Information About This Program
The globalization of commerce, democratization of governments, rapidly increasing flow of information, growing world population, and increasing demand for natural resources are changing dramatically the way the world finds, develops, and uses natural resources. As countries achieve higher standards of living, competition for energy, mineral, water, forest, and other resources increases, and the environmental cost of production and use of these resources strains the limits of our ecosystems.
The vexing issue throughout the natural resources sector is how to ensure that natural resources are found, developed, and used in ways that support sustainable development of human societies. The legal systems that govern this process must recognize both public and private interests – they must create conditions that secure, foster, and protect private investment, while at the same time recognizing that in most cases, the resources being developed are public. The legal systems must safeguard the public interest by ensuring that revenues from resource production foster positive forms of development, rather than becoming the source or focus of violent conflict, corruption, and ineffective governance. Somehow, all this must be accomplished while fostering the productivity of world ecosystems, and respecting their limits.
The “Sustainable Natural Resources Development Series,” organized and offered by the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, offers a suite of four related and complementary courses aimed at addressing these issues. The courses will be taught by international leaders who have been involved with these issues. No other U.S. law school offers such a comprehensive and well-organized sequence of courses dealing with the underlying issues involved with developing natural resources in a sustainable manner.
Video explanations of the courses can be accessed by clicking here.
More information about the series is available by clicking here.