| |||||
|
|||||
Environmental Defender's Office |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
EDO Books and Conference Proceedings
New EDO Publication – the Major Projects Toolkit
The Major Projects Toolkit is a publication designed to assist local residents and community groups to engage in the process for assessing and approving major projects under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The toolkit comprises a step by step guide to the Part 3A process with information on opportunities for public participation and ideas for how to achieve best practice outcomes. The EDO wishes to acknowledge and thank the City of Sydney for funding this project. The publication is available in hard copy free of charge to all City of Sydney residents. Please call the EDO on 02 9262 6989 to request a copy or download it here.
Climate change and the legal framework for biodiversity protection in Australia: a legal and scientific analysis
Climate change has profound implications for biodiversity conservation in Australia. It will require us to re-evaluate our current approach to conservation, which will involve consideration of ethical questions such as what to protect and why. It will require dynamic and responsive tools, and overarching approaches. This paper analyses the current legal regime at a Federal level in Australia and its adequacy to protect biodiversity under climate change. The paper was prepared with the assistance of a number of legal and scientific experts who provided written feedback on a draft discussion paper, and attended a one-day roundtable. The first part of the paper outlines the predicted impacts of climate change on biodiversity and identifies general scientific principles for the protection of biodiversity under climate change. The second part of the paper describes and analyses a range of legislative tools in terms of their efficacy in protecting biodiversity currently, as well as how adaptive and applicable they will continue to be in the future, in light of climate change. The paper provides a set of recommendations for legislative and policy reform necessary for the conservation of biodiversity under climate change.
Climate change and the legal framework for biodiversity protection in NSW: a legal and scientific analysis
Climate change has profound implications for biodiversity conservation in NSW. It will require us to re-evaluate our current approach to conservation, which will involve consideration of ethical questions such as what to protect and why. It will require dynamic and responsive tools, and overarching approaches. This paper analyses the current legal regime in NSW and its adequacy to protect biodiversity under climate change. The paper was prepared with the assistance of a number of legal and scientific experts who provided written feedback on a draft discussion paper, and attended a one-day roundtable. The first part of the paper outlines the predicted impacts of climate change on biodiversity and identifies general scientific principles for the protection of biodiversity under climate change. The second part of the paper describes and analyses a range of legislative tools in terms of their efficacy in protecting biodiversity currently, as well as how adaptive and applicable they will continue to be in the future, in light of climate change. The paper provides a set of recommendations for legislative and policy reform necessary for the conservation of biodiversity under climate change.
Capacity building for environmental law in the South Pacific
This report was prepared by the EDO at the request of the IUCN Environmental Law Program. It is intended to inform the development and implementation of a project to build the environmental law capacity of government and nongovernment organisations in the South Pacific region, to be delivered jointly by the IUCN and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), in collaboration with government and non-government partners throughout the region. The report provides an overview of the following topics:
Rural Landholder's Guide To Environmental Law In New South Wales, 2nd Edition
The purpose of this booklet is to help you understand your legal rights and obligations as a landholder and to manage your land in accordance with environmental and natural resource management law. The topics covered in this booklet include:
The booklet is free and you can request multiple copies (including boxes of 150). Please contact us to order your copies. PNG Environmental Took KitThe EDO assisted the Environmental Law Centre (ELC) in Papua New Guinea to prepare this book as a guide for rural communities, individuals and lawyers working with them on forestry and natural resources issues. It covers the following topics:
Model Climate Law Project - Discussion paperExecutive Summary
The EDO has been involved at the international level of policy making, for example, attending the 2007 Bali meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We have been involved at the national level, for example, appearing at the Senate Inquiry hearing on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007. In the past week we have prepared three submissions addressing various Issues Papers and Reports prepared by the Garnaut Review team. We have engaged in debate on state level laws and policies, for example, by preparing a submission on the Renewable Energy (New South Wales) Bill 2007. Recently we have prepared a report for local coastal councils about the status of current legislation regarding climate change responsibilities and liabilities. While there are exciting and progressive moves being made to develop Australia’s legal framework for responding to climate change, we believe there is an opportunity now to put in place a comprehensive, national legislative scheme. Such a scheme should build on existing initiatives that have merit, augment areas where we have lagged behind in implementing regulation, and establish best-practice standards. Comparable jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada have draft national Bills currently under review. The aim of this Discussion Paper is to highlight some of the issues we would like to see addressed by comprehensive national climate change legislation. We ask the question: if Australia was to introduce a national Climate Change Act, what should it cover? A comprehensive plan to address climate change requires more than just the establishment of an emissions trading scheme, and it is clear that there are a number of key elements that should form part of the legislative architecture. This Paper by no means presents a definitive list of necessary actions, rather it identifies ideas for discussion and development. Part One briefly discusses the context of Australian legislative action on climate change. Part Two provides an overview of some recent legislative developments in other jurisdictions. We analysed a number of existing and proposed Bills in order to find examples of provisions and concepts that may be useful for Australia. Part Three outlines a preliminary list of 10 key areas that should be addressed in national climate change legislation. We note that while some elements are being addressed by Australian legislation (for example, mandatory renewable energy targets and energy and greenhouse reporting), it is necessary to ensure that these are ‘best practice’ and integrated into a coordinated legislative framework. The 10 key elements cover the following areas: objectives, quantified emissions reduction targets, mandatory renewable energy targets, emissions trading scheme, regulating the voluntary carbon offsets market, regulating biofuels, establishing an independent regulatory body, compliance and enforcement, monitoring reporting and public participation, and complementary amendments and policies.
Caring for Country
The purpose of this guide is to assist Aboriginal people to understand their legal rights and obligations under environmental and natural resource management law. This guide is written specifically for Aboriginal communities living in NSW, recognising that environmental issues don’t affect everyone in the same way. The guide may be useful for people from other states but many of the laws referred to in this guide are NSW laws and the law may differ in other states. It is hoped that this guide will help you to better understand the many complicated laws relating to country, culture and heritage so that you will be in a better position to protect your rights and the environment.
Campaigning and the Law in New South Wales
This plain English guide is an essential companion for those interested in learning about their legal rights to protest, and how to make informed decisions when participating in protest and campaign actions. This publication examines laws governing campaigning as they apply in a wide range of circumstances, such as on the street, in forestry areas and on Commonwealth land. It is a practical source of information that is intended to help guide campaigners through the various aspects of campaigning in NSW including:
Published: March 2007, 117pp View this publication online or download PDF version
Also available in hard copy. To order, please contact us. EDO National Conference 2005 - Public Interest Environmental Law in AustraliaOn 13-14 May 2005, the Environmental Defender’s Office (NSW) held a two day conference to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Environmental Defender’s Office Network. This conference reflected on the development of public interest environmental law in Australia over the last twenty years, discussed current issues of importance and explored future directions in environmental law and policy in Australia. 2005 Conference Proceedings include speaker biographies, papers and powerpoint presentations arranged by topic. Thank you to Sydney City Council for generously providing the venue for this conference. The EDO would like to thank the following donors for generously supporting the 2005 EDO National Conference:
Environmental Law Toolkit (5th Edition)This well established book, written primarily for community groups, covers the NSW law on:
The guide also includes a chapter on environmental advocacy, covering the following topics:
Purchase Options:
What do you think?Have you used one of the EDO publications listed on this page recently? If so, we ask that you complete this short online evaluation. To give your feedback on other EDO publications, simply restart the survey once you have submitted your evaluation.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
