The UNE Law School now has a podcast, Law in the Bush. More below.
Working with frontline farming and environmental NGOs, UNE's AgLaw Centre is investigating why funding measures have failed to adequately support effective rural stewardship.
"We are working together to provide the credible evidence and the possible solutions that a government, whatever its political colour, can build policy around," says AgLaw Centre Director, Professor Paul Martin.
"Despite the many farmers and volunteers who work hard on environmental protection and restoration, and despite many laws and policies, Australia continues to suffer rural biodiversity loss."
"Too often the work of responsible stewards is frustrated by funding problems and bureaucracy, as well as by volatile climate and market conditions. Good stewardship has to be feasible to be effective."
"The work we are doing is not about party politics. Our aim is give people working on the ground on stewardship issues the evidence that they need to advocate for what they need, and practical ideas that can be taken up by government."
AgLaw's work is being conducted with the support of NSW Landcare, the Nature Conservancy, Gondwanalink, the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative and WWF, and a number of advisors. AgLaw sits within UNE's Law School, and also draws on the School's expertise.
Prof. Martin observes that regardless of the level of commitment that responsible landholders make to good stewardship, many deal with volatile and often insufficient incomes, and volatile and insufficient government support.
"The evidence is clear that not enough funds are available to do what is needed, and that the administrative system imposes high transaction costs and frustrations on landholders and volunteers trying to do the right thing”
“It is simply not effective to create stewardship obligations when there are not enough resources to implement those obligations effectively."
If there is not enough petrol in the tank to get you to where you want to go, no amount of hoping will get you there.
“UNE Law School leads in research about the implementation and effectiveness of rural laws and policies. We have been working on these funding issues since 2005, and we have a great deal of evidence that we can contribute to finding a more feasible approach.”
The current project involves extensive desk research, investigation of the ‘grey literature’ about funding, detailed case studies, an international examination, and surveys of individual landholders and landholder groups. More than 80 landholders and 50 landholder groups have responded to questions about stewardship actions, funding needs, investment strategy, and their future intentions.
The team has examined thousands of documents and websites, including from government agencies, and has explored relevant statistics.
"People tend to think only about the lack of money overall; that there just isn't enough public and private investment in stewardship programs. But the cyclical nature of farming means that groups that are trying to do good work go through periods like the recent cycle of drought, fire and flood where they just can't afford to do what they need to do."
"Our research also shows that government programs impose high transaction costs and uncertainties, and frustrations, and this does undermine voluntary work "
The research team is also developing case studies of citizen groups, to show an integrated picture of the work that is done, the challenges that they face, and the innovative approaches that they use to cope with the difficulties
"The ultimate aim of this work by the UNE Law School is to make a meaningful contribution to rural stewardship. That means a commitment to supporting rural laws and policies that are effective, efficient and fair."
“Neither the rules, nor the environment, will get better without viable funding. To find reliable solutions requires objective, evidence based dialogue. We are well-placed to support that dialogue, and that is the contribution we are trying to make.”
Prof. Martin will be talking about the challenges confronting rural stewardship in the UNE Law School's new podcast, Law in the Bush. Each fortnight, a Law School specialist will explore cutting-edge legal research and legal issues. The podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
