Property Rights and Climate Change ─ Land-use Under Changing Environmental Conditions

Property Rights and Climate Change explores the multifarious relationships between different types of climate-driven environmental changes and property rights. This original contribution to the literature examines such climate changes through the lens of property rights, rather than through the lens of land use planning. The inherent assumption pursued is that the different types of environmental changes, with their particular effects and impact on land use, share common issues regarding the relation between the social construction of land via property rights and the dynamics of a changing environment.

Making these common issues explicit and discussing the different approaches to them is the central objective of this book. Through examining a variety of cases from the Arctic to the Australian coast, the contributors take a transdisciplinary look at the winners and losers of climate change, discuss approaches to dealing with changing environmental conditions, and stimulate pathways for further research. This book is essential reading for lawyers, planners, property rights experts and environmentalists.

Fennie van Straalen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Thomas Hartmann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

John Sheehan is Visiting Professor, Faculty of Society and Design, Bond University, Australia.