International Law: Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives is the authoritative textbook for Australian international law students. Written by a team of experts, it examines how international law is developed, implemented and interpreted, and features comprehensive commentary throughout. All core areas of the law are covered, with chapters on human rights, law of the sea, international environmental law and enforcement of international law. Cases and treaties are dissected to highlight the key principles, rules and distinctive learning points. This new edition has been thoroughly updated in line with recent developments in the field and includes a new chapter on the use of force, as well as expanded content on the enforcement of international law, including sanctions, law enforcement against pirates and the 2011 Libyan conflict. International Law provides clear and rigorous analysis and is an indispensable resource for law students.

This is a contribution to a symposium volume on Dan Bodansky's "Art and Craft of International Environmental Law". It takes as its starting point, Bondansky's accurate claim that "International environmental law is neither a panacea nor a sham. It can play a constructive role, but that is all. It might be called a 'thirty-percent” solution.'" While it might be more than that some day, the contribution argues that outcome is not likely so long as the international community retains the concept of sustainable development, as it is currently understood, as its organizing principle.

Humanity is on the threshold of a technological revolution that will allow all human structures across the earth to undertake photosynthesis more efficiently than plants; making zero carbon fuels by using solar energy to split water (as a cheap and abundant source of hydrogen) or other products from reduced atmospheric carbon dioxide. The development and global deployment of such artificial photosynthesis (AP) technology addresses three of humanity’s most urgent public policy challenges: to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, to increase fuel security and to provide a sustainable global economy and ecosystem. Yet, despite the considerable research being undertaken in this field and the incipient thrust to commercialization, AP remains largely unknown in energy and climate change public policy debates. Here we explore mechanisms for enhancing the policy and governance profile of this frontier technology for energy sustainability, even in the absence of a global project on artificial photosynthesis.

The Law of the Sea and the Polar Regions: Interactions between Global and Regional Regimes analyzes the contemporary Law of the Sea and related areas of international law in Antarctica and the Arctic, with a particular focus upon the interaction of global and regional regimes. The global component of the international law of the sea - principally the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - applies to the entire marine domain in both polar regions but explicitly requires regional implementation or acknowledges its usefulness. This volume  examines regional regimes for the Arctic and Antarctic on science, maritime security, fisheries and shipping by means of common research questions; thus enabling an overall synthesis and identification of trends, differences and similarities.

This is a review of Daniel Bodansky's "The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law." The piece considers Bodansky's idea of International Environmental Law as a 30% solution to international environmental problems in the context of: 1) norm proliferation and continuing environmental decline, and 2) the concept of sustainable development as an obstacle to environmental improvement.

This paper was presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law on a panel considering the 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development. The paper provides a critical and provocative analysis of how the concept of sustainable development has become beholden to economic growth and, on this account, why it is unfit to continue to serve as the major organizing principle for global environmental protection.

This special open access edition of the Australian Journal of Chemistry represents a collection of papers from the first international conference dedicated to creating a Global Artificial Photosynthesis (GAP) or Global Solar Fuels (GSF) project, held at Lord Howe Island on 14–18 August 2011. Conceived and coordinated by the author of this article, the conference had endorsement from theUNESCONatural Science Sector and was an official event of the UNESCO 2011 International Year of Chemistry. The Australian federal Department of Industry, Innovation, Science and Research (DIISR, as it was then called) contributed to the funding, as did the Australian National University (ANU) College of Medicine, Biology and the Environment and ANU College of Law. Speakers included over 50 national and international experts in various aspects of artificial photosynthesis, as well as related areas including photovoltaics, hydrogen fuel cells, quantum coherence in electron transfer, and international governance systems.

The GAP conference uniquely focused on the governance as well as the scientific challenges for global artificial photosynthesis.The vision of a world powered by solar fuel is likely to involve much more than large coastal plants splitting seawater using sunlight captured in desert areas to produce carbon-neutral hydrogen-based fuels and fresh water. If rolled out globally as a cheap consumer and development aid for ‘off-grid’ local and domestic energy, fertilizer and food product, global artificial photosynthesis could replace policy models of corporate globalization and ever-increasing economic growth predicated on preparation for war and use of non-renewable and polluting energy sources.

Disaster law is a nascent field of study in Australia. Research on legal issues that impact upon hazard resilience has been pursued by scholars in individual areas of study; planning law, environmental law, tort law, constitutional law etc. The risk of climate change and developing scholarship in the area of climate change adaptation has seen an increasing realisation that if we are to build resilient communities these areas of law must be considered as a whole.

In Australia, the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has taken the initiative in this regard. The CRC is funding a joint research project on Mainstreaming Fire and Emergency Management across Legal and Policy Sectors: Joint Research and Policy Learning. This research is a collaborative project between the Australian National University (law and policy); the University of Canberra (urban and regional planning) and the RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) University (sharing responsibility).

This Chapter provides an overview of the law applicable to forests and forestry in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW). It provides a detailed explanation in plain english of the applicable Federal (Commonwealth) law and of the applicable NSW law. Federal topics covered include: Regional Forest Agreements under federal law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth), international law applicable to forest management. NSW topics addressed include regulation on public land under Forestry Act 1916 and Forestry and National Parks Estate Act 1998, functions of the Forestry Commission, State Forests, other Crown timber lands, Timber reserves, revocation of State Forests, Forest management plans and zoning, NSW state forest agreements and integrated forestry operations approvals, modification of third party standing rules in regions subject to an IFOA, harvesting rules and offences, the Forest Practices Code, as well as other forms of Permits and Forest leases, including those relating to hunting in State Forests. The topic of plantation forestry and its regulation under the Plantations and Reafforestation Act 1999 and Code are addressed in detail. Law relating to water pollution and forestry, the use of chemicals in forests, and criminal and civil enforcement is also addressed. Questions of law applicable to carbon sequestration in forests and plantation are explained. The Chapter the explains the laws applicable to forestry on privately held lands - including application of the Native Vegetation Act 2003, the PNF Code of Practice, applicable local government law, water pollution law and profits a prendre. The chapter closes with discussion of Forestry certification schemes and questions of eligibility of forest biomass as feedstock for electricity generation under NSW and Commonwealth laws.