Research Reports

This report, co-produced with Resources for the Future, introduces for the first time a framework that can be used to plan for the types of activities and associated costs required to implement successfully institutional controls (ICs). Institutional controls are used at contaminated sites that are cleaned up to standards based on the assumption that they will be used in ways that will avoid exposing people to hazardous substances that remain in buried soils or groundwater.

This study seeks to analyze seven core areas of state wetland programs, including regulatory programs, water quality standards, monitoring and assessment programs, restoration projects and initiatives, public/private partnerships, education and outreach, and coordination with state and federal agencies. Twelve states are examined in Phase I of the study, which will eventually expand to cover all 50 states.

While nations and multinational corporations profit from mining operations around the world, local communities face the resulting negative impacts. Mining communities have begun to exercise their right to prior informed consent to mining operations, despite skepticism in the international community and business world. However, in December 2003, the World Bank's Extractive Industries Review endorsed prior informed consent for its projects and private projects.

This new report shows that federal judges’ political affiliation may be a decisive factor in determining the outcome of cases brought under the nation’s premier environmental law. The study of recent litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which governs a wide variety of federal agency actions that affect pollution control, natural resources, and public lands, reveals a wide division between appointees of Democratic and Republican presidents in rulings in these cases.

This handbook describes some of the many tools and approaches that Africans can use to promote public health, defend the natural and human environment, and protect human rights.