Who owns the coast? Holiday structures and public access

In many parts of the world, fragile coastal environments have become the main sites of holiday and retirement accommodation. While these coastal environments are under threat from rising sea levels, storm and cyclone damage, the appetite for a view of the beach remains undiminished. From the Coast Brava to Florida, Phuket to the Great Barrier Reef, leisure facilities and substantial blocks of apartments spread like a rash. Local, state and national governments seem unwilling or unable to stem the tide. Even inscription as a world heritage property doesn’t always offer sufficient protection for to coastal places. In some societies the beach has not only been owned by the state but widely held to be a public good for all to enjoy. In other societies, landscapes are regularly carved up for the higher bidder. Even in Australia, where public ownership of the beach has been sacrosanct, development pressures can overwhelm both World Heritage considerations and local community feeling. Drawing on both Australian and international examples this paper explores victories and defeats for the conservation of both built and natural coastal heritage, and calls on governments to resist demands by private property owners to protect structures that will otherwise collapse through erosion

Parched land - Attempting to ease Australia's drought

Australia is the world's driest inhabited continent. Although parts of northern Australia enjoy high and regular rainfalls, sometimes associated with monsoon and cyclonic conditions, parts of Western Australia and Southern Australia suffer from severe rainfall deficiencies. For a long time, such wide variation in rainfall across the country has resulted in an ambivalent attitude to water management. With its relatively small population - just under 21 million in 2007 - Australia has historically feared invasion from the north. That fear has waned over the past 30 years to be gradually replaced by a very different fear - a water shortage