Environmental Law Conference to Address Changing Climate
The fifth annual New Directions in Environmental Law conference will be held on February 24–25, 2017. The conference, planned by students at Yale Law School and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, is on the theme “Environment, National Security, and Human Rights” and will discuss practical policy recommendations and legal frameworks to address the impacts of a changing climate.
Rhea Suh, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, will deliver the opening address. The former Assistant Secretary of the Army Katherine Hammack will deliver the keynote address.
Conference attendees will discuss how environmental change can be a “threat multiplier” as human lives, national security, and international peace and stability are all at risk from a changing climate. From access to the most basic human resources to refugee crises to disaster risk and resilience, climate change challenges conventional notions of human rights and geopolitical security.
Panel discussions will explore policy responses to climate uncertainty and its effects on national and geopolitical security. Workshop sessions will cover a wide range of case studies, from community resilience in the Hampton Road region to human security issues in the Nile River watershed and the Tibetan Plateau. Other topics include environmental justice, national energy security, and financing climate resilience.
The conference is co-hosted by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Yale Law School.
