Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law (CEREL)

Te Piringa - Faculty of Law of the University of Waikato has a significant focus on environmental law, natural resources law, and energy law, both in New Zealand and internationally. Its specialists constitute the largest group of legal academics in the field in New Zealand. Members are active in teaching and research on the law concerning environmental protection, biodiversity, climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, heritage conservation, pollution control, water allocation, natural resources management, and the position of Maori and other indigenous peoples in relation to the environment. The Faculty works in an interdisciplinary manner with researchers in related fields at the University of Waikato.

Undergraduate Study

The Faculty offers a strong array of Bachelor of Laws (LLB) papers (courses) directly in the environmental, natural resource and energy law fields, along with many other papers focusing upon international, trade and Indigenous legal issues that also intersect with these topics:

Environmental Law
International Environmental Law
Energy and Resources Law
Water Law

View all our undergraduate papers

LLM / Postgraduate Study

At the Master of Laws (LLM) level, it offers the following courses directly in this sector:

Energy and Resource Management Law
Environmental Regulation and Reform
International Environmental Law
Maori Resource Law and Development Issues

View all our postgraduate papers

Doctoral Study

Within the the Faculty focus in the field are a number of PhD researchers, whose work includes:

Water Security: Pre-emptive Solutions for Anticipated International Disputes over Freshwater in the 21st Century.
Protecting a Moving Target: An Assessment of Conservation Measures used to Protect Avian Fauna in New Zealand.
Climate Change Negotiations and Third World Countries (past, present and future).
The Protection of Lakes from Eutrophication through Nutrient Trading Schemes.
Would a water market scheme similar to that in some western United States jurisdictions alleviate New Zealand's vexed water allocation system?
What are the Characteristics of a Successful System of Water Management in New Zealand? A Comparison with Australian Water Management Regulations.
A Comparative Case Study of the Legal and Institutional Regimes of Germany and New Zealand with Particular Reference to Seaports and Aquaculture.
International Law and Tuna Fisheries Management.
Law for Energy, Minerals and Carbon Sequestration Operations in Coastal and Marine Areas.

The Faculty offers a broad array of environmental and resource law courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels - see below. The Faculty is developing a Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law. The Faculty is interested in attracting students (undergraduate, LLM or PhD) with an interest in the field. It also welcomes the interest of academics elsewhere in research visits or in the teaching of short intensive courses.

Environmental Essay Competition - win a place at the EDS Conference 2013 more...

Research

Faculty members in the concentration have a number of research projects under way. Particular research programmes are:

Energy Cultures
The Energy Cultures project, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, uses leading social science expertise and several complementary methodologies to improve understanding of the drivers of household energy behaviours. This will inform the design of more effective energy-efficiency policies, interventions and incentives. The project team is multidisciplinary, drawing from Consumer Psychology, Economics, Sociology, Human Geography, Physics and Law. Barry provides the law component and is investigating the way that different modes of regulation can best affect behaviour.
Intercoast
Intercoast is a substantial PhD-training programme on coastal zone science, law, and management. It is a partnership between the University of Waikato and Bremen University. Over 20 PhD students in different disciplines are dividing their research time between the two universities. Three are in Law.

Faculty

Faculty members within the focus on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law are as follows:

Barry Barton's field of research is energy, natural resources and environmental law, and specifically at present on mining law, energy efficiency law, and on property rights to subsurface minerals and formations. He is part of the research team for the Energy Cultures research programme. He is active in the Section on Energy, Environment, Resources and Infrastructure Law of the International Bar Association, as a member of the Section Council and the Section's Academic Advisory Group. more...

Sadeq Bigdeli is an expert on international economic and environmental law. He has presented various papers in international conferences on trade and climate change, energy in World Trade Organization (WTO) law and policy, as well as trade in renewable energy. He is a co-editor of a leading book published by Cambridge University Press (2009) on international trade regulation and the mitigation of climate change. Currently, he researches on legal frameworks for trade in biofuels as well as on the ongoing disputes at the WTO over measures affecting trade in renewable energy. more...

Trevor Daya-Winterbottom focuses his teaching and research on environmental law (resource management), administrative law (judicial review and specialist courts), and corporate governance (criminal liability and sentencing). Before joining the Faculty of Law in 2003 he practised law with Chapman Tripp in Auckland. Among his recent publications is research on the prosecution of environmental offences in New Zealand. He is active in the Resource Management Law Association. more...

Alexander Gillespie specializes in international environmental law. He is particularly focused on issues of conservation and biodiversity, although he is also author of three books on climate change and the law. He was the first New Zealander to be Rapporteur for the World Heritage Convention, and has provided legal and policy advice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Conservation. He is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) of the University. more...

Robert Joseph, of Tainui and Ngati Kahungunu, Ngai Tahu descent, teaches, researches and publishes in the areas of Maori and Indigenous good governance and sustainable natural resource management. He is particularly interested in the appropriate incorporation of Indigenous customary laws and institutions within respective common law jurisdictions in areas such as freshwater rights and responsibilities, climate change and emission trading schemes, wahi tapu or sacred spaces, and the foreshore and seabed. more...

Bradford Morse, the Dean of the Faculty, is active in the Academy of Environmental Law of the IUCN, and has served on its Teaching and Capacity Building Committee. He continues his research and policy writing on the intersections of indigenous rights with environmental and natural resource law and governance. He has produced over 100 publications. more...

Linda Te Aho, of Waikato-Tainui and Ngati Koroki Kahukura descent, teaches and researches in the area of sustainable development and management of natural resources. Linda has a particular interest in indigenous participation in environmental governance, indigenous rights and responsibilities in relation to freshwater, and river restoration. She participates in tribal environmental governance, and is a member of the Guardians Establishment Committee, a co-management entity created under a recent settlement involving the Waikato River. more...

From left: Trevor Daya-Winterbottom, Linda Te Aho, Professor Al Gillespie, Professor Barry Barton, Dr Sadeq Bigdeli, Professor Brad Morse, Matiu Dickson

Recent Major Faculty Publications

Published Books

Edited Books

Edited Issue of Journal

Book Chapters

Barton, B. Property rights created under statute in common law legal systems. In Aileen McHarg, Barry Barton, Adrian Bradbrook, and Lee Godden (ed/s) Property and the Law in Energy and Natural Resources. Oxford University Press, 2010. p.80-99.

Bigdeli, S Z. "Incentive Schemes to Promote Renewables and the WTO Law of Subsidies", in Cottier, Nartova, Z. Bigdeli (Eds.), International Trade Regulation and the Mitigation of Climate Change, 2009 , Cambridge University Press

Cottier, T, Malumfashi, G, Matteotti-Berkutova, S, Nartova, O, De Sepibus, J & Bigdeli, S Z. Energy in WTO law and policy. In Thomas Cottier (ed/s) The Prospects of International Trade Regulation : From Fragmentation to Coherence. UK, Cambridge University Press, 2010. p.1-25.

Daya-Winterbottom, T "Property and Sustainability: Recurrent Themes in New Zealand Resource Management Law" in P Carruthers, S Mascher and N Skead (Editors) Property and Sustainability: Selected Essays (2011) Thomson Reuters Lawbook Co pp69-92

Daya-Winterbottom, T "New Zealand Sustainability Laws for Freshwater Management" in K Bosselmann and V Tava (Editors) Water Rights and Sustainability: New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law Monograph Series: Volume 3 (2011) New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law, Auckland pp27-49

Daya-Winterbottom, T Climate change, harmonisation, and public policy" in W Gumley and T Daya-Winterbottom (Editors) Climate Change Law: Comparative, Contractual & Regulatory Considerations (2009) Thomson Reuters Lawbook Co pp73-87

Gillespie, A. 'Rat-Catching in Sustainable Development.' In Biswas, A. (ed). Appraising Sustainable Development. (Oxford University Press, 2005). 112-156.

Gillespie, A. 'Animals, Ethics and International Law'. In S, Peters. (ed), (2009, forthcoming). Animal Law. (NSW UP, Australia). 333-350.

Gillespie, A. 'An Introduction to Ethical Considerations in International Environmental Law'. In Fitzmaurice, M. (2010). Research Handbook on International Environmental Law (Edgar Ellen, London). 117-138.

Gillespie, A. 'Energy Efficiency in International Environmental Law.' In Assensa, G. (ed). Financing Sustainable Development. (Oxford University Press) (forthcoming).

Gillespie, A. 'Ethics in International Environmental Law'. In Fitzmaurice, M. (ed), (2011, forthcoming). A Handbook on International Environmental Law (Edgar Ellen, London).

McHarg, A, Barton, B, Bradbrook, A & Godden, L. Property and the law in energy and natural resources : Introduction. In Aileen McHarg, Barry Barton, Adrian Bradbrook, and Lee Godden (ed/s) Property and the Law in Energy and Natural Resources. Oxford University Press, 2010. p.1-16.

Morse, B W. "Destroying the Canadian Arctic: A Global Crisis with Devastating Local Ramifications" co-authored with Michelle Zakrison, in Democracy, Ecological Integrity and International Law, edited by J. Ronald Engel, Laura Westra and Klaus Bosselmann (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010) at pp. 119-140.

Morse, B W. Developing legal frameworks for urban Aboriginal governance. Aboriginal Policy Research: Exploring the Urban landscape. Thompson Educational Publishing, 2010. p.3-30.

Morse, B W. "Indigenous Rights as a Mechanism to Promote Environmental Sustainability," in Reconciling Human Existence with Ecological Integrity: Science, Ethics, Economics and Law, edited by Laura Westra, Klaus Bosselmann and Richard Westra (London: Earthscan, 2008) at pp. 159-182.

Te Aho, L. Judicial creativity. In Malcolm Mulholland and Veronica Tawhai (ed/s) Weeping Waters: The Treaty of Waitangi and Constitutional Change. Huia Publishers, 2010. p.109-126.

Refereed Journal Articles

Bigdeli, S Z. "Will the 'friends of climate?' emerge in the WTO? Applying the fisheries subsidies? model to energy subsidies", Carbon and Climate Law Review, March 2008

Daya-Winterbottom, T "Sustainability, governance and water management in New Zealand" The Journal of Water Law Volume 21 (2011) pp219-231

Daya-Winterbottom, T "New Zealand Environment Court: Evolving Practice" (2011) 23 ELM pp217-224

Daya-Winterbottom, T Current Survey: New Zealand "Proposed Reforms to Resource Management Practice" [2011] 4 Env Liability ppC553-557

Daya-Winterbottom, T "Politics and biodiversity: a New Zealand perspective" [2011] 4 Env Liability pp119-133

Daya-Winterbottom, T "The prosecution of environmental offences in New Zealand" [2009] 5 Env Liability pp178-189

Gillespie, A. 'Conservation, Law and Africa in the 21st Century'. New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law (2010), p.161-189.

Gillespie, A. 'The Dugong Action Plan for the South Pacific: An Evaluation Based on the Need for International and Regional Conservation of Sirenians'. Ocean Development and International Law. 36:2 (2005). 135-158.

Gillespie, A. 'The Slow From Extinction: Saving Turtles in the South Pacific'. The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law. 21: 1 (2006). 57-82.

Gillespie, A. 'Facilitating and Controlling Civil Society in International Environmental Law'. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law. 15:3 (2006) 327-338.

Gillespie, A. 'Establishing Reliable Foundations for the International Scientific Investigation of Noise Pollution in the Oceans'. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law. 15:2 (2006). 2006. 211-226.

Gillespie, A. 'The Management of Protected Areas in International Law'. New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law. 10 (2006). 93-129.

Gillespie, A. 'Obligations, Gaps and Priorities Within the International Regime for Protected Areas' Georgetown International Environmental Law Review. XIX:1 (2006): 1-32.

Gillespie, A. 'The Threats to Areas of International Significance'. New Zealand Law Review. 22(3) (2007): 432-468.

Gillespie, A. The Precautionary Principle in the Twenty-First Century: A Case Study of Noise Pollution in the Ocean. International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 22 (1) (2007) 61-87.

Gillespie, A. 'The No Longer Silent Problem: Confronting Noise Pollution in the 21st Century'. XX(2) The Villanova Environmental Law Journal. (2009). 181-217.

Gillespie, A. 'Defining Areas of International Significance'. Journal or International Wildlife Law and Policy. (2009). 12 (3): 1-19.

Gillespie, A. 'Conservation, Law and Africa in the 21st Century'. New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law. 161-189.

Morse, B W. 'Anchi gli inuit hanno una voce' with Samantha Reynolds and Alison Ronson in (2008) Limes, Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica 63-72 (translated from English and also published in its original form in the special issue, The Polar Game, as "The Voice of the Inuit" in the sister online journal, Heartland at pp. 51-59 view online).

Morse, B W. "Indigenous Peoples and Water Rights: Does the United Nations' Adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Help?" (2010) 20 Journal of Water Law (No. 5/6) 254-267.

Morse, B W. 'The Impact on the Inuit of Environmental Degradation to the Canadian Arctic' with Michelle Zakrison, (2010) 39, No. 1, Common Law World Review 48-68.

Stephenson, J, Barton, B, Carrington, G, Gnoth, D, Lawson, R & Thorsnes, P. Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours. Energy Policy. v38, doi:10:1016/j.enpol.2010.05.069, Elsevier, 2010. p.6120-6129.