The EDO has an active international program, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region.

Papua New Guinea

Since 1999, the EDO has received funding from the MacArthur Foundation to provide capacity-building support for public interest environmental law organisations in Papua New Guinea. The EDO provides legal advice and training, and facilitates lawyer exchanges and external training.

In 2006, one of the EDO 's longstanding partners in PNG was awarded the prestigious Goldman Prize, the world's largest award for grassroots environmentalists. Ms Annie Kajir, CEO of the Environmental Law Centre (ELC) in Port Moresby, received the award for her tireless work, often at great personal risk, to draw attention to widespread corruption and government complicity in illegal logging that is destroying the largest remaining intact block of tropical forest in the Asia Pacific region. In 1997, her first year practicing law, Annie successfully went to the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea to force the logging interests to pay damages to indigenous land owners. For more information about ELC, Annie and the Goldman Prize, see http://www.goldmanprize.org/node/440

The EDO also works with the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) and the Eco-Forestry Forum (EFF). For more information about CELCOR and EFF organisations, see: www.celcor.org.pg and www.ecoforestry.org.pg

Samoa

The EDO is acting as the Australian Partner Organisation to create a new AusAID funded placement of an environmental lawyer with the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) in Samoa.

For more information about the MNRE, see: www.mnre.gov.ws

The placement is funded under AusAID's Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program. For information about the AYAD program, see: www.ayad.com.au

Fiji

The EDO is acting as the Australian Partner Organisation for an AusAID funded volunteer placement for an environmental lawyer with the regional office for Oceania of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Suva, Fiji.

This lawyer will build on the work undertaken by a previous EDO-AusAID supported lawyer in that office, now an IUCN staff member, in establishing a regional environmental law capacity-building project for the South Pacific.

The placement is supported by AusAID's Australian Volunteers International (AVI) program. For more information about the AVI program, see: www.australianvolunteers.com

For more information about the IUCN's regional program for Oceania, see: cms.iucn.org/about/union/secretariat/offices/oceania/index.cfm

Cambodia

The EDO is acting as the Australian Partner Organisation for an AusAID funded placement of an environmental lawyer with the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC) in Cambodia. The EDO has now supported several lawyers, who have played key roles in the establishment of the CLEC Land and Natural Resources Project.

For more information about the CLEC, see: www.clec.org.kh

These volunteers are placed under AusAID's Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program. For information about the AYAD program, see: www.ayad.com.au

Mongolia

The EDO is acting as the Australian Partner Organisation for an AusAID funded placement of an environmental lawyer with the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

CHRD conducts public interest environmental advocacy activities that focus on protecting the rights of Mongolia 's nomadic herders from the negative environmental and social impacts of mining. This includes litigation, policy, education and monitoring work.

Recent achievements include successful lobbying to enhance public participation provisions in mining legislation, the publication of a public interest litigation manual for lawyers, and the initiation of a strategic litigation committee within the Association of Mongolian Advocates. CHRD has also commenced a number of court cases in relation to the failure of mining companies to rehabilitate mine sites, breaches of water legislation and mineral licensing procedure, and breaches of environmental impact assessment law. For more information about the CHRD, see: www.chrd.org.mn/english

The placement is funded under AusAID's Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program. For information about the AYAD program, see: www.ayad.com.au

Vanuatu

In 2005, the EDO co-presented an environmental advocacy training program for women and youth in Vanuatu, in partnership with the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) and the UNSW Diplomacy Training Program (DTP).

In 2005-2006, the EDO coordinated the recruitment of an AYAD volunteer lawyer to work for twelve months with the Wantok Environment Centre, a ni-Vanuatu community-based organization. For more information about the Wantok Environment Centre, see: www.positiveearth.org

Solomon Islands

In previous years, the EDO has undertaken community training and legislative drafting for the Solomon Islands government. More recently, the EDO has provided comment on a proposal to establish a major forestry and conservation project in the Solomon Islands, including a community legal support service.

Argentina

In 2004-2006, the EDO recruited three full-time interns for the position of Human Rights and Environment Intern with the Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA), a public interest organisation in Argentina. For more information about CEDHA, please visit: www.cedha.org.ar

Engagement in International Forums

EDO lawyers participate actively in international policy development, particularly with respect to climate change. EDO staff have attended events such as the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol discussions in Bali and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNFPII) special meeting on climate change in New York, for which the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission provided support. For more information about the UNFCCC and UNFPII, see: www.unfccc.int/2860.php and www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii

EDO lawyers are active members of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW), an international network of public interest environmental lawyers.

For more information about E-LAW, see: www.elaw.org

EDO lawyers are active members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's oldest and largest global environmental network. For more information about the IUCN's Environmental Law program, see: www.iucn.org/themes/law