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Summary of 3rd IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium hosted by Macquarie University through its Centre for Environmental Law, 10 – 15 July 2005.
The 3rd Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law hosted by Macquarie University’s Centre for Environmental Law (MU-CEL) was held on the Macquarie campus 10 – 15 July 2005. More than 130 environmental experts from 27 nations representing universities from each continent gathered to consider issues related to the colloquium’s theme “Biodiversity Conservation, Law + Livelihoods: Bridging the North – South Divide”. Macquarie’s Department of Indigenous Studies (Warawara), the Graduate School of the Environment and the Division of Environmental and Life Sciences also participated and assisted MU-CEL in hosting this important international event.
The opening ceremony chaired by MU-CEL’s Professor Michael I. Jeffery, QC, commenced with an Acknowledgement of Country by A/Prof. Michael McDaniel, Director of Warawara. It featured welcoming addresses by Professor Tony Adams, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) on behalf of Macquarie University; Australian Senator Christine Milne, Vice-President of the World Conservation Union (IUCN); Professor Nicholas A. Robinson (Pace University), Chair of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law; Mr. Howard Bamsey, Acting Secretary, Australian Government Department of Environment and Heritage on behalf of the Commonwealth government; Hon. Bob Debus, MP, Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, State of NSW; and Professor Charles Okidi, (University of Nairobi) in place of Mr. Bakary Kante, Director of Policy Development and Law, UNEP who was unable to attend.
A short video greeting from Mr. Achim Steiner, Director-General of IUCN’s Secretariat based in Gland, Switzerland was presented to delegates.
A highlight of the opening ceremony was the reading by Professor Okidi of the message dated 11 July 2005 from Kofi A. Annan, Secretary – General of the United Nations. Click here for the full text of the Secretary-General’s message.
The Colloquium’s Keynote Address was delivered by Dr. Françoise Burhenne-Guilmin, a former Head and currently Senior Counsel at the IUCN’s Environmental Law Centre in Bonn. Dr. Burhenne-Guilmin is a co-author of the authoritative “Guides” to both the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Carteghena Protocol (Biosafety). Her address placed the development of the CBD in its historical perspective and provided a thoughtful and insightful perspective on the broad range of biodiversity conservation initiatives that are presently being pursued in the context of international environmental law.
Professor Joseph Sax, the James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation, Emeritus, of the University of California (at Berkeley) delivered the two-part Academy Distinguished Lectures. His thought-provoking analysis of the role of property law underpinning the biodiversity debate in both developed and developing countries, set the stage for the discussions and deliberations that were to follow throughout the entire week.
All of the delegates walked across campus on the second day of the Colloquium to visit the Wallaby Research Facility for an Aussie barbeque “lunch with the wallabies”. Research staff from the Division of Environmental and Life Sciences provided small group tours of the facility outlining a number of research projects currently being conducted and many of the international visitors were able to observe some of the endangered species of wallabies at various points on the tour.
The following day delegates were provided with a biodiversity conservation tour to Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park led by Professor Ben Boer and Brian Preston SC (of the Australian Centre for Environmental Law, University of Sydney) to examine the diverse flora and fauna present in the park as well as some of the many Aboriginal carvings.
Justice Keith Mason, AC, President of the NSW Court of Appeal hosted a reception at the Court for members of the judiciary who participated in the Colloquium and a small number of guests and Professors Michael Jeffery and Donna Craig similarly hosted a welcoming dinner at their home in Kenthurst at the outset of the week-long event. Arrangements were also made for delegates to visit the Macquarie Art Gallery and the Macquarie Observatory.
The quality of the papers presented and the ensuing discussion was truly outstanding and some of these will be published by Cambridge University Press in what is known as the “Annals of the Academy” in a few months’ time. Other papers will appear in university law journals and the Macquarie Journal of International and Comparative Environmental Law will dedicate its October 2005 issue to publishing papers from the Colloquium.
On the final day of the working sessions the delegates signified their approval of a “Statement of the Third Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law” to be known as the “Macquarie Statement”. The full text of the Macquarie Statement will be available on this website shortly.
The Colloquium concluded with a closing banquet at the Tarongo Zoo and delegates were treated to an inspiring address by A/Prof. Anita Heiss (Warawara), one of Australia’s most prolific and well-known Indigenous authors of fiction and non-fiction. A NSW Indigenous dance company provided a magnificent performance and accompanying music.
The Collegium of the Academy met on 16 July to plan the research programme for the Academy and to discuss the venues for future colloquia. 28 university representatives attended the meeting of the Collegium from 25 countries.
Click here for the full text of the "Macquarie Statement".
Click here to see photos from the Colloquium.
Click here to see photos from the reception held by Justice Keith Mason AC.