Law, Landscape & Biodiversity

LANDSCAPE, NATURE & LAW, Antonio Benjamin, ed., Law for a Green Planet Institute, 2005

Globalização Econômica, Meio Ambiente E Sociedade Civil / Economic Globalization, The Environment and Civil Society, Federal Univ. Rio Grande do Sul, Winter 2007

13 Pages Posted: 17 Dec 2008 Last revised: 26 Feb 2014

See all articles by David N. Cassuto

David N. Cassuto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University

Date Written: December 15, 2008

Abstract

The United States began as a nation rich in biodiversity. Today, like much of the rest of the world, it faces a biodiversity crisis that is very real and worsening. Species and ecosystems face extinction amidst a political climate hostile to regulatory intervention and a patchwork system of laws that disperses responsibility among various federal agencies while allocating land use authority over non-federal land to the individual states.

This paper looks at the cultural and legal framework from which biodiversity laws in the United States evolved. It next surveys the legislative and regulatory matrix from which protections must now emerge. It then discusses why the current system of laws cannot and will not provide lasting ecosystemic protections and offers some suggestions as to how we might weave biodiversity protections into the national federalist framework.

Keywords: biodiversity, landscape, environment, environmental law, habitat, ecosystem

JEL Classification: K10, K11, K19, K32, K40, K49, Q20, Q21, Q23, Q24, Q25, Q28, Q30, Q38

Suggested Citation

Cassuto, David N., Law, Landscape & Biodiversity (December 15, 2008). LANDSCAPE, NATURE & LAW, Antonio Benjamin, ed., Law for a Green Planet Institute, 2005, Globalização Econômica, Meio Ambiente E Sociedade Civil / Economic Globalization, The Environment and Civil Society, Federal Univ. Rio Grande do Sul, Winter 2007 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1316587

David N. Cassuto (Contact Author)

Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University ( email )

78 North Broadway
White Plains, NY 10603
United States

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