There are significant differences in the way water rights are defined, allocated and administered in Australia and overseas. This paper includes comparisons of the arrangements for managing water rights against accepted best practice principles for South Au stralia, Queensland, NSW, Victoria...

The importance of the notion of sustainable development has been advocated, among others, by Amartya Sen. In Sen’s view it is necessary to depart from the general strategy of defining sustainable development only in terms of fulfilment of needs and to use the broader perspective of enhancing...

East Asia is one of the most important areas of tropical forests worldwide. Considerable concern has arisen that the East Asian economic crisis would result in a further worsening of the already high pressures experienced by the region’s forests. This report examines the available evidence on...

The North American Free Trade Agreement appeared to promise economic growth for Mexico and improved living conditions for its people. While the Mexican economy has recovered significantly from its post-NAFTA collapse, there is mounting evidence that many of the pre-NAFTA warnings of worsening...

This paper explores what a critical commentary on micro principles texts might look like, examining what is to be critiqued and how to do it.

This essay will consider the relevance of the social sciences - especially economics - to the foundations of sustainable development. Looming environmental crises have served as a prime motivating force for reevaluating fundamental principles. In particular, the concept of sustainability,...

Australian, state and territory regimes came under review for the Commission’s inquiry into native vegetation and biodiversity regulations. The Commission’s preliminary findings were released for public comment in December 2003. It found that the cost of farm regulations could be reduced if...

Current regulating policies are aimed at eliminating negative effect of market failures and at controlling macroeconomic stability, but they do not sufficiently facilitate long-term aims of human being. A method of soft economic regulation making use of endogenous nature of preferences is...

This paper aims to show how the process of diffusion of 'clean technologies' confronts a variety of forces at the macro level that create systematic, technological and institutional barriers to their adoption. There is abundant literature on the role of technology transfer in the development of...