The Australian Environment & Planning Law Group of the Legal Practice Section will be conducting the Future of Environmental Law Symposium in Sydney on 25 November 2011. A copy of the registration brochure for this event is attached.

Online registration is available at here.

This year the Symposium will honour the contributions to the development of environmental law of three outstanding individuals.

Emeritus Professor Ben Boer and Professor Robert Fowler have made, and continue to make, significant contributions in both Australia and internationally to the study and teaching of environmental law. The Symposium will also acknowledge the contribution to environmental jurisprudence by the Hon Mahla Pearlman AO, former Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of NSW from 1992 to 2003.

The Symposium will have four sessions, each with two speakers addressing the topic for 30 minutes, followed by questions from the floor. The papers from the Symposium will be published, together with some further selected articles from contributors.

The title of the Symposium, "The Future of Environmental Law", is designed to provoke some discussion about the directions and value of environmental law in confronting the serious environmental problems facing us all. Next year, 2012, marks the 20th anniversary of the Rio Declaration and the 20th anniversary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is appropriate to ask how far we have come since Rio and what the next 20 years holds for society and the planet.