The Institute for Environmental Negotiation, in partnership with the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation in Front Royal, is offering this intensive professional training course that builds the skills needed to achieve best outcomes in complex natural resources negotiation and decision-making. We teach the fundamentals of collaboration: conflict resolution skills, collaborative problem-solving, consensus-building, interest-based negotiation, and best practices for public engagement. Each 3-day training module employs a different natural resources-related topic as a lens through which to explore optimal negotiation and decision-making processes. Participants in the November … Continue reading →

This year over 400,000 Americans will die prematurely due to cigarette smoking. Globally, close to eight million more smokers will die too early. While some forms of noncombustible tobacco and other nicotine products have risks, it is generally recognized that these products are significantly lower in risk than cigarettes or other combusted products. The Institute for Environmental Negotiation has facilitated The Morven Dialogues on Tobacco, Nicotine and Alternative Products Harm Reduction since 2011. The Morven Dialogues give stakeholders and experts an opportunity to meet in … Continue reading →

In response to a 2011 Ohio incident involving the release of more than 50 dangerous exotic animals, Governor McDonnell asked the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) to review Virginia’s policies and regulations on dangerous exotic animals. At the same time, Virginia Delegate Chris Peace and Virginia Senator Louise Lucas introduced new legislation to strengthen the regulations on ownership of these animals, generating substantial public comment. On May 10,th 2012, DGIF hosted a meeting of government stakeholders with UVa’s Institute for Environmental Negotiation (IEN) … Continue reading →

The Institute for Environmental Negotiation is working on a multi-year project to help build local economies in the coalfields of southwest Virginia with local partners. IEN convened and facilitated a day-long meeting in September of 2010 on Building Local Economies in Southwest Virginia. The purpose of this forum was to bring together a diverse array of people who are striving to boost local economies and build resiliency in the coalfields region of Southwest Virginia. This event attracted approximately 60 participants from a variety of community … Continue reading →

The Virginia Beach Sea Level Rise Listening Sessions project is designed to solicit information from the community while also helping residents of Virginia Beach gain an understanding of this complex topic.  The sessions are funded by a Virginia Sea Grant and offered through a partnership of experts from the University of Virginia Institute for Environmental Negotiation (IEN), the University of Virginia Department of Urban and Environmental Planning (UVa), Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC), Wetlands Watch (WW), and the City of Virginia Beach. This collaboration … Continue reading →

Saving Our Past For Our Future No comprehensive survey or documentation of the food and farming heritage of central Virginia exists, and we are slowly losing the opportunity to gather home-grown knowledge about hundreds of plants native to our region from a fading generation. The Virginia Food Heritage Project (http://vafoodheritage.wordpress.com/) seeks to fill this gap. A collaboration of growers, gardeners, community planners, historians, conservationists, scholars and many others, the project seeks to gather local knowledge about local agriculture and food heritage, and to use this knowledge to inform decision-making … Continue reading →

The Central Appalachia Food Heritage project (CAFH), working with local and regional partners, is a collaborative, community-based effort that helps to build knowledge about the foodways of central Appalachia, and cultivate opportunities to build community vibrancy and thriving local economies.  The CAFH project is a new effort, and the goals and activities are evolving with input from project partners.  We welcome your ideas, participation, and suggestions as this project develops.  For more information, go to  www.appfoodheritage.com

For Urban Forestry, Green Infrastructure, Green Industry, and Environmental Practitioners – A project funded through a grant awarded by the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, U.S. Forest Service                                                                                                                 … Continue reading →

On December 5 & 6 2011, Virginia’s farm, food, health and environment advocates will meet in one place to plan for the future of food security in Virginia.  The first Virginia Food Security Summit was held in 2007. It sparked the creation of a statewide Virginia Food System Council, established in 2009. The report from the first summit is available online. Now, almost five years later, Virginians are building on this momentum. Researchers at Virginia Tech and partners from the Virginia Food System Council have developed … Continue reading →

Resilient communities offer multiple opportunities for children to be in nature, for both education and play. Inspired by Richard Louv’s book “The Last Child in the Woods,” IEN Senior Associate Tanya Denckla Cobb created the Nature Pyramid in May 2007. Like the “Food Pyramid,” the Nature Pyramid depicts the kinds of activities that are important for human health, and indicates desired proportions of these different activities. Since Denckla Cobb developed this concept, the Nature Pyramid has been incorporated into an environmental education curriculum, and has … Continue reading →

IEN staff provide frequent assistance to environmental and civic nonprofits as well as to local governments. Strategic planning facilitation has been provided for numerous nonprofits. A few examples include the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Western Virginia Land Trust, the Virginia Conservation Network, the Virginia Water Monitoring Council, the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center, and the Archaeological Society of Virginia. Facilitation of public meetings that are anticipated to be difficult is another form of assistance. A few examples include a Culpeper County meeting on the … Continue reading →