Climate Change and the Voiceless Protecting Future Generations, Wildlife, and Natural Resources

Future generations, wildlife, and natural resources - collectively referred to as 'the voiceless' in this work - are the most vulnerable and least equipped populations to protect themselves from the impacts of global climate change. While domestic and international law protections are beginning to recognize rights and responsibilities that apply to the voiceless community, these legal developments have yet to be pursued in a collective manner and have not been considered together in the context of climate change and climate justice. In Climate Change and the Voiceless, Randall S. Abate identifies the common vulnerabilities of the voiceless in the Anthropocene era and demonstrates how the law, by incorporating principles of sustainable development, can evolve to protect their interests more effectively. This work should be read by anyone interested in how the law can be employed to mitigate the effects of climate change on those who stand to lose the most.

1. An Anthropogenic problem that requires an ecocentric solution; 2. Climate change litigation in domestic courts and human rights commissions; 3. Protection of future generations prior to and during the Anthropocene era; 4. Legal personhood for wildlife: US and foreign domestic perspectives; 5. Rights of nature: US and foreign domestic perspectives; 6. Proposal for enhanced stewardship and rights-based protections for the voiceless; Index.

Randall S. Abate is the Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies The George Washington University Law School, an inaugural Rechnitz Family and Urban Coast Institute Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy, and Professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at Monmouth University, New Jersey. In his twenty-five years of full-time law teaching, he has taught international and comparative law courses on environmental and animal law topics in several countries, with a recent emphasis on climate change law and justice. He is the author of thirty law journal articles and the editor of five books, including Climate Justice: Case Studies in Global and Regional Governance Challenges (2017), What Can Animal Law Learn From Environmental Law? (2015), and Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law: U.S. and International Perspectives (2015).