David Takacs

Bio

Professor David Takacs is a proud UC Law SF alumnus. He also holds an LL.M. from the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London, and a B.S. (Biology), M.A., and Ph.D. (Science & Technology Studies) from Cornell University.

His scholarly work addresses forest carbon offsetting, biodiversity conservation law, environmental and ecological democracy, rights for nature, and the human right to water. He is the author of The Idea of Biodiversity (Johns Hopkins U. Press). He has been a consultant for international NGOs and US government agencies, analyzing legal and policy issues pertaining to REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) and global climate change. In 2017, he received the Rutter Award for Outstanding Teaching at UC Law SF.

Before his legal career, David was a professor in Earth Systems Science & Policy at CSU Monterey Bay, a lecturer in the John S. Knight Writing Program at Cornell, and a Peace Corps Forestry Volunteer in Senegal.

Education

• University of California Hastings College of the Law
  J.D., Law

• University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies
  LL.M., International Law

• Cornell University
  Ph.D., Science & Technology Studies

• Cornell University
  M.A., History and Philosophy of Science

• Cornell University
  B.S., Biology

Selected Scholarship

• (Forthcoming) We Are the River
  ___ U. Ill. L. Rev. ___ 2021

• An Aye Aye for an Aye Aye: Making Biodiversity Offsets Sustainable
  45 Colum. J. Envtl. L. 519 2020

• Environmental Law. Disrupted
  (with Inara Scott, Rebecca Bratspies, Vanessa Casado Pérez, Robin Kundis Craig, Keith Hirokawa, Blake Hudson, Sarah Krakoff, Katrina Fischer Kuh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J.B. Ruhl, and Erin Ryan), 49 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10038 2019

• Whose Voices Count in Biodiversity Conservation? Ecological Democracy in Biodiversity Offsetting, REDD, and Rewilding
  22 J. Env. Pol'y & Plan. 43 2019

• Are Koalas Fungible: Biodiversity Offsetting and the Law
  26 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 161 2018

• South Africa and the Human Right to Water: Equity, Ecology, and the Public Trust Doctrine
  34 Berkeley J. Int'l L. 55 2016

• A Response to the IPCC Fifth Assessment
  45 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10027 2015

• Environmental Democracy and Forest Carbon (REDD+)
  44 Envtl. L. 71 2014

• Protecting Your Environment, Exacerbating Injustice: Avoiding 'Mandate Havens'
  24 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol'y F. 315 2014

• Forest Carbon (Redd +), Repairing International Trust, and Reciprocal Contractual Sovereignty
  37 Vt. L. Rev. 653 2013

• Forest Carbon: Law and Property Rights
  Conservation International 2009