Developed to inform the 2013 National Climate Assessment, this is a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage. This book provides the most comprehensive, and understandable, analysis to date about climate and its effects on the people and landscapes of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah—including the U.S.-Mexico border region and the lands of Native Nations. This book should appeal to local, state, and federal policy- and decision-makers; resource and land managers land-use planners; government officials; academics and professionals in environmental science; and any environmental advocates.
National Climate Assessment Regional Technical Input Series
May, 2013
Harvard Environmental Law Review
May, 2013
The ocean is becoming more acidic worldwide as a result of increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (“CO2”) and other pollutants. This fundamental change is likely to have substantial ecological and economic consequences globally. In this Article, we provide a toolbox for understanding and addressing the drivers of ocean acidification. We begin with an overview of the relevant science, highlighting known causes of chemical change in the coastal ocean. Because of the difficulties associated with controlling diffuse atmospheric pollutants such as CO2, we then focus on controlling smaller-scale agents of acidification, discussing ten legal and policy tools that state government agencies can use to mitigate the problem. This bottom-up approach does not solve the global CO2 problem, but instead offers a more immediate means of addressing the challenges of a rapidly changing ocean. States have ample legal authority to address many of the causes of ocean acidification; what remains is to implement that authority to safeguard our iconic coastal resources.
Ocean and Coastal Management
March, 2013
California enacted the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) in 1999 to redesign and improve the state's system of marine protected areas (MPAs), which the State Legislature found falling far short of its potential to protect and conserve the marine environment. In 2004, California created the MLPA Initiative that established objectives for a planning process, set out a timeline for deliverables, and established roles and responsibilities for key bodies. This paper analyzes how recommendations developed through the Initiative supported regulatory decisions by the California Fish and Game Commission to greatly expand the network of marine protected areas to 124, covering 16 percent of state waters outside of San Francisco Bay. Such an extensive network of MPAs that consciously incorporates science-based design guidelines is an important achievement worldwide.
Ocean and Coastal Management
March, 2013
To plan and implement a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in state waters as mandated by the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), California set up a public–private partnership called the MLPA Initiative. The MLPA Initiative, which worked for almost seven years and took a significant financial investment (approximately $19.5 million in private charitable foundation funds and $18.5 million in public funds), led to the establishment of a network of 124 MPAs representing about 16 percent of state waters, up from less than 3 percent at the time the partnership began its work. This paper examines some key lessons about implementing policy through a public planning process.
Ocean and Coastal Management
March, 2013
Without the proper enabling conditions, MPA planning processes can be significantly hindered in their capacity to achieve stated goals. In California, after two unsuccessful attempts, statewide planning of a network of marine protected areas (MPA) was achieved through the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. Six initial enabling conditions contributed to moving the MLPA Initiative forward, ultimately meeting the statutory objective of redesigning the statewide system of MPAs. This paper examines the conditions that enabled the MLPA Initiative to avoid shortcomings of similar planning processes, with implications for broader national policy on coastal and marine spatial planning in the United States.
Marine Policy
March, 2013
This global review of progress in spatial reserarch on human activities and social dimensions of ocean environments responds to calls for implementing ocean planning and mangement that consider the complex human relationship with ecosystems including social, cultural, political and economic dimensions. It also explores the promise social-based research has for enhancing ecosystem-based ocean planning.
State of the World's Sea Turtles
January, 2013
Ecology and Society
December, 2012
Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems on the planet but are declining because of human activities. Despite general recognition of the human role in the plight of coral reefs, the vast majority of research focuses on the ecological rather than the human dimensions of reef ecosystems, limiting our understanding of social relationships with these environments as well as potential solutions for reef recovery. We synthesize existing concepts related to SESs and present a human dimensions framework that explores the linkages between social system structural traits, human activities, ecosystem services, and human well-being in coral reef SESs.
November, 2012
The Center for Ocean Solutions' Annual Report 2012 describes progress and accomplishments completed during the fiscal year and outlines future endeavors.
The Environmental Forum
November, 2012
A rising tide of acidity is overwhelming the global ocean. Estuaries and near-shore waters fall under the jurisdiction of states and the federal government, mandating treatment under the Clean Water Act (CWA), but criteria for action are uncertain and unclear. The acidity of the marine environment has increased by roughly a third since 1750, changing chemical processes vital to life, including shell and coral formation and the growth of bony structures in fish. This massive change in ocean chemistry is a growing water quality problem that focuses attention on the surprisingly difficult business of determining whether and how a particular water quality standard has been violated. Such attention brings with it a larger question of whether water quality criteria are legally sufficient under the CWA if they are difficult or impossible to test as a practical matter, and highlights the changing role of the act as it is used to combat a new class of water pollution.
