Environmental Law Prof Blog

Perpectives on Risk

Today's post is a short one, as I am in transit to my new home at Wake Forest.  But this recent post by David Vogel on RegBlog offers interesting food for thought.   His new book, the Politics of Precaution, considered why precautionary approaches to regulation have shifted:  while the US used to take this approach, today the EU is the leader in precautionary regulation. I wonder whether he addresses the argument that precaution depends on one's perspective.  That is, addressing one type of risk often moves other types of risks to the forefront.  One thing is for certain:  I'm putting the book on my summer reading list. 

- Emily Meazell

Live Blogging from Silent Spring @ 50

This morning, I will be blogging live from the University of Utah law school's 17th Annual Stegner Center Conference, "Silent Spring at 50: The Legacy of Rachel Carson." As usual, the conference offers a stellar line-up.

If you want more, you can watch the symposium live (or, later, view the archived version).

The morning session is entitled "The Edge of the Sea: Rachel Carson and the Protection of the Marine World" and features the following speakers:

"Heeding the Signs of a Changing Ocean" -- Susan Avery, President and Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution:

• "Every second breath you take is provided by the ocean."


• "We have entered a new geologic age -- the anthropocene era."


• "The Gulf and other coastal waters have long been a dumping ground for human activities."


• "One thing that I think Rachel would be pleased about is that science [is now] at the stage where you can predict the emergence of harmful algal blooms."


• NOAA "has begun now issuing seasonal red tide alerts in the Northeast."


• "I really think it's harder to get into the ocean than to space. We probably know more about the surface of the moon and Mars than we do the ocean."


• "It's not funded, but we have a national ocean policy."

"Corporate Ocean Responsibility: Business, Sustainable Use and Stewardship of the Marine World" -- Paul Holthus, founding Executive Director, World Ocean Council

• "If we think about where we are now with the oceans, and what Rachel Carson would think today, I think she we be partly despairing and partly hopeful."


• "The economic benefit of the ocean is huge, and it is just beginning to be documented."


• "Everyone has a stake in the oceans."


• "One of the keys" to ocean management "is the realization that best practices by an individual corporation is not enough . . . . Collaboration is needed . . . . The problem is that there has not been a structural process to" bring ocean industries together.


• "Thinking to the future . . . , these are the kind of cross-sectoral things that . . . businesses can get involved in and be part of the solution and not just part of the problem:" (1) ocean governance -- Convention on Biological Diversity, (2) marine spatial planning, (3) regional ocean business councils, (4) smart ocean / smart industries.


• "Marine mammal issues will increasingly affect marine activities, especially shipping."


• "We need to balance that growing need for resources and food and energy with those areas that already have resources."


• "Better data means better modeling and better forecasting," which fundamentally helps businesses, "let alone leading to better environmental management."

"Challenges for Ocean Governance in a Climate Change Era" -- Robin Kundis Craig, Attorneys' Title Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Environmental Programs, Florida State University College of Law

• "I think what we should really be thinking about is how to keep those ecosystems healthy, functioning, and resilient rather than collapsing."


• "The problem is we have one ocean but many governments."


• "As much as we'd like to treat the ocean as one place, there are serious problems for doing that under our current legal system."


• "Marine spatial planning was introduced, internationally at least, before governments were really thinking about climate change. . . . It is not a panacea. . . . It will not really help with climate change mitigation . . . ."


• "Marine spatial planning can help with climate change adaptation, and it" can become "more climate change adaptable."


• "Ocean acidification is the technical fix for anyone who wants to [address] climate change" in the oceans.


• Australia has a climate change adaptation plan for the Great Barrier Reef. In part, it seeks to "fill knowledge gaps," "identify critical ecosystem thresholds," and translate that into management practices.


• "Australia is also using the Reef as a reason to engage in climate change mitigation."
• An example of dynamic zoning possibilities is TurtleWatch, which predicts on a daily basis where sea turtles will be so that fishers can avoid them (and thus prevent closure of the fishery).

-Lincoln Davies

This Year's Top Environmental Law Articles

Each summer, the Land Use and Environmental Law Review reprints articles chosen as the top in the field for the prior year.  The articles are voted on by environmental law professors and practitioners.  The volume is co-edited by Dan Tarlock and David Callies.

Word has it that this year's articles have been selected.  It's a list full of fine scholarship from leading and emerging professors in the area:

• Camacho, Alejandro E. Assisted migration: redefining nature and natural resource law under climate change. 27 Yale J. on Reg. 171-255 (2010). 


• Craig, Robin Kundis. “Stationarity is dead”—long live transformation: five principles for climate change adaption law. 34 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 9-73 (2010).


• Freyfogle, Eric T. Property and liberty. 34 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 75-118 (2010).


• Klass, Alexandra B. and Elizabeth J. Wilson. Climate change, carbon sequestration, and property rights. 2010 U. Ill. L. Rev. 363-428.


• Owen, Dave. Probabilities, planning failures, and environmental law. 84 Tul. L. Rev. 265-335 (2009).


• Ruhl, J.B. and James Salzman. Climate change, dead zones, and massive problems in the administrative state: a guide for whittling away. 98 Cal. L. Rev. 59-120 (2010).


• Salkin, Patricia E. Sustainability and land use planning: greening state and local land use plans and regulations to address climate change challenges and preserve resources for future generations. 34 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol’y Rev. 121-170 (2009).


• Sax, Joseph L. 5th Annual Norman Williams Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law, February 5, 2009. The property rights sweepstakes: has anyone held the winning ticket? 34 Vt. L. Rev. 157-172 (2009).


• Serkin, Christopher. Existing uses and the limits of land use regulations. 84 N.Y.U.L. Rev. 1222-1291 (2009).


• Wagner, Wendy, Elizabeth Fisher and Pasky Pascual. Misunderstanding models in environmental and public health regulation. 18 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 293-356 (2010).

Congrats to everyone whose work was selected!

-Lincoln Davies

Sustainable Fisheries Law

I teach Sustainable Natural Resources Law in the spring.  Here's a new publication brought to my attention by Gerd Winter that looks like a great fit for introducing students to the fisheries area.  A slightly edited summary of the book courtesy of Gerd appears below:

Towards Sustainable Fisheries Law

As most of the fish resources in the world's oceans are constantly depleting, the development of effective and efficient instruments of fisheries management becomes crucial. Against this background, the IUCN
Environmental Law Programme proudly presents its latest publication in the IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper Series, edited by Gerd Winter, a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, which focuses on a legal approach towards sustainable and equitable management of fish resources.

This publication is a result of an interdisciplinary endeavour with worldwide participation studying multiple demands on coastal zones and viable solutions for resource use with emphasis on fisheries. The book consists of six case studies including Indonesia, Kenya, Namibia, Brazil, Mexico and the EU, which are preceded by an analysis of the international law requirements concerning fisheries management. The final part of the book summarizes the case studies and proposes a methodology for diagnosing problems in existing management systems and developing proposals for reform.

Towards Sustainable Fisheries Law thus helps the reader to learn more about the international legal regime for fisheries management that is currently in place, improves the understanding of the institutional and legal problems related to fisheries management that countries face at the national level, and provides guidance for sustainable use of fish resources through a "legal clinic" for fisheries management.

The book was published as IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper No. 74. Free copies can be ordered at the IUCN office or downloaded (2,05 MB) from the IUCN website at: Toward Sustainable Fisheries Law

Elizabeth Royte's new blog -- more on bottled water than you'd ever want to know

Go visit Elizabeth Royte's new blog: Water. waste. and whatever   She's got more information on bottled water than anyone else in the world -- remember, she's the author of Bottlemania.