Pub Date : 2020-12-10DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5655
Phillipa C. McCormack
Australia’s 2019–20 fire season has been described as the ‘Black Summer’. Vast swathes of the continent burned, including areas that have not been fire-prone in the past, such as wet rainforest and alpine wetlands. This article considers the implications of more frequent and intense wildfires for wetland ecosystems and the extremely valuable ecosystem services that they provide. The article investigates what Australia’s laws have to say about restoring ecosystem services after extreme events such as fire. In particular, the article considers the extent to which existing laws anticipate the possibility of ecosystem transformation, asking: what do our laws require if restoration is not possible?
{"title":"Climate Change, Wildfires and Wetland Ecosystem Services","authors":"Phillipa C. McCormack","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5655","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5655","url":null,"abstract":"Australia’s 2019–20 fire season has been described as the ‘Black Summer’. Vast swathes of the continent burned, including areas that have not been fire-prone in the past, such as wet rainforest and alpine wetlands. This article considers the implications of more frequent and intense wildfires for wetland ecosystems and the extremely valuable ecosystem services that they provide. The article investigates what Australia’s laws have to say about restoring ecosystem services after extreme events such as fire. In particular, the article considers the extent to which existing laws anticipate the possibility of ecosystem transformation, asking: what do our laws require if restoration is not possible?","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49256741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-10DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5663
Justine Bell‐James
The ecosystem services concept is a useful tool in environmental law, as it allows nature to be considered on the same plane of comparison as proposed development. However, the concept has received significant criticism, with many critics arguing that nature should be valued for its intrinsic worth. This article synthesises the ethical objections to the ecosystem services concept, distinguishing objections to the concept itself, and objections to the commodification of nature. It considers how the concept has been used in Australian environmental law to date, drawing on examples from the coastal wetland context. It concludes that most applications have not involved commodification, and have incorporated notions of intrinsic value. It concludes with some observations for future progress in this field, considering how the ecosystem services concept can be balanced with concerns for respecting the intrinsic value of nature.
{"title":"Ecosystem Services as a Metaphor in Environmental Law","authors":"Justine Bell‐James","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5663","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5663","url":null,"abstract":"The ecosystem services concept is a useful tool in environmental law, as it allows nature to be considered on the same plane of comparison as proposed development. However, the concept has received significant criticism, with many critics arguing that nature should be valued for its intrinsic worth. This article synthesises the ethical objections to the ecosystem services concept, distinguishing objections to the concept itself, and objections to the commodification of nature. It considers how the concept has been used in Australian environmental law to date, drawing on examples from the coastal wetland context. It concludes that most applications have not involved commodification, and have incorporated notions of intrinsic value. It concludes with some observations for future progress in this field, considering how the ecosystem services concept can be balanced with concerns for respecting the intrinsic value of nature.","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42048987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-10DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5657
Emille Boulot, Afshin Akhtar-Khavari
Restoration efforts can target very different outcomes. Simply put, restoration is a process, and diverse values and ontological dispositions can shape the why, what and how questions about what people do. Restorative inputs focused on adaptively adding complexity into an ecosystem commits to values that go beyond rehabilitating and just removing threats and harms that are disturbing an ecosystem. Restoring within a landscape to enhance its ecological complexity is a useful goal for adaptive governance, and one which will also enable discussions about how humans and legal and governance institutions can change and respond to managing the environment. Using two scenarios we briefly explore how governance approaches to restoration need ontological dispositions focused on ecological complexity. In particular, we argue in this article that a focus on inputs into ecological complexity creates not only opportunities for overall net gain, but also, and more critically, that it requires legal and governance changes that establish parameters for how the vision will be realised. We explore and briefly discuss four of these institutional challenges to chart further research trajectories for how restorative inputs into ecological complexity can be achieved.
{"title":"Law, Restoration and Ontologies for a More Ecologically Complex World!","authors":"Emille Boulot, Afshin Akhtar-Khavari","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5657","url":null,"abstract":"Restoration efforts can target very different outcomes. Simply put, restoration is a process, and diverse values and ontological dispositions can shape the why, what and how questions about what people do. Restorative inputs focused on adaptively adding complexity into an ecosystem commits to values that go beyond rehabilitating and just removing threats and harms that are disturbing an ecosystem. Restoring within a landscape to enhance its ecological complexity is a useful goal for adaptive governance, and one which will also enable discussions about how humans and legal and governance institutions can change and respond to managing the environment. Using two scenarios we briefly explore how governance approaches to restoration need ontological dispositions focused on ecological complexity. In particular, we argue in this article that a focus on inputs into ecological complexity creates not only opportunities for overall net gain, but also, and more critically, that it requires legal and governance changes that establish parameters for how the vision will be realised. We explore and briefly discuss four of these institutional challenges to chart further research trajectories for how restorative inputs into ecological complexity can be achieved.","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47115403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-10DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5665
Lynda Crowley-Cyr
This article considers the hazards posed by marine stingers (notably Irukandjis) to recreational divers and snorkelers through the lens of Queensland’s unique workplace health and safety regulatory regime. The sustainability of diving and snorkelling tourism is highly dependent on the quality and safety of the services provided. The regime already contemplates the role of operators, the impact of sting-protective swimwear and other matters. An independent review of the State’s workplace laws in 2017 influenced changes to the law to improve its clarity, enforcement and prosecutions. However, this article argues that in relation to the management of marine stinger risks, with further slight adjustments to enhance clarity and consistency, the regulatory framework could achieve greater effectiveness in terms of compliance. This is important in a harmonised regulatory system. Other jurisdictions in Australia facing dangerous jellyfish hazards can refer to Queensland’s laws as a model of industry standards for the provision of safer recreational water activities. The article concludes with practical recommendations.
{"title":"Workplace Safety, Deadly Jellyfish and Tourists","authors":"Lynda Crowley-Cyr","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5665","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5665","url":null,"abstract":"This article considers the hazards posed by marine stingers (notably Irukandjis) to recreational divers and snorkelers through the lens of Queensland’s unique workplace health and safety regulatory regime. The sustainability of diving and snorkelling tourism is highly dependent on the quality and safety of the services provided. The regime already contemplates the role of operators, the impact of sting-protective swimwear and other matters. An independent review of the State’s workplace laws in 2017 influenced changes to the law to improve its clarity, enforcement and prosecutions. However, this article argues that in relation to the management of marine stinger risks, with further slight adjustments to enhance clarity and consistency, the regulatory framework could achieve greater effectiveness in terms of compliance. This is important in a harmonised regulatory system. Other jurisdictions in Australia facing dangerous jellyfish hazards can refer to Queensland’s laws as a model of industry standards for the provision of safer recreational water activities. The article concludes with practical recommendations.","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43493590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-10DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5661
J. Ruhl, James E. Salzman
This article assesses the approaches that different national governments have employed to provide and conserve ecosystem services, focusing on policy instruments and common-law court decisions. Applying the lessons learned from this review, we address strategies for conservation of mangrove ecosystem services in Australia, focusing on the importance of creating a strong political mandate and demonstrating a clear connection between mangrove conservation and the benefits provided by mangrove services. This requires further research on which beneficiaries would be harmed, and by how much, if the mangrove service flows are reduced. Policy uptake can be slow. It has taken years in other jurisdictions for policies protecting ecosystem services to be adopted, and this will likely be the path in Australia as well.
{"title":"A Global Assessment of the Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services","authors":"J. Ruhl, James E. Salzman","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5661","url":null,"abstract":"This article assesses the approaches that different national governments have employed to provide and conserve ecosystem services, focusing on policy instruments and common-law court decisions. Applying the lessons learned from this review, we address strategies for conservation of mangrove ecosystem services in Australia, focusing on the importance of creating a strong political mandate and demonstrating a clear connection between mangrove conservation and the benefits provided by mangrove services. This requires further research on which beneficiaries would be harmed, and by how much, if the mangrove service flows are reduced. Policy uptake can be slow. It has taken years in other jurisdictions for policies protecting ecosystem services to be adopted, and this will likely be the path in Australia as well.","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42592661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-10DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5667
Erika J. Techera
Mangroves are valuable and highly productive ecosystems providing multiple services, including coastal protection, fishery breeding, birthing and nursery grounds, carbon sequestration and water filtration. Although they are rarely the subject of tailored legal protection, there are some jurisdictions where the ecosystem services provided by mangroves are recognised in law and policy frameworks. This article focuses on Indo-Pacific island states to highlight the ways in which mangroves have been treated in law in these nations, and to make suggestions for how Indo-Pacific island states could enhance their conservation and management.
{"title":"Mangrove Ecosystems and Services","authors":"Erika J. Techera","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5667","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5667","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 \u0000 \u0000Mangroves are valuable and highly productive ecosystems providing multiple services, including coastal protection, fishery breeding, birthing and nursery grounds, carbon sequestration and water filtration. Although they are rarely the subject of tailored legal protection, there are some jurisdictions where the ecosystem services provided by mangroves are recognised in law and policy frameworks. This article focuses on Indo-Pacific island states to highlight the ways in which mangroves have been treated in law in these nations, and to make suggestions for how Indo-Pacific island states could enhance their conservation and management. \u0000 \u0000 \u0000","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44638860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-01DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5651
Justine Bell‐James, C. Lovelock, A. Phelan
The importance of natural ecosystems to people and their societies has been articulated by scientists since the early 1960s. From this emerged the concept of ecosystem services in the 1970s and 1980s that began to categorize ecosystem services, value and monetarize them, against a backdrop of growing global degradation of natural ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has given rise to new inter-disciplinary fields (e.g. ecological economics, bioeconomics, and environmental management), which seek to provide knowledge on how the well-being of humans, which is dependent on ecosystem services from nature, can be maintained. The term has also helped connect ecological complexity and dynamics to human needs and wants, as ecosystem services fundamentally underpin human health, wellbeing and prosperity
{"title":"Introduction to the Special Issue on Ecosystem Services and the Law","authors":"Justine Bell‐James, C. Lovelock, A. Phelan","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5651","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i3.5651","url":null,"abstract":"The importance of natural ecosystems to people and their societies has been articulated by scientists since the early 1960s. From this emerged the concept of ecosystem services in the 1970s and 1980s that began to categorize ecosystem services, value and monetarize them, against a backdrop of growing global degradation of natural ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has given rise to new inter-disciplinary fields (e.g. ecological economics, bioeconomics, and environmental management), which seek to provide knowledge on how the well-being of humans, which is dependent on ecosystem services from nature, can be maintained. The term has also helped connect ecological complexity and dynamics to human needs and wants, as ecosystem services fundamentally underpin human health, wellbeing and prosperity","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46906228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-11-03DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v40i1.5649
Warren Swain
Legal history is sometimes seen, to quote William Wordsworth, as little more than the study of ‘old, unhappy, far-off things’.1 Paul Finn recently observed that legal history has, ‘for the most part, … been marginalised to the point of near extinction’.
{"title":"Legal History Matters","authors":"Warren Swain","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v40i1.5649","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v40i1.5649","url":null,"abstract":"Legal history is sometimes seen, to quote William Wordsworth, as little more than the study of ‘old, unhappy, far-off things’.1 Paul Finn recently observed that legal history has, ‘for the most part, … been marginalised to the point of near extinction’.","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41588564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-08-24DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i2.5027
Lachlan Peake
As Australian corporate conduct came under intense and highly publicised scrutiny during the banking Royal Commission, so too did the conduct of the conduct regulator: the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’). Following the Royal Commission, the regulator has adopted what it describes as ‘“Why not litigate?” operational discipline’ — a concept elaborated and recommended by Commissioner Hayne which is now the central tenet of ASIC’s updated enforcement model. This article discusses the hierarchy of strategic priorities evident in that enforcement model and asks: should the regulator focus its resources on compensating those harmed by regulatory contraventions rather than sanctioning those who have broken the law?
{"title":"Testing the Regulator's Priorities","authors":"Lachlan Peake","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i2.5027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i2.5027","url":null,"abstract":"As Australian corporate conduct came under intense and highly publicised scrutiny during the banking Royal Commission, so too did the conduct of the conduct regulator: the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’). Following the Royal Commission, the regulator has adopted what it describes as ‘“Why not litigate?” operational discipline’ — a concept elaborated and recommended by Commissioner Hayne which is now the central tenet of ASIC’s updated enforcement model. This article discusses the hierarchy of strategic priorities evident in that enforcement model and asks: should the regulator focus its resources on compensating those harmed by regulatory contraventions rather than sanctioning those who have broken the law?","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":"66 1","pages":"277-311"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84547780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-08-19DOI: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i2.5031
S. Jowett, Elizabeth Dallaston, B. Bennett
This article analyses the ethical and legal aspects of data-sharing and genomic research. It begins in Part II with an overview of the nature of genomic information, and whether it is exceptional when compared to other forms of health information. Part III considers the role of data-sharing in genomic research, with the importance of public trust in supporting genomic research considered in Part IV. The Australian regulatory framework for data-sharing in genomic research is considered in Parts V and VI, with reform options discussed in Part VII. The article concludes that advances in genomic research and the complexity of the current regulatory framework make it timely to review Australian laws to ensure that they maintain their relevance for this rapidly developing field of research.
{"title":"Genomic Research and Data-Sharing","authors":"S. Jowett, Elizabeth Dallaston, B. Bennett","doi":"10.38127/uqlj.v39i2.5031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v39i2.5031","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses the ethical and legal aspects of data-sharing and genomic research. It begins in Part II with an overview of the nature of genomic information, and whether it is exceptional when compared to other forms of health information. Part III considers the role of data-sharing in genomic research, with the importance of public trust in supporting genomic research considered in Part IV. The Australian regulatory framework for data-sharing in genomic research is considered in Parts V and VI, with reform options discussed in Part VII. The article concludes that advances in genomic research and the complexity of the current regulatory framework make it timely to review Australian laws to ensure that they maintain their relevance for this rapidly developing field of research.","PeriodicalId":83293,"journal":{"name":"The University of Queensland law journal","volume":"12 1","pages":"341-369"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87292226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}