Article
Reaching Higher Ground: Avenues to Secure and Manage New Land for Communities Displaced by Climate Change
Center for Progressive Reform
(2017)
Abstract
Millions of Americans are in danger of being displaced by sea level rise before the end of the century. In fact, migration from high-risk areas has already begun in isolated locations across the United States, where people are looking for homes less vulnerable to recurrent flooding, rising tides, melting permafrost, and other effects of global climate disruption.
Most of the people currently dealing with climate change-induced relocation are Native Americans and Alaska Natives, many of whom live close to coasts because of the cultural and economic importance of coastal resources, or because the federal government forcibly settled them on tracts of land that were much smaller and more marginal than their original homelands.Â
Three types tools are available to acquire and govern the land needed for a community to relocate: legal, policy, and corporate. This paper discusses some of the most promising of these tools that can be used to implement and support climate relocation efforts.
Keywords
- Climate Disruption,
- Community Relocation,
- Disaster Law,
- Displaced Peoples
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring May, 2017
Citation Information
Robert R.M. Verchick and Maxine Burkett. "Reaching Higher Ground: Avenues to Secure and Manage New Land for Communities Displaced by Climate Change" Center for Progressive Reform (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/robert_verchick/71/