Land Use
Food and Farming Makes the Menu at UN Climate Talks
Guest contributor Antonia Moure Richard of UCLA Law reports that regenerative agriculture was a big focus of COP28, but industrial farming was largely ignored.
At the United Nations climate conference known as COP28, it was easy to come to the realization that we must confront every aspect of the climate crisis, and we must do it right now. That includes transforming our food systems. Agriculture has historically been left out of the conversation at COP. That changed this year …
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CONTINUE READINGAddressing Corruption In Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chains
New CLEE/NRGI issue brief offers solutions
In the race to scale up a global supply chain for electric vehicle batteries, mining justice advocates have sought to ensure that the ongoing clean technology minerals boom does not exacerbate longstanding negative impacts from the global mining industry. Chief among these are corruption risks. To provide guidance to electric vehicle purchasers (particularly fleets), advocates, …
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CONTINUE READINGRecharge net metering (ReNeM) provides win-win-win for groundwater agency, landowners, & sustainable groundwater management
Nature Water publication showcases the economics of a novel groundwater recharge incentive structure
By Molly Bruce, Luke Sherman, Ellen Bruno, Andrew T. Fisher, & Michael Kiparsky An insidious issue has been growing along the Central Coast and throughout the state of California for decades: groundwater overdraft. In response to this growing threat and 2014 legislation designed to put an end to chronic overdraft, many basins have identified managed …
CONTINUE READINGA(nother) California “Regulatory Takings” Case Heads to the Supreme Court
Newly-accepted case pits private property rights against government land use authority
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear and decide an important “regulatory takings” case from California that has major implications for federal, state and local governments nationwide. The case is Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, Docket No. 22-1074. Even before the justices granted review in the Sheetz case last Friday, the Court’s 2023-24 …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Not-So-Good News About Carbon Offsets
Recent studies show the significant limits to some carbon offsets. What’s that mean for tropical forest jurisdictions?
In case you missed it: there’s some good news about Amazon deforestation continuing to plunge. Jason Gray and I spoke recently about why tropical deforestation is down in Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia. That’s good news because deforestation of tropical forests is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions. The World Resources Institute’s Forest Pulse report …
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CONTINUE READINGAmazon Deforestation is Down. Here’s Why.
Elections, new government policies at the national and sub-national level, increased law enforcement, and technological advancements have contributed to climate gains in Brazil, Ecuador and beyond.
For several years, headlines about Amazon deforestation have all been bad. But in 2023 the script has been flipped and the good news keeps on coming. Good news in Brazil where deforestation in the Amazon declined 66.1 percent compared to last August. It’s the lowest level for the month of August since 2018 and it …
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CONTINUE READINGGovernor Newsom’s CEQA Bills Could Be a Modest Step in the Wrong Direction
Governor Newsom’s CEQA trailer bills probably won’t do much. But his heavy-handed rhetoric foreshadows a larger anti-CEQA push that should worry communities that rely on California’s premier public participation statute.
Speaking to Ezra Klein in late June, Governor Gavin Newsom hearkened back to the California of the 1950s and 1960s: “People are losing trust and confidence in our ability to build big things. People look at me all the time and ask, ‘What the hell happened to the California of the ‘50s and ‘60s?’” Governor …
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CONTINUE READINGMeasuring Tropical Forests and Deforestation from Space
Remote sensing is one important tool in the toolbox of forest governance for monitoring, measuring, and reducing deforestation
In a world where a swipe on a smart phone enables navigation from one part of the globe to another, many technology companies, investors, environmental organizations, community groups, and policymakers are looking to remote sensing data and platforms to increase transparency, accuracy, speed of decision-making, and reduce costs of monitoring land-based activities at scale. Advancements …
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CONTINUE READINGSackett and the Dangers of a New ‘Clear-Statement Rule’
The Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA will be bad for the nation’s wetlands. It is just as bad for democracy.
The Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA limits the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to defend a large portion of the nation’s wetlands and waterways from pollution. The decision strips key environmental protections from the Clean Water Act by narrowly defining which bodies of water can be regulated under the Act, making it the most …
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CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Law Again Front-and-Center at California Supreme Court
Local Government’s Authority to Limit Oil & Gas Development To Be Argued Before Justices
For the first two decades of this century, and under the able leadership of former Chief Justices Ronald George and Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the California Supreme Court was quite active in interpreting and shaping California environmental law. That trend had abated in the last few years–coincidentally or not during the height of the COVID epidemic–with only …
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