Access to water is a fundamental climate change issue in North America and internationally. It is related to significant political, social, and ecological struggles that indigenous peoples face, and governments and courts so far have done little to address these inequities.

Climate change has important implications for the management and conservation of natural resources and public lands. The federal agencies responsible for managing these resources have generally recognized that considerations pertaining to climate change adaptation should be incorporated into existing planning processes, yet this topic is still treated as an afterthought in many planning documents. Only a few federal agencies have published guidance on how managers should consider climate change impacts and their management implications.

In Alaska Oil & Gas Ass’n v. Pritzker the Ninth Circuit upheld a rule listing two species of seals as “threatened” under the ESA based on climate change projections and associated habitat loss from reduction of sea ice. The listing rule concluded that the loss of sea ice over shallow waters in the Arctic would leave the Pacific bearded seal subspecies endangered by 2095.

Aerial drones are emerging as an effective tool for environmental monitoring and enforcement because of their ability to reach areas that would be otherwise inaccessible or cost-prohibitive. However, the regulatory framework has not developed as fast as the technology, raising concerns. As EPA and other agencies consider using drones to monitor industrial sites and farmland, many landowners claim it would be an invasion of privacy. Using drones for inspections also raises legal questions about information obtained from drone flyovers and the associated evidentiary requirements.

The rise of high-volume hydraulic fracturing has been accompanied by a suite of environmental and social concerns, including potential water and air contamination, greenhouse gas emissions, health effects, and community disruptions. Concerned over these negative environmental impacts, individuals and communities have turned to the law to restrict oil and natural gas production.

Heightened awareness of climate change has inspired institutional investors to divest from fossil fuels. At the same time, investors have pushed for a new sustainable energy economy with socially and environmentally responsible investments. This fossil fuel divestment and investment in sustainable and socially responsible businesses will become a powerful driver of change, and will promote climate justice by taking a human-centered approach to climate change and safeguarding the rights of present and future generations.

In a previous Comment, 46 ELR 11024, the authors examined the nexus between “willpower” and “ambition” in the context of the Paris Agreement, and identified key elements of an integrated, systematic, and strategic treatment of each through law and policy.

This Article highlights the role that national judiciaries worldwide have played in developing the field of “climate law.” It focuses on some of the key lawsuits from civil and common-law jurisdictions that may influence climate law beyond their borders, including climate mitigation and adaptation cases as well as transnational climate cases. In particular, it considers the procedural tools and interpretive principles that judges have employed to decide novel legal issues presented by climate litigation.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a fundamentally important part of the legal systems in both the United States and China. In this Article, the authors compare and contrast the development of EIA in the two countries, including (1) an introduction to EIA in China, (2) the U.S. experience with EIA, (3) challenges to EIA in China, and (4) the latest development of EIA in China. They conclude that with a series of proactive actions taken by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2015-16 has been a milestone in the development of the EIA process in China.

The express mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System “is to administer a national network of lands and waters for conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats within the United States.” But the establishment of individual refuges has not always focused on achieving a genuine network of conservation lands.