Sonya Ziaja is an assistant professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Her research and teaching focus on Environmental Law; Climate Adaptation, Law and Equity; Water Law; Energy Law; Administrative Law; and Property. Before coming to University of Baltimore, she worked in energy regulation at the California Public Utilities Commission and was the research lead for the Water, Energy, Climate Nexus at the California Energy Commission. She is an affiliate researcher at the CEU Democracy Institute and recipient of the 2024-2025 Pace | Haub Environmental Law Distinguished Junior Scholar Award.
Ziaja’s research interests focus on the overlapping areas of environmental governance and law, technology and society: How can environmental law and institutions sustainably adjust to rapidly changing bio-geophysical conditions and societal demands associated with climate change? And with what consequences for equity and democratic participation? Her approach to these questions draws on her interdisciplinary background in geography, water governance, as well as her practical knowledge of energy regulation.
Ziaja’s scholarship has appeared in Georgetown Law Journal, Ecology Law Quarterly, and Arizona State Law Journal, among other law reviews and peer reviewed journals. Her article, “How Algorithm Assisted Decision Making Is Influencing Environmental Law and Climate Adaptation” was chosen by peer review as among the top five leading environmental and natural resources law articles in 2022 and was selected to appear, condensed and reprinted, in the 2023 Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review.
Ziaja holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Arizona, M.Sc. in Water Science, Policy and Management from the University of Oxford, and J.D. from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.
Selected Publications
Articles
- Why Constitutional Environmental Rights Don’t Matter, __ Envtl. L. Rep. __ (forthcoming 2026).
- Of Climate Justice and Magical Realism, 124 Mich. L. Rev.__ (forthcoming 2026) (invited book review of Cass Sunstein’s Climate Justice).
- Environmental Geography and Law: Towards a Synthesis, 99.4 Tul. L. Rev. 811 (2025) (with Anang, Börk, Borgias, Carlarne, Eisenberg, Franco, Hirokawa, Morgan, London, Owley, and Roesler).
- Secret Lives of Environmental Rights, 41 Pace Envtl. L. Rev 345 (2024) (invited symposium).
- “Amoral Water Markets?,” 111 Geo. L.J. 1135 (2023) (with Börk).
- “Mapping Ecosystem Benefits Flows to Normalize Equity,” 54.3 Ariz. State L. Rev. 819 (2023) (with Hirokawa, Carlarne, and Börk).
- “How Algorithm-Assisted Decision Making Is Influencing Environmental Law and Climate Adaptation,” 48 Ecology L.Q. 899-936 (2021).
- “Climate Adaptation for Energy Utilities: Lessons Learned from California’s Pioneering Regulatory Actions,” Frontiers in Climate, Vol. 3 (2021).
- “Role of Knowledge Networks and Boundary Organizations in Coproduction: A Short History of a Decision Support Tool and Model for Adapting Multiuse Reservoir and Water-Energy Governance to Climate Change in California,” 11.4 Weather, Climate, and Society 823-849 (2019).
- “Rules and Values in Virtual Optimization of California Hydropower,” 57 Natural Resources Journal 329 (2017).
- “Conjunctive Groundwater Management as a Response to Social Ecological Disturbances: A Comparison of Four Western U.S. States,” Texas Water Journal (2016) (with co-authors)
- “Judging Science: The Rewards and Perils of Courts as Boundary Organizations,” 21.2 Hastings West Northwest J. Envtl. L. & Pol’y 217 (2015) (with co-author).
- “Muddy Waters: Congressional Consent and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Resources Compact,” 36 Hastings Const. L. Q. 717 (Note, Spring 2009).
Book and Treatise Chapters
- “Words Are Not Enough to Protect Environmental Rights” in Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Human Rights and the Environment (Eds. James R. May, et al.) (forthcoming 2026).
- “Conjunctive Management of Surface Water and Groundwater Resources” in Mary K. Sahs, ed., Essentials of Texas Water Resources, 6th Edition (State Bar of Texas, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section) (2020) (with Zachary Sugg and Edella Schlager).
- “Water-energy nexus in semiarid regions and coastal cities of California and Baja California,” in Gian Carlo Delgado Ramos, ed., Climate Change-Sensitive Cities: Building Capacities for Urban Resilience, Sustainability, and Equity (National Autonomous University of Mexico Research Program on Climate Change, 2017) (with G. Moñuz Melendez and Guido Franco).
Government Reports
- Bedsworth, L., Guido Franco, Dan Cayan, Leah Fisher, and Sonya Ziaja, Statewide Summary Report, California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment (State of California, 2018).
- Ziaja, S. and Guido Franco, “Climate Adaptation and Resiliency” in 2016 Integrated Energy Policy Report Update (California Energy Commission, 2017).
- Rockman, M., Marissa Morgan, Sonya Ziaja, George Hambrecht and Alison Meadow, “Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy” (National Park Service, 2016), available at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/upload/NPS-2016_Cultural-Resoures-ClimateChange-Strategy.pdf.
- Ziaja, S., Guido Franco, Alex Barnum, Susan Wilhelm and David Stoms, “Climate Change Research Plan for California” (California Energy Commission, 2015).
Presentations, Lectures, and Conferences
- Association of Law and Political Economy (ALPE), Richmond, VA
- Emancipatory Environmental Law Panel (moderator) (February 6, 2026).
- Law and Society Association, Chicago, IL
- Presentation: “Why Constitutional Environmental Rights Do Not Matter” (May 21, 2025).
- Sackett v. EPA: One Year Out – Anniversary Conference, the Environmental Law Institute and Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Cleveland, OH
- Invited Presentation: “Wetlands Governance Gaps and State Constitutional Environmental Rights” (June 12, 2024).
- Sabin Colloquium on Innovative Environmental Law Scholarship, Columbia University Law School, New York, NY (Zoom)
- Juried Selection, Presentation, “The Green Constitution: Do Environmental Rights Matter?” (May 23-24, 2024).
- Columbia Journal of Environmental Law Symposium, New York, NY
- Invited Commentary on Nick Bryner and Victor Flatt’s article, “Rotting Under the Bridge–How False Data Is Polluting Administrative Rulemaking” (April 4, 2023).
- Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review, Washington, D.C.
- Invited Presentation, “How Algorithm-Assisted Decision Making Is Influencing Environmental Law and Climate Adaptation” (March 31, 2023).
- Pace Environmental Law Review Symposium, Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law (Zoom)
- Selected Presentation, “Secret Lives of Environmental Rights” (October 28, 2022).
- Junior Faculty Workshop, The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law (Zoom)
- Invited Presentation, “The Green Constitution – Do Environmental Rights Matter?” (July 19, 2022).
- Natural Resources Law Teachers Institute, Asilomar, CA
- Juried Selection, Presentation, “Constitutional Environmentalism” (June 1, 2022).
- Seventh Annual SRP Sustainability Conference of American Legal Educators, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
- Panelist, “Exposing Environmental Law’s Hidden Value Judgments” with Cinnamon Carlane, Keith Hirokawa, and Karrigan Börk (May 12-13, 2022).
- Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law, White Plains, NY (Zoom)
- Guest Lecturer, Science for Environmental Lawyers (Prof. J. Alex Erwin) (October 19, 2021).
- First Annual Loyola Chicago Environmental Law Scholars Workshop at Starved Rock, Loyola University Chicago, Starved Rock State Park, Illinois
- Invited Participant, “The Green Constitution – Do Environmental Rights Matter?” (October 13-16, 2021).
- Probing Democracy – Inaugural Conference of the Central European University Democracy Institute, Budapest, Hungary (Zoom)
- Invited Panelist, “How can knowledge production contribute to (re-)democratization” (October 7, 2021).
- Sabin Colloquium on Innovative Environmental Law Scholarship, Columbia University Law School, New York, NY (Zoom)
- Juried Selection, Presentation, “How Algorithm Assisted Decision Making Is Influencing Environmental Law and Climate Adaptation” (May 21, 2021).
- University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, Tucson, AZ (Zoom)
- Invited Lecturer, Environmental Law and Research Seminar (Prof. Justin Pidot, Kirsten Engle, and Priya Sundarashan) (April 23, 2021).
- University of Michigan Law School Junior Scholar Conference, Ann Arbor, MI (Zoom)
- Juried Selection, Presentation, “How Algorithm Assisted Decision Making Is Influencing Environmental Law and Climate Adaptation” (April 17, 2021).
- California Western School of Law, San Diego, CA.
- Guest lecturer, Natural Disaster Seminar (Prof. Kenneth Klein) (February 21, 2019).
- Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, San Jose, CA.
- Invited participant, “Sustainable Groundwater Management: The Path Forward” (October 7-10, 2018).
- Local Government Coalition, Civic Spark Orientation, Sacramento, CA.
- Invited speaker, “Adaptation/Resilience and Equity: Perspectives and Tools for Equitable Climate Adaptation” (September 13, 2017).
- Association of American Geographers, Legal Geographies, San Francisco, CA.
- Presenter, “Adaptation Lessons from the History of Hydroelectricity Governance in California” (April 1, 2016).
