News headlines about scientific reports documenting and predicting the rising of our seas appear on an almost daily basis. Sea-level rise is expected to cause flooding that will impact hundreds of millions of people around the world and drive numerous social and economic consequences. The extent and severity of these multifaceted consequences are already spurring litigation brought by various actors on different legal grounds. The most apparent issues relate to property law, and the relationship between government adaptation policies and private property rights. Cases also involve land-use decisions, insurance problems, public health and safety, and attempts to hold emitters liable for the impacts of sea-level rise, among others.

To date, global sea level has risen by between 8 and 9 inches (between 21 and 24 centimeters) since 1880, with recent rates of sea-level rise being unprecedentedly high in at least the last 2500 years. This is driven by both the melting of terrestrial ice structures, like the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, and thermal expansion of water, both of which are linked to warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. In this webinar, judges will hear from Professor Robert DeConto of the University of Massachusetts Amherst about the state of scientific knowledge with regard to sea-level rise and its continued impacts on society. Professor DeConto is one of the world’s foremost experts on sea-level science and has, among various other accomplishments, served as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the most authoritative and comprehensive source of climate science—on the topic. Professor DeConto will be joined by Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald of Hawaiʻi, who will connect this immense societal challenge to the law and what judges need to know about it.