Van Sant et al.: Conservation Easements & Environmental Justice

In Conserving What? Conservation Easements and Environmental Justice in the Coastal US South, Levi Van Sant (George Mason University), Dean Hardy (University of South Carolina), and Bryan Nuse (University of Georgia) analyze for Human Geography the political, racial, and environmental origins and implications of conservation easements in the coastal US South.

The authors rely on interviews, textual analysis, and spatial-statistical methods to examine a study area of approximately 17,000 square miles based on the local definition of Lowcountry (50 miles inland from the coastline) and US EPA level III ecoregions in Georgia and South Carolina. Looking at the racial composition of populations near conservation easements in the region, the authors found a higher percentage of Black residents near both public and private conservation lands compared to white counterparts, with a higher percentage of Black residents near private easements (34%) compared to Black residents near public reserves (30%). The authors assert that private conservation easements in the Lowcountry were, from the start, an elite white project influenced by racial ideas of land and Conserving What? demonstrates how private conservation easements in the Lowcountry continue to perpetuate environmental injustices through restricting greenspace access. Further, Conserving What? documents the difficulties in obtaining additional data on conservation easements and the authors suggest such privatization of easement information also undergirds exclusive control of land.

This digest was produced with significant contribution by Aurora Kenworthy, UNL Law Student.