Background 

The roots of the flooding of New Orleans and south Louisiana lie not only in the natural forces and the engineering and land use decisions and practices that conspired to produce a catastrophe, but in the laws and policies that guided or constrained the prudent management, use and development of the vast coastal plain built by the Mississippi River. Though these factors played out in dramatic fashion in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast in 2005, they are not unique to this region. Rather, they are harbingers of the challenges–and opportunities–that will face many regions of this country and the world in coming years.

Our Mission 

The Institute's mission is to foster understanding and development of laws and policies that allow for improved stewardship and sustainable management of our water resources through research, teaching, and outreach.

Our Focus 

To meet the challenges of these times and those to come, the Institute has three areas of focus.

• Promote an Understanding of the Legal Landscape
  The Institute focuses on fostering understanding of management objectives of trustee agencies and land owners, which themselves are often rooted in law, in order that they might be more effectively reconciled to allow for improved water resource management and environmental stewardship practices.
   
• Support the Development of Sustainable Ecosystems and Communities
  The Institute focuses on ways that laws and policies might be better understood, employed or developed to allow for better water resource management to achieve sustainable and productive ecosystems, communities, and economies.
   
• Lay a Foundation for the Future
  The Institute's third main focus is on laying the foundations for laws and policies that anticipate and can accommodate the rapidly changing state of water and ecosystem management in the face of sea level rise, coastal change and growing competition for freshwater resources.

What's New 

Facing the Future: Recommendations on the White House Council on Environmental Quality 
A Report to the President-Elect

This report is the outgrowth of a colloquium on the role of the Council on Environmental Quality in the next Administration which was hosted by the Institute and sponsored by the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. Held at Mt Vernon, Virginia in October 2008, participants include former leaders and senior staff of several federal environmental agencies including CEQ, EPA and the Department of Justice, former directors of state programs in California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Florida, and representatives from private industry, environmental organizations and academia. They also include past CEQ Chairs under Presidents Nixon, Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton. The report reflects the political spectrum over time, the consideration of divergent points of view, and a remarkable consensus on what can and should be done.