Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
… this Article examines the potential for innovative public-private partnerships between government and land trusts as one way of advancing climate solutions in both the built and natural environments. Land trusts are non-profit organizations that hold land in trust for the benefit of the public. Land trusts can help to address many of the failings of past climate debates because, at their core, land trusts are community-oriented organizations that involve and engage a diverse array of residents and stakeholders, and were founded to steward lands for the benefit of the environment and future generations. Land trusts are already playing important roles in rural and urban communities around the country to enhance environmental sustainability and community resilience. Through legal and policy approaches, the public sector can further catalyze land trust roles to broaden the support for and efficacy of climate actions on the ground.

This Article will first lay out the climate challenge, including how climate change and the solutions needed to address climate change will affect both the built and natural environments, and the failure of governments to mount an adequate response. Next, the Article will introduce land trusts and the roles that land trusts can, and are, playing in advancing sustainability and resilience in both the natural and built environments. Finally, the Article discusses ways that governments can adopt laws and policies to facilitate more robust roles for land trusts in advancing climate solutions.

Jessica Grannis, Community-Driven Climate Solutions: How Public-Private Partnerships with Land Trusts Can Advance Climate Action, 44 William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review 701 (2020).

First posted 2020-07-16 12:35:37