Hani Yaafouri writes on escalating food prices and food shortages

This commentary lays out the reasons behind the escalating food prices and the shortages in food supply in the developing nations. In its state of security report in 2006, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA), estimated that 854 million people worldwide suffer from hunger and malnutrition including 820 million in developing countries due to shortages in food supply.

The increase in food prices is due to several factors. First, economic growth in some developing nations like China and India is straining our natural resources as demand for food has reached historic levels. Second, the rapid rise in petroleum prices due to constant unrest in the oil rich Middle East (Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria) and the escalating cost of shipping food supply across the globe are putting an unprecedented pressure on food prices due to the increase in transportation costs. Third, continuous increase in temperature due to climate change has impacted fresh water supply which is affecting crop production and supply. Fourth, the unprecedented demand from the biofuels sector is also affecting food prices.

Food shortages and escalating food prices are serious threats facing our world. The main reasons are attributed to unprecedented demand on our natural resources from the developing world, continuous increase in oil prices and the huge demand from the biofuels sector for agricultural lands. In order to mitigate these challenges, we need new agricultural policies and a new sustainable food frame work that increase the participation of developing nations in order to mitigate these challenges.

Hani Yaafouri
Masters of Resources Law Studies program graduate

Editor's note: Mr. Hani Yaafouri, who is originally from Lebanon, graduated from Denver Law's Masters of Resources Law Studies program in 2010.

Denver Law Adjunct Professor Catherine Keske Studies how to Convert Animal and Food Waste to Energy

Denver Law Adjunct Professor Catherine Keske is conducting work to determine how to convert animal and food waste into energy, in an economically feasible way.

One technology is "anaerobic digestion." This involves using microbes to convert the waste into methane. The methane is captured and is either used as biogas (to heat a boiler) or converted into electricity through a generator. The methane capture reduces green house gas emissions and creates energy.

Dr. Keske, a leading resource economist and professor at Colorado State University, says:

"My findings have shown that in the western U.S., scarce water resources yield different agricultural management practices than in the eastern U.S. Less water, as well as relatively low energy prices, make anaerobic digestion less economically feasible than in the eastern U.S. However, some western municipalities and agricultural operations have shown that they can successfully implement anaerobic digestion if they can appropriately offset the costs. Nuisiance lawsuit mitigation is another factor that could make the anaerobic digestion technology economically feasible.

"Right now I am working with early adoptors to identify the elements that have made anaerobic digestion economically feasible for their company. This way, we can replicate their work with other operations."

Dr. Keske has been funded by four different agencies (National Resource Conservation Service, the Colorado Governor's Energy Office, U.S. A.I.D. and Montana State University Extension) to study the issue. She works rather closely with Dr. Sybil Sharvelle, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State. Dr. Sharvelle is developing technology, which she calls, "dry digestion technology" that can make anaerobic digestion feasible in arid climates like Colorado. Should dry digestion technology become commercially available, costs associated with water will also be reduced and more operations might be able to adopt anaerobic digestion technology.

Interested readers can download the technical report written for the Colorado Governor's Energy Office by clicking here.

Don Smith, director of Denver Law's Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program, said, "Dr. Keske newest project demonstrates once again why we are thrilled to have her teach at DU. Her courses -- "Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment: Policy, Markets, and Economic Measurement" and "Public Utilities Regulation" -- are highly respected by our faculty and students. The courses contribute richness and breadth to our outstanding environmental and natural resources program, and we are delighted she is part of our program."

Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Announces Spring 2012 Scholarship Program: Applications Due October 3

The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, one of the world's premier professional groups focusing on natural resources issues, has announced its Spring 2012 Scholarship Program.

The purpose of the program is to encourage the study of natural resources law by well qualified law students who have the potential to make significant contributions to scholarship in natural resources law. Scholarship applications are due October 3, 2011.

Full-time Denver Law students who can demonstrate a commitment to study natural resources law or who are undertaking the study of natural resources law are eligible to apply for this scholarship. Recent scholarship awards have ranged from $1,500 to $11,000.

Don Smith, director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program, encouraged Denver Law students to consider applying for the scholarship. "In recent years, Denver Law has been honored to have many of our students win substantial scholarships from the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. These scholarships benefit students not only in terms of the money received but also in helping students network with many of the world's finest leaders and thinkers in the natural resources sector who are a part of this prestigious organization."

For a flyer about the program, please click here. The application for a scholarship is available by clicking here.

Denver Law Welcomes the 2011-2012 Class in the Environmental and Natural Resources Graduate Program: 10 Countries Represented

The 2011-2012 class of students in Denver Law's Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Graduate Program were welcomed earlier this week by Don Smith, director of the program, and Lucy Daberkow, assistant administrative director.

The program has a long history of attracting students from all over the world, and this year's class is no different. Students from nine different countries attended the program's orientation session. Taken together, the students span the globe from many key regions and countries involved with important environmental and resource issues.

The specific countries represented were:

• Brazil


• Canada


• China


• Ghana


• Japan


• Peru


• Russia


• Saudi Arabia


• United States

Continuing students from Mexico and many of the countries listed mean that this year's class will include students from 10 different countries.

In terms of the United States, the program will include in-coming students from California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Don Smith said, "The Denver Law Environmental and Natural Resources Graduate Program has a long-standing history of attracting the best students from all around the U.S. as well as from all over the world. We are delighted to say that our graduates are involved in important projects all over the globe and that the time they spent at Denver Law has helped prepare them for their challenging positions."

Lucy Daberkow said, "Recruiting students from around the world is one of the program's top priorities. It is gratifying to watch how all of our students -- from the U.S. and abroad -- come together and learn from each other. Today's world requires the ability to work in a global setting. Our aim is to help introduce our students to that setting."

Rigzone Website Survey Says Denver is World's No. 4 Ranked City in "Up and Coming" Oil and Gas Cities

A recent survey of "up and coming" cities for oil and gas professionals lists Denver as No. 4 in the world. According to the same survey, the No. 1 city is Dubai, United Arab Emirates, followed by Calgary, Canada, at No. 2 and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, No. 3.

The survey was conducted by Rigzone, a Houston-based website that calls itself the "gateway to the oil and gas industry."

David Kent, the president of Rigzone, told the Denver Business Journal, "Houston is considered the oil and gas capital of the world, but with its weather, 98 degrees and 98 percent humidity in the summer, I'd rather be in Denver. I'm not surprised that Denver popped up on the list" ("Gushing praise for Denver," July 8-14, 2011.).

Other cities ranked in the top 10 were: No. 5, Singapore; No. 6 Perth, Australia; No. 7, Cairo, Egypt; No. 8 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; No. 9, Jakarta, Indonesia; and No. 10, Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico.

The oil and gas industry in Colorado employs about 50,000 people directly while supporting nearly 200,000 additional jobs. The sector contributes $24 billion in value added economic output annually, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.

Don Smith, director of the Denver Law Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program, said, "Those of us who call Denver home are not surprised by Rigzone's survey findings. Denver is great place to live and do business. Moreover, Denver Law offers an exceptional array of courses that address oil and gas from domestic and international perspectives. Students from all across the world come to Denver Law to study about this important natural resources sector."

Adjunct Professor and Argentine Mining Expert Florencia Heredia Writes About Mining Law for Latin Lawyer Magazine

Florencia Heredia, a partner at the Buenos Aries, Argentina, law firm HOLT Abogados, recently contributed an article to Latin Lawyer about mining in Argentina.

In "Mining 2011 - Argentina," Ms. Heredia provides an overview of the Argentine mining industry and describes the legal and regulatory framework there. She also discusses the investment regime applicable to foreign company involvement in mining projects.

The article explains the mining exploration and exploitation permit or concession regime as well as the licensing regime. In addition, she describes the collateral security arrangements permitted in Argentina.

Ms. Heredia is the Senior Vice-Chair of the International Bar Association's Mining Law Committee. She also has served as a Trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation.

In the summer of 2009, Ms. Heredia teamed up with fellow mining law expert Luis Carlos Rodrigo, a partner in the firm of Rodrigo, Elias & Medrano Abogados in Lima, Peru, to teach a first of its kind course, "Comparative Latin American Mining Law" at Denver Law. The one-week intensive course generated high praise by students for its substantive content as well as the opportunity it provided them to learn from two of the most distinguished mining lawyers in the world. Plans are underway to have Ms. Heredia and Mr. Rodrigo return to Denver in 2012 to teach the course again.

Editor's Note: The linked article from Latin Lawyer has been reproduced from Law Business Reseach. This was was first published in Latin Lawyer Reference - Mining 2011 (Contributing Editors Richard Brach and Carolina Walther-Meade, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP). For further information please visit www.LatinLawyer.com/reference.

Denver Law Associate Professor Annecoos Wiersema Writes About New UN Website: InforMEA

This summer, the United Nations launched a website with important implications for the future of international environmental law. InforMEA, the United Nations Portal on Multilateral Environmental Agreements brings together information relating to 17 multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) from 12 Secretariats hosted by three UN organizations and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is also open to nongovernmental observers involved in MEA information and data management. The portal will contain decisions, resolutions, and recommendations from conferences and meetings of the parties (COPs and MOPs), calendars, news and events, and certain national contacts. It will also harmonize information from across the MEAs, so that information is more easily accessible and usable. Elsewhere, I have written about the significance of COP and MOP activity. This portal will bring this activity together in one place, in easily accessible format.

Why is this move so significant? It has the potential to affect three areas of current concern to international environmental lawyers: sectoral fragmentation, the relationship between international law and domestic law, and accountability.

First, the portal might help us manage the sectoral fragmentation we see in international law, particularly in international environmental law. Many commentators have worried that connections among treaties that have substantial overlap are weak or completely lacking. This can lead to, at best, unnecessary duplication and, at worst, one subject matter treaty undermining the goals of another treaty that deals with a different subject matter. Worries about the effects of climate change mitigation efforts on biodiversity are a good example of this. This portal offers the potential for those interested to find avenues for coordination and linkages as they see what all the MEAs are working on.

Second, information that is more accessible is also more useful to national authorities. As international environmental law is increasingly connected to domestic law and implementation, this accessibility will be key. Sustainability requires recognition of local context and localized activities, as well as some international coordination of information and sharing of experience. The role of international environmental law as a clearinghouse of information is greatly enhanced by this portal.

Third, the amount of activity undertaken by the COPs and MOPs of MEAS, as well as various technical bodies, has created concern about accountability. NYU’s Global Administrative Law Project is an example of one response to this concern. This portal can enhance informal accountability because it will now be much easier to find out what COPs, MOPs, and various technical bodies are doing. The participation of nongovernmental observers is important for this, but the portal’s openness to the world at large is also key here.

Interestingly, a search on the portal under the subject category “Issues common to MEA’s” yielded no results under treaties or decisions! But maybe this portal will start to change that. How much this portal can do will depend ultimately both on how much information it has and how committed various stakeholders are to using it. But it offers real promise. International environmental lawyers, watch this space: http://informea.org/.

Annecoos Wiersema
Associate Professor