In the Anthropocene: Adaptive Law, Ecological Health, and Biotechnologies

UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2023-07

Law, Innovation and Technology, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2023.

34 Pages Posted: 15 Mar 2023 Last revised: 28 Apr 2023

See all articles by Alejandro E. Camacho

Alejandro E. Camacho

University of California, Irvine, School of Law, Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (CLEANR); Center for Progressive Reform

Date Written: March 7, 2023

Abstract

Climate change has induced an ecological crisis necessitating reconsideration of how the law should manage human interactions with ecological systems. In most Western legal regimes, conservation policy has principally sought to advance historical or natural preservation or sustained yield objectives, while many laws governing biotechnologies focus on minimising exposure to ‘natural’ systems. Meanwhile, Western public processes are largely built on a legal framework that assumes comprehensive rationality at the front end of decision-making. Lastly, prevailing public conservation governance is fragmented, save the limited attempts to consolidate or coordinate decentralised, independent, and/or overlapping authority. The increasingly convulsive effects of climate change and developments in biotechnology bring to stark relief the limitations of prevailing Western public conservation goals, processes, and institutional design. First, promoting biodiversity may require fundamental changes in management to focus on increasing ecological health and other values than consumption, historical fidelity, and nonintervention. Second, integration of adaptive and inclusive processes is imperative for promoting both effective management strategies and learning in the face of unprecedented change. Third, policymakers must appreciate the tradeoffs of allocating authority across the array of institutional structures, and tailor not only the scale of interventions but also the extent of overlap and coordination of authority.

Keywords: Governance, conservation, Anthropocene, climate change, biotechnology

Suggested Citation

Camacho, Alejandro E., In the Anthropocene: Adaptive Law, Ecological Health, and Biotechnologies (March 7, 2023). UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2023-07, Law, Innovation and Technology, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2023., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4381727

Alejandro E. Camacho (Contact Author)

University of California, Irvine, School of Law, Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (CLEANR)

401 E. Peltason Drive, Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
United States

Center for Progressive Reform ( email )

500 West Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
United States

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