Balancing Compassion and Risk in Climate Adaptation: U.S. Water, Drought and Agricultural Law

Robert W. Adler — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:24:14 PST

Abstract This article compares risk spreading and risk reduction approaches to climate adaptation. Because of the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from past practices, the world is “committed” to a significant amount of global average warming. This is likely to lead to significant increases in the frequency, severity and geographic extent of drought. Adaptation to these and other problems caused by climate disruption will be essential even if steps are taken now to mitigate that disruption. Water and drought policy provide an example of the significant policy tension between compassion and risk reduction in climate adaptation, and how those tensions affect broader national economic policies. Because water is essential to lives and livelihoods, the compassionate response to drought is to provide financial and other forms of relief. Guaranteed, unconditional drought relief, however, can encourage unsustainable water uses and practices that increase vulnerability to drought in the long-term. Moreover, the agricultural sector is the largest consumptive user of water in drought-prone regions, but longstanding U.S. agricultural policy encourages excess production and water use. Effective adaptation to climate disruption will have to strike a balance between providing essential short-term relief from hardship and promoting longer-term measures to reduce vulnerability through more sustainable water use and other practices. It will also require fundamental reconsideration of laws and policies that drive key economic sectors that will be affected by climate disruption. Although water, drought and agricultural law provide one good example of this tension, the same lessons are likely to apply to other sectors of the economy vulnerable to climate disruption, such as real estate development and energy production.

Priceline for Pollution: Auctions to Allocate Public Pollution Control Dollars

Robert W. Adler — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:00:01 PDT

Priceline for Pollution: Auctions to Allocate Public Pollution Control Dollars explores the intersection of auction theory and public subsidies for pollution control. The article evaluates the use of auctions as a more cost-effective tool to allocate public pollution control dollars compared to traditional public works or other models of resource allocation. It begins by explaining auction theory and design as applied to public procurement, and explains that public pollution control subsidies are simply a way in which the public purchases pollution control services. Just as auctions have been used recently to improve the efficiency of other public procurement programs, auctions can improve the cost-effectiveness of publicly funded pollution control efforts. The article then explains how at least one public pollution control program in the Colorado River Basin has made effective use of competitive bidding, and explores how similar auction designs might apply to other large, watershed-based pollution control efforts such as the Chesapeake Bay Program.