Northern Exposure: Alaska, Climate Change, Indigenous Rights, and Atmospheric Trust Litigation

Rimmer, Matthew

doi:10.1007/978-981-13-2155-9_23

Matthew Rimmer²

1731 Accesses
3 Citations

Abstract

This chapter considers the atmospheric trust litigation in the case of Nelson Kanuk v. State of Alaska over the climate inaction of the State of the Alaska. The dispute is a compelling case study in respect of constitutional law, the public trust doctrine, climate change, intergenerational justice, Indigenous rights, and Indigenous intellectual property. The new litigation between Esau Sinnok and the State of Alaska promises to further refine and clarify issues in respect of climate change, human rights, and Indigenous interests. Such climate litigation highlights larger international legal issues in respect of Indigenous peoples and climate change. There has been debate over Indigenous rights and climate change during the discussions in respect of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, the Anchorage Declaration 2009, the Paris Agreement 2015, and the Bonn climate talks in 2017. In the future, no doubt Indigenous communities will seek to engage in climate litigation against governments and corporations in order to seek redress for climate injustice, as well as loss and damage.

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Notes

1.
Wood (2014a).
2.
Ronco (2013).
3.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
4.
Complaint in Sinnok v. The State of Alaska (2017), Superior Court for the State of Alaska, Third Judicial District at Anchorage, Case No. 3AN-17 https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Alaska-Youth-Climate-COMPLAINT.pdf.
5.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf.
6.
The Anchorage Declaration 2009, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/smsn/ngo/168.pdf.
7.
Ibid.
8.
Ibid.
9.
Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 12 December 2015 (entered into force 4 November 2016) (in UNFCCC, Report of the Conference of the Parties on its Twenty-First Session, Addendum, UN Doc FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, 29 Jan 2016).
10.
Rimmer (ed.) (2015b).
11.
Rimmer (2015c).
12.
Rimmer (2015e).
13.
Rimmer (2014).
14.
Complaint in Sinnok v. The State of Alaska (2017), Superior Court for the State of Alaska, Third Judicial District at Anchorage, Case No. 3AN-17 https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Alaska-Youth-Climate-COMPLAINT.pdf.
15.
Weston and Bollier (2013).
16.
Ibid., p. 239.
17.
Ibid., p. 242.
18.
Wood (2014a).
19.
Ibid., xviii.
20.
Ibid., pp. 220–221.
21.
Ibid., p. 221.
22.
Ibid., p. 221.
23.
Ibid., p. 221.
24.
Ibid., p. 221.
25.
Ibid., p. 226.
26.
Ibid., pp. 226–227.
27.
Ibid., p. 229.
28.
Ibid., p. 229.
29.
Ibid., p. 256.
30.
Ibid., p. 257.
31.
Ibid., p 257.
32.
Wood (2014b).
33.
Hansen (2014).
34.
Wood and Woodward (2016).
35.
Ibid., p. 684.
36.
See Coghill et al. (eds.) (2012).
37.
Preston (2011).
38.
Pepper (2016).
39.
Cunningham (2017). See also Rogers and Maloney (2017).
40.
Osofsky (2009).
41.
Ibid., p. 384.
42.
Ibid., p. 384.
43.
Peel and Osofsky (2015).
44.
Ibid., p. 15.
45.
Ibid., p. 15.
46.
Ibid., p. 82.
47.
Ibid., p. 354.
48.
Ibid., p. 354.
49.
Peel and Osofsky (2015).
50.
Boyd (2012, 2014, 2015a, b).
51.
Boyd (2012).
52.
Ibid., p. 2.
53.
Ibid., p. 3.
54.
Boyd (2017).
55.
Ibid., p. 230.
56.
Ibid., p. 230.
57.
Ibid., p. 230.
58.
Figueres (2017), McMichael et al. (2017), Watts et al. (2018).
59.
United Nations Environment Programme (2017).
60.
Knox (2018a, b).
61.
Robinson and Robinson (2012), Rimmer (2015a).
62.
Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice (2015).
63.
Inuit Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Oppose Climate Change Caused by the United States of America http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/inuit-petition-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights-to-oppose-climate-change-caused-by-the-united-states-of-america.html Full petition http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/uploads/3/0/5/4/30542564/finalpetitionicc.pdf Accessed 1 April 2018.
64.
Ibid.
65.
Ibid.
66.
Gardiner (2011).
67.
Ibid., p. 437.
68.
Ibid., p. 437.
69.
Ibid., p. 437.
70.
Lawrence (2014).
71.
Ibid., p. 58.
72.
Ibid., p. 133.
73.
Ibid., p. 140.
74.
Gerrard and Wannier (2012).
75.
Ibid., pp. 594–595.
76.
Ibid., p. 595.
77.
Ibid., p. 595.
78.
Urgenda Foundation v. Kingdom of the Netherlands C/09/456689/HA ZA 13-1396 (District Court of the Hague, 24 June 2015).
79.
United Nations Environment Programme and Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University (2017).
80.
Ibid., p. 40.
81.
Ibid., p. 40.
82.
Editorial (The Guardian) (2017).
83.
Milman (2017).
84.
Ibid.
85.
Ibid.
86.
Ibid.
87.
Ibid.
88.
Ibid.
89.
Milman (2017).
90.
Ibid.
91.
Klein (2017).
92.
Ibid.
93.
In Australia, there was a short-lived action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for allegedly failing to adequately disclose the risk climate change poses to its financial position: Younger (2017). The action was withdrawn after the Commonwealth Bank of Australia published a new study on climate risks: Environmental Justice Australia (2017). There is a new action in 2018 by Mark McVeigh against the superfund REST for not having a plan to address climate risks: Slezak (2018).
94.
Thomson v Minister for Climate Change Issues [2017] NZHC 733 (2 November 2017) http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZHC/2017/733.html; Cann (2017) and Greenpeace New Zealand (2017).
95.
Ballingall (2017).
96.
Ibid.
97.
Ibid.
98.
Carney (2015).
99.
The Economist (2017).
100.
For a history of the Alaska State Constitution, see McBeath (2011).
101.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
102.
‘Our Children’s Declaration of Nelson Kanuk’, Appellants’ Supplemental Excerpts of Record, 11 August 2011, 275–280.
103.
Ibid.
104.
Ibid.
105.
Ibid.
106.
Ibid.
107.
Ibid.
108.
Ibid.
109.
Ibid.
110.
Ibid.
111.
Witness (2011).
112.
‘Our Children’s Declaration of Adi Davis’, Appellants’ Supplemental Excerpts of Record, 11 August 2011, 281–282.
113.
‘Our Children’s Declaration of Katherine Dolma’, Appellants’ Supplemental Excerpts of Record, 11 August 2011, 283–286.
114.
‘Our Children’s Declaration of Glen “Dune” Lankard’, Appellants’ Supplemental Excerpts of Record, 11 August 2011, 287–289.
115.
Ibid.
116.
‘Our Children’s Declaration of Glen “Dune” Lankard’, Appellants’ Supplemental Excerpts of Record, 11 August 2011, 290–292.
117.
Ibid.
118.
Ibid.
119.
Alaska Constitution, adopted by the Constitutional Convention, 5 February 1956, ratified by the People of Alaska, 24 April 1956, and Operative with the Formal Proclamation of Statehood, 3 January 1959 http://ltgov.alaska.gov/services/alaskas-constitution/.
120.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
121.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
122.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
123.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
124.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
125.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
126.
Baker v. Carr 369 US 186 (1962).
127.
Abood v. League of Women Voters of Alaska 743 P. 2d 333 (1987).
128.
Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corporation 663 F. Supp. 2d 863 (N.D. Ca. 2009).
129.
Abate (2008).
130.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
131.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
132.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
133.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
134.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
135.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska (2012), Case No. 3AN-11-07474CI.
136.
Appellant opening brief in Kanuk et al. v. State of Alaska (2014), 1, http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/outreach/docs/scl2013-barrow-appellant-brief.pdf.
137.
Ibid., 3–4.
138.
Caesar Flavius Justinian.
139.
Illinois Central R.R. Co. v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387 (1892).
140.
CWC Fisheries, Inc. v. Bunker, 755 P.2d 11 15 (Alaska 1988).
141.
Appellant opening brief in Kanuk et al. v. State of Alaska (2014), 4, http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/outreach/docs/scl2013-barrow-appellant-brief.pdf.
142.
Ibid., pp. 18–19.
143.
Ibid., p. 20.
144.
Ibid., p. 32.
145.
Ibid., p. 41.
146.
Ibid., p. 42.
147.
Hansen (2006).
148.
Wallace-Wells (2017).
149.
James Hansen, ‘Brief of Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellants in Nelson Kanuk v. State of Alaska’, 14 November 2012.
150.
Ibid.
151.
Ibid.
152.
Watts (2017b).
153.
Ibid.
154.
Ibid.
155.
Ibid.
156.
The Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, ‘Brief of Amicus Curiae Alaska Inter-Tribal Council in Support of Appellants in Nelson Kanuk v. State of Alaska’, 5 December 2012, http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/outreach/docs/scl2013-barrow-amicus-brief-aitc.pdf.
157.
Ibid.
158.
Ibid.
159.
Ibid.
160.
Ibid.
161.
Ibid.
162.
‘Brief of Amici Curiae Law Professors in Support of the Appellants in Nelson Kanuk v. Alaska’, 14 December 2012, http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/outreach/docs/scl2013-barrow-amicus-brief-lp.pdf.
163.
Ibid.
164.
Ibid.
165.
Ibid.
166.
Ibid.
167.
Ibid.
168.
Ronco (2013).
169.
Ibid.
170.
Ibid.
171.
Hsieh (2013).
172.
‘Brief of Appellee in Kanuk v State of Alaska’, 12 March 2013, http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/outreach/docs/scl2013-barrow-appellee-brief.pdf.
173.
Ibid., p. 2.
174.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
175.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
176.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
177.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
178.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
179.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
180.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
181.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
182.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
183.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
184.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
185.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
186.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
187.
Kanuk v. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources 335 P. 3d 1088 (2014).
188.
Our Children’s Trust (2014).
189.
Ibid.
190.
Our Children’s Trust (2014) and Rosen (2014).
191.
Ibid.
192.
Ibid.
193.
Ibid.
194.
Ibid.
195.
Rosen (2014).
196.
Our Children’s Trust (2014).
197.
Ibid.
198.
Ibid.
199.
Ibid.
200.
Rosen (2014).
201.
Inuit Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Oppose Climate Change Caused by the United States of America http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/inuit-petition-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights-to-oppose-climate-change-caused-by-the-united-states-of-america.html Full petition http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/uploads/3/0/5/4/30542564/finalpetitionicc.pdf.
202.
1 Million Women (2014).
203.
Our Children’s Trust, Alaska. https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/alaska/ Accessed 1 April 2018.
204.
Ibid.
205.
De Noble (2017).
206.
Ibid., p. 5.
207.
Ibid., p. 5.
208.
Ibid., p. 5.
209.
Ibid., p. 1.
210.
Ibid., p. 1.
211.
Ibid., p. 1.
212.
Ibid., p. 1.
213.
Ibid., pp. 1–2.
214.
Ibid., p. 2.
215.
Ibid., p. 2.
216.
Ibid., p. 2.
217.
Ibid., p. 3.
218.
Ibid., p. 3.
219.
Ibid., p. 4.
220.
Ibid., p. 67.
221.
Ibid., p. 93.
222.
Haecker (2017).
223.
Ibid.
224.
Complaint in Sinnok v. The State of Alaska (2017), Superior Court for the State of Alaska, Third Judicial District at Anchorage, Case No. 3AN-17 https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Alaska-Youth-Climate-COMPLAINT.pdf.
225.
Kahm (2017).
226.
Ibid.
227.
Ibid.
228.
Ibid.
229.
Ibid.
230.
Ibid.
231.
Ibid.
232.
Ibid.
233.
Ibid.
234.
Complaint in Sinnok v. The State of Alaska (2017), Superior Court for the State of Alaska, Third Judicial District at Anchorage, Case No. 3AN-17 https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Alaska-Youth-Climate-COMPLAINT.pdf.
235.
Ibid., p. 66.
236.
Ibid., p. 66.
237.
Ibid., p. 66.
238.
Ibid., p. 66.
239.
Ibid., p. 66.
240.
The National Climate Assessment, Alaska (2014); and Melillo et al. (eds) (2014).
241.
Obama (2014).
242.
Melillo et al. (eds) (2014, p. 17).
243.
Ibid.
244.
Ibid.
245.
The National Climate Assessment, Alaska (2014), and Chapin et al. (2014).
246.
The National Climate Assessment, Alaska (2014).
247.
Melillo et al. (eds) (2014).
248.
Ibid.
249.
Melillo, Richmond, and Yohe (eds) (2014), 514–536 at 523.
250.
Ibid.
251.
Thorsson (2014).
252.
The Obama White House (2015).
253.
Holdren (2015).
254.
Ibid.
255.
Ibid.
256.
Ibid.
257.
Gardner (2017).
258.
Our Children’s Trust, Juliana v. U.S. Climate Lawsuit, https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/us/federal-lawsuit/ Accessed 1 April 2018.
259.
Juliana v. United States (2016) Case No. 6:15-cv-01517-TC (D. Or), amended complaint https://static1.squarespace.com/static/571d109b04426270152febe0/t/57a35ac5ebbd1ac03847eece/1470323398409/YouthAmendedComplaintAgainstUS.pdf.
260.
Ibid.
261.
Klein (2014, p. 112).
262.
Ibid., p. 112.
263.
Hall (2015).
264.
Flitter (2017).
265.
Rimmer (ed.) (2015b).
266.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, Adopted by General Assembly Resolution 61/295 on 13 September 2007.
267.
Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change, The Anchorage Declaration, 24 April 2009, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/smsn/ngo/168.pdf.
268.
Convention on Biological Diversity, opened for signature 5 June 1992, 1760 U.N.T.S. 79 (entered into force 29 December 1993); and Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity 2010, COP 10 Decision, (‘Nagoya Protocol’); and Lawson and Adhikari (ed.) (2018).
269.
Rimmer (2015c, d).
270.
UN Sustainable Development Goals 2015 http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ Rimmer (2015e, 2018).
271.
Savaresi (2018).
272.
The Paris Agreement 2015.
273.
Ibid.
274.
Ibid.
275.
Ibid.
276.
Ibid.
277.
Ibid.
278.
Foyer and Dumoulin (2017); and Aykut et al. (2017).
279.
Foyer and Dumoulin (2017), p. 168.
280.
Indigenous Environmental Network (2017).
281.
Ibid.
282.
Ibid.
283.
Watts (2017a); and Fiji Momentum for Implementation 2017, Decision 1/ CP.23, 18 November 2017, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2017/cop23/eng/l13.pdf.
284.
Ibid.
285.
Ibid.
286.
Taylor (2017).
287.
Ibid.
288.
Ibid.
289.
Ibid.
290.
Hill (2017).
291.
Skillington (2017).
292.
Ibid., 136.
293.
McCormick et al. (2017).
294.
Robertson and Roe (2017) and Wahlquist (2017).
295.
Bryant-Tokalau (2018).
296.
Watt-Cloutier (2015).

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Litigation

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Submissions

‘Appellant opening brief’ in Kanuk et al. v. State of Alaska (2014), 1, http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/outreach/docs/scl2013-barrow-appellant-brief.pdf
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‘Brief of Amici Curiae Law Professors in Support of the Appellants in Nelson Kanuk v. Alaska’, 14 December 2012, http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/outreach/docs/scl2013-barrow-amicus-brief-lp.pdf
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Legislation

Alaska Constitution, adopted by the Constitutional Convention, 5 February 1956, ratified by the People of Alaska, 24 April 1956, and Operative with the Formal Proclamation of Statehood, 3 January 1959 http://ltgov.alaska.gov/services/alaskas-constitution/

International Agreements and Treaties

The Anchorage Declaration 2009, Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/smsn/ngo/168.pdf
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Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Matthew Rimmer

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Matthew Rimmer

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Rimmer, M. (2018). Northern Exposure: Alaska, Climate Change, Indigenous Rights, and Atmospheric Trust Litigation. In: Rimmer, M. (eds) Intellectual Property and Clean Energy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2155-9_23

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2155-9_23
Published: 26 October 2018
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