Message from the President and Chairman of the Board

A Letter to Our Members,

For ELI, the year 2008 was a time of accomplishment and change as the Institute looked ahead to its 40th anniversary as the leading research and education center focused on making environmental law work for people, places, and the planet. This report presents highlights of ELI’s year in its publications, membership programs, and research and training work here and around the world. We salute the service of Paul Hagen who led the Institute’s Board of Directors for three years of strong achievement and financial performance and set the stage for this year’s 40th anniversary celebration.

The world is different from 1969 when ELI was founded, initially to be the publisher of record for the field of environmental law. Environmental organizations like ELI can point to dramatic reductions in pollution and considerable progress in the wiser management of our natural resources. But today’s challenges are greater than ever. Over the past 40 years, world population has nearly doubled to 6.9 billion. Resource consumption has skyrocketed. In the industrialized world, as Ted Turner put it, “too many people are consuming too much stuff.” Developing countries think it is their turn to enjoy higher living standards and consumption, and they are right. And these huge pressures are magnifying the impact of climate change that threatens natural systems and people worldwide.

It is time to take a fresh look at the agenda for sustainable development and the part ELI should play in building the human and intellectual capital to help meet today’s demands for effective environmental law and governance.

This is why ELI is launching a 40th anniversary campaign to raise funds to conceive a new vision for environmental law and governance and to begin the work of implementing it. Our theme is Forging Solutions for a Changing World. Our goal is to raise $500,000 by 2010 for the Vision Fund and a total of $5 million over four years to execute new initiatives. We have sought the advice of a distinguished group of advisors to help us define the most important tasks. They are: Jorge Caillaux, President, Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental; Eileen Claussen, President, Pew Center on Global Climate Change; Henry Diamond, Partner, Beveridge & Diamond LLC; Linda Fisher, Vice President & Chief Sustainability Office, Dupont Corporation; Nicholas Robinson, University Professor, Pace University School of Law; and James Gustave Speth, Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

We know our agenda must include the application of ELI’s capabilities to making a greenhouse gas governance system transparent and enforceable, and to building understanding and expertise in the profession of environmental law and management. Our advisors have also stressed that ELI is uniquely qualified to lead a thoughtful examination of the whole system of environmental law with the aim of determining whether the shortfalls can be faced by better integration of existing tools or whether we need much more sweeping options for change.

In a time of economic turmoil, it is natural for people and institutions to hunker down. At ELI, we believe today’s economic and environmental stresses combine to demand that we think and act in new ways. And so we mean to mark the end of 40 years of accomplishment with a renewed commitment to ELI’s mission to marshall the best thinking in all disciplines and sectors to envision better solutions for our changed and changing world. As always, we are deeply grateful for the steadfast support of ELI’s many members, volunteers, donors, and friends for our work over the past 40 years and, we hope, for a vibrant future for the Institute.