The Laws Of The Land

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday June 7, 2005

CARLA MOONEY, research fellow at the University of Wollongong's Institute for Conservation Biology and Law, delves into environmental law.

BOTH my masters thesis and PhD have been about catchment management. My passion is for improved environmental management and I am very interested in the role planning, law and administration can play in this process of change.

To me, it makes sense to undertake environmental management at the scale of catchments because it gives us the opportunity to make decisions with reference to natural environmental constraints rather than entirely human parameters.

In the past, administration has been at scales that bear no relationship with the natural environment. Furthermore environmental law has evolved in a sectoral fashion, so there are separate laws for water, land, soil, vegetation and so on. This provides little opportunity to understand the relationship between different activities that impact the environment.

Management of a catchment ideally involves looking at the full spectrum, not just water quantity and quality but also land use, vegetation management, soils, threatened species, noxious weeds and so on. Catchment management is now firmly part of the lexicon of natural resource management and is entrenched by legislation.

For my PhD research I examined the legal and administrative arrangements for catchment and water planning in NSW and South Australia. I had learned from my masters research that not only was the integration of legal regimes important but the purpose of that integration was of critical concern to the ultimate environmental outcome.

I looked at the law on the books and then at its implementation in two catchments. In both my case studies, the laws contained the elements of a sustainable natural resource management regime. That is, the catchment and water planning provisions incorporated ideas about environmental priority, equity, caution, integration, adaptive management and public participation.

The detailed case studies revealed there were some problems with implementation. These were partly to do with the way the laws were designed and partly with their administration.

At the moment I am working on an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant with Professors David Farrier (law) and Rob Whelan (biology). This project is concerned with the interface between science and law around threatened species conservation.

This is an innovative project, which is attempting to bring together two disparate disciplines in order to improve environmental management. Being neither a lawyer nor ecologist has its challenges, but it is certainly a unique opportunity to learn to bridge the two disciplines.

Though the subject matter (threatened species) is different from my previous research, the common theme is the implementation of law.

The critical concern is with how well the environmental law regimes are protecting threatened species. The question of whether the law is designed appropriately and incorporates the relevant ecological concepts is important.

We are looking at the way the process of listing threatened species works, the implementation of the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and the effectiveness of the land use planning system in protecting threatened species.

The project is very dynamic as there is so much reform going on in this area.

Q&A

Name: Carla Mooney

Position: Research Fellow, Institute for Conservation Biology and Law, University of Wollongong

Will your research save the world? If only! I do hope it's part of a solution rather than part of the problem.

Are you getting anywhere? I think the sort of work I do contributes to a process of change. The analysis and critique of law and policy hopefully feeds into the reform agenda.

Best part of your research? It might sound quaint but I love books, reading and thinking about ideas and new ways of doing things.

Ugliest moment: When I thought I wasn't going to be able to format my thesis and that I might have to re-enter every single footnote and reference.

Has it made you rich? My work is interesting, fulfilling and worthwhile - what greater riches are there?

What did you want to be when you were a kid? A missionary or an explorer in Africa.

Has your career followed a straight line? No. A few diversions, a couple of cul-de-sacs but fortunately no dead ends.

What would you change? Nothing. Each experience had its own worth.

Advice for young researchers: Interest and passion are great motivators - do what you believe in.

Next adventure: Not sure but I've got my eyes open.

© 2005 Illawarra Mercury

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