Environmental Conflict: Lessons from Papua New Guinea, with Dr. Fisher

This week, on November 2nd, Dr. Joshua Fisher, AC4 Director, and Professor Sarah Knuckey (Columbia Law School) presented preliminary findings and lessons learned from their ongoing human rights work in Papua New Guinea at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2 headquarters in New York. The presentation was co-sponsored by the EPA’s Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center, the EPA Region 2’s Continuing Legal Education Program and the Climate Change Working Group.

The audience, consisting of EPA attorneys, climate change experts and conflict resolution professionals, were briefed on the background of the case of the Porgera Joint Venture gold mine, and discussed the utility of a human rights approach to environmental fact-finding. This international case study offers comparative lessons and insight practical to the EPA’s domestic and international work on issues including community consultation, joint fact-finding methods, advocacy, and the integration of social science, legal analysis and physical science.

Photo of the gold mine in Porgera, Papua New Guinea. Credit: Emily Allen.