Land Use Prof Blog

Urban Gun Violence

Today I stumbled across this compelling Associated Press story about how urban advocates have very mixed feelings about how the Newtown shootings have seemingly changed the national debate around gun control.

The moment also is causing some to reflect on the sudden change of heart. Why now? Why weren't we moved to act by the killing of so many other children, albeit one by one, in urban areas?

Certainly, Newtown is a special case, 6- and 7-year-olds riddled with bullets inside the sanctuary of a classroom. Even in a nation rife with violence, where there have been three other mass slayings since July and millions enjoy virtual killing via video games, the nature of this tragedy is shocking.

But still: "There's a lot of talk now about we have to protect our children. We have to protect all of our children, not just the ones living in the suburbs," said Tammerlin Drummond, a columnist for the Oakland Tribune.

In her column Monday, Drummond wrote about 7-year-old Heaven Sutton of Chicago, who was standing next to her mother selling candy when she was killed in the crossfire of a gang shootout. Also in Chicago, which has been plagued by a recent spike in gun violence: 6-year-old Aaliyah Shell was caught in a drive-by while standing on her front porch; and 13-year-old Tyquan Tyler was killed when a someone in a car shot into a group of youths outside a party.

Food for thought.

Jamie Baker Roskie

 

Prevent Deforestation and You Get Reforestation

Sometimes it is the studies with obvious sounding results that are the most helpful. A recent study of protected forest areas in Costa Rica examined levels of regrowth in those areas. Previously studies had really only assessed whether protecting areas prevented degradation. Happily, the study reveals that not only do you prevent deforestation and degradation by setting up protection areas, you also get some reforestation and improved forest health. Interestingly, the results did not vary by level or method of protection. Just setting aside the land made reforestation more likely. (Unless you are at a university or employer with access, you may have to pay for the article, which will appear in the next edition of Conservation Letters.) Abstract Below --

Kwaw S. Andam, Paul J. Ferraro, & Merlin M. Hanauer, The Effects of Protected Area Systems on Ecosystem Restoration: a quasi-experimental design to estimate the impact of Costa Rica's protected area system on forest regrowth, CONSSERVATION LETTERS (2012)

Global efforts to protect forest biodiversity and ecosystem services rely heavily on protected areas.   Although these areas primarily aim to prevent losses from deforestation and degradation, they can also contribute to restoration. Previous evaluations of protected area impacts focus on avoided deforestation and fires. In contrast, we focus on the additional regrowth induced by Costa Rica's renowned system of parks and reserves. We use a quasi-experimental empirical design to control for confounding baseline characteristics that affect both regrowth and the assignment of protection. Between 1960 and 1997, an estimated 13.5% of previously unforested lands inside protected areas reforested because they were afforded protection. The level of additional regrowth does not vary by the strictness of protection. As in previous studies of protected area impacts on avoided deforestation, estimators that do not account for non-random assignment of protection can overstate protected areas’ impacts on regrowth by nearly double.

 

- Jessie Owley

More than enough farmland?

Apparently, new studies are arguing that we have more than enough farmland worldwide to feed everyone. The conclusion then becomes that we can start converting some of that farmland to protected natural space. Perhaps it is because the study is assessing farmland worldwide (instead of considering its distribution), but these numbers seem hard to accept. (also unclear if the report fully considers climate change implications). If this assessment is correct, what should that mean for all the programs across the nation working to protect ag land?

by the way, the UN has reached a very different conclusion assessing the need for many millions of addition acres.

Jessie Owley

Environmental Law Collective essays on sustainability

There's something exciting happening over at the Environmental Law Prof Blog, and as it implicates two of the bloggers on this blog, it seemed worthy of a re-post here.  The introduction to the series of posts is reproduced below:

For the next three weeks, we are going to be doing something a little different here at Environmental Law Profs. We are going to be posting a series of 15 short essays all addressing the theme of sustainability and climate change. These essays that will appear each week day from now until Christmas are the product of discussion of the Environmental Law Collaborative.

A few hardy souls, which include some of the bloggers here at Environmental Law Profs, formed the Environmental Law Collaborative with the goal of engaging environmental law scholars in the thorny issues of the day. In the summer of 2012, scholars gathered in the woods of Connecticut to debate the value of scholarly research and the potential of legal literature to effect social and environmental change. With visions of Airlie House and armed with the principles of collaboration and the necessities of ecological fragility, the group sought to foster progress toward an adaptive, conscious, and equitable governance of actions that impact local and global ecologies. 

This inaugural Workshop addressed the re-conceptualization of sustainability in the age of climate change. Climate change is forcing developments in the norms of political, social, economic, and technological standards. As climate change continues to dominate many fields of research, sustainability is at a critical moment that challenges its conceptual coherence. Sustainability has never been free from disputes over its meaning and has long struggled with the difficulties of simultaneously implementing the “triple-bottom line” components of environmental, economic, and social well-being. Climate change, however, suggests that the context for sustainable decision-making is shifting. Accordingly, the Workshop focused on examining the re-conceptualization of sustainability in the age of climate change, including (but not limited to) framing the term in climate change discussions; reaching sustainable practices across disciplines such as law, economics, ethics, and the hard sciences; and conceptualizing the role of sustainability in adaptation and resiliency preparation.

The event produced an intensive and collaborative assessment of sustainability in the age of climate change. The essays that will be appearing this month examine the process of adapting the principles and application of sustainability to the demands of climate change, including (but not limited to) framing the term sustainability in climate-change discussions; coordinating sustainable practices across disciplines such as law, economics, ethics, and the hard sciences; and conceptualizing the role of sustainability in formulating adaptation and resiliency strategies. Furthermore, these essays also contemplate the role of law and legal systems in crafting effective climate-change-adaptation strategies and consider feasible strategies in the context of specific examples.

In the coming weeks, we will post contributions from Rebecca Bratspies, Michael Burger, Betsy Burleson, Robin Craig, David Driesen, Alexandra Harrington, Keith Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Katy Kuh, Stephen Miller, Pat Parenteau, Jessie Owley, Melissa Powers, Jonathan Rosenbloom and Shannon Roesler.

Please tune in, comment freely and help us further the conversation on sustainability and climate change. 

The line-up of blog posts is expected to be: 

Monday 12/03/12 - Katrina Fischer Kuh

Tuesday 12/04/12 - Alexandra R. Harrington

Wednesday 12/05/12 - Jonathan Rosenbloom

Thursday 12/06/12 - Melissa Powers 

Friday 12/7/12 - Stephen R. Miller

Monday 12/10/12 - Patrick Parenteau

Tuesday 12/11/12 - Jessica Owley

Wednesday 12/12/12 - Shannon M. Roesler

Thursday 12/13/12 - Elizabeth Burleson

Friday 12/14/12 - David M. Driesen

Monday 12/17/12 - Rebecca M. Bratspies

Tuesday 12/18/12 - Keith H. Hirokawa

Wednesday 12/19/12 - Robin Kundis Craig

Thursday 12/20/12 - Sarah Krakoff

Friday 12/21/12 - Michael Burger

Saturday 12/22/12 – Closing Post with SSRN link

Check it out if you have the time! 

Stephen R. Miller