Supported by a BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant (funded by the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy), the project brings together researchers from the University of Oslo, The Arctic University of Norway (Tromsø), and The Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, to address the question of how land rights can be recognised and respected in a world responding to climate change.
In January 2020, the project will be hosting two workshops on the theme of land rights and climate change. The first will be held at the University of Tromsø on 27 January, and the second on 30-31 January at the University of Oslo:
Land Rights in a Changing Climate workshops:
Existing patterns of land use are threatened both by climate change impacts, and by climate change policies. Climate impacts including sea-level rise and desertification are predicted to submerge some regions and render others uninhabitable. At the same time, it is increasingly being suggested that a successful response to climate change must incorporate massive-scale deployment of techniques such as afforestation and bioenergy crop production; policies that threaten to encroach on land that is already being used for other purposes, with knock-on effects for food security and livelihoods.
The question of how land rights can be recognised and respected in a world responding to climate change is therefore of pressing importance. The papers in this workshop will address this question; considering both the normative implications of the impacts of climate change on land; and how existing land claims should influence the choice and implementation of climate response policies.
