ABOUT
Message from Henry Lee, Jassim M. Jaidah Director, ENRP
Date established: 1980 (The ENRP was originally the environmental part of the HKS Energy and Environmental Policy Center (EEPC), which was established in 1980.)
The Environment and Natural Resources Program's mandate is to conduct policy-relevant research at the regional, national, international, and global level, and through its outreach initiatives to make its products available to decision-makers, scholars, and interested citizens.
Over the past 30 years environmental policy has changed dramatically. Today it is an integral part of energy policy, economic development, and transportation programs. Security means not only protection from military aggression, but also maintenance of adequate supplies of food and water, and the protection of public health. These problems cannot be addressed from one discipline or from the perspective of one issue or one country. The world of the future will demand the integration of multiple needs and values across both disciplinary and geographic boundaries.
ENRP's strength lies in its world-class faculty. Our core consists of Professor William Clark, faculty chair; Henry Lee, director; John Holdren; Calestous Juma; and Robert Stavins. The four are complemented by a strong supporting cast of faculty and senior research fellows, including Robert Frosch, former head of NASA and General Motors' Research and Development Lab; Charles Foster, former Dean of the School of Forestry at Yale; Cristine Russell, award-winning journalist and science writer; Paul Anstas, Director, Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale; and Ellen Roy Herzfelder, former Massachusetts Secretary of Environment. See our People.
There are other programs with a strong environmental or energy component at the Kennedy School. ENRP works closely with these programs, as well as with the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Much of our recent work has been through two major projects that we oversee in partnership with the Science Technology Innovation Program (STPP). We also have active linkages to scholarly research programs both in the United States and abroad. Finally, our core faculty remain involved in myriad committees and studies at the highest levels of government, including the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Committee, the Heinz Center, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Each year ENRP faculty produce books and monographs on a wide variety of topics: most of which are available through this web site. Five themes stand out:
- Integration: Bridging the gap across natural, social, and engineering sciences, the environmental and development communities, multiple sectors of human activity, and geographic and temporal scales
- Global change: Responding effectively to global environmental threats such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and environmentally unsustainable economic policies
- Energy: Designing, developing, and implementing economically and environmentally sound energy policies
- Economic Incentives: Assessing the effectiveness of incentive-based environmental regulation
- Sustainability: Meeting human needs for energy, agriculture, and water while protecting environmental quality and biodiversity
While our projects and activities continue to evolve, our perspective remains global and interdisciplinary, linking the fields of science and policy. ENRP looks forward to being an active participant in the environmental policy debate as it evolves over the course of this decade.
