Melbourne Law School - Theses
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ItemImplementing international environmental law in domestic environmental management: wetlands of international importance in Australia and the People's Republic of China( 2004)This research utilises interdisciplinary methods to explore ways to improve the practical implementation of international environmental agreements at the local level. International environmental law is widely criticised as being general, aspirational and at worst, unenforceable. This thesis explores, through a specific case study approach why this is so, and what potential means can be employed to improve the implementation of international environmental agreements. Through a detailed exposition of international agreements which Australia and the People's Republic of China (PRC) are parties to, particularly those relating to wetlands of international importance, such as the Ramsar Convention and the China- Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (CAMBA), this research challenges accepted boundaries of traditional legal scholarship, seeking to incorporate a wider range of issues such as political structures, culture and economic realities in-depth. Incorporating top-down and bottom-up approaches, this thesis also showcases two specific case studies of internationally significant wetlands in both Australia and the PRC. This has been done to impart a specific approach to the largely general rhetoric that presently exists in international environmental agreements. In conclusion, it is asserted that a greater specificity of approach and flexibility is required if the implementation of international environmental agreements is to be improved at the national and local levels in both Australia and the PRC.