Cynthia Harris_ELI

Cynthia R. Harris

Director of Tribal Programs
Environmental Law Institute

Cynthia R. Harris is the Director of Tribal Programs and Deputy Director of the Center for State, Tribal, and Local Environmental Programs at ELI. Her projects at ELI focus on tribal and Indigenous issues, climate change adaptation and mitigation, green infrastructure, water quality and conservation, toxic torts, and plastic waste and product life-cycle management. Ms. Harris was the leading legal researcher in a multi-year project studying federal/Indigenous co-management of subsistence marine resources in the United States and Canadian Arctic, and developed model regulations and bylaws governing operation of a Feedback Grievance and Response Mechanism for REDD+ implementation in Liberia. She currently coordinates ELI’s project team administering the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN), a US Environmental Protection Agency Compliance Assistance Center, and is editor of a respected treatise on federal environmental law, Law of Environmental Protection. Ms. Harris received her juris doctor at New York University School of Law and is co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Native American Resources Committee. She resides in Southern California.