Law and Socio-Ecological Problems

In this lecture on the role of law in managing social-ecological systems, Dr. Barbara Cosens first presents a summary of the role that law has played in social change throughout the history of the United States. She notes that law is often seen as an unchangeable institution that can help or hinder change, and links this observation to historical cases where law was used to support and enforce social changes. In this sense, law is adaptive and flexible, and she highlights the role that environmental law can play in building resilience in social-ecological systems because of this flexibility. She notes that adaptive governance and the laws that support it must support institutional decision-making at scales that are appropriate to the system being managed, and much also link across scales with other relevant governance systems. She draws on the example of water law in the Columbia River basin, and the role that law has played in ongoing watershed management and development in the basin. The Native American tribes that live in the basin have drawn on existing law to exercise their rights to water and fisheries, and the tribes and many other stakeholders in the basin have worked together to generate new legal propositions for dam control and flood management. She concludes by highlighting a framework for understanding law in socio-ecological systems, which includes understanding the structures, capacities and participation in adaptive governance systems.