Marilyn Averill University of Colorado Boulder Rio+20 ELI/ASIL Side Event June 15, 2012

Transcription

1 Marilyn Averill University of Colorado Boulder Rio+20 ELI/ASIL Side Event June 15, 2012

2 Natural areas managed by humans Protects natural areas from some human activities, but also preserves them for human uses Can be public or private This presentation focuses on lands and waters in a protected area owned and managed by the U.S. government

3 Re-emphasizes existing challenges May produce challenges outside of known conditions Temperature and precipitation Extreme weather events Shifts in timing Invasive species Sea rise Provides new context and incentive for re-examination of existing law and practices

4 To prevent change? To ease transitions? To protect vulnerable species or areas of interest? To interpret the changes that occur? To protect human uses?

5 FOR THE BENEFIT AND ENJOYMENT OF THE PEOPLE

6 Wolves in Yellowstone Nps.gov

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8 What is the Park mission? What needs to be regulated To protect the park? To achieve other goals? Who should be involved in different decisions?

9 Ensure that Park goals are achieved Protect specific resources Control uses of the Park Mandate procedures Establish rights of use Prohibit activities

10 What was the purpose for which the area was set aside? How will changing conditions affect missions? Will priorities shift? Will new stresses change the resource? Will demands on and uses of the resource change? Should the mission itself be modified? How can and should law adapt to changing values and conditions?

11 Nutrients Habitat Species Hydrograph Water Quality Water Quantity Timber Food sources Wildlife Fuel Sources Regional security Carbon Sink Recreation Tourist Services Mining Hiking Outfitting Hunting Beaches Fishing Native species Camping Snowmobiling Ecosystems Livelihoods Wilderness Views Ecosystems Spiritual sites Cultural artifacts Air Quality

12 which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

13 Sought to preserve matchless natural wonders from settlement, occupancy, or sale, as well as from injury or spoliation, and to retain these same wonders in their natural condition. The park was to be a pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.

14 Who should be involved? At what stages and for what purposes? How will their voices be heard?

15 Legal rights Moral rights Political interests

16 Who will speak for nature? For the powerless? For those who lack capacity? I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.

17 Law can ensure that some voices are heard National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Law can also restrict participation Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), NEPA,ESA The same laws that demand participation by some parties can restrict participation by others

18 Resource management should consider: Embededness Connectivity Embededness and connectivity further complicate the legal landscape

19 Protected areas are situated within a larger natural and human context that must be considered in making management decisions What is the nature of the surrounding human and natural community? How will changing conditions affect the impacts surrounding communities have on the resource? How will changing conditions impact the way the resource influences the surrounding area?

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21 Connections to other areas can have important effects on a protected area What links the protected area to other areas? What links it to human communities and human activities? What links it to other natural areas? What links give access to threats? What links are important to maintain ecosystems? How are needs of humans and nature affected by current connections? How will changes affect these connections?

22 We envision a day when the human and wild communities of the Yellowstone to Yukon region coexist in a way that allows each to thrive. Without a unified vision for this deeply interconnected landscape, local conservation efforts may be isolated and less effective. One of Y2Y's primary goals is to ensure that the Yellowstone to Yukon region retains enough connected, well-managed and good-quality wildlife habitat so that animals can safely travel between protected areas. as they roam in search of food and mates. Y2y.net

23 International Treaties Agreements with Canada Canadian law Federal State Wyoming Montana Idaho Local

24 Wildlife Water quality Mining Property rights Visitor use Visibility Taxation Commercial regulation Transportation Recreation Livestock disease control Water rights Health and Safety Road maintenance

25 Indigenous Knowledge Botanists Geologists Pastoralists Engineers Economists Veterinarians Wildlife Biologists Hydrologists Chemists Animal Control Silvaculturists Historians Anthropologists Soil Scientists Fluvial Geomorphologists Lawyers

26 Human management affects natural resources Climate change will affect both human and natural systems Need legal and other management systems that are resilient to political and economic shocks, as well as to climate change

27 Resilient with respect to what? Any change? Change that affects human appreciation and uses? Change that affects ecosystems? Political changes? Economic changes? Institutional changes? How can law improve resilience of the protected area and its adaptation to changing conditions?

28 Changing conditions will affect Climate Wildlife Ecosystems Humans Relationship between humans and nature Laws are needed that will ease transitions

29 Relevant to current and changing conditions Able to respond to change Promote adaptive management Provide protection Allow experimentation

30 Climate change is an experiment in itself Responses will have unanticipated outcomes Adaptive management demands experimentation to promote learning Experimentation entails risks How much risk should be tolerated? To what resources? Who should decide? How can law be both protective and flexible?

31 How should a legal framework be judged? Protection of species? Protection of ecosystems? Prevention of change? Ability to handle transitions? Maintenance of human uses? Public involvement? Public acceptance? Achievement of objectives?

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