The faculty of UNC School of Law approved the development of the Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation, and Resources (CLEAR), in early September. The center is dedicated to the study of environmental law with a focus on understanding the laws and policies relating to climate change adaptation, and will be directed by Victor B. Flatt, Thomas F. and Elizabeth Taft Distinguished Professor in Environmental Law.
"Environmental law is changing rapidly," explains Flatt, whose scholarship has focused on the intersection between environmental regulation and environmental law in action. "This center will look at the legal implications of traditional environmental problems like clean air and water as well as climate change and how these concerns interact with everyday life."
The range of expertise among the faculty involved in the center speaks to the broad implications for environmental law. Flatt plans to explore connections with intellectual property law, private property law, insurance, banking and development, among others.
"The University of North Carolina has really talented faculty, a great core group who have been working on environmental issues and how they affect a spectrum of legal fields," says Flatt, who notes that he's looking forward to working with collaborators including the UNC Institute for the Environment; the Department of Homeland Security, Center of Excellence-Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure and Emergency Management; the public health school; the medical school; the Center for Government, and the UNC Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters.
Gavin Smith, executive director of the UNC Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters, says that CLEAR has been launched at an ideal time, "We'd identified the law school as a potential partner, and we're looking forward to working with CLEAR to explore the nexus between the study of law, natural hazards and disasters."
Smith notes that there are already collaborative projects underway, including those that link natural hazards and climate change, and which assess institutional and legal frameworks that could help nations adapt to rising sea levels.
"Scholars in many disciplines - as well as and scientists and practitioners in many fields - are recognizing how all of our specialties are linked together by the environment," says Flatt, "and we want this center be the focal point of the legal piece for all the change that is happening in the environment.
Flatt notes that the goals for the center include providing additional educational opportunities for students in environmental law; addressing some of the important environmental problems of the state, nation and the world; and serving as an educational resource for the North Carolina legal and business communities.
The center will have a specific focus on climate change adaptation, which includes understanding the changing circumstances that result from environmental disruption. The center will host an annual conference for experts and students from around the country to focus on climate change adaptation. Additionally, Flatt plans to invite experts in the field to teach month-long mini-courses at UNC.
"We have exceptional environmental legal scholars in coastal, risk, environmental administration, property and climate change, and so UNC Law is already contributing important research and analysis in the environmental law area," says Flatt.
"Over the next two to three decades, this state, nation and world will be confronting more environmental law issues than they are today," says Flatt. The diversity of landscapes and number of strong academic institutions in North Carolina make this an ideal state for such a center, says Flatt. "No other law school has an environmental law center with a focus on climate change adaptation. We aim to raise awareness about these issues and hope to inspire others to take environmental law studies in new directions."
- Sept. 29, 2009