Owen J. Lynch is a fellow at the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) in Washington, DC, USA. Previously he worked as a senior attorney and managing director of the Law and Communities and Human Rights and Environment programs at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) in Washington, DC, and a Senior Associate at the World Resources Institute. Owen has been actively engaged for three decades in fostering public interest law careers in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Owen's substantive focus is on environmental justice and sustainable development. His area of special expertise is on community-based property rights (CBPRs) and their legal recognition in national and international law. Owen sits on the executive council of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) (1998-2012 terms). He is the author of many scholarly articles on indigenous and other local communities, legal history, and CBPRs, as well as articles written with policy advocacy in mind. Owen earned a B.A. degree cum laude from St. Johns University (Minnesota)in 1975, a J.D. from The Catholic University of America in 1980, and a Master of Laws and Doctor of Laws degrees with honors from Yale University in 1985 and 1992. He can be reached at olynch@earthlink.net