Journals
Summer 2002, Vol. 42, No. 3
Essay – Mining Law Reform Redux, Once More
John D. Leshy
Asian Elephants as Agricultural Pests: Economics of Control and Compensation in Sri Lanka
Ranjith Bandara & Clem Tisdell
Despite growing attention to crop and property damage caused by the Asian elephant, uncertainty exists about the magnitude of this problem. This article explores the nature and magnitude of this problem in Sri Lanka. An economic analysis of individual farmers’ decisions to control elephants is provided. Government policies to assist farmers in coping with the elephant pest problem are assessed. Appropriate compensation schemes for farmers are seen as potentially more effective for conserving elephants in Sri Lanka than legal prohibitions on the killing of elephants. The issues raised here have wider relevance than merely to Sri Lanka or Asian elephants.
Institutional Adaptation to Changing Risk of Water Scarcity in the Lower Guadalquivir Basin
C. Giansante, M. Aguilar, L. Babiano, A. Garrido, A. Gómez, E. Iglesias, W. Lise, L. Moral & B. Pedregal
Historically, the Spanish water management model’s predominate goal has been resource augmentation. This mindset has had important consequences for the system’s capacity to cope with droughts. It has impacted the system’s overall vulnerability, the discourse of scarcity, the conceptualisation of risk and the stakeholders’ interests and their approach to risk. The aim of this article is to present the traditional hydraulic paradigm, its current crisis and implications for present and future risk management, and to explore stakeholder and institutional reactions and adaptation to changing risk scenarios. The adaptation process will be framed within the wider context of macro-trends, such as marketisation and re-scaling of institutions and global warming.
Financial Responsibility Rules under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990
Inho Kim
The potentially unlimited liability associated with vessel ownership under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 has led to avoidance behaviors from the shipping industry, such as the restructuring of corporations to evade liability. To generate an incentive for sound risk management in the shipping sector, financial responsibility should be properly enforced. Protection and Indemnity Clubs, which have traditionally provided financial guaranties, now refuse to provide such safeguards to avoid liability under the Act. The magnitude of oil movements in U.S. waters has created alternative commercial guarantors without any serious adverse impact on U.S. oil imports. It remains to be seen how the U.S. marine insurance market can be restructured without unnecessary duplication in insurance coverage and premiums.
The "Shift to Privatization" in Land Conservation: A Cautionary Essay
Leigh Raymond & Sally K. Fairfax
Land trusts and other market-based approaches to conservation have gained increasing visibility in recent years. We investigate the degree to which these new policies indicate a "shift to privatization" in U.S. conservation policy. Our review indicates that instead of a clear shift towards private alternatives, we are seeing a growing complexity of policy arrangements affecting private lands that mirrors the policy fragmentation that took place on public lands 100 years ago. This growing policy complexity is reinforced by new theoretical approaches to property law, including Joseph Sax’s "economy of nature" perspective on private land ownership. Finally, we consider some of the implications of this new blurring between public and private rights, including those of public accountability and impacts on minority and low-income communities.
Palazzolo v. Rhode Island: Clarification and More Confusion on the Notice Issue
Jaime Dawes
In Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, the United States Supreme Court had an opportunity to provide guidance as to what effect notice of limitations on development of property prior to acquisition should have on a takings claim. The clarification was, however, not as significant as anticipated. Although the Court decided that notice of restrictions at the time of acquisition will not necessarily bar a takings claim, it chose not to provide many definitive answers. Notice and transfer of title are apparently relevant considerations in a takings analysis, but exactly how relevant remains unclear. For this reason, Palazzolo, though providing some degree of guidance, will likely perpetuate confusion and inconsistency in state and lower federal courts confronted with notice issues.
The State of the Natural Resources Literature – The Troubled Relationship of Science to Environmental Policy: Some New Perspectives
Helen Ingram & Bryan McDonald
