The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services - Softcover

Ruhl, J. B.; Kraft, Steven E.; Lant, Dr. Christopher L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1559630957 ISBN 13: 9781559630955

Publisher: Island Press, 2007

Synopsis

The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services is the first comprehensive exploration of the status and future of natural capital and ecosystem services in American law and policy. The book develops a framework for thinking about ecosystem services across their ecologic, geographic, economic, social, and legal dimensions and evaluates the prospects of crafting a legal infrastructure that can help build an ecosystem service economy that is as robust as existing economies for manufactured goods, natural resource commodities, and human-provided services. The book examines the geographic, ecological, and economic context of ecosystem services and provides a baseline of the current status of ecosystem services in law and society. It identifies shortcomings of current law and policy and the critical areas for improvement and forges an approach for the design of new law and policy for ecosystem services. Included are a series of nine empirical case studies that explore the problems caused by society’s failure to properly value natural capital. Among the case study topics considered are water issues, The Conservation Reserve Program, the National Conservation Buffer Initiative, the agricultural policy of the European Union, wetland mitigation, and pollution trading. The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services is a groundbreaking look at the question of whether and how law and policy can shape a sustainable system of ecosystem service management. It is an accessible and informative work for faculty, students, and policy makers concerned with ecology, economics, geography, political science, environmental studies, law, and related fields.

About this title

About the Author:

J. B. Ruhl is an expert in environmental law, land use and property law. Before he joined Vanderbilt’s law faculty as the David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair in Law in 2011, he was the Matthews & Hawkins Professor of Property at the Florida State University College of Law, where he had taught since 1999. His influential scholarly articles on environmental law relating to climate change, the Endangered Species Act, ecosystems, federal public lands, and other land use and environmental issues have appeared in California Law Review, Duke Law Review, Georgetown Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review and the specialty environment journals at several top law schools, among other journals. His works have been selected by peers as among the best law review articles in the field of environmental law eight times from 1989 to 2013. Over the course of his career, he has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, George Washington University Law School, the University of Texas Law School, Vermont Law School, and Lewis & Clark College of Law. He began his academic career at the Southern Illinois University School of Law, where he taught from 1994-99 and earned his Ph.D. in geography. Before entering the academy, he was a partner with Fulbright & Jaworski in Austin, Texas, where he also taught on the adjunct faculty of the University of Texas Law School.

Review:

"Ecosystem service values derived directly from nature are well understood but do not show up as measured aspects of our economy ... The authors provide insights as to why ecosystem services fail to be accounted for in land/water use decision-making. They also make the case for why they should be included in our economic models." (Wildlife Activist)

"The work synthesized in this wide-ranging volume marks a dramatic transformation in the way people think about the environment. Ruhl, Kraft, and Lant outline the concrete changes in law and policy needed to go further and turn thinking into action. This book is packed with intellectual excitement and practical promise." (Gretchen C. Daily Professor, biological sciences; author of New Economy of Nature)

"One of the most important contributions of economics to environmental protection is the idea that ecosystems can perform economically valuable services even if their monetary value is not captured in markets. This book is the most comprehensive survey of current efforts to measure these services and to overcome the disincentives for land owners to produce them. However, its real contribution is a carefully reasoned suite of legal and policy reforms to increase the production of vital ecosystem services in the future." (Dan Tarlock Distinguished Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law)

"As with any new idea, there is confusion over ecosystem services and what conserving or selling them really means. Ruhl, Kraft, and Lant are meticulous in research, comprehensive in scope, and accessible in style. To dig beneath the hype and understand the promise and challenges of conserving ecosystem services, start by reading this book." (James Salzman Nicholas Institute Professor of Environmental Policy, Duke University)

"If you are looking for one book to introduce you to the full spectrum of ideas around the concept of ecosystem services, this is it." (Ecological Restoration)

"In remarkably readable prose, the book is laid out in four main parts accessible to anyone from a scientific, legal, or policy background...It reminds me of the successful interaction of science, law, and policy in the 1970s. We need that to happen again and this book provides the basis for it." (Thomas. E. Lovejoy Ecology)

"Anyone interested in ecosystem services—from amateur environmentalist to professional policy-maker—would benefit from reading this book." (Natural Areas Journal)

About this edition

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1559630957
• ISBN 13: 9781559630955
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360