Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions -  November 11, 2015


Upcoming Events
November 20
Durham, NC

December 7
Paris, France (COP21)

For information on other upcoming events, visit the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions website. 

Featured Multimedia
About the Nicholas Institute
The Nicholas Institute: Delivering Credible Solutions
In the News
Engage with Us

 

Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter View our videos on YouTube View our profile on LinkedIn

 

Subscribe
Our Impact: The Creeping Disaster That Led to North Carolina Water Law
In 2007, North Carolina was facing a relentless drought that led to mandatory statewide water restrictions. The crisis renewed attention to the importance of an assured water supply in the state. In the eleventh installment in a 12-part series on the impacts of Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions in its first decade, we describe how a North Carolina General Assembly request resulted in a Nicholas Institute study co-led with the University of North Carolina, that examined ways to more effectively deal with water conflict, future scarcity, and drought. The 59-page document detailed nine measures for the General Assembly to consider during the 2009 legislative session to ensure a secure water supply. Two of those recommendations would become law.
Agencies Go to Bat for Nature, People
A memorandum released last month by the White House Office of Management and Budget, Council on Environmental Quality, and Office of Science and Technology Policy recognizes the power that all U.S. federal agencies hold to affect human lives by changing nature, and asks them more explicitly consider it in their decision making. The Nicholas Institute's Lydia Olander and the Nature Conservancy's Heather Tallis write about how agencies will consider the value of ecosystem services in decision making on the Cool Green Science blog.
Forum Brings Big Thinkers To Duke
The Nicholas Institute celebrated its first decade with "Leadership in a Time of Rapid Change: Envisioning Solutions to Environmental Challenges," a forum to contemplate Duke's role in responding to the world's ever-changing environmental problems. Leaders from some of the world's most influential industries, environmental organizations, and agencies came to Duke to explore rapid population and technology changes and challenges and the opportunities that such changes create for environmental policy. 
Pope Francis and Climate Change
On June 18, Pope Francis issued the encyclical (or "letter") Laudato Si, in which he staked out his position on climate change and other environmental crises. Watch a Catholic theologian, an economic historian, a political scientist, and an expert in climate policy (the Nicholas Institute's Brian Murray) discuss what Pope Francis has been saying about climate change, and why so many people are listening-even if they don't agree with the Pope's views.
Blog: Financing to Protect Forests
Carbon markets were once considered the answer for funding efforts to reduce deforestation. In a guest post for the Council on Foreign Relations, the Nicholas Institute's Brian Murray says that "the fragmented nature of emerging carbon markets and the lack of attention to REDD+ could spell weak demand for market-driven REDD+." But projects to preserve forests and reduce emissions from deforestation can be otherwise advanced: developing countries can seek development assistance and pay-for-performance options, developed countries can help finance and guide these efforts, and the private sector can prohibit the purchase of commodities from illegally deforested land.

The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions helps decision makers create timely, effective, and economically practical solutions to the world's critical environmental challenges.
Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University,
 P.O. Box 90335, Durham, NC 27708.