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Verschuuren, Jonathan --- "Climate change adaptation and environmental and pollution control law" [2013] ELECD 875; in Verschuuren, Jonathan (ed), "Research Handbook on Climate Change Adaptation Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 383

Book Title: Research Handbook on Climate Change Adaptation Law

Editor(s): Verschuuren, Jonathan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781000076

Section: Chapter 14

Section Title: Climate change adaptation and environmental and pollution control law

Author(s): Verschuuren, Jonathan

Number of pages: 8

Abstract/Description:

Environmental law, including pollution control law, is relevant for adaptation in three ways. First, pollution control law helps to make the natural environment (land, water, air) resilient to change. A natural environment that is already weakened by contamination will suffer greater negative impacts by climate change than a pristine environment. The combination of an influx of nutrients into surface waters, for example, and rising water temperatures can lead to massive harmful algal blooms in both marine and freshwater aquatic environments.1 Adaptation policies should, therefore, be aimed at further reducing or preventing the emission of pollutants into the environment. Second, environmental law instruments will have to be applied for adaptation purposes. Installations vulnerable to extreme weather events, flooding or droughts have to be made resilient to these impacts of climate change so as to prevent pollution. Flooding of a chemical industry plant or a waste management site, for instance, can lead to serious pollution in a large area. Therefore, permits and other legal instruments aimed at regulating these activities, have to force the owners of these installations to be prepared for such impacts. Environmental impact assessments can be used to discover whether industrial installations, infrastructure projects or other large-scale human activities are, from a long term perspective, ‘climate proof’.