About CIERP
Greetings from the Director
Professor William R. Moomaw, Program Director
Center for International Environment and Resource Policy
The Center for International Environment and Resource Policy began with a few course offerings in 1990, and now has become a full fledged Center with a full academic track of courses, academic and policy research programs, a sponsor of speakers, symposia and conferences and is called upon to provide policy advice to governments, NGOs and the private sector. Our goal is to educate future policy- and decision-makers through our Masters and PhD programs to become change agents for global environmental and resource challenges. The Center utilizes an interdisciplinary approach that identifies the underlying scientific, economic and technological dimensions of international problems, and develops strategies and policies utilizing principles of law, diplomacy and mutual gains negotiations to find common grounds for sustainable solutions. There are many opportunities for our students to participate directly in real policy research as part of their education.
We are especially pleased to welcome our new colleague, Associate Professor Kelly Sims Gallagher who brings special expertise on China, energy, climate and technological innovation. After completing her MALD and PhD at Fletcher she moved to the Kennedy School of Government where she managed the research program headed by Prof. John Holdren at the Belfer Center. She will teach courses on climate change policy, international energy policy and energy technology innovation.
We welcome Hans Hoogeveen, the Director General of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, as Visiting Professor of Practice of Natural Resource Policy. This past year he conducted a series of Roundtables on important topics including international forest diplomacy and food security. He will continue those events during the coming year, and will co-teach, along with Prof. Moomaw and Senior Fellow Patrick Verkooijen of the World Bank, a new course on Sustainable Development Diplomacy. Through Mr. Hoogeveen, Fletcher has developed a formal relationship with the Dutch government and Wageningen University to explore policy issues relevant to agriculture, forest management and water management and to develop joint educational programs. To date the faculty, staff and students of CIERP have worked under this agreement to develop a Forest Financing Mechanism that has been adopted by the UN Forum on Forests, training materials for diplomats and along with Prof. Najam of Boston University we are authoring a book on Sustainable Development Diplomacy based upon forests. We held the first two week Sustainable Development Diplomacy executive education program under this collaboration in the Netherlands in June 2009.
The Center benefits immensely from the engagement and teaching of Jonathan Harris of the Global Development and Environment Institute who teaches Environment and Resource Economics, and Prof. David Wirth of Boston College Law School who teaches International Environmental Law. Our Associate Director, Mieke van der Wansem continues to guide the operations of the Center and to contribute her substantial experience as a facilitator and negotiator to our programs. CIERP hosts several senior scholars who conduct research and enrich our range of knowledge. These include Patrick Verkooijen who works on the development of the architecture on forest finance within the climate change context, Dr. Charles Chester and Dr. Caleb McClennen who both work on biodiversity and Dr. Timothy Weiskel who works on climate change and climate justice.
For the first time CIERP will host post-doctoral fellows. Prof. Gallagher will bring two Chinese Fellows Hengwei Liu and Xiaowei Xuan to work on energy and technology issues. Travis Franck, who recently completed his PhD at MIT, is working on the policy and economic aspects of biological capture of carbon dioxide from power plants utilizing algae. His work will be part of a collaboration the Center has with the Institute of Renewable Energy Policy at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy & Strategy in Herzliya, Israel.
CIERP has begun a two-year collaboration with Prof. Otto Doering and Prof. Ben Gramig of Purdue University on the economic damage costs of nitrogen pollution that is funded by the Packard Foundation.
This year promises to be an exciting one with the climate negotiations in Copenhagen, and ongoing energy and climate policy debates within the United States. The challenge of North-South differences in their approaches to developing a sustainable future provide many opportunities for Fletcher students and faculty to continue working on energy, climate, water, forests, fisheries and global governance issues.
William R. Moomaw
Professor of International Environmental Policy
CIERP Program Director