Laws of Nature

Description

This timely collection written by an interdisciplinary array of law professors, who specialize in legal and policy issues surrounding ecosystem management, and scholars and practitioners in areas such as environmental policy and planning, conservation, economics, and biology explore why ecosystems must be valued and managed in their own right. The importance of ecosystems has been underestimated. We cannot simply hope ecosystems will benefit from legislation focused on other environmental and natural resource protections, such as those for wildlife, trees, air and water. An ecosystem, a community of organisms together with their physical environment, viewed as a system of interacting and interdependent relationships, has its own intricate administrative issues. Edited by Kalyani Robbins, a law professor, The Laws of Nature investigates how ecosystems function, their value to humans and wildlife, and what factors affect ecosystems' survival. This analysis is coupled with cutting-edge theories and regulatory proposals from legal scholars who study ecosystem questions. In the end, a thorough and multi-disciplinary understanding of the importance of ecosystem is presented.

Sujets

• Droit et juridique
• Central

Informations

• Publié par: University of Akron Press
• Date de parution: 19 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781937378356
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Laws of Nature
Elizabeth Reilly, editor, Infinite Hope and Finite Disappointment: The Story of the First Interpreters of the Fourteenth Amendment
Kalyani Robbins, editor, The Laws of Nature: Reflections on the Evolution of Ecosystem Management Law & Policy
The Laws of Nature

Reflections on the Evolution of Ecosystem Management Law & Policy
Edited by Kalyani Robbins

University of Akron Press Akron, Ohio
Copyright © 2013 by The University of Akron Press
All rights reserved • First Edition 2013 • Manufactured in the United States of America. All inquiries and permission requests should be addressed to the Publisher, the University of Akron Press, Akron, Ohio 44325-1703.
17    16    15    14    13            5    4    3    2    1
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
The laws of nature : reflections on the evolution of ecosystem management law and policy / [edited by] Kalyani Robbins.
p. cm. ISBN 978-1-935603-63-4 (pbk.)
1. Ecosystem management—Law and legislation—United States. 2. Conservation of natural resources— Law and legislation—United States. 3. Biodiversity conservation—Law and legislation—United States. 4. Environmental policy—United States. I. Robbins, Kalyani, 1970-
KF5505.L39 2012 346.7304’4—DC23
2012034307
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z 39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). ∞
The Laws of Nature was designed and typeset by Amy Freels, with assistance from Lauren McAndrews. The typeface, Stone Print, was designed by Sumner Stone in 1991. The Laws of Nature was printed on sixty-pound natural and bound by BookMasters of Ashland, Ohio.
Cover photo: Grizzly bear sow and cubs, Yellowstone National Park, by Kim Keating, used with permission.
For Skyler and Maxfield
Contents
Contributors
Part I Understanding and Evaluating Ecosystem Management Thus Far
1 An Ecosystem Management Primer: History, Perceptions, and Modern Definition
Kalyani Robbins
2 Ecosystem-Based Management: An Empirical Assessment
Judith A. Layzer
3 Integrating Law, Policy, and Science in Managing and Restoring Ecosystems
Daniel J. Rohlf
4 Whatever Happened to Ecosystem Management and Federal Lands Planning?
Martin Nie
Part II Letting Theory Inform Practice
5 Ecosystem Services and Ecosystem Management—How Good a Fit?
J.B. Ruhl
6 Ecosystem Management: A Policy-Oriented Jurisprudence Perspective
Susan G. Clark & David N. Cherney
Part III Making Better Use of Existing Federal Law
7 Addition by Subtraction: NEPA Routines as Means to More Systemic Ends
Jamison E. Colburn
8 Restoration and Law in Ecosystem Management
Robert W. Adler
9 Landscape-scale Conservation and Ecosystem Services: Leveraging Federal Policies
Lynn Scarlett & James W. Boyd
Part IV Finding the Right Tools Going Forward
10 Wildlife Conservation, Climate Change, and Ecosystem Management
Robert B. Keiter
11 From Principles to Practice: Developing a Vision and Policy Framework to Make Ecosystem Management a Reality
Sara O’Brien & Sara Vickerman
12 Valuation and Payment for Ecosystem Services as Tools to Improve Ecosystem Management
Deborah McGrath & Travis Greenwalt
Index
Contributors
Robert Adler , James I. Farr Chair in Law and Professor of Law, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. B.A. Johns Hopkins University; J.D. Georgetown University.
James W. Boyd , Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth, Resources for the Future. B.A. University of Michigan; Ph.D. Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania.
Susan G. Clark , Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Adjunct Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Policy Sciences, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Fellow, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University. B.S. Northeastern Oklahoma State College; M.S. University of Wyoming; Ph.D. University of Wisconsin.
David Cherney , Research Affiliate at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Center for Science and Technology Policy Research and Research Associate with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative. B.A. Claremont McKenna College; M.A. Yale University; Ph.D. University of Colorado.
Jamison E. Colburn , Joseph H. Goldstein Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law, Penn State Dickinson School of Law. B.A. State University of New York, Plattsburgh; J.D. Rutgers University; LL.M. Harvard University; J.S.D. Columbia University.
Travis Greenwalt , Senior Economist at Cardno ENTRIX. B.S. and M.B.A. University of Montana.
Robert B. Keiter , Wallace Stegner Professor of Law, University Distinguished Professor, and Director of Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources, and the Environment, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. B.A. Washington University; J.D. Northwestern University.
Judith A. Layzer , Associate Professor, Head, Environmental Policy and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. B.A. University of Michigan; Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Deborah A. McGrath , Associate Professor & Chair of Biology, Sewanee: University of the South. B.A. University of Wisconsin; M.S. and Ph.D. University of Florida.
Martin Nie , Professor, Natural Resource Policy; Chair, Department of Society & Conservation, University of Montana. B.A. University of Nebraska; Ph.D. Northern Arizona University.
Sara O’Brien , Director, Conservation Planning, Defenders of Wildlife. B.A. Grinnell College; M.S. University of Arizona.
Kalyani Robbins , Associate Professor of Law, University of Akron School of Law. B.A. University of California at Berkeley; J.D. Stanford University Law School; LL.M. Lewis & Clark Law School.
Daniel Rohlf , Associate Professor of Law and Of Counsel, Earthrise Law Center, Lewis & Clark Law School. B.S. Colorado College; J.D. Stanford University Law School.
J.B. Ruhl , David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair in Law, Vanderbilt University Law School. B.A. and J.D. University of Virginia; LL.M. George Washington University; Ph.D. Southern Illinois University.
Lynn Scarlett , Visiting Scholar and Co-Director, Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth, Resources for the Future. B.A. and M.A. University of California, Santa Barbara.
Sara Vickerman , Senior Director, Biodiversity Partnerships, Defenders of Wildlife. A.A. Fullerton Junior College; B.S. California State University at Fullerton; M.S. Southern Oregon University.
I
Understanding and Evaluating Ecosystem Management Thus Far
1
An Ecosystem Management Primer
History, Perceptions, and Modern Definition
Kalyani Robbins, The University of Akron
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
—John Muir
E cosystem management is still a relatively new field of study—then Forest Service Chief F. Dale Robertson coined the term just two decades ago in 1992 1 —so its membership is still fairly small. But the issues are too important, too potentially life-altering, to leave to a handful of experts to worry about. This book is for everyone: law students, college and graduate students, experts, and weekend readers alike. Because it is for everyone, it is essential that it begin at the beginning.
Much like we have shortened biological diversity into the now common term ‘biodiversity,’ the term ‘ecosystem’ is the short (and now more common) way of saying ecological system. 2 Systems in general exist on multiple scales, so it is likewise the case that the term ‘ecosystem’ applies to discrete natural units such as a lake or a valley, as well as vast regions in which the interconnectedness of nature has been observed. 3 Indeed, when multiple systems interact, that is itself a system, and so on, giving rise to a complex and nearly infinite concept. The spatial definition of an ecosystem is any unit of nature, at any scale, in which the biotic organisms and abiotic environment interact in a manner that results in an ongoing and dynamic biotic structure. 4 However, some adhere to a more ‘process-based’ view, in which an ecosystem is defined by the processes through which it functions, such as “productivity, energy flow among trophic levels, decomposition, and nutrient cycling.” 5 Regardless of the ecosystem understanding one prefers, there is no question that ecosystems provide humans with many essential services, some of which are even subject to economic valuation via a replacement-cost analysis. 6
The phrase ‘ecosystem management’ already gives away quite a bit, if we simply look at the combination of terms. The term ‘ecosystem’ evokes nature. An ecosystem is the most fundamental unit in nature, and the relationships it embodies are essential to understanding our natural world. Arthur Tansley, a pioneer of the science of ecology, coined the term ‘ecosystem’ in 1935. Tansley stated: “Though the organisms may claim our prime interest, when we are trying to think fundamentally, we cannot separate them from their special environments, with which they form one physical system.” 7 ‘Management,’ on the other hand, suggests human control. It is a very unnatural word, the opposite of letting nature take its course. Indeed, in spite of the fact that the Clinton administration introduced the ecosystem management concept in an effort to incorporate scientific principles into the management of the national forests (recognizing that ecosystems were the focus for scientists), 8 the initial effort involved such excessive top-down government control that it met with great resistance. 9 The concept later evolved into one involving greater shared decision making at multiple levels, 10 though management is still management, a human domination over nature. As such, the term ‘ecosystem management,’ without more, already gives away the inherent tension between nature and humanity—a tension that spawns both the need for, and the problems with, ecosystem management.
This chapter will first take the reader on a journey through the histo