“Geospatial NEPA” is designed to facilitate access and information sharing by aggregating NEPA documents and geospatial data in a map-based data system. ELI is developing the concept and drafted a report on approaches, policies, and possibilities for this new vision of NEPA review.
The first major report from Blue Halo Montserrat provides a strong legal foundation by exploring how existing legal authorities contribute to ocean management in Montserrat and how they can be used to support the Montserrat Sustainable Ocean Policy. The goal of the project is to ensure long-term health of Montserrat’s waters.
Well-designed state and local laws can protect marine resources that are essential for the economic and environmental health of coastal areas. To understand these state and local laws, we examined the key legal tools for protecting marine areas in the twenty-three U.S. coastal states.
Bermuda's nearshore marine environment is a critical economic, environmental, and social resource for the Bermudian people. Bermuda can more effectively manage the uses of its marine environment by undertaking marine spatial planning (MSP) for its nearshore waters. MSP is a public process that organizes human activity in marine areas in time and space to meet environmental, economic, and social objectives.
Around the globe, nations are creating marine protected areas (MPAs) that prohibit some or all fishing and other potentially harmful activities. MPAs can allow sensitive habitats and ecosystems to prosper in a natural state and can enable recovery of commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries, among other benefits. All too often, however, MPAs exist only on paper. These countries may lack strong legal authority to enable enforcement in their MPAs, further limiting their ability to detect and prosecute offenses.
(Washington) Offshore aquaculture is an emerging new use of the ocean. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plays a central, but underappreciated, role in regulating this new industry. The Environmental Law Institute has released a white paper, “U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulation of Offshore Aquaculture,” clarifying the role, legal authority, and practice of the Corps in this area.
This study reviews MPA laws in the eight Caribbean nations based on the types of regulated activities allowed in MPAs and the enforcement authorities they include. Based on this country-by-country legal review, the study preliminarily identifies similarities and differences among enforcement authorities in the region and highlights model approaches that may assist enforcement reform in this area. We specifically analyzed a number of issues, including:
