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INECE Discussion Series: Connecting Environmental and Social Impact Assessment with Compliance and Enforcement
22/03/2018
We wanted to remind you about the upcoming INECE Discussion Series, “Connecting Environmental and Social Impact Assessment with Compliance and Enforcement.” This four-part webinar-based series will begin on April 17, and it will bring together experts and practitioners to discuss best practices for aligning environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) with compliance and enforcement.
Each session will feature a 30 minute introductory presentation by one or two experts in the field, followed by 45 minutes of moderated discussion among participants. Confirmed speakers include representatives from the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Brazil IBAMA, and the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network.
A Discussion Series Summary with further details and registration information can be found on the INECE website here.
Recognizing that the time difference may make it difficult to join the discussion from Australia, INECE will record the webinars and post them on the INECE website at a later date.
AELERT and Alarmed
12/03/2018
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on Mar 10, 2018 as "AELERT and alarmed" and is published here with their permission.
By Tanya M. Howard, research fellow at the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law, University of New England, NSW.
Environmental regulation is a tough field. Incidents can erupt into public awareness, such as the Hazelwood mine fire in Victoria, or the chemical contamination at Williamtown RAAF Base in New South Wales. In times of crisis, the need for strong environmental regulations and a professional, well-resourced workforce to enforce them is clear. But the majority of environmental crime doesn’t make it to the front page of the newspaper. Polluted rivers, contaminated aquifers, smuggled wildlife and choking air pollution – these are the “repeat offenders” of routine environmental crime, and they are harder to address in regional or remote locations where public impacts are limited.
It is in this mind that I am at the annual environmental regulators conference in Sydney. I am here to take the pulse on the frontline experience of environmental regulation in Australia. As an industry outsider, I want to understand more about the lived experience of designing and implementing environmental regulation. I am also curious to gauge the impact of the 2014 murder of NSW compliance officer Glen Turner on the activities of environmental regulators on the ground. This tragic event led to a criminal trial and a murder conviction for Ian Turnbull, a well-known Moree landholder who had in the preceding years been repeatedly investigated for illegal land clearing. In 2017, the NSW Coroner ordered an inquest into Glen Turner’s death, the date of which is yet to be announced. The inquest is intended to help better understand the risks faced by officers such as Turner.
Environmental protection authorities and a wide variety of environment departments exist in all jurisdictions and prosecute breaches of state and territory legislation, with their federal counterparts responsible for enforcing federal law.
To continue reading this article please use this link to The Saturday Paper. - Read more.
PODCAST: Erosion and Sediment Control Compliance
05/03/2018
In February 2018, Eugene Immisch of the Department of Environment and Science in Queensland explained how evaluating the performance of erosion and sediment controls can be technically challenging.
Determining compliance can be a tricky business and the range of potential control measures to manage risks is large and riddled with technical complexity. Eugene explored the use of a consistent, transparent and repeatable investigation methodology as a tool to assist regulators when assessing the effectiveness of erosion and sediment controls and establishing compliance.
Available only to AELERT Members
THE SPEAKER
Eugene Immisch is a Compliance Delivery Manager, with the Environmental Services and Regulation Division of the Department of Environment and Science.
Eugene holds qualifications in both Environmental Science and Environmental Engineering and has 18 years of experience in the environmental sector, 10 in the department. He has championed compliance programs focused on improving erosion and sediment control practices and worked to improve the regulator's understanding.
