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At the invitation of the US Information Agency, ELI staff delivered the keynote address at the seventeenth annual American Studies Colloquium on “Environmental Law and Policy in the United States” on May 3, 2000 in Dakar, Senegal. The colloquium included French-speaking NGOs, academics, government officials, and private sector representatives from throughout West Africa. Additionally, ELI met with government officials, environmentalists, representatives of non-profit organizations, academics, and journalists in Senegal. Discussions covered such topics as environmental governance and the rule of law, improving environmental protection through public participation in environmental decision-making and access to information, alternative dispute resolution, and preserving special natural resources.

ELI has convened seminars in Washington, DC on a variety of topics in African environmental law and policy. These seminars raise the awareness of US governmental and non-governmental institutions on pressing issues in African environmental law and policy, as well as providing an opportunity to disseminate research and seek further input from different viewpoints. Seminars have addressed:

• implementation of environmental governance principles and procedural rights in Niger

• implementing constitutional environmental protections in Africa;

• opportunities for promoting public participation in environmental decisionmaking throughout Africa and elsewhere; 

• new models for addressing environmental health issues, with a particular view toward their relevance to the social, cultural, political, and financial contexts in Africa; 

• public participation in African Development Bank operations; 

• improving the compensation system for damage caused by elephants in Kenya; and 

• the environment and political unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.