Communities around the world are concerned about global, regional and local environmental issues, regardless of conventional political orientation or cultural background. An ethic of environmental protection has been asserted in society since before the 1960s and has been mainstream since the international Stockholm Declaration of 1972. The principles of sustainable development have been globalising since UNCED's Brundtland Report of the late 1980s.

The Garnaut Climate Change Review, commissioned by Australia's Commonwealth, state and territory governments to examine the impacts, challenges and opportunities of climate change for Australia, has brought home the importance of climate change and global warming. Years of drought in Australia have also made us aware of water as a scarce, precious commodity. Legislation to address climate change matters is proposed for Victoria and the Commonwealth.

Important systems for the regulation of human action in the environment implement this concern. Many environment protection laws provide for public consultation. This chapter describes the legal structure of environment protection and discusses the laws that provide opportunities for public involvement in decision-making and the enforcement of:

There are many other environmental laws concerning mining, forestry, heritage and waterways. For information about them, see: "Further reference", at the end of this chapter. Protecting the environment often requires people to use other areas of the law, such as freedom of information, or trade practices laws. This chapter should be read in conjunction with chapters 10*2 Neighbours and Noise, 18*1 Negligence and Injury, 21*1 Administrative Law and 21*6 Freedom of Information.