Environmental Law Institute

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Environmental Law Institute
Founded 1971
Headquarters Washington, DC
Slogan Making the law work for people, places, and the planet.
Website www.eli.org

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is an internationally recognized independent research and education center that strengthens environmental protection by improving law and governance.[1] The target audiences for research and publications include legal practitioners, business leaders, land managers, land use planners, environmentalists, journalists, and law-makers.[2][3] ELI also convenes conferences to promote the exchange of ideas; holds seminars to educate legal practitioners and business leaders; and publishes original research, both as monographs and in its periodicals, the Environmental Law Review, The Environmental Forum, and the National Wetlands Newsletter.

Contents

[edit] Mission

The Environmental Law Institute's mission is as follows:

The Environmental Law Institute makes law work for people, places, and the planet. With its non-partisan, independent approach, ELI promotes solutions to tough environmental problems. The Institute’s innovative research, practical analysis and forward-looking publications inform and empower policy-makers, business leaders, and environmental advocates worldwide. [4]

[edit] Structure

Research & Policy Staff: A portion of ELI’s researchers are attorneys with specialties in various aspects of environmental law. Other researchers include scientists, policy analysts, and visiting scholars from outside the United States.

Associates: ELI has associate organizations that pay an annual subscription fee. Associate organizations are usually legal practitioners, often law firms. Other associates include trade groups and environmental organizations. Unlike other organizations which have members, ELI does not represent its associates or try to promote their activities. Rather, membership to ELI provides associates with easy access to the Institute’s research. Associates receive ELI’s major publications at free or discounted prices, and their employees attend ELI’s educational seminars, such as its Boot Camps on Environmental Law, free of charge.

Board: A Board of Directors provides oversight to the Institute. The board members are leaders from federal and state government, industry, the private bar, citizen organizations, and academia.

Funding: Most of ELI’s funding comes from project-specific grants from major organizations, foundations, and government agencies.

[edit] Major Research Areas

Presently, ELI’s research is organized into four major areas: international programs; innovation in governance; land and biodiversity; and water resources. Under each of these four umbrellas are the research programs, most of which are managed independently of other programs. For example, under Water Resources there are programs addressing oceans, wetlands, international waters, and water pollution. Within the Oceans Program are publications on sustainable fisheries; conferences to develop laws that foster ecosystem-based management; and continuing legal education seminars on issues ranging from ocean-based shipping to the potential for wave-generated electricity. Each of the four major program areas is this diverse, and most of the research done by ELI has such a focus on single issues. ELI typically publishes the results of its research in Research Reports.

International Programs Innovation in Governance Land & Biodiversity Water Resources
Africa Program

Central & Eastern Europe

Educational Workshops

Armed Conflict and the Environment

India Program

Inter-America Program

Public Participation in International Waters

Judicial Education Program

Oceans

 Center for Energy, Economy & Innovation

Center for State, Local & Regional Environmental Programs

Community Environmental Health & Education

Endangered Environmental Laws

Enforcement Studies & Training

Environmental Management & Governance

Green Building & Indoor Environment

Judicial Education Program

Nanotechnology Initiative

Climate Change

 Brownfields Center

Long-Term Stewardship of Contaminated Sites

Mining Center

State Biodiversity

Sustainable Use of Land

 Oceans

Water Pollution Prevention

Wetlands

[edit] Publications

Most of the work done by the ELI research and policy staff becomes reports that are produced in-house and published electronically. ELI makes these reports available, usually free of charge, on their Web site. ELI’s publications fall into two main categories: periodicals and books.

[edit] Periodicals

ELI’s periodicals are considered the publications of record in their respective fields.

  • The Environmental Law Reporter (ELR) News & Analysis is the Institute’s flagship publication, publishing submissions from academic and practicing attorneys. The journal’s authors review court cases, laws, legal trends, and agency actions. Articles address topics in state and federal law. ELR News & Analysis is issued 12 times per year and has a circulation of 850 organizational subscribers.
  • The Environmental Forum (EF) is ELI’s non-technical publication, founded in 1982. Like ELR, it publishes articles primarily written by authors outside ELI’s research staff. Unlike ELR, however, EF is written for a general audience. It keeps its readership abreast of developments in environmentalism, particularly with respect to legislation and enforcement. EF comes out bimonthly to a circulation of 3500.
  • The National Wetlands Newsletter (NWN) is the Institute’s journal on wetlands law and policy. The 24-page, bimonthly newsletter has been published since 1979. It covers wetland regulation, policy, science, and management, and includes articles written by outside wetland professionals and academics as well as news items contributed by the editorial staff. NWN has over 1000 readers.

[edit] Books

ELI Press publishes books by outside authors which are sold via telephone and through the online bookstore of the ELI Press. Over the years, some of the most popular publications have been The Practical Guide to Environmental Management, and The Environmental Law Deskbook, now in its eighth edition. The latter is one of dozens of types of Deskbooks that ELI has produced.

[edit] List of Selected Associates

[edit] References

  1. ^ Environmental Law Institute Publications/
  2. ^ Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grant Fact Sheet
  3. ^ Brian Trelstad Elected to Environmental Law Institute Board
  4. ^ [1] ELI Message from the President and Chairman