2017 Sir Frank Kitto Public Lecture: What’s equity got to do with the environment?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that most humans, in possession of a good environment, must be in want of development of it. The development of the environment benefits some, burdens others and bypasses many. The distribution of the benefits and burdens of developing the environment raises issues of equity. The notion of equity concerns evenness, fairness and justice. The members of the community of justice comprise people of the present generation, people of future generations and non-human nature, present and future. Extending equity to these members involves intra-generational equity, inter-generational equity and inter-species equity. These three principles of equity fix not only the process of decision making concerning development of the environment but also the results of decision making. The results include maintaining a healthy, diverse and productive environment, now and in the future. The three principles of equity call for distributive justice, which is to be achieved by according procedural justice: a fair result reached by a fair process. This is what equity has to do with the environment.

Presented by The Hon Justice Brian J Preston SC, Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales. Prior to being appointed in November 2005, he was a senior counsel practising primarily in New South Wales in environmental, planning, administrative and property law. He has lectured in post-graduate environmental law for over 25 years. He is the author of Australia’s first book on environmental litigation and 101 articles, book chapters and reviews on environmental law, administrative and criminal law. He holds numerous editorial positions in environmental law publications and has been involved in a number of international environmental consultancies and capacity-building programs, including for judiciaries throughout Asia.

When: Friday 1 September 2017 1.30pm

Where: JP Belshaw Lecture Theatre (LT1) EBL Building Trevenna Rd  University of New England