Marilyn Averill
University of Colorado Boulder
Rio+20 ELI/ASIL Side Event
June 15, 2012
 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
 Re-emphasizes
existing challenges
 May produce challenges outside of
known conditions
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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
 To
prevent change?
 To ease transitions?
 To protect vulnerable species or areas of
interest?
 To interpret the changes that occur?
 To protect human uses?
“FOR THE BENEFIT AND
ENJOYMENT OF THE PEOPLE”
Wolves in Yellowstone
Nps.gov
 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?
 Ensure
that Park goals are achieved
 Protect specific resources
 Control uses of the Park
 Mandate procedures
 Establish rights of use
 Prohibit activities
 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?
Nutrients
Hydrograph
Species
Habitat
Fuel Sources
Water Quality
Timber
Water Quantity
Recreation
Hiking
Mining
Hunting
Regional security
Carbon Sink
Camping
Outfitting
Native species
Views
Ecosystems
Spiritual sites
Cultural artifacts
Snowmobiling
Ecosystems
Wilderness
Tourist Services
Beaches
Fishing
Wildlife
Food sources
Livelihoods
Air Quality
 “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.”
 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.”
 Who
should be involved?
 At what stages and for what purposes?
 How will their voices be heard?
 Legal
rights
 Moral rights
 Political interests
 Who
will speak for nature?
 For the powerless?
 For those who lack capacity?
“I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.”
 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
 Resource
management should consider:
• Embededness
• Connectivity
 Embededness
and connectivity further
complicate the legal landscape
 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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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?
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How are needs of humans and nature affected by
current connections?
How will changes affect these connections?
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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
 International
• Treaties
• Agreements with Canada
• Canadian law
 Federal
 State
• Wyoming
• Montana
• Idaho
 Local
Wildlife
Mining
Water quality
Commercial regulation
Property rights
Visitor use
Visibility
Transportation
Recreation
Livestock disease control
Water rights
Health and Safety
Taxation
Road maintenance
Indigenous Knowledge
Pastoralists
Engineers
Economists
Botanists
Veterinarians
Geologists
Wildlife Biologists
Historians
Animal Control
Hydrologists
Chemists
Soil Scientists
Anthropologists
Silvaculturists
Lawyers
Fluvial Geomorphologists
 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
 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?
 Changing
conditions will affect
• Climate
• Wildlife
• Ecosystems
• Humans
• Relationship between humans and nature
 Laws
are needed that will ease transitions
 Relevant
to current and changing
conditions
 Able to respond to change
 Promote adaptive management
• Provide protection
• Allow experimentation
 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?
 How
should a legal framework be
judged?
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Protection of species?
Protection of ecosystems?
Prevention of change?
Ability to handle transitions?
Maintenance of human uses?
Public involvement?
Public acceptance?
Achievement of objectives?