On November 15, 2023, the SEAS-Based GW Environmental and Energy Management Institute (EEMI) co-hosted a day long symposium in conjunction with the D.C.-based Environmental Law institute and the Industry Natural Resource Management Group. The day-long symposium, entitled “Natural Resources Symposium Redux: Influences, Perspectives, Needs One Year Later,” was held in The George Washington University Law School.
Professor Randy Abate, EEMI Director for Environmental Law and GW Assistant Dean for Environmental law, provided the welcoming address. EEMI Executive Director Jonathan Deason introduced the afternoon keynote speaker and moderated a plenary session entitled “National Nature Assessment: What It Means for Business and Others.” EEMI graduate students Rakshit Kalera, Ifeoluwa Olaniyan, Edward Ssemambo, and Vishnu Gajula also participated and assisted with the event.
The Natural Resources Symposium Redux Program was a followup to a similar symposium held last year at which Prof. Deason was a keynote speaker. This year it focused to a large degree on the Biden Administration’s national Nature Assessment program that is being directed by featured speaker, Phillip Levin, Ph.D.
Dr. Levin is serving as the Director of the National Nature Assessment, which is a component of the U.S. Global Change Research Program being conducted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He is on loan to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from the University of Washington where he is a Professor in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.
Professor Levin provided participants with an update on the ongoing and unique U.S. National Nature Assessment that is assessing the status, trends, and future projections of America's lands, waters, wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystems and the benefits they provide, including connections to the economy, public health, equity, climate mitigation and adaptation, and national security. Work completed thus far and plans forward, as well as ways that individuals and stakeholder groups can be involved.