Fulbright Specialist at UCalgary Law May 12-25, 2022

UCalgary Law is excited to announce the upcoming visit by Fulbright Specialist Professor Sandra B. Zellmer, the Director of Natural Resources Clinics at the University of Montana School of Law. Professor Zellmer teaches public lands and natural resources, wildlife law, water law, torts, and related courses. She is a member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, the Centre for Progressive Reform and the ABA’s Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources, and she has published a multitude of law review articles and several books in the area. 

Professor Zellmer’s project while she’s here is called the Transboundary Environmental Law Research & Education Project. This project focuses on the tools and trade-offs involved in conserving 30% of multiple use lands by 2030 - for short, the “30 x 30” commitment. Worldwide, over 100 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change have pledged to conserve 30% of their lands and waters by 2030. Canada, the United States, and many other nations recognize that protecting natural areas may be the cheapest and fastest means of addressing climate change and conserving biodiversity. 

President Biden committed to the “30 x 30” commitment in one of his first executive orders, issued in January 2021. If fully implemented, 30 x 30 would represent the largest shift in U.S. biodiversity conservation policy since the Endangered Species Act was enacted in 1973. In Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau has pledged a commitment to 30 x 30 before the U.N. and at other international gatherings.

In various fora during her visit, Professor Zellmer intends to discuss a new work-in-progress that addresses the implications of 30 x 30 on multiple-use public lands, in particular, national forests. She is assessing whether and how existing legal tools manage trade-offs between conservation objectives and conflicting uses, such as recreation and resource development. While at the University of Calgary, she is keenly interested in learning how the Canadian national government and the province of Alberta are grappling with these issues. 

Professor Zellmer’s visit will give faculty, staff, students and members our various communities an opportunity to discuss and learn about the complexities of environmental regulation in the transboundary context. One important occasion will be Professor Zellmer's Canadian Institute for Resources Law’s Saturday Morning at the Law School presentation on Saturday, May 14, 2022 from 10 am to noon.