Polar ice caps are melting, corals in tropical seas are dying, mountain species are being forced to retreat to higher elevations, and low-lying communities are being washed away by storms and floods. Global scientific consensus confirms that we are experiencing climate change, human actions are driving that change, and ecosystems and human society must adapt to these alterations. Although questions remain about the timing, location, and severity of the impacts, legal, institutional, and policy responses to climate change need to be crafted and implemented now.

ELI is harnessing our nearly 40 years of experience in developing and implementing environmental laws, policies, and institutions to address the multiple threats posed by climate change. ELI's Ocean, Invasive Species, and International Waters Programs are already developing tools and building capacity to respond to climate change. By engaging a broad range of stakeholders in research, capacity building, and technical and legal assistance, we seek to mitigate the causes of climate change and strengthen capacity to adapt to climate change.

Through our climate change work, ELI seeks to enhance the resilience of communities and ecosystems around the world. In particular, ELI programs:

• Strengthen Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change. ELI is preparing for climate change impacts by strengthening capacity to adapt to climate change through effective laws, policies, institutions, and management practices.
• Promote Climate Justice. Building on ELI's long history of advancing environmental justice, ELI is working to ensure that any proposals to reduce greenhouse gases result in an equitable distribution of the environmental and economic impacts of climate controls.
• Integrate Climate Change into Invasive Species Strategies. ELI is striving to improve management of invasive species in the context of a changing climate by developing recommendations for robust management and policy decisions under changing conditions.
• Advance Technologies for Climate Change. ELI is improving legal and institutional frameworks governing the development, access, transfer, and use of technologies to meet the challenges of climate change.
• Answer Constitutional Challenges to New Climate Change Initiatives. ELI anticipates, publicizes, and defends against constitutional attacks on emerging laws and initiatives designed to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight the effects of global climate change.