WASHINGTON— On Wednesday, May 20, World Resources Institute and The Access Initiative will launch the Environmental Democracy Index, the first publicly available, online platform that measures countries’ environmental legal rights and practice.

The launch event will present findings for 70 countries in the index, including rankings, legal and practice indicators, and specific country examples. Speakers will also discuss the state of environmental democracy around the world.

The event will feature renowned international experts in environmental democracy, including: Avi Garbow (keynote speaker), general counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Rizwana Hasan, Goldman Prize winner, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association; Constance Nalegach, P10 focal point, Ministry of Environment, Chile; and Manish Bapna, executive vice president and managing director, World Resources Institute, and other World Resources Institute experts.

The event is open to the media and will include a question and answer session.

WHAT

Launch event for the Environmental Democracy Index.

WHO

  • Avi Garbow (keynote speaker), general counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

  • Manish Bapna, executive vice president and managing director, World Resources Institute

  • Lalanath DeSilva, project director, Environmental democracy Practice, World Resources Institute

  • Rizwana Hasan, Goldman Prize winner, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association

  • Constance Nalegach, P10 focal point, Ministry of Environment, Chile

  • Mark Robinson, global director, governance, World Resources Institute

WHEN

Wednesday, May 20 from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. EDT

Note: Registration and networking breakfast from 9:00-9:30 a.m.; the program will start promptly at 9:30 a.m.

WHERE

National Press Club
529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor
Washington D.C. 20045

RSVP

Please RSVP to press@wri.org

For inquiries, please contact Daniel Melling; dmelling@wri.org; +1 (202) 729 7769