International Conference
on Biodiversity & Society
Columbia University and
the UNESCO Division
of Ecological Sciences
May 22-25, 2001
How Humans Shape the Environment
is Focus of International Biodiversity Conference
at Columbia, May 22-25
Case Studies: 1. Australia: Southeast Queensland
Thematic Focus
The South East Queensland Case Study (SQCS) will focus on the negotiation of the South East Queensland Forest Agreement (9/99), a 25-year agreement for resolving biodiversity usage in 689,000 hectares of publicly owed native forest. The agreement provided for significant increases in conservation reserves, as well as a transition to plantation logging, resulting in an end to native forest logging by the year 2024. The agreement was signed by the Premier of the State of Queensland; the Queensland Timber Board, representing all commercial wood and wood products interests; and three environmental NGOs: Australian Rainforest Conservation Society, the Wilderness Society, and Queensland Conservation Council. Although the agreement has been endorsed by both leading logging and environmental interests, as well as the provincial government, the Australian Federal Government has failed to endorse it or to act upon it.
The SQCS will examine the political and legal issues underlying this paradoxical failure in environmental governance. In particular, it will explore the means by which bioregional conservation frameworks may be developed, given the institutional and legal constraints imposed by multiple jurisdictions.
Collaborators and Institutional Affiliates
The case study is to be prepared by A.J. Brown, at the Key Center for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, Griffith University (Australia).
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