Authors:Wam; Rachel Abstract: While climate change impacts all countries around the world, many of the most vulnerable countries are not just the lowest historical greenhouse gas emitters, but also have the least financial capacity to deal with climate loss and damage. It is thus a matter of climate justice to set up an effective loss and damage fund, which provides fast finance following extreme weather orc limate-related disaster events, and funding to address the negative impacts of slow-onset climate events such as sea level rise.Although the recent COP28 finally operationalized a loss and damage fund, this Article explores how it remains voluntary and inadequate. This Article elaborates on the justifications, background and weaknesses of the current loss and damage regime, before proposing some solutions. This Article argues that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”) is an effective tool to ensure mandatory cooperation and contribution to a loss and damage fund, given... PubDate: Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +000
Authors:Sotir; Grayon William Abstract: Deep sea mining (DSM) is an increasingly controversial yet seemingly inevitable next step in humankind’s collective march toward a greener future. Advocates for DSM insist that the bounties of the ocean floor will help us mitigate the harms of climate change. Critics caution that a strong profit motive has made us careless and that the seemingly inconsequential damages apparent to DSM threaten even greater second-order consequences, not least of which is the elimination of various marine ecosystems. Beyond environmental risks, there exist major ethical concerns about the global distribution of licenses to harvest these underwater metals given that they are overwhelmingly located in international waters. Should mineral rights be distributed in accordance with some objective scheme for the benefit of all humanity, or is the seafloor to become the new “Wild West” where private interests reap all rewards' What of oft-overlooked Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral practices are more... PubDate: Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +000
Authors:Stipanov; Kristen Abstract: This Comment tells the story of how California’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) has been applied in Owens Valley. Owens Valley, called Payahuunadü by the Native Paiute and Shoshone people, is the source of the Los Angeles Aqueduct system that exports both surface water and groundwater to Los Angeles. Los Angeles’s involvement in the region led to SGMA’s half-exemption of Owens Valley Groundwater Basin where all portions of the groundwater basin underlying Los Angeles-owned land is exempt from the Act. This Comment explores how this half-exemption was included in SGMA, describes what it means for local groundwater governance, and details California’s Department of Water Resources’ shifting approach to Owens Valley that most recently weakened SGMA’s protections for the region.This Comment makes direct recommendations to state and local agencies with the goal of better leveraging SGMA to protect Owens Valley Groundwater Basin. SGMA’s explicit protections... PubDate: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +000
Authors:Carey; Matthew Edward Abstract: First, this paper will describe what forever chemicals are and the damage these compounds inflict. This paper will then explore what a CERCLA NRD assessment is: a tool to protect the public from chemicals like PFAS. The goals of NRD assessments can be tied back to the Public Trust: a sovereign holding natural resources in public trust for the citizenry. After briefly discussing pending federal regulatory action, which would list PFOA and PFOS as hazardous and thus pull them under CERCLA’s jurisdiction, this paper will propose two potential solutions to the problems trustees face when asserting NRD claims. To illustrate these problems and their proposed solutions, this paper uses the Florida marine environment and one of the oldest and most treasured natural resources in the animal kingdom, the alligator, as a muse.The first solution the paper proses is that Congress amend CERCLA to exempt public or municipal wastewater treatment facilities and waste management facilities... PubDate: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +000
Authors:González; Luis Abstract: This Comment looks at the ways in which environmental law can be used to both delay the opening of new immigration detention centers and shut down existing centers. This Comment is not advocating for unhousing undocumented folks, nor is it advocating for NIMBYist exclusion by white communities. At its core, the detention of migrants is wrong. The separation of families is wrong. Profiting off other people’s pain is wrong. Although this Comment discusses environmental law as an avenue of resistance, this Comment is part of a movement that asks for a complete reorganization and abolition of the United States’ current immigration system. Additionally, although this piece primarily highlights legal strategies, it is important to recognize the hard work of the advocates on the ground, who are protesting and taking direct action against detention centers and prisons. All the cases discussed below were the result of the combined labor of direct action and legal challenges. Failure... PubDate: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +000
Authors:Tanigawa Lum; A. Uʻilani Abstract: This Article explores Kānaka Maoli’s (Native Hawaiians’) work to re-center principles of Indigenous biocultural resource management in decisionmaking to more fully realize restorative environmental justice. To do so, it contextualizes ʻāina (land and natural resources) as Kānaka Maoli’s natural counterpart. Deploying a contextual inquiry framework to preserve and advance self-determination for Hawaiʻi’s Indigenous People, this practical approach begins with cultural context as a foundation, articulates the historical injustices and impacts of colonialism, and in particular, examines the work of the Waiʻoli Valley Taro Hui in the wake of devastating climate impacts, including flooding, to design a roadmap for future decisionmaking. In partnership with the William S. Richardson School of Law’s clinical courses, the Hui’s dilligent advocacy gives life to constitutionally protected traditional and customary rights in Hawaiʻi that have been excercised since time immemorial. Their work... PubDate: Thu, 9 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Authors:Quist; Sofie Elise
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Krafcik, Annika Abstract: The United Nations Human Rights Committee’s 2022 Decision, Daniel Billy et al. v. Australia (“Daniel Billy” or “the Decision”), brought by Indigenous Peoples residing on the Torres Strait Islands off the coast of Australia, is the first case before an international human rights body to find that a State’s failure to adopt timely climate adaptation measures violates the human rights of Indigenous Peoples living in that State. In Daniel Billy, the Human Rights Committee (“the Committee”) found a violation of the right to privacy, family, and home and the right to culture; but not the right to life. Drawing on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“the Covenant”), the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and recent developments in the field of climate change and international human rights law (IHRL), this Comment discusses the significance and the limitations of Daniel Billy regarding the... PubDate: Thu, 9 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Authors:Rusnak; Christopher
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Rusnak, Evelyn Abstract: This Article examines the important role old growth forests play in mitigating climate change and argues there now exists both a social imperative and legal basis for our courts to recognize legal rights for these precious few remaining ancient ecosystems.The Article is written from a unique perspective. Using as context first person accounts from one of the authors’ two months living in an old growth forest and the events leading to her arrest during the largest civil disobedience protest in the history of Canada, the Article examines the disconnect between the current state of the law and science-based concerns about climate change. The Article describes one land defender’s thoughts and feelings as she contemplates the ancient ecosystem she seeks to protect, learns from First Nations’ Elders and encounters the Royal Canadian Mounted Police forces and frustrated loggers. The authors then present a legal analysis that addresses the science of old growth forests’ crucial... PubDate: Thu, 9 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Authors:Díaz Chacón; Federico Abstract: Indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change, as their livelihoods and ways of life depend heavily on natural resources impacted by climate variability and extremes. In addition, global climate governance and the implementation of climate projects often have damaging consequences on Indigenous peoples, including restricting their access to lands and resources. In this context, REDD+ as an international mechanism under the UNFCCC aimed at mitigating climate change through forest management, has raised concerns about its impact on the human rights of Indigenous peoples. To date, studies have shown that the implementation of REDD+ on a domestic level has had both negative and positive impacts in Indigenous peoples’ rights. Drawn from this tension, this article examines the relationship between the REDD+ mechanism and the rights of Indigenous peoples, focusing on its domestic operationalization in Chile.Chile, with a vast forest... PubDate: Thu, 9 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Authors:Meek; Katherine Abstract: This Article will first evaluate the viability of rolling easements as a tool to combat rising sea levels in US coastal communities. Then, it will propose how coastal municipalities can use the rolling easement doctrine established under the Texas Open Beaches Act as a model for balancing dual responsibilities of protecting private property rights and safeguarding public access to coastal waters. Finally, it will consider applications of rolling easements to states positioned along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, namely in New Jersey and California, where sea levels are expected to rise considerably in upcoming decades and profoundly affect the lives of tens of millions of Americans. PubDate: Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +000
Authors:Honig; Jesse
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Takacs, David Abstract: Various populations of wolves have been listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since the 1970s. But no listed species has aroused, and continues to arouse, so much controversy as the Northern Gray wolf. “Wolf law” is unique, odd, and often counterproductive—at least if the goal is to ensure the species’ survival and revitalize damaged ecosystems upon which healthy human communities depend. This Article identifies some of the unique characteristics of wolf law, analyzes how and why it has developed in this strange way, and proposes some more sensible ways for healthy human communities to coexist with healthy wolf communities.We analyze how politics and human needs—rather than the needs of the wolves—have driven the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s approach to wolf management, often to the detriment of the species it is legally obliged to protect. After reviewing the fundaments of the Endangered Species Act, we trace the history of Northern... PubDate: Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +000
Authors:Mickel; Gabriella Abstract: Unnatural disasters, such as floods and wildfires, are making many areas difficult to inhabit. For relocation to unfold in a safer and more equitable way, it must be done in a manner that (1) aligns with community values in each locality, (2) navigates legal barriers to managed retreat, and (3) creates blue-sky funding for adaptation, including managed retreat planning and implementation. This paper argues that developers continuing to build in climate vulnerable areas could and should help cover the risk of their actions. Part I lays out the legal importance of planning for retreat, as well as the need for initial funding for community-level planning and experienced personnel. Few scholars have explored options for municipalities to fund difficult conversations about and initial steps towards managing retreat. Thus, Part II explores how community benefit agreements between communities and developers in climate-vulnerable areas could play a role in bridging the gap between research... PubDate: Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +000
Authors:Ehrman; Monika U. Abstract: This Article examines the role that property customs played in the development of American mining law. It analyzes how small communities of international miners developed systems of property governance and how those customary systems led to the shaping of mineral ownership and mining legislation in America.Natural resource communities often rely on custom as a form of governance and assertion of property ownership. Resource-based knowledge transfer and relative isolation from established legal systems ensured these customs flourished. But the legislation of these natural resource property customs does not necessarily promote a governance framework that benefits all stakeholders.This Article begins with a study of mining communities and how a uniques ystem of property ownership flowing from natural resource customs encouraged mineral development and wealth accumulation. These customs were developed by global mining communities over centuries and even millennia.... PubDate: Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +000
Authors:Manes; Kelsey Abstract: Small island developing states (SIDS) are experiencing climate change not just as a threat to their lifestyle, but as an immediate threat to their existence. Climate change poses unique risks to these islands, due to their small size, low-lying nature, lack of infrastructure, and minimal adaptation resources. Furthermore, climate change impacts the sea more than most other ecosystems. Ninety percent of global warming is occurring in the world’s oceans. Because SIDS are exceptionally dependent on the ocean for natural resources and various sources of income, their continued existence is dependent upon both fighting climate change and protecting oceans.This paper will argue that the international tools being used to protect the world’s oceans can also be effective tools to fight climate change. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to intensify ocean warming and irreparably harm ocean resources, SIDS can argue that these emissions violate internationa ltreaties and customary... PubDate: Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +000
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