Dr Ted Christie: Environmental Dispute Resolution and Sustainable Solutions

TAGS : Drought; Impacts: paddock level - property level - regional level – State/National Level ; Impacts: ecology – economics – social ; living area; land degradation; sustainability; resilience; risk management; preparedness; self-reliance; long-term viability; unintended outcomes A severe drought now comparable with the big droughts of the past in Australia has developed across much of eastern and inland Australia. The scope of this article is to review key issues that must be effectively addressed if new drought policies are to resonate with the needs of the pastoral industry by building on the cumulative knowledge arising from reviews of past drought policies. Policy issues such as: living area standards, corporate and foreign investment, environmental impacts, unifying principles for drought policy, preparedness , self-reliance , risk management, resilience , unintended outcomes and meaningful involvement of pastoralists . READ MORE ...

TAGS : Paris Agreement; COP25; coal; future; risk; best available science; sustainable development; equity; scientific round-table; positions; interests 1.0    Any decision on this issue requires the Paris Agreement’s obligations to be implemented “on the basis of equity” - as well as “in accordance with the best available science ”. 2.0   The results from a Google Search on “ the future of coal ” highlight the contradictory global positions held on this issue : While an international consensus is emerging for the position of a fast and orderly phasing out of coal mining and coal-generated energy, new coal supply and demand infrastructure continues to be developed . 3.0    But has clean coal technology R&D reached the stage of being the “ best available science ” for a decision to be made to resolve this controversy? 4.0   The challenge for COP25 is to promote a problem-solving pathway that counterbalances the "n eed"  for an objective process to decide the

“Problem Solving, R&D, Equity  and the Paris Agreement” TAGS: UN climate change summit; Paris Agreement; emissions; global school strikes; Greta Thunberg; equity; coal; international trade; climate justice; R&D; carbon dioxide removal technologies; relevant and reliable science; Biodiversity Convention; CITES. A focus of the UN Climate Change Summit convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York in September 2019 was the urgency to address the global climate crisis . The Summit highlighted the need for greater ambition and accelerated action from the world’s largest emitting economies to reduce emissions; and to implement the goals of the  Paris   Agreement . A problem area identified for emission reductions related to the future use of fossil fuels and coal-generated energy.   Energy is an intrinsic component for a sustainable future. This article sets out a pathway for accelerated R&D  to evaluate whether the future use of coal will pose

3. E nvironmental Impact Statements & Scientific Uncertainty:  A Decision-Making Aid or the Decision End Point? TAGS:  Adani; coal mine; evaluation; EIS; environmental impact audit;  US 40 C.F.R. Section 1502.22 ;  US National Environmental Policy Act 1969 ; incomplete information; scientific uncertainty; scientific roundtable  1.    Any review and reform of the environmental evaluation and approval process of major development projects, like the Adani project, needs to be directed at a primary source of the problems created by scientific uncertainty in the EIS. 2.   Problems that not only caused conflict, litigation and inordinate delays for environmental evaluation and approval – but also confounded the integrity of the decision-making process . 3.    It would be prudent for Government to be aware of the US experience: That “no other strategy offers a more telling acknowledgement of the legitimacy of local concerns” than where those who have to live with a decision t

2.    Scientific Uncertainty,  the Politicization of Science and Public Interest Environmental Conflicts TAGS:   Adani; coal mine; information conflict; science; politics; public interest; community consultation; silo science; Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.      Politicization of science means that the interpretat ion of scientific information is shaped for political gain in a way that  distorts its true meaning.    T his article reviews why public interest environmental conflicts, like the Adani project, can lead to politicization. And an understanding of what politicization of science means: How it arises and how it may be offset.  READ MORE … The next article in this series will review environmental decision-making, incomplete and unavailable information and the EIS.

Some form of objective review of the environmental evaluation and approval processes for the ‘Adani Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project’ is warranted to address the reasons the final approval was granted  in June 2019.  In a series of articles that follow, the scientific and public interest concerns that ignited the conflict, litigation and delay will be reviewed in a conflict resolution framework .  Must history repeat? 1.   Acceptance of Scientific Findings: Best Available Science ~v~ Relevant and Reliable Science TAGS:  Adani; coal mine; conflict; best available science; relevant and reliable science;  Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc               The focus of this article is on a source of information conflict that created scientific uncertainty for Adani: Different interpretations of the scientific information base as to what is “the best available science”. READ MORE … The next article in this series will review scientific uncertainty and the poli

The Scientific Roundtable: A More Effective Role for Science in Environmental Dispute Resolution TAGS: Adani; coal; development; environment; evaluation; scientific evidence; information conflicts; approval; conflict management; scientific roundtable After almost nine years, nine legal reviews and $3.7 billion in “start-up” costs, the ‘Adani Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project’ was finally approved by the Queensland Government in June 2019. It will be one of the largest coal mines in the world. Why have the planning and evaluation processes taken so long? Must the history of conflict and delay repeat? Some form of objective review of the environmental evaluation and approval processes for Adani is warranted to offset this concern. READ MORE... The next article in this series will review: Acceptance of Scientific Findings ~ Best Available Science -v- Relevant and Reliable Science

Developing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is a classic sustainable development issue for water resources management. The conflict that exists between competing land use interests over Basin Plan ESD outcomes is a feature of public interest environmental conflicts ! The key to manage and resolve this information conflict relates to the appropriateness of the methodology used to achieve ESD outcomes in developing the Basin Plan? READ MORE …

TAGS: Water Act 2007 (Cth); MDB Plan; MDB Royal Commission; MDB Authority; Basin Plan; SDL; ESLT; ESD; Sustainable Solutions; community concerns; Nick James; Multi-Objective Analysis Some uncertainty exists between the MDB Royal Commission findings for achieving ESD outcomes and the MDB Authority’s response to these findings. Specifically, whether Basin Plan outcomes provide a framework for achieving sustainable long-term solutions in accordance with the statutory meaning of ecologically sustainable development  in the Federal Water Act? Two issues are reviewed: Basin Plan decision-making and primacy under the Water Act; and the scientific methodology to derive ESD outcomes. Problem-solving solutions are outlined.  READ MORE ,,,

TAGS:   MDB Plan; MDB Royal Commission; risk analysis; concern assessment; procedural fairness; public interest; Rio Declaration; Inter-Governmental Agreement on the Environment The interpretation and application of the precautionary principle, as it is defined in the Water Act, is problematic. The core of this problem is statutory interpretation.  Does the legal meaning for the precautionary principle, as defined in the Federal Water Act, effectively integrate law and science to resolve conflict over the MDB Plan? READ MORE ... Dr Ted Christie has had a long association with the precautionary principle:  In professional legal practice; research & publication in law & science; and as a Fulbright Professional Scholar (Award as a practising lawyer – “ The Precautionary Principle and Legal Decision-Making ”).

TAGS: Murray-Darling Basin Plan; best available scientific knowledge; statutory interpretation; peer review; objective criteria; error rate; relevant and reliable scientific evidence; Murray-Darling Basin Authority       There is no legal meaning provided in the Federal Water Act for the term “best available scientific knowledge”.      The outcome has been to ignite an information conflict between the MDB Royal Commission and the MDB Authority.       How should this conflict be best addressed? READ MORE …

    The release of the Report of the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission ignited significant controversy over the Basin Plan prepared by the MDB Authority.     The following key findings of the Royal Commission raise issues that may make decision-making by Government problematic for implementing the Commission’s recommendations: 1. Best available scientific knowledge; 2. Climate change and the precautionary principle; 3. Effective public participation and community consultation;  4. The triple bottom line: ecologically sustainable development; and 5. Mathematical modelling. These issues will be reviewed in a series of short articles that will be posted on this site along a pathway of conflict management and resolution. READ MORE ...