UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) was established in 1968. Since then, its flagship project has been the designation a worldwide network of multifunctional biosphere reserves (BRs). Australia has 15, and one of the more recent is the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve (MPWPBR, 2002), located in the peri-urban region to the south of metropolitan Melbourne. It is subject to a range of pressures. The paper examines these and explores the lost opportunities represented by the limited stature of BR status in Victoria. A particular focus is the current State government's progrowth policy which involves relaxing controls on outer suburban residential expansion and the encouragement of freeway construction. These have major implications for the MPWPBR.
One of the hallmark policies implemented post-apartheid, the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994, is a rights-based program aimed at addressing the loss of land resulting from past racially discriminatory laws or practices. The aim of this research was to identify what are the factors that determine the different outcomes of the restitution process when claimants are demanding the return of land rights and to highlight the challenges regarding the implementation of this land restitution policy. Focusing on two specific yet contrasting areas in Cape Town, Constantia and Kensington, it was determined that due to factors pertaining to the lands in question, the neighborhood surrounding the lands, the claimants, as well as the organization, function, and performance of different public entities, the policy has managed to fulfill restorative justice, but has yet to fulfill its ultimate goal of returning land rights to the claimants and undoing the injustices of the apartheid regime.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.