ELI Research in Action

• Pages: 56-56

Page 56 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2010, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, Jan./Feb. 2010

ELI Report

ef‌fectively implemented.

In October, ELI attorneys

Lisa Goldman and Sandra

Nichols traveled to Liberia

to assist of‌f‌icials at the For-

estry Development Author-

ity with two workshops for

community-based organiza-

tions.

e workshops were held

in Tubmanburg and Kakata,

focused on the benef‌its

made available to local com-

munities through the Na-

tional Forestry Reform Law

of 2006, the groundbreak-

ing law that ELI helped

draft as a core member of

the Liberia Forest Initiative.

ELI provided logistical and

technical support to a train-

ing team composed of FDA

staf‌f, helping to build capac-

ity both within the agency

and at the community level.

During the mission, ELI

also provided analysis on a

draft wildlife conservation

law and laid the ground-

work for an upcoming proj-

ect on the development of a

legal and policy framework

to support forest carbon

trading in Liberia.

Brownf‌ields

Restoration

Continuing its tradition

of regular participation in

the National Brownf‌ields

Conference, ELI attorneys

participated in this year’s

meeting in New Orleans,

Louisiana, from November

16–18. Sandra Nichols and

Jordan Diamond presented

their ongoing EPA-support-

ed work on “Overcoming

Obstacles to Redeveloping

Petroleum Brownf‌ields

and Other Vacant Proper-

ties,” a project that evalu-

ates state approaches to im-

plementation of brownf‌ields

programs and provides

education and outreach on

ef‌fective approaches.

e session of‌fered the

opportunity to consult with

experts and agency staf‌f

from around the country

on the preliminary results

of the project and to further

ELI’s collaboration with the

National Vacant Properties

Campaign.

Co-Director of ELI’s

Brownf‌ields Program John

Pendergrass organized an

educational session on how

local governments and states

can implement institutional

controls. He presented a

tool designed to help lo-

cal governments estimate

the cost of implementing

instructional controls at

brownf‌ields.

Also in November, ELI

continued its relationship

with the Florida Brown-

f‌ields Association and other

brownf‌ields stakeholders

through participation in

two sessions at the Florida

Brownf‌ields Conference.

ELI Research in Action

ELI Staff Attorney Sandra Nichols, second from right, assists with

the workshop in Liberia focusing on its forestry program.

Water Resource

Protection

In November, ELI Staf‌f

Attorney and Director

of the Institute’s Western

Water Program, Adam

Schempp, presented a paper

at the ird International

Experts’ Meeting on the

topic of Water Qual-

ity Management. Held in

Zarazoga, Spain, the event

was co-sponsored by the

Government of Aragon, In-

ternational Water Resources

Association, and ird

World Centre for Water

Management.

e participants hailed

from all corners of the globe

and represented a broad

range of disciplines. Topics

for the meeting included

the health implications of

water pollution, challenges

in wastewater management,

regulatory obstacles and op-

portunities, and the role of

emerging technologies.

Case studies highlighted

innovative practices from as

near as northern Spain to

as far as China. Schempp

presented a paper on the

regulation of nonpoint

sources of pollution in fed-

eral governments, analyzing

the experiences of Australia,

India, South Africa, and the

United States. e paper

was co-authored by Jessica

Troell, the Director of the

Institute’s International

Water Program, and Susan

Graham, an ELI Visiting

Scholar.

ELI Research Associate

Akiva Fishman attended

the second Africa Water

Week from November 9-13

in Johannesburg, South

Africa. e conference was

organized by the African

Ministers’ Council on Wa-

ter, a specialized technical

committee of the African

Union comprising the con-

tinent’s water ministers with

the mission of coordinating

continent-wide water and

sanitation policy.

e event convened

about 1,500 people working

in the water and sanitation

sectors in Africa including

representatives of small local

NGOs, large multi-national

NGOs, utilities, private

developers, and foreign aid

agencies. Participants pre-

sented and discussed prog-

ress and needs concerning

the water- and sanitation-

related Millennium Devel-

opment Goals.

Post-Conf‌lict

Governance

As the post-conf‌lict

country of Liberia prepares

to resume full-scale com-

mercial logging for the f‌irst

time since 2003, ELI is

working with its partners

to help ensure that the laws

governing this process are