Pacific Institute
The Pacific Institute (full legal name: the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security) is a non-profit research institute created in 1987 to provide independent research and policy analysis on issues at the intersection of development, environment, and security, with a particular focus on global and regional freshwater issues. It is located in Oakland, California (USA).[1]
The focus of the Institute is to find real-world solutions to problems like water shortages and contamination, environmental conflicts, global climate change, and environmental terrorism. The Institute conducts research, publishes reports, recommends solutions, and works with decision makers, advocacy groups, and the public to change policy.
Since its founding, the Institute has become known for analysis that cuts across traditional areas of study especially on issues in the hydrologic sciences, water management, and water policy. Its interdisciplinary approach is applied to resource issues, strategies for community involvement, and economic globalization, and they also address the misuse and abuse of science in the policy context. (See, for example, the Institute's 2007 testimony on the integrity of science to the U.S. Congress)[2]
Institute staff are especially known for their work on new thinking around sustainable water resources management and use. (See, for example, reports in Science Magazine [2003] and Nature [2002].)[3][4] In 2011, the Institute was awarded the first U.S. Water Prize. Researchers at the Institute also defined the concept of peak water.[5]
The director and co-founder of the Pacific Institute is Dr. Peter Gleick, a MacArthur Fellow and member of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Institute also produces a biennial report on freshwater resources, called The World's Water (published by Island Press, Washington, D.C.).[6], [7], [8]
[edit] Honors/Awards
- Awarded 2005 Excellence Award for Statewide/Institutional Innovations, California Urban Water Conservation Council
- Awarded 2007 Top Environmental Achievement Awards for Freshwater Protection and Restoration, Environment Now Foundation
- Recipient of the 2009 American Water Resources Association's (AWRA) "Csallany Award" for exemplary contributions to water resources
- Recipient of 2009 Region 9 Award for Environmental Excellence from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- 2011 Winner of the first U.S. Water Prize.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.pacinst.org
- ^ http://www.pacinst.org/publications/testimony/Gleick_Senate_Commerce_2-7-07.pdf
- ^ Peter Gleick, "Global Freshwater Resources: Soft-Path Solutions for the 21st Century," State of the Planet, Science 302 (November 28, 2003): 1524-28. doi:10.1126/science.1089967.
- ^ "Soft Water Paths," Nature 418 (July 25, 2002): 373.
- ^ Gleick, P.H., M. Palaniappan. (2010-6). "Peak Water: Conceptual and Practical Limits to Freshwater Withdrawal and Use.". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 (25): 11155–11162. doi:10.1073/pnas.1004812107. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1004812107.
- ^ The World's Water 2006-2007: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, by Peter H. Gleick et al. [ISBN 1-59726-106-8], Island Press.
- ^ The World's Water 2008-2009: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, by Peter H. Gleick et al. [ISBN 1597265047], Island Press.
- ^ The World's Water, Volume 7: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, by Peter H. Gleick et al. [ISBN 1597269999], Island Press.
[edit] External links
- Pacific Institute
- The World's Water — a water-related website maintained by the Pacific Institute
- Sustainability organisations
- Sustainable development
- Water development and sustainability
- Research institutes in the United States
- Research institutes in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Political and economic think tanks in the United States
- Environmental organizations based in California
- Non-profit organizations based in California
- Organizations based in Oakland, California
- Environmental research institutes
