EDO conferences aim to promote positive shifts in environmental law and policy by bringing together a wide range of perspectives on key environmental issues.

Past Conferences

The 2007 Beyond Environmental Law: Intersections between legal disciplines and the environment conference was held on 16 and 17 February 2007 at The Portside Centre, 207 Kent Street, Sydney. Hosted by the Australian Centre for Environmental Law Sydney, the University of Sydney Faculty of Law and the Environmental Defender's Office, the conference featured experts from a broad range of legal disciplines reflecting on how their areas of law impacted on the environment. The Keynote Speaker was Professor Kevin Gray from Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

The 2006 Making Law Work – Improving Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in Australia Conference discussed key issues in environmental enforcement and compliance, and examined various mechanisms for ensuring compliance with environmental laws, including monitoring, penalties and prosecutions, market-based instruments and community-based monitoring and enforcement.

The 2005 Public Interest Environmental Law in Australia Conference reflected on the development of public interest environmental law in Australia over the last twenty years, discussed current issues of importance and explored future directions in environmental law and policy in Australia.

The 2004 EDO Pollution Management Conference examined existing pollution management initiatives and identified innovative mechanisms for dealing with ongoing pollution management issues.

The 2003 EDO Elements Conference explored current challenges and opportunities for reform in the legal and policy frameworks governing management of the four elements of nature – earth, air, fire and water. Proceedings are available free on CD-ROM. To get your copy, please send an email to our