Can our private and public lands sustain energy demands that level entire landscapes in the quest for coal or biofuels? Can fish and other species survive waters saturated with chemicals needed to provide abundant food, available whenever and wherever we want it? Does the automobile have a future beyond gridlock?
Crashed fisheries, lost species, contaminated water, toxic communities, looming impacts of global warming – despite decades of laws, regulations, and environmental education, we are failing in many ways and in many locations to ensure a safe, resilient, and nurturing environment. The President’s Commission on Sustainable Development found that environmental conflicts “increasingly are exceeding the capacity of institutions, processes, and mechanisms to resolve them ... What is usually missing from the process is a mechanism to enable the many stakeholders to work together to identify common goals, values, and areas of interest through vigorous and open public discussion.”
Leaders from all sectors – public, private, and nonprofit – need the ability to build consensus when faced with conflicting interests and difficult choices. Environmental decisions are generally better when developed by processes that are inclusive of diverse views, transparent and inviting to those such decisions affect, and responsive to participant needs. Such processes can shape behavior that builds relationships of integrity and trust and decisions that are creative, effective and legitimate. And communities can only be sustained ecologically, socially, and economically with informed, legitimated participation by citizens actively engaged in public life.
The Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy (ESP) and the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) have established a 15-credit Graduate Certificate in Environmental Conflict Resolution and Collaborationbeginning in August 2009. This program has been developed in collaboration with Dr. Frank Dukes of the Institute for Environmental Negotiation, University of Virginia, and in consultation with an informal advisory group of environmental leaders in the region.
Who will find this certificate useful?
- Businesses who confront environmental challenges and who engage multiple parties;
- Professional advocates who represent interests of private and public sectors;
- Land developers who face regulatory and community conflict;
- Scientists working on applied environmental issues;
- Regulatory staff for federal and state agencies;
- Citizens and local government officials seeking to build sustainable communities.
Individuals in this program will develop a capacity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of collaborative processes while learning about best practices for preventing, preparing for, and addressing environmental conflict. You will focus on the strategic thinking that is required for assessing and designing appropriate collaborative processes. You will learn how to conduct a situation assessment and use appropriate criteria for determining which processes are appropriate for which situations. Finally, you will apply the theory and skill-building of your course-work to real-life situations, drawn from issues you face in your own work or communities.