Projects
Legal Drafter’s Handbook on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine and Coastal Environments
In partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities, the Environmental Law Institute is developing a Legal Drafter’s Handbook on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine and Coastal Environments. The goals of the handbook are to introduce stakeholders to major marine and coastal anthropogenic threats including nutrient loading, sea level rise, coastal development, and biological resource extraction; and to describe international and national legal and institutional mechanisms to diminish such threats. The concise handbook provides readers with a summary of issues as well as examples of laws, regulations, and policies that a country may adapt to its particular needs and capacity. It also provides additional references for those seeking more in-depth information. This handbook will be useful for the marine law, policy, and management community to explore options for the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal environments. It will also serve as an awareness-raising tool, providing readers with a basic understanding of the major marine and coastal threats along with examples of laws and policies to address these threats.
Implementing Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM): Governance Conflicts, Gaps, and Needs
With support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Environmental Law Institute has launched a new project: Implementing Ecosystem-Based Management: Governance Conflicts, Gaps, and Needs. To provide key actors with the tools necessary to achieve long-lasting implementation of ocean and coastal EBM, ELI is drawing from the extensive experience of EBM scientists, managers, and stakeholders; making use of existing research; and performing in-depth evaluations of current EBM projects and programs. The project has four phases, to be completed over a two-year period:
- identification and assessment of laws, institutions, and actors surrounding EBM;
- identification and assessment of opportunities, obstacles, and practical approaches;
- building ocean and coastal EBM frameworks; and
- enabling key actors to implement EBM.
The primary goal of the project is to promote the effective implementation of EBM in new and existing projects and programs through the wide distribution of EBM governance tools. A key component of this project will be the EBM Expert Working Group. Led by ELI’s Kathryn Mengerink and Jay Austin, the group is comprised of scientists and legal and policy experts who will provide advice and contribute to the development of practical materials that will aid in EBM implementation. The working group members include: Katherine Andrews, Executive Director of the Coastal States Organization; Jessica Landman, Environmental Attorney, Pew Fellow and former Senior Counsel for Science and Policy at COMPASS; Richard McLaughlin, Endowed Chair for Coastal and Marine Policy and Law at Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi; Peyton Robertson, Director of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office; Andrew A. Rosenberg, Professor at the University of New Hampshire; Mary Ruckelshaus, Chair of the Puget Sound Technical Recovery Team, NOAA, Northwest Fisheries Science Center; Dean Wendt, Associate Professor at the Center for Coastal Marine Sciences.
An Economic, Legal, and Institutional Analysis of Enforcement and Compliance in U.S. Commercial Fisheries
In collaboration with the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), the Environmental Law Institute is conducting a two-year study of the enforcement of domestic fishing regulations. This study examines the extent to which inadequate enforcement of domestic fishing regulations is contributing to: 1) the decline in U.S. fish stocks, 2) the long-term economic hardship in U.S. fisheries and fishing communities, and 3) expectations among commercial fishermen that federal and state governments will not commit the necessary resources to reduce fishing efforts sufficiently to rebuild stocks and allow fishermen to benefit from revitalized fisheries. To accomplish this, the project’s partners are identifying and analyzing the laws and regulations related to U.S fisheries enforcement; assessing the resources that are in place for enforcement; conducting in-depth interviews with current and past fishermen from representative fisheries, current and past fisheries managers, fishing industry experts, representatives of related financial and market interests, and other knowledgeable individuals; and, from economic and legal perspectives, interpreting the results of the interviews and examinations of selected fisheries to identify and characterize challenges, opportunities, and best practices related to fisheries enforcement.
The research and resulting project report and publications will inform those who develop and implement fisheries laws, regulations and policies, and will also help leaders in fisheries and conservation communities put the role of enforcement in the proper perspective. The project will be chaired by Dr. Dennis King, Research Professor at UMCES, and will include collaboration with fisheries experts, Dr. Jon Sutinen, fishery economist at the University of Rhode Island and Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, Professor at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Kathryn Mengerink and James M. McElfish, Jr. will lead ELI’s efforts. Funding for this project has been provided by the Lenfest Ocean Program, which was established by the Lenfest Foundation at the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Developing Certification Mechanisms to Achieve Sustainable Aquaculture
In partnership with The Ocean Foundation and with support from The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation and The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, ELI has initiated a project to produce a gold standard for sustainable aquaculture practices that will launch a national dialogue on aquaculture certification and encourage adoption of sustainable practices by the expanding aquaculture industry. The gold standard will serve as a framework against which specific certification schemes may be measured in each of three crucial categories of concern: food safety, animal and human welfare (including economic, social, and cultural protections), and ecosystem-based management. To develop the gold standard, the project partners will undertake a comprehensive literature review of laws, regulations, policies, and existing certification programs and conduct in-depth interviews with certification experts, accreditors, and those seeking certification. To the extent possible, we will build relationships, achieve credibility, and conduct outreach from the beginning of our project, by engaging key aquaculture regulators, certifiers, and other interested parties in the research at the very inception of the project.
The final report will include a legal and policy framework for the gold standard, the rationale supporting the elements of the gold standard, and a step-wise implementation process to help certifiers upgrade their standards to achieve sustainable aquaculture programs. It will summarize aquaculture challenges and the strengths and weaknesses of existing certification programs. It will also describe the existing legal and regulatory landscape within which aquaculture facilities must operate. The published report will be used as a teaching tool and a policy resource service for aquaculture regulators, certifiers, and other interested parties.
Baseline Law, Policy, and Institutional Assessment for the Development of a Seascape Strategy in the Hawaiian Islands
The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is partnering with Conservation International, with support from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, to assess the existing laws, policies, and institutions governing the seascape of the Hawaiian Islands to achieve better protection and sustainable management of the area. Seascapes are large, multiple-use marine areas, defined both scientifically and strategically. Government authorities, environmental organizations, citizen’s groups, native Hawaiians, local communities, businesses, and other stakeholders must work cooperatively to effectively manage Hawai’i’s seascape. The assessment will include identification and evaluation of the legal and institutional capacity of regional, national, state, island, and local authorities, as well as communities, businesses, non-governmental institutions, and others, to implement marine management, foster stewardship, address threats to marine biodiversity, and maintain or enhance ecosystem services. ELI is seeking input from Hawai’i’s coastal and marine communities to identify stakeholder conservation priorities, operational constraints, and opportunities for achieving marine conservation objectives. This assessment is part of a larger initiative that is primarily employing participatory process methods to identify marine conservation goals for the Hawaiian Islands and define the activities needed to achieve these goals. These activities will form the basis of a multi-stakeholder Seascape Strategy to be implemented in the region.
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