The public trust doctrine and critical legal geographies of water in California |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, 217 Agriculture Building, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, United States;2. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1400 Independence Ave., SW Mail Stop 1800, Washington, DC 20250-0002, United States;1. School of Geography, Development & Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA;2. Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands;3. Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;4. Faculty of Agronomy, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Ecuador;5. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad (IIES), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico;6. Department of Geomatic and Hydraulic Engineering, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico;1. Water Resource Management Group, Department Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands;2. CEDLA (Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation), University of Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 33, 1018 WB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;3. Department Geography, Planning and International Development, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 15629, 1001 NC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;1. Department of Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Cercado de Lima 15081, Peru;2. CEDLA Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation, University of Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 33, 1018 WB Amsterdam, the Netherlands;3. Water Resources Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands;4. Department Social Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Av. Universitaria 1801, San Miguel, Lima, Peru;5. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Ciudadela Universitaria, Av. América, Quito, Ecuador |
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| Abstract: | Legal processes shape how water resources are allocated, regulated, distributed, and governed. This paper examines the public trust doctrine, a legal principle that addresses the state’s role in governing natural resources by requiring states to manage certain bodies of water and their shorelines for the good of the public. The paper focuses on how the public trust doctrine has been used—with varying degrees of success—to protect water bodies by contesting the diversion and transfer of water in California. The paper compares how the doctrine was applied in two cases: Mono Lake and the Salton Sea, two California lakes that have been threatened by water diversions and transfers. Advocates at Mono Lake successfully used the public trust doctrine for environmental protection, while public trust was an unsuccessful strategy at the Salton Sea. The paper examines issues of nonequilibrium ecosystems, natural versus artificial ecosystems, and wasteful versus reasonable uses of water.By investigating why one case was deemed eligible for public trust protections while the other was not, this paper examines how discursive constructions of nature are embedded in and enacted by legal institutions and how these constructions of nature impact the implementation of legal protections of natural resources. In examining the use of the public trust doctrine in California, the paper examines both the potential and the limitations of the public trust in practice, showing how legal processes and institutions can be used to protect public interests in natural resources but also how particular environmental narratives are reinforced through these institutions. |
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| Keywords: | California Law Legal geography Political ecology Public trust doctrine Water |
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