Ecologically Sustainable Development: More than Mere Lip Service?

Abstract

With the current public attention being directed to climate change and water conservation, environmental issues are experiencing somewhat of a renaissance in legal institutions and processes. One of the most difficult issues thrown up by environmental regulation in any field is how this should or can be reconciled with. development and economic growth. At the heart of Australian environmental law is a commitment to 'ecologically sustainable development' ('ESD'), a policy which should dictate the meaningful integration of environmental and economic goals in public decision-making processes. Yet too often ESD has merely been paid lip-service in Australia, with minimal legal elaboration and lit..