Precaution: principles and practice in Australian environmental and natural resource management

Precaution: principles and practice in Australian environmental and natural resource management by Deborah Peterson, was presented as the Presidential Address to the 50th Annual Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Conference, Manly, New South Wales, 8 - 10 February 2006. Since the late 1980s, the concept of precaution has been incorporated into numerous international agreements and laws, as well as in domestic statutes and policies in many countries. This paper examines the international emergence of the concept and its application in Australia. Despite rapid growth in adoption of the so-called "precautionary principle," the concept remains highly controversial, and its success in terms of improving environmental and natural resource management has been questioned. This paper argues that implementation guidelines are essential to ensure that precautionary decision making is consistent with good decision making principles, and to avoid unnecessary costs and the potential for perverse outcomes. Economists have an important role in contributing to these guidelines and in developing techniques for incorporating uncertainty into decision making. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Productivity Commission.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Precaution: principles and practice in Australian environmental and natural resource management

Since the late 1980s, the concept of precaution has been incorporated into numerous international agreements and laws, as well as in domestic statutes and policies in many countries. This paper examines the international emergence of the concept and its application in Australia. Despite rapid growth in adoption of the so-called ‘precautionary principle’, the concept remains highly controversial, and its success in terms of improving environmental and natural resource management has been questioned. A common misconception is that the principle prescribes action. In fact, internationally accepted definitions are about decision-making processes. This paper argues that implementation guidelines are essential to ensure that precautionary decision-making is consistent with good decision-making principles, and to avoid unnecessary costs and perverse outcomes.environment, natural resource management, precautionary principle, uncertainty, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Cost Sharing for Biodiversity Conservation: A Conceptual Framework

„h Many resource users undertake actions that conserve biodiversity. If, however, there were public demand for more conservation than would be provided voluntarily by the private sector alone, there are two broad principles for determining who should bear the costs ¡X ¡¥impacter pays¡¦ or ¡¥beneficiary pays¡¦. The two principles have different efficiency and distributional effects. „h A fundamental step in determining which cost sharing principle to apply is the clarification of the rights and responsibilities implied by existing property rights. This is an important issue that requires further work. „h If property rights effectively require resource users to meet an environmental standard, resource users who fail to achieve this may be considered to generate external costs. In these circumstances, on efficiency grounds, the impacter pays principle should generally be adopted to internalise external costs. This effectively amounts to enforcement of an individual¡¦s existing legal responsibilities. However, if the costs of implementing the impacter pays principle were to outweigh its efficiency advantages, the beneficiary pays principle may be considered.environment, conservation, biodiversity

Creating Markets for Biodiversity: A Case Study of Earth Sanctuaries Ltd

This papers examines the activities and operations of the first publicly listed company in Australia with wildlife conservation as its primary goal. Earth Sanctuaries Ltd (ESL) is the first publicly listed company in Australia with wildlife conservation as its primary goal. Its focus to date is on conservation of small native mammals that are threatened by exotic predators and loss of habitat. Its strategy has been to acquire land, erect electrified vermin-proof fencing, remove feral animals, regenerate native vegetation and reintroduce selected native species. The paper finds that there does not appear to be a consistent and coordinated approach across jurisdictions for private conservation providers to access, keep, relocate and trade native wildlife, amplifying uncertainty for organisations which operate in several jurisdictions.biodiversity - environment - conservation - wildlife - Earth Sanctuaries - regulation - property rights - competitive neutrality - contestability - ecological outcomes - private sector conservation

Special issue on water economics and policy

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Third-party effects of water trading and potential policy responses

A key feature of water policy reform in Australia has been the separation of water access entitlements from land titles and the establishment of markets for water. However, the separation of water entitlements from land failed to account for a number of characteristics that were implicit in the joint right. This has given rise to a number of third-party effects as water is traded in an incomplete market. This paper describes four third-party effects of water trade; reliability of supply, timeliness of delivery, storage and delivery charges, and water quality and examines policy responses to address these effects. The discussion draws on the concepts of exclusiveness and rivalry to determine the applicability of property rights and other solutions to the third-party effects of trade. It is likely that many of the third-party effects of trade discussed in this paper do not warrant policy intervention at the national or state level, but intervention at the local level may be warranted. The costs of addressing some third-party effects may outweigh the benefits. Where there are significant gains from trade, the existence of these third-party effects should not been seen as a reason to impede trade.property rights, water trading, third-party effects, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A Global Perspective of Transformational Leadership and Organizational Development

Grounded in transformational leadership theory (Northouse 2010) this paper presents an analytical perspective of global transformational leadership and its role based upon ideological issues in cultural relevance, ethics and social responsibility. Interests in global transformational leadership is increasing due to interdependence of cultural, global, economic, and political issues that require the collaboration and networking efforts of leaders. The researchers examine these issues and ideologies using a metacognitive lens for the purpose of furthering the research on global transformational leadership in leadership development and organizational leadership programs of study in higher education

Book Reviews

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,