EHPnet: Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy

Established in 1987, the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona in Tucson specializes in several important program areas relating to the environment and public health, including environmental conflict resolution, environmental policy in the Southwest, the U.S.-Mexican border environment, and American Indian policy. To promote its mission in these areas, the Udall Center maintains a Web site atrelated research and outreach activities. The Publications link on each program area page leads the visitor to numerous citations for Udall Center working papers, scholarly articles (including some that have appeared in EHP), reports, issue papers, and other publications. A click on Related Links gives access to more than 300 environmental organizations in the Southwest. The Udall Center Library Online link allows the visitor to search the center's library collection, which houses more than 4,000 books, reports, and periodicals related to its mission. Since the spring of 1996, the Udall Center has undertaken several activities that have furthered its objective of establishing a national program in environmental conflict resolution. These activities, described on the Environmental Conflict Resolution page, include the funding of inter-disciplinary research projects at the University of Arizona, designing and implementing two simulated conflict exercises, and the development of a database of graduate programs in environmental conflict resolution. Projects include the Upper San Pedro River Initiative, which focuses on water resource management in the river basin, and the Arizona Common Ground Roundtable, a statewide policy dialogue among ranchers, envi-ronmentalists, government officials, and others. The Environmental Policy in the Southwest page includes information about projects and events pertaining to climate change, environmental health, and water policy. According to the U.S.-Mexico Border Environment page, the center has, during the past decade, "established a presence as a neutral, respected observer and commentator on border environmental policy." As the page shows, the center's research agenda in this area has been full and has included studies of transboundary urban water management and the evolution and functioning of environmental institutions such as the Border Environment Cooperation Commission and the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, created to address issues related to trade and the environment. The American Indian Policy page reveals that the center spends much time analyzing and researching Indian health and environmental and natural resource issues. The program emphasizes providing tribal, state, and federal policy makers with education and policy analysis in areas including the tribal management of natural resources …