Graeme Aplin

Pathways Towards Sustainability: The Australian Approach

Following its rise to international prominence, sustainability has become an official principle or goal in many countries. Due to contextual differences, countries have followed different paths in the pursuit of sustainability. Approachescan be classified into three categories: green planning; institutional reform; and social mobilization. None of these courses on its own is likely to achieve sustainability. Yet, countries often appear to develop a path dominated by one of these approaches. This paper focuses on Australia, sketches the extent to which green planning, institutional reform and social mobilization have been playing a role in the pursuit of sustainability, and illustrates the difficulties of developing a pathway that combines these approaches.

The Importance of Process in Ecosystem Management: Lessons from the Lachlan Catchment, New South Wales, Australia

Effective river management requires integration of biophysical and human dimensions of the ecosystem, which in turn involves the development of new forms of decision-making processes and institutional frameworks. In New South Wales, institutional changes to river management have been formalized in the Water Management Act 2000. This paper presents the findings of a case study that investigated decision-making processes in the establishment of environmental flow regimes for the Lachlan River in western New South Wales. The study was based on document analysis, observation and interviews with members and support staff of a stakeholder-based river management committee. The findings of the study highlight social capital, adaptive management and consensus decision making as key components in establishing environmental flow regimes as part of a participatory approach to river management.

Environmental Rationalism and Beyond: Toward a more just sharing of power and influence

Economics, especially the narrowly defined form of economics known as neo-liberal economics, along with its policy derivative known as economic rationalism, dominates public and political debate and decision-making in Australia and many other nations as the twentieth century approaches its close. In the context of environmental issues, as also in that of welfare issues, the present over-dominance is unhealthy. Despite the best attempts of environmental economists and ecological economists, they have had relatively little influence on the broader economic profession, or on the political and business communities. Economics and free trade also dominate the international scene at the expense of equity and environmental issues. Environmental debates, by their very nature, are usually complex, requiring interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches which include the economic perspective, but much else besides. Despite the importance of local context and spatial and temporal location, there is a need for a meta-theory or national philosophy to allow the integration across space and time so often needed. The present meta-theory, firmly based in economic rationalism, is inadequate as a basis for environmental decision-making. We desperately need a new meta-theory that explicitly integrates economic, environmental, welfare and many other perspectives. Perhaps such a meta-theory could be broadly based on the concept of sustainability, though much more work is needed to refine such an approach. A major swing in public opinion from the old meta-theory to the new is essential as a forerunner to political action, and education at all levels is needed to bring about this change. There are some signs that this change is already informing public opinion, and that it may have begun to influence mainstream Australian politics.

Open-minded geographers : their potential role in integrated adaptive environmental management

There are three key factors to be considered in comprehensive environmental management: (a) integration across disciplines and interests; (b) flexibility and adaptability based on feedback; and (c) interactions between policy and implementation at different scales. Successful management is both integrated and inclusive, and also adaptive and flexible. It involves a synthesis of work, requiring empathy among contributors and active synthesis. Furthermore, there is a need for a dialectical consideration of processes acting at various scales. Geographers who are not too narrowly specialised have a key role to play, and, collectively, might have been more centrally involved in environmental management than they have been.

Development of a Journal: Some brief comments relating to the Part Index for the Australian Geographer, 1928-98

This commentary concentrates on the physical production of the Australian Geographer and developments of a related nature. As I cannot pretend to have read every paper published over the last 71 years, comment on content is very limited. I also wish to avoid overlap with already published retrospectives included in Volume 19, Number 1, and Volume 27, Number 1, of this journal. A full issue-by-issue index is included in Volume 30, Number 1, of the Australian Geographer (pp. 103-26): all major papers, but not some minor pieces, are listed. Some of the latter, when part of a series, are listed in Tables 1 to 4 in this commentary. A full alphabetical author index for the 71 years of the journal will be included in the next issue (July 1999) as Appendix B.