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I. INTRODUCTION
On April 15-17, 1999, the Third Annual Environmental Law Conference at The George Washington University (GWU) Law School brought together an extraordinary group of international environmental experts and interested parties to discuss a critical issue in international environmental law: whether there is a need for a separate international environmental court (IEC). Sponsors of the conference included the GWU Institute for the Environment, under the distinguished leadership of Professor Laurent Hourcle; the International Court of the Environment Foundation (ICEF), whose delegation was led by ICEF Founder and Director, the Honorable Amadeo Postiglione, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Italy; and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), represented primarily by Durwood Zaelke.
The Conference attracted participants from a wide range of backgrounds. The worldwide academic community was strongly represented by several recognized international and environmental law experts, including Dr. Alfred Rest of the University of Cologne (Germany); Dr. Eduardo A. Pigretti of the University of Buenos Aires; Professor Raul Sanchez of St. Mary's University School of Law; Professor Alfredo Liberatori of the Italian National Research Council, and Professors Louis Sohn, Laurent Hourcle, Sean Murphy, and Arnold Reitze of GWU Law School. Dr. Priscilla Reining, Chair of the American Anthropological Association, also attended. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (the Hague) was represented by its Secretary-General Designate, Honorable Tjaco van den Hout, and participants from the U.S. government included Brad Campbell of the President's Council on Environmental Quality, Michael Penders of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Interior. In addition to CIEL, other public interest and international organizations in attendance included the Center on International Cooperation (Cesare Romano); World Watch (Hillary French); United Earth (Claes Nobel); the United Nations Foundation, the Institute for Global Environmental Issues; the Virginia Environmental Endowment Jerry McCarthy); the Chronic Illness Research Foundation (James J. Tuite), and the U.S. Catholic Conference. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank were also represented. The private sector was also well represented, including delegations from Deloitte & Touche and several major U.S. law firms.
II. SUMMARY OF CONFERENCE PANELS
A. Overview of International Environmental Trends
The first panel of the Conference, chaired by Hillary French (World Watch) discussed environmental trends from...