Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Short course on enviro responsibilities of Local Government

For some years the Australian Centre for Environmental Law (ACEL) in the Faculty of Law at the Australian National University has presented a series of successful short courses on issues concerning contemporary environmental law and policy.

In 1998 ACEL-ANU will offer a new series of short courses on environmental law and policy. ACEL-ANU short courses are designed to meet the professional development needs of decision makers and policy makers in business and government.

Of particular interest to employees in Local Government will be a course presented by Dr Gerry Bates on 12-13 May 1998 titled Environmental Responsibilities of Local Government.

Government policy throughout Australia is implementing the old adage "think globally, act locally" by steadily transferring to Local Government responsibilities for environment protection which have previously been managed at State level; and by requiring increased effort and resources to be directed at local environmental problems.

This course reviews the extent to which environment protection is increasingly becoming the responsibility of Local Government and examines the nature of that responsibility in context of legal obligations and policy requirements.

The course will cover: ecologically sustainable development as a tool; geographic responsibilities of Local Government and integrated environmental management; assessing the ecological impact of Local Government activities; catchment management; environmental planning; waste minimisation; sewerage, stormwater and drainage; water quality; local pollution; contaminated lands; pesticides; roadsides: development and maintenance; preserving local ecosystems and biodiversity; and enforcement of environmental responsibilities by and against Local Government.

For further details about this and other courses see the ACEL-ANU website at http://law.anu.edu.au/centres/acel/HomePage.html or contact Maureen Lawrentin telephone (02) 6249 3487.

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