David Downes
Phone: 202-274-1000
E-mail: ddownes@american.edu
David Downes
is Senior Trade Advisor in the Office
of Policy Analysis at the United
States Department of the
Interior,
in Washington, D.C. He advises and represents the
Department on issues linking natural resource management and
conservation with international trade and investment policy,
and has contributed on
other issues such as wildlife
conservation and alternative
energy. Mr.
Downes is also adjunct associate
professor at the American University's Washington College of
Law. As a vice chair of the International Environmental Law
Committee of the ABA Section of International Law, he edits an annual review of
international environmental law for The International Lawyer.
Before commencing government service, Mr. Downes was Senior Attorney
at the Center for
International Environmental Law
(CIEL), also in Washington, where he created CIEL's biodiversity
program, launched its intellectual property work and helped lead its
trade and environment program. Before
joining CIEL, he practiced law with the
Washington
firm of Steptoe
& Johnson. He received his J.D. cum laude from the
University of
Michigan Law
School and has a B.A. in Philosophy from the
University of Michigan.
Professor Downes teaches a course on the International Law of Biodiversity in the Summer Environmental Law Session.
Professor Downes' Blog
Currently Teaching
Degrees & Universities
- J.D., University of Michigan Law School (cum laude)
- B.A., University of Michigan
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Selected Publications- David Downes, ed., International Legal Developments in Review: International Environmental Law, 42 Intl. Law. __ (forthcoming 2008).
- David R. Downes & Carolyn Deere, Fisheries and Trade: A New Frontier?, in Achieving Sustainable Fisheries (Charlotte de Fontaubert, ed., IUCN 2003).
- David Downes, How Intellectual Property Could Be a Tool to Protect Traditional Knowledge, 25 Colum. J. Envtl. L. 253 (2000).
- David Downes, Integrating Implementation of the Biodiversity Convention and the Rules of the World Trade Organization, (IUCN 1999).
- Nigel Sizer, David Downes, & David Kaimowitz, Tree Trade: Liberalization of International Commerce in Forest Products: Risks and Opportunities, (WRI/CIEL, 1999).
- David Downes, Global Forest Policy and Selected International Instruments: A Preliminary Review, in Assessing the International Forest Regime (Richard G. Tarasofsky, ed., IUCN 1999).
- Richard G. Tarasofsky, & David R. Downes, Global Cooperation on Forests Through International Institutions, in Assessing the International Forest Regime (Richard G. Tarasofsky, ed., IUCN 1999).
- David R. Downes & Braden Penhoet, Effective Dispute Resolution: A Review of Options for Dispute Resolution Mechanisms and Procedures, (WWF-US, 1999).
- David R. Downes & Sarah A. Laird, Community Registries of Biodiversity-Related Knowledge: the Role of Intellectual Property in Managing Access and Benefit Sharing, (UNCTAD, 1999).
- David R. Downes & Sarah A. Laird, Innovative Mechanisms for Sharing Benefits of Biodiversity and Related Knowledge: Case Studies on Geographical Indications and Trademarks, (UNCTAD, 1999).
- David Downes & Matthew Stilwell, The 1999 WTO Review of Life Patenting Under TRIPS, Bridges (English, French & Spanish) (Jan./Feb. 1999) (reprinted in Global Diversity (English & French, 1999) and in Diversity Magazine (Mar. 1999)).
- Susan H. Bragdon & David Downes, Recent Policy Trends and Developments Related to the Conservation, Use and Development of Genetic Resources, (Intl. Plant Genetics Resources Inst., 1998).
- A. Charlotte de Fontaubert, David R. Downes, & Tundi Agardy, Biodiversity in the Seas: Implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity in Marine and Coastal Habitats, 10 Geo. Intl. Envtl. L. Rev. 753 (1998).
- Ian Bowles, David Downes, Dana Clark, & Marianne Guerin-McManus, Encouraging Private Sector Support for Biodiversity Conservation: The Use of Economic Incentives and Legal Tools, 8 Duke Envtl. L. & Policy Forum 209 (1998).
- Dana Clark and David Downes, What Price Biodiversity: Economics and Biodiversity Conservation in the United States, 11 J. Envtl. L. & Litig. 9 (1997).
- Francesca Grifo & David Downes, Agreements for Pharmaceutical Research on Biodiversity: a Checklist of Issues and Basic Principles, in Valuing Local Knowledge: Indigenous People and Intellectual Property Rights (Steven Brush & Doreen Stabinsky, eds., Island Press 1996).
- David Downes, Global Trade, Local Economies and the Biodiversity Convention, in Biodiversity and The Law (William J. Snape, ed., Island Press 1996).
- David Downes, The Convention on Biological Diversity and the GATT, in The Use of Trade Measures In Select Multilateral Environmental Agreements (Robert Housman et al., eds., UNEP 1995).
- David Downes and Chris Wold, Biodiversity Prospecting: Rules of the Game, 44 Bioscience 381 (1994).
- David Downes, Sarah Laird, Christopher Klein, & Bonnie Kramer Carney, Biodiversity Prospecting Contract, in Biodiversity Prospecting: Guidelines for Using Genetic and Biochemical Resources Sustainably and Equitably (Walter V. Reid et al., eds., World Resources Inst. 1993).
- David Downes, New Diplomacy for the Biodiversity Trade: Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Intellectual Property in the Convention on Biological Diversity, 4 Touro J. Transnatl. L. 1 (1993).
- David Downes, Don't Blame It On Rio: Human Rights and the Environment at UNCED, 15 Evntl. Forum (May 1992).
