Oil drilling in Ecuador has contaminated hundreds of square miles of Amazon rain forest. ELAW partner Pablo Fajardo is working to hold oil companies accountable for decades of polluting activities. ELAW helped Pablo document the compensation Chevron has paid to communities impacted by far less egregious contamination by Chevron in the U.S.

In 2007, Pablo was named a CNN Hero. This award was given to “ordinary people who have accomplished extraordinary deeds around the world.”

Pablo grew up in poverty and worked for many years as a laborer in forests and oil fields. He completed his secondary education in night school and earned his law degree via a correspondence course. His first case is the massive suit against Chevron.

Pablo embodies the spirit of hundreds of ELAW partners around the world. We are inspired by Pablo’s commitment to justice for disadvantaged communities in Ecuador.

Protecting the Environment ThroughLaw Across Borders

SPRING 2008

Protecting PatagoniaNonprofitOrganizationU.S. PostageP a i dEugene, OregonPermit No. 686

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“Our work in Ecuador is an example of the good things that can happen when thousands of people, most without money or power, can come together in a common effort to better themselves and the planet.”

Pablo Fajardo accepting the CNN Hero Award

ENVIRONMENTAL HERO Pablo Fajardo

I N T H I S I S S U E :

Papua New Guinea: Protecting Indigenous Communities (pg. 2)

Dominica:

“Nature Island” Under Threat(pg. 3)

Protecting the Mesoamerican Reef(pgs. 4-5)

Reaching Out to Asia(pg. 6)

Protecting Russia’s Environment(pg. 7)

Renewable energy policy could save wild rivers

Chile is facing an energy crisis, but is damming wild rivers the solution?

ELAW is working to protect the heart of Patagonia from a company’s plans to dam the Baker, Pascua and El Salto rivers for a hydroelectric scheme. The proposed $2.5 billion HidroAysén project would flood 22,000 acres and require the world’s longest transmission line – crossing national parks, wildlife protected areas and forest reserves.

ELAW is working to ensure that laws facilitate investment in truly renewable sources of electricity, so Chileans recognize that they do not need environmentally destructive big dams in Patagonia.

ELAW has teamed up with lawyers at Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) in Santiago to protect Patagonia’s wild rivers by strengthening Chilean law to encourage more generation of electricity from renewable sources. Andres Pirazzoli is developing FIMA`s renewable energy program. He traveled to Eugene in February to work one-on-one with ELAW Staff Attorney Jennifer Gleason. Jen teaches energy law at the University of Oregon School of Law and helps grassroots lawyers around the world promote renewable energy.

Renewable Energy for Chile

FIMA is working with Chile Sustentable to develop laws that would promote renewables as part of Chile’s energy strategy. Jen has been working with lawyers from the U.K.-based Climate Justice Programme and the World Future Council (WFC) to analyze laws and polices that create renewable energy “feed-in tariff” (FIT) programs around the world. These programs encourage the generation of electricity from qualified renewable sources by guaranteeing generators that they will be able to sell electricity to the grid for a set price for a set period of time. A strong feed-in program, such as the one adopted in Germany, may be the best way to encourage sustainable energy generation in Chile.

FIMA is working with Chile Sustentable on a law reform effort to make Chile’s voluntary quota system mandatory. Next, the organizations want to consider a new law to address climate change that

A strong feed-in program, such as the one adopted in Germany, may be the best way to encourage sustainable

energy generation in Chile.

Andres Pirazzoli visits Torres del Paine National Park.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

Pablo Fajardo (right) with a villager from Secoya.

would include a feed-in program. Jen and Andres will work together to develop a feed-in program that will compliment Chile’s renewable portfolio standard and help Chile reach its renewable goals more quickly.

Jen gained valuable insight from dozens of experts who are promoting and implementing FITs at a March workshop in Washington, D.C. sponsored by WFC, Worldwatch Institute, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Also in March, Jen joined WFC’s Dan Bristow on a panel presentation at the University of Oregon’s Public Interest Environmental Law Conference: “Solving the Energy Crisis: Are we making the right policy decisions?”

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the first stage of the HidroAysén project is scheduled to be released for public review in early 2008. ELAW scientists will review the EIA and help its partners in Chile assess the project’s pitfalls and propose sustainable alternatives. In preparation for this, ELAW has provided its partners with information about common flaws in EIAs for hydroelectric dams. ELAW has reviewed more than a dozen EIAs for proposed hydroelectric projects around the world. ELAW partners are using these reviews to help communities make their voices heard and challenge ill-advised dams.

2

SPRING 2008 LAW advocateELAW U.S. Staff

Bern JohnsonExecutive Director

Lori MaddoxAssociate Director

Maggie KeenanCommunications Director

Steve BarnesDirector of Philanthropy

Jennifer GleasonStaff Attorney

Liz MitchellStaff Attorney

Chris Woldof Counsel

Mark ChernaikStaff Scientist

Meche LuEnvironmental Research Scientist

Glenn GillisInformation Technology Manager

Kalindi Devi-DasiOffice Manager

ELAW U.S. Board

Penelope Pierce, Chair

Mike Axline

John Bonine

Mary Lou Church

Roger Galka

Maisie Grace

David Hunter

Glenn Miller

Scott Pope

Amy Solomon

The Environmental LawAlliance Worldwide (ELAW) is a network that facilitates the development and practice of public interest environmental law throughout the world. The network of ELAW advocates exchanges legal, scientific and technical information, ideas, precedents, and strategies across national boundaries in support of grassroots, public interest environmental law.

EDITOR: MAGGIE KEENAN

NEWSLETTER PRODUCTION: ARIES CREATIVE

PRINTED BY CLANCEY PRINTING CO. USING SOY BASED INKS ON UNBLEACHED 100% POST-CONSUMER RECYCLED PAPER

Protecting Indigenous Communities on Woodlark Island

7

SPRING 2008 LAW advocate

Patagonia (continued)

“For the first time, the government has put people before profits!

Thank you for assisting us with the information requested. A lot of

people worked behind-the-scenes on this issue and the information you

provided was powerful!”

Protecting Russia’s Environment Through Law

IndiaExposing Fraud in Bauxite Mining Plan

In theory, EIAs are supposed to help communities make good decisions about the environment. But that theory breaks down when an EIA is fraudulent.

A multinational mining company received a 74-year lease to mine bauxite in Maharashtra, India, based on an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prepared for a mining project in Russia!

ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik uncovered the fraud.The Mint, a national newspaper in India partnered with The Wall

Street Journal, quotes Mark:“Unless, by some amazing coincidence, mineralization in the

Barja River in India and the Vorykva River in Russia both peak at 452.95mg/liter during the summer months, then the water quality information in the Indian EIA for the Ashapura project in Ratnagiri is fraudulent.”

ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta called on Mark to review the EIA for the Ashapura project. Ritwick is working to protect communities and local waterways from polluting mining projects. He helped found Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment in New Delhi, and traveled to Oregon to participate in the 2007 ELAW Annual Meeting.

Effrey DademoPNG Eco-forestry Forum

“Mark did an excellent critique.”Ritwick Dutta

The Baker River would be dammed in the proposed hydroelectric scheme.

Andres Pirazzoli and Jennifer Gleason discuss Chile’s energy crisis on KLCC-FM’s “Northwest Passage.”

“There are very few lawyers in Russia who dedicate themselves to practicing environmental law. ELAW provides a vital connection to my colleagues around the world,” says Irina Bogdan.

Irina is Director of the Environmental Law Center at Ecodal, a non-government organization in Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East. She concluded a 10-week ELAW Fellowship in March, working with ELAW staff on efforts to protect Russia’s native

forests and studying English at the University of Oregon’s American English Institute.

Over the past two years, Russia’s laws protecting forests have weakened. Developers seeking to cut Russia’s forests no longer need to submit an environmental impact review.

While at ELAW, Irina learned that U.S. laws protecting forests are also being challenged. She

worked closely with ELAW staff and forest experts Doug Heiken at Oregon Wild, Dan Kruse at Cascadia Wildlands Project and Todd True at Earthjustice. She attended federal court hearings of cases similar to those found in Russian courts and met with Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson to learn about the economic issues surrounding forest protection in Oregon.

Irina’s organization has filed 40 cases to help strengthen Russia’s forest laws and hold government agencies accountable.

“ELAW builds relationships and fosters collaboration. Working together we can make land management more responsible,” she says.

Many thanks to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for supporting Irina’s Fellowship.

ELAW FellowIrina Bogdan

Papua New GuineaA Malaysian company proposed a 60,000 hectare

oil palm estate for the tiny tropical island of Woodlark, 130 miles off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The project includes a $300 million plant to convert palm oil into bio-diesel for international markets. ELAW partners at the PNG Eco-forestry Forum are working with local landowners who actively oppose the project.

ELAW provided its partners with information about the hazardous emissions and wastewater discharges from palm oil plants. After the PNG government learned of these and other concerns, they shelved the proposal.

In a statement to the media, the Minister for Agriculture said, “…the government will respect the wishes of the local landowners and will not go ahead with a project that the landowners do not want.”

PHOTO: www.galenfrysinger.com

6

SPRING 2008

Strengthening the rule of law in Asia

3

SPRING 2008 LAW advocate

Protecting “Nature Island” from a Polluting Oil Refinery

Some say Dominica is the only Caribbean island that Christopher Columbus would recognize if he returned today. A project proposed by Venezuela’s President Chavez to build an oil refinery in Dominica would shock Columbus.

President Chavez provides a range of assistance programs to Dominicans and wields enormous influence. Citizens fear that this influence will move the Dominican government to accept the short-term gains of a long-term environmentally devastating oil refinery project.

The oil refinery project was first announced by the governments of Dominica and Venezuela in early 2007, but no detailed information about the project or its potential environmental impacts was ever disclosed to the public. Citizens were concerned that a deal to construct the refinery would be made without any public participation in the decision and without considering the potential harm to Dominica’s incredible biodiversity and fledgling ecotourism businesses.

In January 2008, after the government of Dominica declared that it was giving a “green light” to the oil refinery project, Dominica’s Waitukubuli Environmental Foundation (WEF) requested help challenging the project.

ELAW advised WEF on filing public information requests and shortly thereafter, WEF submitted a request to the Dominican government demanding that it disclose any environmental studies and reports supporting the government’s decision to approve the project.

The information request had a positive effect and likely confirmed what citizens had thought all along to be true -- that the government had not completed any environmental impact assessment or studies.

In February, ELAW received good news from Bernard Wiltshire, attorney and President of WEF.

Bernard wrote: “The Prime Minister sent for WEF on Friday, 1st

February, to tell us that Government has decided to put the refinery project on hold.” Reaching out to communities in Dominca and St. Lucia

ELAW helps partners around the world host community workshops to empower citizens to play a role in decisions that impact their lives. ELAW Executive Director Bern Johnson, ELAW Staff Attorney Liz Mitchell, and ELAW partners at the Jamaica Environment Trust traveled to Dominica and St. Lucia in November 2007 to co-host community workshops.

Bern says: “People living in these islands are committed to protecting them. Working with local lawyers, we help citizens speak with a strong voice.”

In Dominica, citizens voiced concerns about Chavez’s oil project and the adverse impacts of a proposed airport expansion project on water quality and coral reefs. In St. Lucia, citizens are worried about the recent lifting of a ban on sea turtle harvesting. In both Dominica and St. Lucia, community members want access to justice and stronger community participation in decisions that impact the natural environment.

ELAW thanks the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for supporting its work protecting the biodiversity of Caribbean island nations through law.

Dominica

Lawmakers and citizens are looking to Central Europe for new models to strengthen democracy in transitional countries. Over the past year, ELAW partner Pavol Zilincik traveled to Mongolia, China, India, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia to share his expertise building access to justice in Slovakia. Pavol founded Via Iuris, Slovakia’s leading public interest environmental law organization.

Slovakia (pop. 5 million) was part of Czechoslovakia in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe until 1989 when the authoritarian regime collapsed. “It is only since that time that we can talk about effective protection of human and civil rights,” says Pavol. In 1993, the Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully and since 2004 they have met as members of the European Union.

ELAW helped Pavol connect with grassroots advocates in China and Laos who are at the forefront of efforts in those countries to strengthen the rule of law.

Pavol writes:“Authoritarian regimes have unique systems with

no feedback mechanisms. As channels for government feedback are closed, institutions and society degenerate. That is why in post-Communist countries, human rights litigation and advocacy are critical tools for citizens to provide feedback to government.

In my presentations across Asia, I focused on Slovakia’s transition to democracy and how civil society contributes to this positive development through access to information, access to justice, freedom of speech and public participation. I gave examples of Slovakia’s practical achievements in protecting forests, resolving land conflicts, and addressing issues involving dams, the forced displacement of villagers, and waste dumps.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “ First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Gandhi’s words have inspired the successful campaigns of many civil society groups throughout Europe.”

Vientiane at sunset.

Left to right: Bernard Wiltshire (Dominica), Liz Mitchell (ELAW), Diana McCaulay (Jamaica), Danielle Andrade (Jamaica), and Bern Johnson (ELAW)

Sharing lessons from Slovakia

ELAW FellowEva Kovacechova

A waste dump in Pezinok, Slovakia, is dangerously close to residential areas. Citizens are challenging

this and new plans by an investor to build an even larger, regional landfill in this small western Slovak town.

Eva traveled to Eugene for an ELAW Fellowship, to work on this and other problems facing communities in Slovakia. Experts say landfills should be no closer than

3 kilometers from residential areas. The Pezinok dump is 150 meters from the closest home and 300 meters from the city center. The new dump will be just 250 meters from local homes.

ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik provided Eva with information on the impact of landfills on human health and best practices for landfill waste management. Eva also learned how other countries around the world use the Environmental Impact Assessment process to ensure that communities have a voice in decisions that impact community health.

While in Eugene, Eva received good news: the Bratislava regional land use agency announced it has prohibited construction or use of the new landfill while the matter is pending. Many thanks to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for supporting Eva’s visit.

Palo Zilincik speaks at Lao National University’s Law Faculty in Vientiane.

ELAW Executive Director, Bern Johnson, is interviewed for a Dominican radio station.

As a longtime supporter of ELAW, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what ELAW does,

but the trip to Honduras turned out to be inspiring and eye-opening.

Continental provides special training for pilots landing in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. As expected, the landing was thrilling. Lori and I emerged, and were greeted with hugs from ELAW partner Clarisa Vega, a passionate, articulate Honduran attorney.

Rutted roads, horns blaring, young men in uniforms with guns guarding stores, motorcycles blasting in between cars, bougainvillea and bright yellow birds. Our minibus with courteous driver winds its way through impossibly narrow streets, missing collisions at every turn. McDonalds and Dunkin’ Doughnuts are everywhere. Weather is steamy, with low clouds hanging over mountains that ring the city.

Lori and I joined five attorneys: Clarisa (Honduras), Jeanette (Guatemala), Candy and Rondine (Belize) and Patricio (Mexico). Over the next four days we would spend ten to 12 hours a

day with each other. We would meet with five different government officials, have multiple television and radio interviews, and make presentations to Honduran lawyers about the important role that lawyers all over the world play in enforcing environmental laws.

Our meetings with ministers and agency heads have been fascinating. The contrast is stunning. Nothing

demonstrates it better than their offices and private bathrooms. The Minister of Tourism has a lovely office. Her bathroom has running water and toilet paper. The minister of the agency that reviews permits for development is housed in a crumbling building. Her bathroom is falling apart.

We would learn some discouraging facts. Roatán, a sleepy island just two years ago, is under tremendous pressure from developers. This is Honduras’s closest point to the Mesoamerican Reef. The government is under-staffed and environmental assessments of proposed projects are not checked carefully. During our meeting with the permitting agency we learned that there are only five government employees who review development permits for all of Honduras.

When Lori and I traveled to Roatán my fears were confirmed. Everywhere you look, land is for sale. The construction practices are haphazard, with fill being dumped in the ocean near the Reef. Reefs that are accessible from shore, such as in Roatán, are no longer pristine. We saw evidence of damage, from bleaching to broken corals. There are signs warning tourists not to damage the coral, but hordes of cruise ship visitors (and plans for increased cruise ship traffic) means the Reef is under severe pressure.

After our presentation at the Honduran Bar Association, we joined participants for lunch. I was peppered with questions and received many warm hugs. Several government attorneys and prosecutors thanked me for supporting them in their work, and for offering new concrete ideas. I know from my own experience as a former government attorney in environmental enforcement how important it can be to get that kind of support.

The Mesoamerican Reef is one of the world’s great treasures of marine biodiversity. My visit to Honduras and seeing the Reef firsthand has left a haunting impression and a determination to protect this treasure.

4

SPRING 2008 LAW advocate

Habitat Under Pressure

5

SPRING 2008 LAW advocate

The Mesoamerican Reef

ELAW Impact

Cheryl Coon has served as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Conservation, U.S. Virgin Islands; Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the House Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Science, Technology and Space; Legal Counsel to the Ocean Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee; and Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Natural Resources Section, Oregon. She holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and an L.L.M. in Marine Law from the University of Washington School of Law. She is now collaborating on efforts to establish marine reserves in Oregon.

Alejandra Sobenes Garcia, founder of the Environmental Law and Sustainable Development Institute (IDEADS) of

Guatemala and long-time ELAW partner, has been named Vice

Minister for Natural Resources in Guatemala. Alejandra pioneered public interest environmental law in Guatemala in the early 1990s and built a coalition of advocates throughout Central America. She has been

a professor of environmental law and is a strong advocate for

Guatemala’s spectacular natural resources. We wish her the very best in

her new position!

Rondine Twist and Candy Gonzalez (Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy), Lori Maddox (ELAW), Jeanette de Noack (Guatemala’s Center for Environmental, Legal & Social Action), Cheryl Coon and Clarisa Vega (Environmental Law Institute of Honduras).

ELAW Associate Director Lori Maddox traveled to Honduras in February to help ELAW partners in the region protect the Mesoamerican Reef. Cheryl Coon, an environmental attorney and longtime ELAW supporter, joined her.

The Mesoamerican Reef extends more than 400 miles from the tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to Belize, Guatemala, and the Bay Islands off Honduras. The governments of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras have agreed to protect the Reef and its tremendous biodiversity. ELAW is working with grassroots attorneys in these four countries to strengthen and enforce laws that protect the Reef and coastal watersheds.

Honduras

El Salvador

Belize

Mesoamerican ReefMexico

Guatemala

Cheryl provided a Trip Report and agreed to share excerpts from her diary.

Patricio Martin runs the Cancun office of Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental.

The ELAW Mesoamerican Legal Strategy Group works to protect marine life and coastal watersheds connected to the Mesoamerican Reef. The Group’s recent gains include:

• Winning a court order sending a bad mining law in Honduras back to the legislative drawing board;

• Protecting Guatemalan citizens’ right to participate in decisions about proposed developments;

• Advocating for indigenous peoples’ before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;

• Negotiating a settlement that will bring ecologically-sound forest management to a Honduran watershed;

• Helping citizens file ten complaints against poorly-planned developments on Utila and Guanaja, in the Bay Islands;

• Filing suit against the Department of Environment in Belize for failing to follow its own Environmental Compliance Plan;

• Forging an alliance between government agencies and NGOs to work toward comprehensive ocean-coastal zone planning in Guatemala;

• Investigating the disbursement of funds intended for coastal Garifuna tourism development that never reach Garifuna hands in Honduras;

• Filing a court challenge against an illegal natural gas terminal in Tela Bay; and

• Promoting watershed-based conservation strategies throughout the region.

As a longtime supporter of ELAW, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what ELAW does,

but the trip to Honduras turned out to be inspiring and eye-opening.

Continental provides special training for pilots landing in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. As expected, the landing was thrilling. Lori and I emerged, and were greeted with hugs from ELAW partner Clarisa Vega, a passionate, articulate Honduran attorney.

Rutted roads, horns blaring, young men in uniforms with guns guarding stores, motorcycles blasting in between cars, bougainvillea and bright yellow birds. Our minibus with courteous driver winds its way through impossibly narrow streets, missing collisions at every turn. McDonalds and Dunkin’ Doughnuts are everywhere. Weather is steamy, with low clouds hanging over mountains that ring the city.

Lori and I joined five attorneys: Clarisa (Honduras), Jeanette (Guatemala), Candy and Rondine (Belize) and Patricio (Mexico). Over the next four days we would spend ten to 12 hours a

day with each other. We would meet with five different government officials, have multiple television and radio interviews, and make presentations to Honduran lawyers about the important role that lawyers all over the world play in enforcing environmental laws.

Our meetings with ministers and agency heads have been fascinating. The contrast is stunning. Nothing

demonstrates it better than their offices and private bathrooms. The Minister of Tourism has a lovely office. Her bathroom has running water and toilet paper. The minister of the agency that reviews permits for development is housed in a crumbling building. Her bathroom is falling apart.

We would learn some discouraging facts. Roatán, a sleepy island just two years ago, is under tremendous pressure from developers. This is Honduras’s closest point to the Mesoamerican Reef. The government is under-staffed and environmental assessments of proposed projects are not checked carefully. During our meeting with the permitting agency we learned that there are only five government employees who review development permits for all of Honduras.

When Lori and I traveled to Roatán my fears were confirmed. Everywhere you look, land is for sale. The construction practices are haphazard, with fill being dumped in the ocean near the Reef. Reefs that are accessible from shore, such as in Roatán, are no longer pristine. We saw evidence of damage, from bleaching to broken corals. There are signs warning tourists not to damage the coral, but hordes of cruise ship visitors (and plans for increased cruise ship traffic) means the Reef is under severe pressure.

After our presentation at the Honduran Bar Association, we joined participants for lunch. I was peppered with questions and received many warm hugs. Several government attorneys and prosecutors thanked me for supporting them in their work, and for offering new concrete ideas. I know from my own experience as a former government attorney in environmental enforcement how important it can be to get that kind of support.

The Mesoamerican Reef is one of the world’s great treasures of marine biodiversity. My visit to Honduras and seeing the Reef firsthand has left a haunting impression and a determination to protect this treasure.

4

SPRING 2008 LAW advocate

Habitat Under Pressure

5

SPRING 2008 LAW advocate

The Mesoamerican Reef

ELAW Impact

Cheryl Coon has served as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Conservation, U.S. Virgin Islands; Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the House Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Science, Technology and Space; Legal Counsel to the Ocean Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee; and Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Natural Resources Section, Oregon. She holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and an L.L.M. in Marine Law from the University of Washington School of Law. She is now collaborating on efforts to establish marine reserves in Oregon.

Alejandra Sobenes Garcia, founder of the Environmental Law and Sustainable Development Institute (IDEADS) of

Guatemala and long-time ELAW partner, has been named Vice

Minister for Natural Resources in Guatemala. Alejandra pioneered public interest environmental law in Guatemala in the early 1990s and built a coalition of advocates throughout Central America. She has been

a professor of environmental law and is a strong advocate for

Guatemala’s spectacular natural resources. We wish her the very best in

her new position!

Rondine Twist and Candy Gonzalez (Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy), Lori Maddox (ELAW), Jeanette de Noack (Guatemala’s Center for Environmental, Legal & Social Action), Cheryl Coon and Clarisa Vega (Environmental Law Institute of Honduras).

ELAW Associate Director Lori Maddox traveled to Honduras in February to help ELAW partners in the region protect the Mesoamerican Reef. Cheryl Coon, an environmental attorney and longtime ELAW supporter, joined her.

The Mesoamerican Reef extends more than 400 miles from the tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to Belize, Guatemala, and the Bay Islands off Honduras. The governments of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras have agreed to protect the Reef and its tremendous biodiversity. ELAW is working with grassroots attorneys in these four countries to strengthen and enforce laws that protect the Reef and coastal watersheds.

Honduras

El Salvador

Belize

Mesoamerican ReefMexico

Guatemala

Cheryl provided a Trip Report and agreed to share excerpts from her diary.

Patricio Martin runs the Cancun office of Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental.

The ELAW Mesoamerican Legal Strategy Group works to protect marine life and coastal watersheds connected to the Mesoamerican Reef. The Group’s recent gains include:

• Winning a court order sending a bad mining law in Honduras back to the legislative drawing board;

• Protecting Guatemalan citizens’ right to participate in decisions about proposed developments;

• Advocating for indigenous peoples before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;

• Negotiating a settlement that will bring ecologically-sound forest management to a Honduran watershed;

• Helping citizens file ten complaints against poorly-planned developments on Utila and Guanaja, in the Bay Islands;

• Filing suit against the Department of Environment in Belize for failing to follow its own Environmental Compliance Plan;

• Forging an alliance between government agencies and NGOs to work toward comprehensive ocean-coastal zone planning in Guatemala;

• Investigating the disbursement of funds intended for coastal Garifuna tourism development that never reach Garifuna hands in Honduras;

• Filing a court challenge against an illegal natural gas terminal in Tela Bay; and

• Promoting watershed-based conservation strategies throughout the region.

6

SPRING 2008

Strengthening the rule of law in Asia

3

SPRING 2008 LAW advocate

Protecting “Nature Island” from a Polluting Oil Refinery

Some say Dominica is the only Caribbean island that Christopher Columbus would recognize if he returned today. A project proposed by Venezuela’s President Chavez to build an oil refinery in Dominica would shock Columbus.

President Chavez provides a range of assistance programs to Dominicans and wields enormous influence. Citizens fear that this influence will move the Dominican government to accept the short-term gains of a long-term environmentally devastating oil refinery project.

The oil refinery project was first announced by the governments of Dominica and Venezuela in early 2007, but no detailed information about the project or its potential environmental impacts was ever disclosed to the public. Citizens were concerned that a deal to construct the refinery would be made without any public participation in the decision and without considering the potential harm to Dominica’s incredible biodiversity and fledgling ecotourism businesses.

In January 2008, after the government of Dominica declared that it was giving a “green light” to the oil refinery project, Dominica’s Waitukubuli Environmental Foundation (WEF) requested help challenging the project.

ELAW advised WEF on filing public information requests and shortly thereafter, WEF submitted a request to the Dominican government demanding that it disclose any environmental studies and reports supporting the government’s decision to approve the project.

The information request had a positive effect and likely confirmed what citizens had thought all along to be true -- that the government had not completed any environmental impact assessment or studies.

In February, ELAW received good news from Bernard Wiltshire, attorney and President of WEF.

Bernard wrote: “The Prime Minister sent for WEF on Friday, 1st

February, to tell us that Government has decided to put the refinery project on hold.” Reaching out to communities in Dominca and St. Lucia

ELAW helps partners around the world host community workshops to empower citizens to play a role in decisions that impact their lives. ELAW Executive Director Bern Johnson, ELAW Staff Attorney Liz Mitchell, and ELAW partners at the Jamaica Environment Trust traveled to Dominica and St. Lucia in November 2007 to co-host community workshops.

Bern says: “People living in these islands are committed to protecting them. Working with local lawyers, we help citizens speak with a strong voice.”

In Dominica, citizens voiced concerns about Chavez’s oil project and the adverse impacts of a proposed airport expansion project on water quality and coral reefs. In St. Lucia, citizens are worried about the recent lifting of a ban on sea turtle harvesting. In both Dominica and St. Lucia, community members want access to justice and stronger community participation in decisions that impact the natural environment.

ELAW thanks the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for supporting its work protecting the biodiversity of Caribbean island nations through law.

Dominica

Lawmakers and citizens are looking to Central Europe for new models to strengthen democracy in transitional countries. Over the past year, ELAW partner Pavol Zilincik traveled to Mongolia, China, India, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia to share his expertise building access to justice in Slovakia. Pavol founded Via Iuris, Slovakia’s leading public interest environmental law organization.

Slovakia (pop. 5 million) was part of Czechoslovakia in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe until 1989 when the authoritarian regime collapsed. “It is only since that time that we can talk about effective protection of human and civil rights,” says Pavol. In 1993, the Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully and since 2004 they have met as members of the European Union.

ELAW helped Pavol connect with grassroots advocates in China and Laos who are at the forefront of efforts in those countries to strengthen the rule of law.

Pavol writes:“Authoritarian regimes have unique systems with

no feedback mechanisms. As channels for government feedback are closed, institutions and society degenerate. That is why in post-Communist countries, human rights litigation and advocacy are critical tools for citizens to provide feedback to government.

In my presentations across Asia, I focused on Slovakia’s transition to democracy and how civil society contributes to this positive development through access to information, access to justice, freedom of speech and public participation. I gave examples of Slovakia’s practical achievements in protecting forests, resolving land conflicts, and addressing issues involving dams, the forced displacement of villagers, and waste dumps.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “ First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Gandhi’s words have inspired the successful campaigns of many civil society groups throughout Europe.”

Vientiane at sunset.

Left to right: Bernard Wiltshire (Dominica), Liz Mitchell (ELAW), Diana McCaulay (Jamaica), Danielle Andrade (Jamaica), and Bern Johnson (ELAW)

Sharing lessons from Slovakia

ELAW FellowEva Kovacechova

A waste dump in Pezinok, Slovakia, is dangerously close to residential areas. Citizens are challenging

this and new plans by an investor to build an even larger, regional landfill in this small western Slovak town.

Eva traveled to Eugene for an ELAW Fellowship, to work on this and other problems facing communities in Slovakia. Experts say landfills should be no closer than

3 kilometers from residential areas. The Pezinok dump is 150 meters from the closest home and 300 meters from the city center. The new dump will be just 250 meters from local homes.

ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik provided Eva with information on the impact of landfills on human health and best practices for landfill waste management. Eva also learned how other countries around the world use the Environmental Impact Assessment process to ensure that communities have a voice in decisions that impact community health.

While in Eugene, Eva received good news: the Bratislava regional land use agency announced it has prohibited construction or use of the new landfill while the matter is pending. Many thanks to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for supporting Eva’s visit.

Palo Zilincik speaks at Lao National University’s Law Faculty in Vientiane.

ELAW Executive Director, Bern Johnson, is interviewed for a Dominican radio station.

would include a feed-in program. Jen and Andres will work together to develop a feed-in program that will compliment Chile’s renewable portfolio standard and help Chile reach its renewable goals more quickly.

Jen gained valuable insight from dozens of experts who are promoting and implementing FITs at a March workshop in Washington, D.C. sponsored by WFC, Worldwatch Institute, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Also in March, Jen joined WFC’s Dan Bristow on a panel presentation at the University of Oregon’s Public Interest Environmental Law Conference: “Solving the Energy Crisis: Are we making the right policy decisions?”

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the first stage of the HidroAysén project is scheduled to be released for public review in early 2008. ELAW scientists will review the EIA and help its partners in Chile assess the project’s pitfalls and propose sustainable alternatives. In preparation for this, ELAW has provided its partners with information about common flaws in EIAs for hydroelectric dams. ELAW has reviewed more than a dozen EIAs for proposed hydroelectric projects around the world. ELAW partners are using these reviews to help communities make their voices heard and challenge ill-advised dams.

2

SPRING 2008 LAW advocateELAW U.S. Staff

Bern JohnsonExecutive Director

Lori MaddoxAssociate Director

Maggie KeenanCommunications Director

Steve BarnesDirector of Philanthropy

Jennifer GleasonStaff Attorney

Liz MitchellStaff Attorney

Chris Woldof Counsel

Mark ChernaikStaff Scientist

Meche LuEnvironmental Research Scientist

Glenn GillisInformation Technology Manager

Kalindi Devi-DasiOffice Manager

ELAW U.S. Board

Penelope Pierce, Chair

Mike Axline

John Bonine

Mary Lou Church

Roger Galka

Maisie Grace

David Hunter

Glenn Miller

Scott Pope

Amy Solomon

The Environmental LawAlliance Worldwide (ELAW) is a network that facilitates the development and practice of public interest environmental law throughout the world. The network of ELAW advocates exchanges legal, scientific and technical information, ideas, precedents, and strategies across national boundaries in support of grassroots, public interest environmental law.

EDITOR: MAGGIE KEENAN

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Protecting Indigenous Communities on Woodlark Island

7

SPRING 2008 LAW advocate

Patagonia (continued)

“For the first time, the government has put people before profits!

Thank you for assisting us with the information requested. A lot of

people worked behind-the-scenes on this issue and the information you

provided was powerful!”

Protecting Russia’s Environment Through Law

IndiaExposing Fraud in Bauxite Mining Plan

In theory, EIAs are supposed to help communities make good decisions about the environment. But that theory breaks down when an EIA is fraudulent.

A multinational mining company received a 74-year lease to mine bauxite in Maharashtra, India, based on an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prepared for a mining project in Russia!

ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik uncovered the fraud.The Mint, a national newspaper in India partnered with The Wall

Street Journal, quotes Mark:“Unless, by some amazing coincidence, mineralization in the

Barja River in India and the Vorykva River in Russia both peak at 452.95mg/liter during the summer months, then the water quality information in the Indian EIA for the Ashapura project in Ratnagiri is fraudulent.”

ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta called on Mark to review the EIA for the Ashapura project. Ritwick is working to protect communities and local waterways from polluting mining projects. He helped found Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment in New Delhi, and traveled to Oregon to participate in the 2007 ELAW Annual Meeting.

Effrey DademoPNG Eco-forestry Forum

“Mark did an excellent critique.”Ritwick Dutta

The Baker River would be dammed in the proposed hydroelectric scheme.

Andres Pirazzoli and Jennifer Gleason discuss Chile’s energy crisis on KLCC-FM’s “Northwest Passage.”

“There are very few lawyers in Russia who dedicate themselves to practicing environmental law. ELAW provides a vital connection to my colleagues around the world,” says Irina Bogdan.

Irina is Director of the Environmental Law Center at Ecodal, a non-government organization in Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East. She concluded a 10-week ELAW Fellowship in March, working with ELAW staff on efforts to protect Russia’s native

forests and studying English at the University of Oregon’s American English Institute.

Over the past two years, Russia’s laws protecting forests have weakened. Developers seeking to cut Russia’s forests no longer need to submit an environmental impact review.

While at ELAW, Irina learned that U.S. laws protecting forests are also being challenged. She

worked closely with ELAW staff and forest experts Doug Heiken at Oregon Wild, Dan Kruse at Cascadia Wildlands Project and Todd True at Earthjustice. She attended federal court hearings of cases similar to those found in Russian courts and met with Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson to learn about the economic issues surrounding forest protection in Oregon.

Irina’s organization has filed 40 cases to help strengthen Russia’s forest laws and hold government agencies accountable.

“ELAW builds relationships and fosters collaboration. Working together we can make land management more responsible,” she says.

Many thanks to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for supporting Irina’s Fellowship.

ELAW FellowIrina Bogdan

Papua New GuineaA Malaysian company proposed a 60,000 hectare

oil palm estate for the tiny tropical island of Woodlark, 130 miles off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The project includes a $300 million plant to convert palm oil into bio-diesel for international markets. ELAW partners at the PNG Eco-forestry Forum are working with local landowners who actively oppose the project.

ELAW provided its partners with information about the hazardous emissions and wastewater discharges from palm oil plants. After the PNG government learned of these and other concerns, they shelved the proposal.

In a statement to the media, the Minister for Agriculture said, “…the government will respect the wishes of the local landowners and will not go ahead with a project that the landowners do not want.”

PHOTO: www.galenfrysinger.com

Oil drilling in Ecuador has contaminated hundreds of square miles of Amazon rain forest. ELAW partner Pablo Fajardo is working to hold oil companies accountable for decades of polluting activities. ELAW helped Pablo document the compensation Chevron has paid to communities impacted by far less egregious contamination by Chevron in the U.S.

In 2007, Pablo was named a CNN Hero. This award was given to “ordinary people who have accomplished extraordinary deeds around the world.”

Pablo grew up in poverty and worked for many years as a laborer in forests and oil fields. He completed his secondary education in night school and earned his law degree via a correspondence course. His first case is the massive suit against Chevron.

Pablo embodies the spirit of hundreds of ELAW partners around the world. We are inspired by Pablo’s commitment to justice for disadvantaged communities in Ecuador.

Protecting the Environment ThroughLaw Across Borders

SPRING 2008

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“Our work in Ecuador is an example of the good things that can happen when thousands of people, most without money or power, can come together in a common effort to better themselves and the planet.”

Pablo Fajardo accepting the CNN Hero Award

ENVIRONMENTAL HERO Pablo Fajardo

I N T H I S I S S U E :

Papua New Guinea: Protecting Indigenous Communities (pg. 2)

Dominica:

“Nature Island” Under Threat(pg. 3)

Protecting the Mesoamerican Reef(pgs. 4-5)

Reaching Out to Asia(pg. 6)

Protecting Russia’s Environment(pg. 7)

Renewable energy policy could save wild rivers

Chile is facing an energy crisis, but is damming wild rivers the solution?

ELAW is working to protect the heart of Patagonia from a company’s plans to dam the Baker, Pascua and El Salto rivers for a hydroelectric scheme. The proposed $2.5 billion HidroAysén project would flood 22,000 acres and require the world’s longest transmission line – crossing national parks, wildlife protected areas and forest reserves.

ELAW is working to ensure that laws facilitate investment in truly renewable sources of electricity, so Chileans recognize that they do not need environmentally destructive big dams in Patagonia.

ELAW has teamed up with lawyers at Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) in Santiago to protect Patagonia’s wild rivers by strengthening Chilean law to encourage more generation of electricity from renewable sources. Andres Pirazzoli is developing FIMA`s renewable energy program. He traveled to Eugene in February to work one-on-one with ELAW Staff Attorney Jennifer Gleason. Jen teaches energy law at the University of Oregon School of Law and helps grassroots lawyers around the world promote renewable energy.

Renewable Energy for Chile

FIMA is working with Chile Sustentable to develop laws that would promote renewables as part of Chile’s energy strategy. Jen has been working with lawyers from the U.K.-based Climate Justice Programme and the World Future Council (WFC) to analyze laws and polices that create renewable energy “feed-in tariff” (FIT) programs around the world. These programs encourage the generation of electricity from qualified renewable sources by guaranteeing generators that they will be able to sell electricity to the grid for a set price for a set period of time. A strong feed-in program, such as the one adopted in Germany, may be the best way to encourage sustainable energy generation in Chile.

FIMA is working with Chile Sustentable on a law reform effort to make Chile’s voluntary quota system mandatory. Next, the organizations want to consider a new law to address climate change that

A strong feed-in program, such as the one adopted in Germany, may be the best way to encourage sustainable

energy generation in Chile.

Andres Pirazzoli visits Torres del Paine National Park.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

Pablo Fajardo (right) with a villager from Secoya.