Inside ELAW: 2007 Annual Meeting
Attendees at the 2007 ELAW Annual Meeting in Yachats, Oregon.
"Seeing you again gives me renewed stength and hope to keep on fighting. I felt very much at home and very, very proud to be part of this wonderful ELAW family." — Annie Kajir, Papua New Guinea
2006 Goldman Prize Winner
The 15th Annual Meeting of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide was a tremendous success! Fifty public interest lawyers and scientists from 28 countries shared legal strategies, tapped scientific support, and collaborated to protect clean air, clean water, and healthy ecosystems. The meeting was held February 25 – March 1 in Yachats, Oregon.
Following the meeting, ELAW partner Raquel Gutierrez Najera received the 2007 Kerry Rydberg award for Achievement in Public Interest Environmental Activism. This award is given each year at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon.
Raquel has worked with ELAW for many years to protect Lake Chapala, which provides drinking water to most of Guadalajara`s five million inhabitants. Lake Chapala is the largest natural lake in Mexico and home to thousands of plant and animal species, including the migratory white pelican from central Canada.
Raquel founded the Instituto de Derecho Ambiental (IDEA -- Environmental Law Institute) in 1997 to help Mexican communities exercise their democratic rights and protect the environment through law. She is an environmental law professor at the University of Guadalajara and won Mexico`s Ecological Merit Award in 2001.
| HIGHLIGHTS |
| Protecting Coastal Waters: Our partners in Jamaica and Belize met for the first time and are pursuing a joint strategy to protect sensitive coastal waters from abusive dredging. |
| Replicating Victories: Our Kenyan partners announced a pioneering court decision that will help protect Kenya`s environment. Within 24 hours, a Canadian partner had included this decision in a petition to a Canadian court aimed at protecting homes from cell towers. |
| Collaborating Across Borders: Our new partners from China met a lawyer from Russia and began collaborating to address the damage caused after a large amount of toxins spilled into China`s Songhua River and flowed downstream into Russia. |
Thank You Externs
ELAW externs provide ELAW partners around the world with the support they need to win big, lasting victories for communities and the environment. Many thanks to Andrew Orahoske, Morgan Dethman, Sarah Peters, Amanda Freeman, Josh Kellermann and Rob Schwartz (from the University of Oregon School of Law), Tilah Larson (from Lewis and Clark Law School), and Michael McDonnell (from the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida).