At the start of July, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature released a ground breaking study on the effectiveness of environmental law. Using a method largely developed by Professor Paul Martin from the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law at the University of New England, teams conducted comparative studies in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, China and Brail. These studies demonstrated the usefulness of the innovative and comprehensive approach to objective evaluation of the law in practice,  and also highlighted in a systematic manner ways in which environmental law instruments can be made far more effective.

The methodology, and case studies of its application are available on the IUCN website and at www.lawforsustainability.org