News Release

Environmental law scholar to speak
on creating markets for natural services

CHAPEL HILL -- Jim Salzman, an environmental law expert from Duke University, will give a lecture on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14.

The free lecture, "Creating Markets for Ecosystem Services: Notes from the Field," is part of the Carolina Environmental Program’s 2005-2006 Environmental Seminar Series. The location will be the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building auditorium.

Ecosystem, or natural, services refer to natural processes that may have monetary value, such as wetlands and shellfish filtering polluted water, or trees removing climate change agents such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Many economists believe that regulators should take the value of these services into account in making decisions.

Salzman, whose areas of research include environmental law, natural resources law and international law, holds a joint appointment as professor in Duke’s School of Law and Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. Before joining Duke in 2004, Salzman taught at American University in Washington, D.C.

The author of numerous articles and books, Salzman is on the editorial board of three professional journals and on the advisory board of three environmental nonprofits. He has served since 1996 as a principal liaison for the Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee, providing counsel to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Trade Representative on trade and environment issues.

He was the first Harvard University graduate to earn joint degrees in law and engineering.

UNC’s Carolina Environmental Program is a multidisciplinary initiative dedicated to addressing factors that build an environmentally sustainable society. The program offers majors in environmental science and environmental studies within UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences and environmental health science within UNC’s School of Public Health; fosters collaborative research on large-scale environmental challenges; and provides technical assistance, training and up-to-date information on environmental issues to N.C. communities.

- 30 -

Carolina Environmental Program contact: Tony Reevy, (919) 966-9927 or tony_reevy@unc.edu

News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu