The Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) was established in 1990 to meet the growing need for international environmental leaders. Our center brings together faculty and students from diverse backgrounds to study environment and resource issues and how they affect relationships among nations.
At CIERP students learn how to develop strategies and policies that create common ground for sustainable solutions. CIERP uses an interdisciplinary approach that integrates emerging science, engineering, and business concepts with more traditional subjects such as economics, international law and policy, negotiation, diplomacy, resource management, and governance systems.
Along with teaching, CIERP conducts in-depth research on today’s environmental and resource challenges. Some of our work has a scholarly focus – for example, creating analytical tools and models that can measure environmental change processes, or estimate their costs. We also propose options for achieving practical goals, such as making clean energy technologies more accessible to developing countries. CIERP is frequently called on to provide policy advice to governments, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Our students attend international meetings and conferences where they learn how to shape evidence-driven strategies and policies that solve problems.
CIERP students come from developed and developing countries. Many have lived or worked abroad and already have substantial professional experience when they arrive at Tufts. Our graduates are pragmatic idealists who are ready to take on complex problems like climate change, threats to biodiversity, and trans-boundary pollution. CIERP alumni find opportunities with government and intergovernmental agencies, multinational corporations, and non-government organizations. They are global citizens who are intent on achieving important goals.