Exploring Climate Framework Laws

Running head: ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS LEGAL FRAMEWORK
ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS LEGAL FRAMEWORK1
Fire is one of the adverse events with the tangible costs of human life and its properties.
The amount of the immediate damages of the wildfire has provided a metrical understanding of
the financial and social impact of fire. It has also assessed the progress in wildfire protection and
prevention.1 Deforestation is converting a forest to the alternative non-forested land use such as
grazing, agriculture or urban development. The Australian Government has developed some
specific guidelines for sustainable forest management practices in the private and public
production and plantation of forests in each state and territory.2 At the national level, this
government has possessed certain powers and duties regarding forest management. All states and
territories have dependent Regulations and Acts that designed to ascertain the sustainable and
conservation management of the forest. There are some legislations, which have jointly
administrated through and required consistency between territories or state and local authorities,
the statutory authorities and some regional management authorities. Territory and state
legislative provisions have covered review and planning, the participation of the public. In
Australia, there are some regulations of the forest management activity in the diverse-use of the
open forest, which are general nature preservation reserves, and to a smaller extent, leasehold
1 UNDP DRC Office, "UNDP DRC's Interventions For Sustaining Peace And Operationalisation
Of Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus In The DRC" (2018) 2018(4) Journal of
International Development Cooperation
2 Fortier, Denise and Nicolas Viens, "Leadership Education And Sustainable Development:
Guidelines For Updating The Curriculum" (2018) 7(4) European Journal of Sustainable
Development

ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS LEGAL FRAMEWORK2
and private woods.3 The Indonesian government has governed two fundamental prerequisites for
the forest and has enforced the forest law. Law no. 32 of Environmental Protection and
Management in Indonesia has described that since the rising of global warming has caused
climate change, thus derange the quality of the environment, environmental management and
protection are needed.4 The legislation of Indonesia in Government Regulation 4/2001 has
forbidden all texture and forest fires. According to this Regulation, the legislation has needed to
recognise the effectiveness in addressing the policy problems that there have several types of
flames and all fires in every situation are not problematic. In the world, there have some fires
which have become out of control in many areas that have supposed to be protected as forests,
that originated at East Kalimantan in the year 1997.5 In the year 2019, during the year’s
Amazonian tropical dry season, a wildfire has happened in the Amazon rainforest within Brazil.
Brazil has enacted its first Forest Code, in the year 1965 about the law requiring the owners of
the land, in the Amazon area to maintain around 35-80% of properties, which they have held
under the native vegetation. This Forest Code has expressed the ownership records only 10% of
3 Blazey, Patricia, Managing The Deforestation And Degradation Of Tropical Rainforests
Through Regulation
4 Raharjo, Beni and Nobukazu Nakagoshi, "Stochastic Approach On Forest Fire Spatial
Distribution From Forest Accessibility In Forest Management Units, South Kalimantan Province,
Indonesia" (2014) 05(06) Journal of Environmental Protection
5 See Government Regulation 4/2001

ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS LEGAL FRAMEWORK3
private land in the Amazon. This paper aims to research on the impact of forest on climate
change and its legal framework in Australia, Indonesia and Brazil.6
The Australian Government has consisted of a federal system and a federal Parliament,
which have enacted national laws. There are two-mainland territory Parliaments and six states
which have adopted the rules for their state or territory. Federal law has always prevailed over
the state and territory law. The state of South Australia and the state of Victoria both have
provided such captivating legislative illustrations of climate change mitigation solutions, which
have related to REDD+ issues. 7The forest fire has directly affected the financial impact such as
damage to homes and other infrastructures in the forest. Apart from the immediate effect on
people and financial losses, fire also has significant consequences on society through indirect
implications. The forest fire can lead to accelerating flood, soil erosion, pollution of water bodies
is the impact on society. Wildfires or bushfires in Australia is an inevitable part of the Australian
ecosystem.8 Australian vegetation, weather and specific topography made it most fire-prone zone
in the world. The risk of bushfires has increased due to the unplanned disturbance, which has
occurred due to power-line fault, controlling burns going out of control, the bushfires have
tended to unavoidable. The most significant bushfires have occurred in South Australia, West
6 Tollefson, Jeff, "Brazil Revisits Forest Code" (2015) 476(7360) Nature
7 McIntyre, Matt, "Forests And Climate Change: The Social Dimensions Of REDD In Latin
America" (2014) 68(5) Australian Journal of International Affairs
8 Soares-Filho, Britaldo, et al. "Cracking Brazil's forest code." (2014) Science 344.6182: 363-
364.

ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS LEGAL FRAMEWORK4
Australia, Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. Whenever flammable
bushland is near to the fire vulnerable asset that is infrastructure, people settlements,
environmental values, there is risk having dire consequences of bush fire. In total Australian
bushfire between 1951 and 2013 destroyed 9141 homes and 3662 buildings, the death of 677
people.9 The Victorian Parliament passed the Climate Change Act in September 2010, and it has
come into force on 1st July 2011. 10It has created a legal framework for the crucial actions and has
initiated the response to climate change in the Victoria area. This Act has repealed the Forestry
Rights Act, 1996 and has created new arrangements for registration, ownership, conveys of
forestry and rights of carbon sequestration to facilitate the improvement of emerging industries
relating to carbon sequestration. It has also developed that with national approaches and allowed
Victorians to participate in federal and state sequestration efforts easily.11 The main principal
features of the fresh legal frameworks are; firstly, rights on property of the forest property
owners, landowners and the carbon investors have identified; secondly, all parties to the
agreement must have to give their consent on the management arrangements as an important part
of the scheme to create a Forest and Carbon Management Agreement (FCMA) which has then
placed on the title of the land; thirdly, carbon right is a benefit which has attached to the land
even in the change of the ownership; lastly, the essential benefit for the forest property owners,
private landowners and carbon investigators is that the landowners have possessed the power to
9Dong, Trang TT, et al. "In vitro assessment of the toxicity of bushfire emissions: A
review." (2017) Science of The Total Environment 603: 268-278.
10 See Climate Change Act, (2011)
11 See Forestry Rights Act, (1996)

ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS LEGAL FRAMEWORK5
sell carbon sequestered on their land directly.12 Part 5 of the Climate Change Act has recognised
the essentiality of sequestered carbon on the general public areas of Victoria and has established
some evident rules according to these, the Crown’s land may have used and managed for
purposes of carbon sequestration. According to this Act, the Government of Victoria has to
maintain its role of stewardship on all forests and public lands by sustainably governing the
forest to maximise the value for the public of Victoria.13 The Department of Sustainability and
Environment secretary (DSE), for the projects regarding carbon sequestration, has specified the
Crown’s land. It has held the carbon rights on the Crown’s property subject to a lease, existing
licenses, and agreements excepts in some specified instances. This Act has given the power to
enter into the CSA’s with the other parties on the Crown land for carbon reforestation and has
granted soil carbon rights and carbon sequestration rights to the strangers. The CSA has the
power to authorise any person to evaluate the Crown plant, land and he has to maintain
vegetation to that land for the intention of carbon analysis for the change of climate and the
forestry legislation with corroboration of REDD+ FAO legal paper 2015 carbon sequestration
control. It also has empowered to exploit carbon sequestration within soil or vegetation and
manage the ground for carbon sequestration.14 It may be mentioned in the context that this Act
12agriculture.gov.au (2018). Criterion 7. [ebook] Available at:
https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/abares/forestsaustralia/documents/sofr_2018/
web%20accessible%20pdfs/SOFR_2018_Criterion7_web.pdf [Accessed 11 Jan. 2020].
13 See part 5 of the Climate Change Act (2011).
14 Köhl, Michael, et al. "Changes in forest production, biomass and carbon: Results from the
2015 UN FAO Global Forest Resource Assessment." Forest Ecology and Management 352