Happy Holidays From Denver! Feliz Navidad Desde Denver!

All of us in the University of Denver Sturm College of Law Environmental and Natural Resources Law program wish our friends from across the world -- from Argentina and Chile in the south to Canada and Russia in the north and every country in between -- a very happy holiday season and warm wishes for the coming year.

Special times of the year may be different for each individual, but what brings us together is a shared commitment to a clean and safe environment that provides all of us the resources to live healthy and productive lives. In reaching this goal the world needs engaged, dedicated, and hard-working professionals who will remain steadfast even when success seems so difficult to achieve.

All of us in Denver are enriched by our students, our graduates, and our global community of friends. May 2011 be a wonderful year for all of you!

Don C. Smith
Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program

Lucy Daberkow
Assistant Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Graduate Program

"The Next West: 20th Anniversary Land Use Conference" to be held March 3 and 4, 2011, at Sturm College of Law

The Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute (RMLUI), headquartered at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, will hold its annual conference in Denver on March 3 and 4, 2011.

"'The Next West: 20th Anniversary Land Use Conference' presents a singular opportunity to explore both change and continuity in the region's communities and landscapes over the past two decades while beginning to look ahead to the next 20 years, to the 'New West,'" William Shutkin, RMLUI director said recently.

According to Mr. Shutkin:

"An extraordinary confluence of forces is changing the way communities across the West and the nation plan, grow and define their success. Climate change, technology, globalization, urbanization and a new wave of immigration are challenging old rules and patterns of development -- both physical and economic.

"As the region begins to emerge from the current economic crisis, professionals and citizens alike will need to understand the forces driving our land use and development patterns, forces that cut across geography, disciplines, fields and sectors. Like never before, they will be called upon to design new models that join prosperity, community and ecology in a bold vision tailored to the needs of a rapidly changing region in a radically changing world."

For information about the conference agenda, please click here. To register, please click here.

Natural Resources Extraction in Congo: "Treasure Amid Turmoil," According to the Financial Times

The abundance of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo alongside the difficulty of actually operating there are explained in a fascinating recent article in the Financial Times.

In "Treasure Amid Turmoil" (Dec. 16, 2010), the FT reports that "As metal and mineral prices rise, Congo's bountiful deposits are growing in investor allure -- though seizures of western assets point to the difficulties of operating in a failing state." The article highlights the political, social, and development-related challenges associated with doing business in Congo. The role of multinationals in working in the country is explained. One thing is clear -- the road ahead will not be an easy one by any means.

The opportunities and challenges involved in operating in a country such as the Democratic Republic of Congo are more fully explored and analyzed in a pioneering three course series that the University of Denver Sturm College of Law has developed. Taught by resources experts, Luke Danielson, a Gunnison, Colorado, attorney, and Cecilia Dalupan, associate director of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, the "Natural Resources Development Series" considers how to operate sustainably in three contexts: (1) internationally; (2) within nation states; and (3) within communities where the work actually takes place. The first course -- dealing with emerging international trends -- will be offered over two long weekends in late February and late March 2011. The blog will be reporting more detail on this first course in the coming weeks. The second and third courses will be offered in one-week sessions in July 2011. Each course counts for three credits.

Balancing the competing interests in natural resources development so as to move towards a sustainable model is no small feat. It will take a new generation of practitioners who have studied and thought about what works and what does not work. DU's new series will help prepare this new generation.

Don C. Smith
Director
Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program