Cameron Holley

Aiming to identify the most effective tools and water governance innovations, and the circumstances that foster their successful implementation in different contexts, this book examines some of the world’s leading living laboratories of non-urban water law and governance, evaluating the success of different governance forms, legal designs and institutional prescriptions. Drawing on a rigorous empirical study of Australian water governance, it provides insights from Australia’s world leading water law and governance system which it complements with comparative studies from regulatory bodies and governance innovations in the United States, Europe and New Zealand to provide timely insights which test theories, speak to key debates and make recommendations on an array of water, law and governance issues.

A bold and profoundly new way of governing environmental problems is palpable around the globe and aims to overcome the limitations of the interventionist state and its market alternative to offer more effective and legitimate solutions to today's most pressing environmental problems. The 'new environmental governance' (NEG) emphasises a host of novel characteristics including participation, collaboration, deliberation, learning and adaptation and 'new' forms of accountability. While these unique features have generated significant praise from legal and governance scholars, there have been very few systematic evaluations of NEG in practice, and it is still unclear whether NEG will in fact 'work', and if so, when and how. This book offers one of the most rigorous research investigations into cutting edge trends in environmental governance to date. Focusing its inquiry around some of the most central, controversial and/or under researched characteristics of NEG, the book offers fresh insights into the conditions under which we can best achieve successful collaboration, effective learning and adaptation, meaningful participatory and deliberative governance and effective forms of accountability. The book synthesizes its findings to identify seven key pillars of 'good' NEG that are central to its success and will provide useful guidance for policymakers and scholars seeking to apply new governance to a wide range of environmental and non-environmental policy contexts. The book also advances our understanding of State governance and will be a valuable reference for scholars, researchers and students working in law and regulation studies - especially in the field of environmental law.