Nature

No recent happening in land conservation rivals the rapid expansion of conservation easements and the related growth in the number of land trusts over the past 15 years. Among the forces driving this phenomenon are tax and other public subsidies and the view that the conservation easement is a win-win strategy in land protection. The thesis of this policy focus report is that conservation easements are a valuable land protection tool, complementing regulation, land acquisition, and tax policies, but that reforms are needed in tax and other laws and conventions governing easements, lest we risk losing the public benefits for which the easements were established.

This book reports on national, state, and local responses to climate-related risks of sea level rise and storm surge, drought and water shortage, floods, wildfires, and heat waves in nine coastal city regions: New York City, the Southeastern states, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in the United States; and Melbourne, Sydney, South East Queensland, and Perth in Australia. 

This report, spurred by the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, identifies a set of policies, regulations, and administrative practices that federal agencies can adopt to help coastal metropolitan regions recover quickly from natural disasters and reduce future risk in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. 

Developing policies that will keep climate change in check has become a global priority, as increasing greenhouse gas emissions contribute to extreme weather patterns. If these emissions remain unabated, changes in global temperatures and the subsequent relocation of human settlements and economic activities will have huge economic and social impacts on the world’s population. The 2010 annual Land Policy Conference provided a forum for international scholars and policy makers to discuss topics including the impacts of climate change on land use; how energy and climate change policies affect land resource allocation and land use planning; relationships among urban form, transportation, and CO2 emissions; market-based approaches to environmental conservation; and global ability to deal with climate change and land management.