The Environmental Law Institute (ELI), based in Washington, DC and its partner Amigos Bravos, based in Taos, New Mexico, have drafted a new report titled Step-by-Step Guide to Integrating Community Input into Green Infrastructure Projects.
Its purpose is to help local governments integrate community input into their green infrastructure projects. The report sets out eight steps that local governments can take and, for each step, provides details and tips to help local governments as they move through the process.
About Environmental Law Institute.
Since 1969, ELI has played a pivotal role in shaping the fields of environmental law, policy, and management, domestically and abroad. We are an internationally recognized, non-partisan research and education center working to strengthen environmental protection by improving law and governance worldwide.
We deliver insightful and impartial analysis to opinion makers, including government officials, environmental and business leaders, academics, members of the environmental bar, and journalists. ELI is a clearinghouse and a town hall, providing common ground for debate on important environmental issues.
The Institute’s role takes many forms:
- Developing Law and Policy: From drafting landmark ocean management regulations for Antigua and Barbuda, to helping rebuild the legal framework for forestry in Liberia in the wake of a civil war fueled by conflict timber, we work with our partners to create practical, implementable laws and policies, learning from the experiences of others but tailored to the circumstances and needs of the local communities.
- Educating Professionals and the Public: Across the U.S. and the globe, we teach people about the law, procedures, their rights and strategies for change. We are training judges around the world on critical topics in domestic and international environmental law and informing communities dependent on the Gulf of Mexico on how to influence the restoration and recovery process. We educate thousands of environmental professionals each year in the United States, with the conviction that more skilled environmental professionals result in better environmental outcomes. The ultimate goal is to help people improve the implementation of environmental and natural resource law globally.
- Providing Objective Data and Analysis: We fill voids in collective understanding and inform the most critical environmental decisions of the day, from comparing U.S. Government subsidies to fossil and renewable fuels, to researching and describing a path for transatlantic cooperation on the regulation of nanotechnologies. In order to ensure a better-informed dialogue through common sources of good information, we also make collections of hard-to-find resources accessible to everyone involved in some of the most significant environmental challenges. We publish cutting-edge authors and their proposals to innovate for better environmental law and policy solutions.
- Convening Diverse Groups to Solve Problems: We put the right people in a room together with a clear objective, strong preparation, and quality facilitation. For example, we convene scientists and journalists to work through the challenges of reporting on climate change data and bring together state and local public health officials from across the country to identify solutions to indoor environmental quality problems. We convene professionals representing divergent perspectives on important policy questions to build bridges, foster common understanding, and explore areas of ultimate agreement.
The Institute is governed by a board of directors who represent a diverse mix of leaders within the environmental profession and others who support strengthening environmental law and policy. Support for the Institute comes from individuals, foundations, government, corporations, law firms, and other sources.
About Amigos Bravos.
Formed in 1988, Amigos Bravos is a statewide water conservation organization guided by social justice principles and dedicated to preserving and restoring the ecological and cultural integrity of New Mexico’s water and the communities that depend on it. While rooted in science and the law, our work is inspired by the values and traditional knowledge of New Mexico’s diverse Hispanic and Native American land-based populations, with whom we collaborate.
Our vision is of rivers so clear and clean we can bend to our knees, cup our hands, and drink directly from those waters without fear. This is the vision that was handed to us by Pueblo Indian and native Hispanic Elders at our first strategic planning session not long after our inception as an organization. That vision, which was a reality in northern New Mexico only one lifetime ago, requires the wisdom, knowledge, and participation of all New Mexicans in the effort to address social and political pressures poisoning our waters.
Amigos Bravos’ programs and activities are developed through a collaborative process with our Board of Directors, Staff, and an Advisory Council of 40 constituents. This strategic planning process assures that Amigos Bravos remains close to its diverse constituency of land-based local communities, Native American tribes, and urban enviros while linking those insights with expertise from a variety of professionals working on natural resources, legislative policy, science, health, and education, as well as with representatives from regional and national conservation organizations.
Since our first victory in 1990, which saved the Guadalupe Mountains from all future mining activities, Amigos Bravos has not faltered in our commitment to protect New Mexico’s precious waters and the communities that depend on them. Based in Taos, with a statewide mission, Amigos Bravos has grown into a well respected and nationally recognized river and water protection organization.
Our areas of expertise and accomplishment include: broadbased advocacy campaigns; community organizing; the creation of effective socio-economically and culturally diverse coalitions; successful legal, regulatory, and legislative campaigns at the local, state, and federal level; community water quality monitoring programs; and, ecosystem restoration initiatives.