Publication Date

2010

Abstract

A destabilized climate will change everything, including federal lands policies. The nation's large federal land base will be enlisted both in "avoiding the unmanageable"-helping control or mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to a destabilized climate-and "managing the unavoidable"-helping adapt to climate instability that cannot be avoided. Green industry requests for access to federal lands to help control GHGs can pose challenging policy issues, such as how much to encourage the use of federal lands to control GHGs at the expense of other goals. Adapting to a destabilized climate will be even more challenging, requiring considerable investment of public funds and reconfiguring some of the federal land base. Policymakers should attempt to link mitigation and adaptation together in order to, among other things, secure a funding stream for adaptation. In the end, measures to deal with a changing climate will blur many traditional boundaries, including the one between public and private land.

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Natural Resources Journal

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