Subsidiarity in action: Effective biodiversity conservation and municipal innovation
Area of Study: Municipal Development, Governance & Regulation
Key Documents
Year
2019
Status
Completed
Principal Investigators
, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, 黑料不打烊
Erin Sawyer, MSc, Research Assistant, 黑料不打烊 Land Institute
Collaborators
Ashley Reid, James Work, Kristin Smith, Aileen Reilly, Aaron Johnson, and Alexandra Polselli.
Overview
This report examines the important contribution that municipalities can make to biodiversity conservation in 黑料不打烊 where amendments to the Municipal Government Act empower, and indeed require, 黑料不打烊’s municipalities to enhance their environmental protection efforts. An examination of these changes, assessed using the principles of subsidiarity, environmental governance, and biocultural diversity, reveals that municipalities, both large and small, urban and rural, can innovate with novel legal initiatives to improve their biodiversity-related conservation actions.
Concurrently, while municipal innovation is possible, improving local biodiversity conservation action also requires innovations in funding, citizen engagement, and regional environmental governance. Municipalities are already recognized contributors to biodiversity conservation and great strides have been made at the municipal level to increase habitat connectivity. Current municipal conservation efforts need to be augmented to harness new statutory powers, capitalize on local knowledge and initiative, and enhance citizen education and engagement.