canada and awards from the governments of Austria, China, Colombia, Germany, the United Nations and the World Conservation Union. Elisabeth was a child of Nobel Prize–winning German author Thomas Mann and his wife Katia Mann. Born in Germany, Elisabeth experienced displacement due to the rise of the Nazi Party and became a citizen first of Czechoslovakia, then of the United States, and finally of Canada. Elisabeth Mann Borgese worked as a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California and as a university professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She became a proponent of international cooperation and world government. In 1968, she was one of the founding members – and for a long time the only female member – of the Club of Rome. In 1970 she organized the first international conference on the law of the sea, "Pacem in Maribus" ("Peace in the Oceans") in Malta, and helped to establish the International Ocean Institute (IOI) at the Royal University of Malta. From 1973 to 1982, Mann Borgese helped to develop the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). She also helped to establish the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Family and citizenship Elisabeth Veronika Mann was born in Munich, Germany, the youngest daughter of Katia Pringsheim and Nobel Prize winning German author Thomas Mann. Her uncle was novelist Heinrich Mann. Her brothers and sisters are Klaus, Erika (wife of W. H. Auden), Golo, Monika and Michael Mann. The Mann family left Germany after Adolf Hitler came to power, moving first to Switzerland. On 11 February 1933, Thomas Mann and his wife Katje left Munich on what was planned as a lecture tour. Within weeks he was warned that the Nazi Party, which had recently come to power, was moving against him. His house and possessions, his published books, and initially his royalties were confiscated. Mann was warned to remain abroad, but was dependent upon German citizenship for a valid passport. He began to explore the possibility of obtaining citizenship in Austria, Switzerland or Czechoslovakia. Thomas Mann publicly indicated his opposition to the Nazi Party