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Martin, Paul; Williams, Jacqueline; Kennedy, Amanda --- "Creating Next Generation Rural Landscape Governance: The Challenge for Environmental Law Scholarship" [2012] ELECD 266; in Martin, Paul; Zhiping, Li; Tianbao, Qin; Du Plessis, Anel; Le Bouthillier, Yves; Williams, Angela (eds), "Environmental Governance and Sustainability" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Environmental Governance and Sustainability

Editor(s): Martin, Paul; Zhiping, Li; Tianbao, Qin; Du Plessis, Anel; Le Bouthillier, Yves; Williams, Angela

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781000472

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: Creating Next Generation Rural Landscape Governance: The Challenge for Environmental Law Scholarship

Author(s): Martin, Paul; Williams, Jacqueline; Kennedy, Amanda

Number of pages: 33

Extract:

3. Creating next generation rural
landscape governance: the challenge
for environmental law scholarship
Paul Martin, Jacqueline Williams and
Amanda Kennedy1

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The pursuit of sustainability in most countries is characterized by a continu-
ous stream of bad news about the trajectory of the state of our natural
resources (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board 2005; World Resources
Institute 2006; IUCN 2009) alongside government or private sector announce-
ments of new investment schemes, market or regulatory arrangements and
other initiatives which are intended to stem this tide of loss (OECD 2008;
Snape and de Souza 2006; Better Regulation Task Force 2005; Eliadis et al
2005; Weber and Hemmelskamp 2005). Australia shares this characteristic of
documented loss (Beeton et al 2006; NLWA 2002; Prime Minister's Science,
Engineering and Innovation Council 2002) alongside significant but eventu-
ally insufficient preventative or remedial action (Australian National Audit
Office 2008; Commonwealth of Australia 2008; Murray-Darling Basin
Authority 2009; Martin et al 2007). Australia is the principal case study for
this chapter though the concepts are applicable in most if not all jurisdictions.
There are seeds of hope in the efforts that are made by many volunteers,
governments, private citizens, agency staff, activists, scientists, landowners
and philanthropists and others who struggle to leave to the next generation an
intact natural inheritance (Wentworth Group 2002; Standing Committee on
Heritage and the Environment 2001; Martin and Werren 2009), but their
efforts are simply insufficient to stem the tide of losses.
The facts suggest that we need far ...