National, state, local, and tribal governments can strengthen their communities by updating and leveraging existing laws and regulations to address hazards amplified by climate change. When thoughtfully designed and implemented, legal tools can help communities reduce their exposure to climate risks, create economic incentives for proactive climate adaptation action, and establish funding mechanisms for resilience. ELI analyzes current statutory and regulatory frameworks to guide government decision-making and identifies avenues for bolstering resilience in new policy development.
Adapting to sea level rise raises significant legal questions for local governments, especially in California. This report concisely summarizes the legal risks and administrative hurdles associated with different adaptation strategies in order to facilitate informed decisionmaking. An Executive Summary to the full report is also available.
One of the greatest impacts of climate change on the Chesapeake Bay watershed will be stormwater management. This report examines and addresses the potential legal obstacles and describes the most promising pathways within the existing legal framework. For state and municipal leaders looking to go even further, the report recommends specific actions that legislative and regulatory bodies can take to modify the current stormwater management regime so as to more easily incorporate pragmatic consideration of climate change impacts. A fact sheet on the report is available here.
Over the past several years, scientists have begun to examine and describe comprehensively how indoor air quality (IAQ) may be affected by a changing climate. This report reviews state policies addressing three residential IAQ issues discussed in the recent scientific literature: wildfire smoke; dampness and mold; and the effect of home energy efficiency upgrades on IAQ. The report describes in detail current state laws, regulations, and other policies, and highlights approaches for consideration by other jurisdictions. By taking action to reduce indoor exposures, states have an opportunity to put in place policies that not only prepare for anticipated increased future risks, but also reap considerable health and economic benefits in the near term.
In partnership with the Alliance for Water Efficiency, ELI released a scorecard in 2017 that “reviewed, scored, [and] graded states for laws supporting water conservation and efficiency. […] Though based on a 16-question survey, the 2017 update is an expansion of [an earlier] 2012 edition; the underlying survey includes three new questions and a series of sub-questions for more complex topic areas. The goal of these changes was to develop a deeper understanding of legal frameworks supporting water conservation and efficiency, and climate resiliency planning.
This guidebook identifies common factors that influence the success of water policies or programs in the prior appropriation context, and provides examples of each factor to further clarify the issue. The guidebook is intended to help decision-makers at the state and local levels develop new policies and programs that are best tailored to navigate potential obstacles to achieving the desired outcomes. It also is intended to serve as an aid for reviewing successful policies and programs elsewhere to determine whether conditions in a new location are sufficiently similar to those of the original location to replicate the results.
In Western Water in the 21st Century: Policies and Programs that Stretch Supplies in a Prior Appropriation World, ELI identifies and explains illustrative examples of reforms from across the West with the potential to:
- Reduce the active disincentives against reducing water use and supporting future supplies by adding to the definition of “beneficial use” or exempting more activities from forfeiture and abandonment;
- Allow the use of conserved water (from reductions in consumption and evaporative losses) beyond what is permitted in the water right; or
- Accelerate the transfer process, particularly for short-term transfers.
The Handbook also addresses the circumstances under which the policies and programs arose and their results (in the view of those familiar with their application).
This Article examines the various ways countries throughout the world have started to incorporate considerations of climate change adaptation into their framework environmental laws, implementing regulations, and other binding instruments. The authors identify seven particularly important categories of adaptation provisions—assessment and science, planning, EIA, disaster preparedness and response, funding, coordination through creation of special committees and expert groups, and monitoring and evaluation of adaptation measures—and offer their reflections on practical considerations.
This Resource Manual is a call to use available legal tools, ranging from laws to policies, to adapt biodiversity management to better withstand the effects of climate change. Written for resource managers, policymakers, scientists, academics, civil society groups, and others affected by climate change, it explains how legal frameworks can be adapted to meet changing climate conditions that threaten biodiversity protection.
