Law Commons^™

Enhancing Biodiversity On Working Agricultural Lands Through Environmental Mitigation And Offsets: Opportunities In Australia And The United States, Matthew Roach

Matthew Roach

Australia has extensive experience in managing working agricultural lands to enhance biodiversity. State and Commonwealth agencies are increasingly using environmental offsets as a tool to manage the impacts of development. However, working agricultural lands are generally not considered a source of potential environmental offsets, as agencies prefer that land used for offsets be wholly set aside for environmental management purposes with limited or no agricultural activities. This contrasts with the United States, where efforts are underway to use working agricultural lands for mitigation. This paper proposes that working agricultural lands can be used for environmental offsets under the Environment Protection …

Take It To The Limit: The Illegal Regulation Prohibiting The Take Of Any Threatened Species Under The Endangered Species Act, Jonathan Wood

Jonathan Wood

The Endangered Species Act forbids the “take” – any activity that adversely affects – any member of an endangered species, but only endangered species. The statute also provides for the listing of threatened species, i.e. species that may become endangered, but protects them only by requiring agencies to consider the impacts of their projects on them. Shortly after the statute was adopted, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service reversed Congress’ policy choice by adopting a regulation that forbids the take of any threatened species. The regulation is not authorized by the Endangered Species Act, but …

Land Tenure Security In Colombia: For Whom? What For? The Relativity Of The Property Rights Regime In The Context Of Transitional Justice And Economic Globalization, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

This paper intends to illustrate current challenges around the conceptualization and articulation of land tenure security in Colombia. This situation is explained by the existence of tensions between divergent normative rationales within the country’s policy agenda. On the one hand, the implementation of a transitional justice project intended to achieve sustainable peace in the country through the compensation of victims and execution of structural adjustments in the rural side. And on the other, the systematic conclusion of international investment agreements so as to attract foreign investment by means of the provision of a stable legal environment. It is contended that …

How Local Is Local?: A Response To Professor David B. Spence's The Political Economy Of Local Vetoes, Joshua P. Fershee

Joshua P Fershee

Professor Fershee responds to Professor David B. Spence’s article about local hydraulic fracturing bans: The Political Economy of Local Vetoes, 93 Texas L. Rev. 351 (2015). Professor Spence notes that the shale oil and gas debate provides an example of “an age-old political problem that the law is called upon to solve: the conflict between an intensely held minority viewpoint and a less intense, contrary view held by the majority.” In resolving such conflicts, Spence suggests that courts should resolve such “conflicts in ways that encourage states and local governments to regulate in ways that weigh both the costs and …

Deployment Of Geoengineering By The Private And Public Sector: Can The Risks Of Geoengineering Ever Be Effectively Regulated?, Daniela E. Lai

Daniela E Lai

Geoengineering has been described as any large-scale environmental manipulation designed with the purpose of mitigating the effects of climate change without decreasing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Currently there are no specific rules regulating geoengineering activities particularly if geoengineering is deployed in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This article argues that, in order to mitigate the risks of geoengineering, there needs to be effective regulation of its deployment both in international and domestic law. The risks of geoengineering can only be effectively regulated if there is international cooperation between all levels of governments and private individuals involved in the research and development …

Mindful Use: Gandhi's Non-Possessive Property Theory, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION 2

II. ANASAKTIYOGA AND APARIGRAHA IN PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE 4

III. SARVODAYA AND SWADESHI 9

IV. GANDHI’S THEORY OF TRUSTEESHIP AND THEORY OF RIGHTS 15

V. PROPERTY LAW AS PEACE: INTEGRATING GANDHI’S CORE CONCEPTS 21