News and Activities of the CCWPL in 2010
December NEW!
-
CCWPL research featured at the UNESCO supported ISARM2010 International conference – “Transboundary Aquifers: Challenges and New Directions”
When: December 6th - 8th, 2010
Where: UNESCO Headquarters in Paris
Organisers: UNESCO
Further information:
This course will take the form of 30 invited speakers and expert
panels in four sessions
- Session 1: Administrative vs. hydrological boundaries within a given country
- Session 2: Transboundary groundwater
issues within an association of countries, evolving
towards a federal organization, the case of the European Union - Session 3: International transboundary
groundwater issues “without” a political conflict
- Session 4: International transboundary groundwater
issues “with” a political conflict situation:
Role-Play on a fictitious example to transfer governance solutions to a less developed
countries.
November
-
The University of South Australia has a competitive process for support of research groups under the ReNew policy.
The Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws and its two co Directors
Prof Mervyn Lewis and Dr Ganesh Keremane, were successful in being
recognised as a supported research group of the University. CCWPL looks
forward to undertaking work on several current research projects see for
example the
National Centre of Excellence in Groundwater Research and Training.
CCWPL is also engaging with national and international researchers on new
exciting projects and the details of these will be made available.
Title: America's
Fascination with Australia's National Water Initiative (PDF
149.50kb)
Publication:
Water, June 2010
Author: Professor Jennifer McKay
Refereed Paper: Agricultural Use
Pages: 48 - 51
Introduction: I was blessed in 2008 - 2009 to be awarded a Senior
Fulbright fellowship on the topic of comparative water policies and laws. I
was based at Boalt School of Law and American University in Washington DC
and worked on the political questions doctrine in US jurisprudence and its
analogy in Australia. I also studied Human rights law and Californian legal
cases. The experience was really refreshing as some of the best teachers
exist in these two law schools.
June 
- Highlights from the Australian Irrigation Conference and Exhibition held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre from 8-10 June included
The release of the book, Picturing Fresh Water Justice in Rural Australia, co-authored by Professor Jennifer McKay, Dr Ganesh Keremane and Adam Gray.
This book is a key output of the Photostory project conducted by Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws (CCWPL) under the CRC for Irrigation Futures System Harmonisation program.
The book presents over 50 photographs and words used by the irrigators at the sharp end of Australian water policy to capture several outcomes of sustainability policies and drought in their local region and express their intuitive understandings of water policy and justice.
- Dr Ganesh Keremane presented a paper co-authored with Professor Jennifer McKay, ‘Looking, listening and learning from irrigation communities: A photostory project in two NSW & SA regions’.
June
Transnational Corporations Review (TNCR) has a special issue celebrating Professor Elinor (Lin) Ostrom’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Prof McKay and over 20 colleagues and students of Vincent Y. Lin & Associate from Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe and America have been asked to contribute to the issue.
Prof Ostrom's work has informed several PhD theses of CCWPL. . The article by Prof McKay is in the Theory and Practice part of the special issue and is " Trust Between Users and the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources: The Contribution of Professor Elinor Ostrom".
April
- April/May 2010 in-Business South Australia magazine article
About: Professor, Jennifer McKay has had several visits over the
last 18 months in the USA telling legislators, legal practitioners in
Washington, Utah and California, along with industry professionals, how
Australia manages its precious water resources.
Extract: After Prof McKay testified before a hearing of the
California Assembly's Select Committee on Regional Approaches to
Addressing the State's Water Crisis in February, the Committee chairman,
Jose Solorio, said it was “important to look to other states for their
best practices, and every now and then it's good to look to other
countries as well". Mr Solorio noted Australia's success at reducing per
capita water use “to 30 to 50 gallons a day, compared with about 180
gallons in California” through water restrictions, recycling water and
widespread use of water-efficient appliances.
Full transcript:
article
transcript (PDF 76.35 kb)
February
- 28th Annual Water Law Conference
When: February, 17-19, 2010
Where: San Diego, CA
Organisers: American Bar Association, Section of Environmental,
Energy, and Resources
About the Conference: The Water Law Conference is targeted towards
lawyers, engineers, policy makers, and water managers with interest in the
protection, development, and allocation of water rights and water resources,
or those who participate in the management of surface and groundwater
resources. It will be of value to all persons involved in water right
issues, including those with private, municipal, agricultural, and tribal
water rights. The conference is open to any interested persons, and is not
limited to lawyers.
Our Delegate:
Prof McKay (PDF 23.09KB)
was a speaker on the Australia panel and delivered a paper
Transitions toward Sustainability in Water Management Laws in Australia:
Lessons for the Sister Federation – the USA. This paper is in the CD
circulated at the event. It reviews the several decisions in the courts in
NSW, Victoria and South Australia relating to Ministerial discretions to
review water allocations under water plans. Further meetings in USA
Washington State, California and Utah.
Prof McKay had ten other meetings in the USA after the ABA meeting. These were in three state capitals: Olympia, Sacramento and Salt Lake city to testify in front of legislators and also with private law firms such as GordonDerr LLP and Downey Brand LLP. These were to give evidence at hearing on Australia's transitions toward sustainable water management and the legal and political issues for the present and the future. This was funded by Resources Legacy Fund.
The meetings were well attended with significant time for questions and answers on the Water Act 2007 and also on State court decisions on water. Here is a video (please note that Prof MaKay's presentation appears about 6 minutes into the video, many thanks) of the evidence presented in Washington State Senate Environment Water and Energy Committee on Feb. 23rd at 10.am in JA Cherbourg Building Olympia, WA. The Chair of the meeting was Senator Phil Rockefeller.
Resources:
February
- The members of Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws (CCWPL) are now research associates of Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy (CWEEP).
January
- Water Policy Entrepreneurs: A Research Comparison to Water Transitions around the Globe
The book ‘Water Policy Entrepreneurs' (PDF423.83kb) edited by Dave Huitema and Sander Meijerink is now published!
Edited by Dave Huitema, Senior Researcher, Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Sander Meijerink, Assistant Professor, Institute for Management Research, Radbound University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
This major volume focuses on the role of policy entrepreneurs in global water management. adopting an international comparative perspective, the authors explore water policy change in fifteen countries and reveal the strategies employed by entrepreneurs to facilitate improvements in policy.