A new book, Achieving Biodiversity Protection in Megadiverse Countries: A Comparative Assessment of Australia and Brazilhas been released by academic publisher Routledge.
The book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the protection of biodiversity, and in particular the implementation of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (currently under review by the Federal government).
It is the result of an international investigation into the effectiveness of biodiversity agreements led by UNE's Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law (AgLaw). The project collaboration spans Australia, New Zealand, China, Brazil, and South Africa.
AgLaw Director and study leader, Professor Paul Martin, said that Brazil in particular offers important comparisons with Australia.
"Though Australia prides itself on the quality of its public governance, the comparison with Brazil is not exactly flattering to Australia – Australia is far richer and has stronger institutions, but we share many of the same problems," Prof. Martin says.
The investigations reported in Achieving Biodiversity Protection in Megadiverse Countries involved research teams from Australian and Brazilian universities working closely together to analyse research across several aspects of biodiversity protection.
The chapter authors carried out detailed analysis and amassed considerable evidence about the relationships between biodiversity and agriculture, mining, marine protection, the treatment of Indigenous citizen interests in the environment, and ideas about how the environmental governance can be made more effective, efficient and fair.
The methods developed by the Centre have been documented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
