Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution (ECCR) was born as an approach to navigate conflicts encountered with the implementation of the new environmental policies of the 1970s. Modern ECCR more often uses these tools to engage the public in environmental problem solving ahead of a regulatory outcome rather than waiting until a formal “conflict” has been encountered.
Originally, a field occupied by seasoned legal practitioners and mediators, ECCR has matured into a common way of doing business for some of our most challenging natural resource and policy issues. And, though the use of skilled neutral third parties is still a hallmark of this practice, more and more, modern ECCR efforts are benefitting from the leadership of the stakeholders themselves who come from a variety professional disciplines and backgrounds.
This workshop will present the fundamentals of ECCR, its applications, and insights into this field’s continuing evolution to include independent science, adaptive management, and ongoing collaborative governance.
