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Schueier, Ben --- "Governmental Liability: An Incentive for Appropriate Adaptation?" [2011] ELECD 269; in Faure, Michael; Peeters, Marjan (eds), "Climate Change Liability" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Climate Change Liability

Editor(s): Faure, Michael; Peeters, Marjan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802864

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Governmental Liability: An Incentive for Appropriate Adaptation?

Author(s): Schueier, Ben

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

11. Governmental liability: an
incentive for appropriate
adaptation?
Ben Schueler

1. INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, I will explore the possibilities of using a national system
of governmental liability as an incentive for appropriate adaptation to
climate change. Liability systems are supposed to stimulate actors to take
the right decisions, because these actors are expected to limit their respon-
sibility for compensation. Thus, the existence of liability for unlawful deci-
sions would seem to provide an impulse to take the right decisions.
I will focus on the Dutch system of governmental liability. The analysis
of the Dutch liability system may serve as a case study in order to demon-
strate the problems that may arise in relation to the use of governmental
liability as an instrument to stimulate measures to prevent climate change
damage. There are several good reasons to focus on Dutch law. The
Netherlands is a low-lying country, for a large part below sea-level. The
threat of a rising sea-level is taken as a serious and concrete political and
technical problem, both by the government and by other parties within
Dutch society. Furthermore, the Netherlands is a delta where a number of
important river basins come together: those of the Rhine, the Meuse and
the Scheldt. There is danger from all sides ­ even from above, as excessive
rainfall is one of the predicted effects of climate change in the future.
Another reason to explore the Dutch situation is the well-developed
system of governmental liability. This ...