Conference on Science and Law of Sea Level Rise: Reducing Legal Obstacles to Managing Rising Seas; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Spring 2024

This project brings together professionals in science, public policy, law, and journalism in an interdisciplinary symposium on sea level rise (SLR) aimed at addressing opportunities and challenges to effective U.S. coastal resilience policy and practices. The Environmental Law Institute will engage scholars and student researchers from law schools and academic departments to: 1) develop white papers on key legal topics related to sea level rise; and 2) deliver their findings at an interdisciplinary symposium in Florida. The research will underscore themes raised at previous workshops such as the inevitability of significant sea level rise, the increasing urgency of developing comprehensive responses to it, and the necessity of adapting the legal system to address immediate and accelerating societal impacts. The potential Broader Impacts include promoting the ability of scientists, policymakers, and the general public to understand and make decisions based on the emerging science of sea level rise and coastal adaptation and resilience. The conference and its attendant activities will contribute to increasing cross-disciplinary understanding of the issues by the participants and the communities with whom they interact and enable them to communicate more effectively as necessary. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.