Alejandro Camacho
Faculty Director, Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources
Joint appointment in Law and Political Science
Expertise:
Environmental law, natural resource law, land use regulation, regulatory design and government organization, property
Background:
Professor Camacho’s scholarship explores the goals, structures, and processes of regulation, with a particular focus on natural resources and public lands law, pollution control law, and land use regulation. His writing generally considers the role of public participation and scientific expertise in regulation, the allocation of authority and relationships between regulatory institutions, and how the design and goals of legal institutions must and can be reshaped to more effectively account for emerging technologies and the dynamic character of natural and human systems.
His legal scholarship includes articles published or forthcoming in the Virgina Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Emory Law Journal, BYU Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Colorado Law Review, Yale Journal on Regulation, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Stanford Environmental Law Journal, Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, Regulation & Governance, and Law, Innovation, & Technology. Professor Camacho is the co-author, with Robert Glicksman, of Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework, published by NYU Press in 2019. He is also the co-author of Property: Cases & Materials, Fifth Edition (with James Charles Smith and Edward J. Larson) (Aspen 2022), and Environmental Protection: Law and Policy, Ninth Edition (with Robert L. Glicksman, William W. Buzbee, Daniel R. Mandelker, and Emily Hammond) (Aspen 2023).
Professor Camacho’s interdisciplinary research has involved collaborations with experts in ecology, land use planning, political science, computer science, genetics, philosophy, and sociology. He is the principal investigator on the $1.2 million Integrated and Equitable Climate Action project, which aims to align local plans with California’s climate mandates while developing best practices for effective and equitable adaptation planning. He is a principal or co-investigator on six other ongoing funded research projects. His scientific publications include articles published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, BioScience, the Journal of Applied Ecology, Frontiers in Climate, and Issues in Science and Technology.
He is a frequent public speaker and has contributed opinion pieces or interviews for various print and radio news outlets (including the Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Denver Post, The Australian, Discover, Nature Climate Change, Bloomberg, Businessweek, HuffPost, Mother Jones, The Hill, Washington Post and National Public Radio stations).
Professor Camacho is an elected member of the American Law Institute. He also serves as the inaugural Faculty Director of the UCI Law Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources, which seeks to promote policy-relevant research and public engagement through conferences, lectures, publications, stakeholder facilitation on a variety of regional and national environmental issues, and extensive interdisciplinary research. He is on the Board of Directors and a Scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform, a nonprofit think tank devoted to issues of environmental protection and safety. He holds a courtesy appointment in Political Science at UCI’s School of Social Sciences, and is the former chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Natural Resources.
In Fall 2017, he was the Florence Rogatz Visiting Professor of Law at the Yale Law School. Before joining UCI, Professor Camacho was an Associate Professor at the Notre Dame Law School, a research fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center, and practiced environmental and land use law.
(Log in to view full course descriptions in the UCI Law Course Catalog)
- Adapting Conservation Governance under Climate Change: Lessons from Tribal Country, 110 Va. L. Rev. (with Elizabeth Kronk Warner, Jason McLachlan, and Nathan Kroeze) (2024)
- A Missed Opportunity to Address Ecological Risk from Emerging Biotechnologies: President Biden’s Executive Order on a ‘Sustainable’ Bioeconomy and an Agenda for Future Reforms, 85 Ohio St. L. J. (with David Dana) (forthcoming 2024)
- Governance Limitations of the Coordinated Framework’s Regulation of EMERs, in Caltech Center for Science, Society, and Public Policy, Policy Recommendations for the Regulation of Engineered Microbes for Environmental Release (2024)
- ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: LAW AND POLICY, NINTH EDITION (with Robert L. Glicksman, William W.
Buzbee, Daniel R. Mandelker, and Emily Hammond) (Aspen forthcoming 2023). - TEACHER’S MANUAL, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: LAW AND POLICY, NINTH EDITION (with Robert L.
Glicksman, William W. Buzbee, Daniel R. Mandelker, and Emily Hammond) (Aspen forthcoming 2023). - In the Anthropocene: Adaptive Law, Ecological Health, and Biotechnologies, LAW, INNOVATION & TECH.
(forthcoming 2023) - TEACHER’S MANUAL, PROPERTY: CASES & MATERIALS, FIFTH EDITION (with James Charles Smith and
Edward J. Larson) (Aspen 2022) - Property: Cases & Materials, FIFTH EDITION (with James Charles Smith and Edward J. Larson) (Aspen
2022). - Regulatory Fragmentation: An Unexamined Barrier to Species Conservation Under Climate Change (with
Jason S. McLachlan), 3 FRONTIERS IN CLIMATE 735608 (2021), doi: 10.3389/fclim.2021.735608 (reprinted
in J.B. RUHL, ET AL., EDS., COORDINATING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AS RISK MANAGEMENT 54-61
(2022). - Governing Complexity: Integrating science, governance, and law to manage accelerating change in the globalized commons (with Barbara Cosens, J.B. Ruhl, Niko Soininen, Lance Gunderson, Brian Chaffin, Robin Craig, Holly Doremus, Robert Glicksman, Rhett Larson, Antti Belinskij, Jukka Simila, Anna-Stiina Heiskanen, and Thorsten Blenckner), 118 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. e2102798118 (2021).
- Six Priority Recommendations for Improving Conservation under the ESA, 51 Envtl. L. Rep. 10785-10804 (with Melissa L. Kelly & Ya-Wei Li) (2021).
- Designing Regulation Across Organizations: Assessing the Functions and Dimensions of Governance, 15 Reg. & Governance S102-S122 (2021) (with Robert L. Glicksman) (peer reviewed).
- Structured to Fail: Lessons from The Trump Administration’s Faulty Pandemic Planning and Response, 10 Mich. J. Envtl. & Admin. L. 327-79 (2021) (with Robert L. Glicksman).
- Tap into Resilience: Pathways for Localized Water Infrastructure, CLEANR BRIEFING REPORT (with Melissa
L. Kelly, Cynthia Koehler, and Caroline Koch) (2021). - De- and Re-constructing Public Governance for Biodiversity Conservation, 73 Vand. L. Rev. 1585-1641 (2020).
- Beyond Preemption, Toward Metropolitan Governance, 39 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 125-198 (2020) (with Nicholas J. Marantz).
- Bulldozing Infrastructure Planning and the Environment through Trump’s Executive Order 13807, 91 U. Colo. L. Rev. 511 (2020).
- Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework (with Robert L. Glicksman) (NYU Press 2019).
- Mitigating Climate Change through Transportation and Land Use Policy, 49 Envtl. L. Rep. 10473-92 (2019) (with Melissa L. Kelly, Nicholas J. Marantz, and Gabriel Weil).
- Blind focus on ‘energy dominance’ may cripple Endangered Species Act, The Hill (Oct. 4, 2018) https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/410005-blind-focus-on-energy-dominance-may-cripple-endangered-species-act.
- Improving Water Quality and Ecosystem Health in California’s Marine Managed Areas, 48 Envtl. L. Rep. 10818-36 (2018) (with Elizabeth Taylor and Stephanie Talavera).
- Turning power over to states won’t improve protection for endangered species, The Conversation (Jan. 11, 2018), https://theconversation.com/turning-power-over-to-states-wont-improve-protection-for-endangered-species-87495 (republished in L.A. Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, the Associated Press, and other news outlets).
- Wildlife laws aren't ready for the return of extinct species, AXIOS (June 22, 2017), https://www.axios.com/wildlife-laws-arent-ready-for-de-extinct-species-2445130259.html.
- Conservation Limited: Assessing the Limitations of State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection, UC Irvine Law Center for Land, Environment, & Natural Resources Report No. 3 (2017) (with Michael Robinson-Dorn, Asena Yildiz, and Tara Teegarden), reprinted as Assessing State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection, 47 Envtl. L. Rep. 10837 (2017).
- Congress Wants Land Agency to Ignore the Facts and Future, CPRBlog (Feb. 28, 2017), http://www.progressivereform.org/CPRBlog.cfm?idBlog=0ACD6185-0636-2092-811079BE2309B574 (with Robert Glicksman).
- Panelist, “Structural Choices in Institutional Governance Design, Regulatory Governance in a Changing World,” Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School, (panel dedicated to Alejandro E. Camacho & Robert L. Glicksman’s book, Reorganizing Government), June 2024
- Speaker, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, “Regulatory Governance in a Changing World,” the inaugural conference of the International Association on Regulation & Governance, hosted by the Penn Program on Regulation, June 17-18, 2024
- Speaker, Pathways Towards the Safe and Effective Deployment of Engineered Microbial Technologies, February 27, 2024
- Speaker, Ohio State Law Journal Symposium 2024, Imagining Better Environmental Law Structures, February 23, 2024
- Speaker, The Future of Conservation Law, BIODIVERSITY CONFERENCE, LEWIS & CLARK LAW SCHOOL, April 7, 2022 (invited).
- Speaker, Reconsidering Conservation Governance in the Anthropocene, STANFORD LAW SCHOOL, Oct. 12,
2022. - Speaker, Reconsidering Conservation Governance in the Anthropocene, UNIV. OF CALIF., IRVINE, Sept. 21,
2022. - Presenter, Environmental Law and Ethics in the Anthropocene, Reimagining UCI in a Climate-Changed World,
UNIV. OF CALIF., IRVINE, April 18, 2022. - Panelist, Recommendations, Implementation of the Endangered Species Act, U.S. DEPT. OF INTERIOR, April 12,2022.
- Presenter, The Future of Conservation? Law and Ethics in the Anthropocene, Northwestern Univ. Law School, March 17, 2022 (confirmed).
- Participant, Law Review Symposium, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, March 18, 2022 (confirmed).
- Participant, ESA § 7(a)(1) Scoping Workshop, Defenders of Wildlife, Sept. 17, 2021, and Oct. 21, 2021.
- Judge and Commenter, Sabin Colloquium on Innovative Environmental Law Scholarship, Columbia Law School, May 20-21, 2021.
- Speaker, The Future of Conservation? Law and Ethics in the Anthropocene, Current Issues in Air Quality, Climate and Energy, Depts. of Chemistry & Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, May 10, 2021.
- Panelist, Extinction: Solutions for Species on the Brink Conference, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, Feb. 10, 2021.
- Speaker, Beyond Substance and Process: Exploring the Structural Dimensions and Functions of Government Authority, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Feb. 5, 2021.
- Keynote Speaker, Technologies and modalities of regulation, Constitutionalizing the Anthropocene, Tilburg Univ., Tilburg, Netherlands, Dec. 3-4, 2020.
- Speaker, Reorganizing Government, Dep’t. Urb. Plan. & Pub. Pol’y, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, Nov. 16, 2020.
- Panelist, The Role of Governance Structure in Promoting Effective and Adaptive Public Policy, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management 2020 Fall Research Conference, Nov. 13, 2020.
- Speaker, Promoting Adaptive Structural Governance, Oversight and Accountability Conference, American Univ. Washington College of Law, Nov. 6, 2020.
- Speaker, Neglecting Government Organization in Pandemic Planning and Response, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, Oct. 2, 2020.
- Panelist, Structured to Fail, U.S. Response to the Covid Pandemic, Program on Regulation, Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Law, Aug. 26, 2020.
- Panelist, The Future of Conservation and Emerging Strategies, Frontiers in Environmental Law: 50th Earth Day Celebration, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, April 22, 2020.
- Speaker, Neglecting the Crucial Role of Government Organization in Pandemic Planning and Response, Mini-Conferences on Coronavirus and Law, Univ. of Oklahoma College of Law, April 15, 2020.
- Panelist, Biodiversity Conservation and Biotechnology, Extinction: Solutions for Bringing Species Back From the Brink, Univ. Of Calif., Irvine, March 2020.
- Keynote Speaker, De-extinction, Resurrection, and the Human Species, Tulane Law School, March 7, 2020.
- Presenter, Assisted Migration and Endangered Species, Idaho Law School, Nov. 1, 2019.
- Presenter, Reorganizing Government, Idaho Law School, Oct. 31, 2019.
- Presenter, Biodiversity Conservation as a Wicked Problem, Vanderbilt Law School, October 25, 2019.
- Presenter, Reorganizing Government, Univ. of Arizona Law School Faculty Colloquium, October 3, 2019.
- Speaker, Reframing Conservation Law and Management in the Anthropocene, Current Issues in Air Quality, Climate and Energy, Depts. of Chemistry & Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, April 22, 2019.
- Presenter, Metropolitan Governance in 3D, Northwestern Univ. Law School Environmental Colloquium, March 14, 2019.
- Speaker, Railroading Infrastructure: Misdirection and Half-truths through “One Federal Decision”, Colorado Law Review Symposium, March 1, 2019.
- Speaker, Fire & Ice: The Shifting Narrative of Climate Change, Fifth Annual Forum for the Academy and the Public, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, Feb. 9, 2019.
- Speaker, Assessing State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection, Sierra Club 2018 State Colloquium, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Nov. 30, 2018.
- Speaker, Reimagining Environmental and Natural Resources Law: 2020 and Beyond, George Washington Univ. Law School, March 21-22, 2019 (confirmed).
- Speaker, The Changing Landscape of Public Lands, Colorado Law Review Symposium, March 1, 2019 (confirmed).
- Speaker/Participant, Adapting Law to Climate Change, Climate Adaptation Implementation Barriers Workshop, sponsored by USFWS, Florida FWC, TNC & NWF, Orlando, Florida, June 12-13, 2018.
- Participant, Adaptive Water Governance Workshop, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, Annapolis, Maryland, February 7-9, 2018.
- Participant, Multiple Agency/Interest Collaboration and Funding of Wildlife Habitat Conservation in Anticipation of Development, Environmental Law Institute, Washington, DC, Jan. 18, 2018.
- Participant, Yale Workshop on Trade and Climate Change, Yale University, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2017.
- Distinguished Speaker, Assisted Migration and Other Emerging Conservation Strategies, Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Nov. 14, 2017.
- Presenter, Re-organizing Government: The Functions and Dimensions of Regulatory Authority, Yale Law School Faculty Workshop, Nov. 6, 2017.
- Briefing, Assessing State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection, United States Senate (hosted by Senator Tammy Duckworth), Washington, DC, Sept. 28, 2017.
- Speaker, Natural Resources, Energy, and Environment in a Climate Changed World, Univ. of Colorado Law School, Aug. 10, 2017.
- Speaker, A New Paradigm for Conservation Biology, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, May 5, 2017.
- Panelist, The Legacy of Massachusetts v. EPA, Climate, Carbon, and Cars, 2017 Earth Day Conference, Univ. of Conn. School of Law, April 21, 2017.
- Elected Fellow, American Bar Foundation, 2020-Present.
- Nominee, 2L/3L Professor of the Year, U.C. IRVINE SCHOOL OF LAW, 2019-20.
- Top Ranked U.S. Legal Scholars for Interdisciplinary Scholarly Impact, 2019 (ranked thirty-first).
- Elected Member, AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE, 2017-Present.
- Top Twenty Article of the Year, FIFTEENTH ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & POLICY ANNUAL REVIEW, ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE AND VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL (awarded for Beyond Preemption, Toward Metropolitan Governance, 39 STAN. ENVTL. L.J. 125-198 (2020) (with Nicholas J. Marantz))
- The Hill: Inefficient and reckless: Why DOGE could be so dangerous (Op-Ed)
- Prof. Alex Camacho Leads Legal Analysis of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 in Letter to U.S. House and Senate Leaders
- Faculty Roundup (October 2024)
- Faculty Roundup: The Latest Highlights From UCI Law’s Faculty (July 2024)
- The Center for Land, Environment & Natural Resources: Report Unveils Civil Rights Violations in California Pesticide Regulations
- Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources: Annual Report January 2024
- Center for Land, Environment and Natural Resources: Bridging state, local climate action
- The Hill: Imagining the next 50 years of the Endangered Species Act (op-ed)
- Center for Progressive Reform: Celebrating 50 Years of Impact: The Endangered Species Act
- Sierra Club: Assisted Migration Helps Animals Adapt to Climate Change
- Integrated and Equitable Climate Action Awarded $1.2 Million to Advance IECA Across the State
- Faculty Roundup: The Latest Highlights from UCI Law’s Faculty
- University of California: University of California awards more than $80 million in state-funded grants to spur climate action
- UCI News: 3 UC Irvine professors garner $8.7 million in state support for climate action projects – UCI News
- NPR: The EPA plans to retool its pesticide program in an effort to protect endangered animals
- The Washington Post: Climate change destroys habitats. Relocation of the animals is tricky.
- Stateline: Climate change is destroying habitats. But relocating species could be tricky.
- UCI Law Community Honors Professors Alejandro Camacho and Rachel Moran
- UCI News: Prof. Camacho discusses impact of climate change and the solutions needed to advance policy
- CPRBlog: Prof. Camacho writes on moves by the Bureau of Land Management to protect public lands and curb climate change
- CBS Los Angeles: WATCH: Prof. Camacho quoted on federal charges filed against companies for Orange County oil spill
- Center for Progressive Reform: Prof. Camacho joins the Center for Progressive Reform Board of Directors
- Eos: Prof. Camacho quoted on laws around transporting and planting seeds, climate change and the future of forests
- CPRBlog: Biden Picks Conservation Advocate Tracy Stone-Manning to Lead the Bureau of Land Management. Here are Five Priorities for Our Public Lands
- SCOTUSblog: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly: Court favors deliberative process privilege protections over FOIA transparency goals
- Grist: Prof. Camacho quoted on 21st Century Conservation Corps Act and Biden’s Civilian Climate Corps initiative
- Center for Progressive Reform: WATCH: Prof. Camacho comments on his work on the Climate, Energy, Justice Report providing climate policy recommendations to Congress
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho’s essays on the Trump Administration’s pandemic response and revisions to regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act highlighted among top contributor essays of 2020
- UCI Podcast: LISTEN: Prof. Camacho discusses ways the Biden administration can advance its environmental agenda
- SCOTUSblog: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly write argument analysis on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club
- SCOTUSblog: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly write preview of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club
- A Hard Look Podcast: LISTEN: Prof. Camacho discusses his book co-authored with Robert Glicksman: “Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework”
- Penn Program on Regulation: WATCH: Prof. Camacho participates in panel discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic and implications for U.S. regulatory law
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho and Robert L. Glicksman op-ed: The Trump Administration’s latest unconstitutional power grab
- SCOTUSblog: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly highlighted for essay on County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund in the Regulatory Review
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly op-ed: The shape of water after County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund
- Bloomberg Law: Prof. Camacho quoted on BLM violating goals and purpose of NEPA
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho co-writes op-ed on the Trump Administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Federal News Network: Prof. Camacho quoted on Republican Study Committee recommendations to alter ESA, NEPA processes through COVID-19 relief bills