The Sabin Center has introduced a new item to our collection of legal resources – a compilation of Legal Resources for Climate Change Adaptation.
The new page includes information about specific legal provisions that could be interpreted as requiring consideration of climate change-related risks, articles discussing the nature of legal obligations to adapt, and resources to facilitate adaptation planning efforts undertaken by government and private actors. It is intended as a complement to our Handbook of Adaptation Advocacy Strategies and other publications on the topic of adaptation. Some of the topics covered include:
• Federal laws that can be interpreted as requiring the federal government or private actors to prepare for and mitigate risks related to climate change
• Common law doctrines that can be used to compel government actors to prepare for and mitigate risks related to climate change
• The role of local land use and planning laws in climate change adaptation
• The role of building codes in climate change adaptation
• The extent to which contractual, fiduciary and professional obligations entail obligations related to the disclosure and/or mitigation of climate change-related risks
Our faculty director Michael Gerrard has also published a book that contains a more in-depth analysis of many of these legal issues: The Law of Adaptation to Climate Change: U.S. and International Aspects (Michael B. Gerrard & Katrina F. Kuh, eds., ABA 2012).
For questions about or submissions to the adaptation resources page, please contact Jessica Wentz, jwentz@law.columbia.edu.
For an overview of all of the Sabin Center’s online resources, click here.
For an overview of our work on adaptation law, click here.
