Hosted by:
University of Melbourne - Melbourne Law School
Monash University - Faculty of Law & Faculty of Business & Economics (Business Law & Taxation)
in association with the National Environmental Law Association
4-6 February 2026
Held in person at the University of Melbourne and Monash University
The annual Frontiers in Environmental Law Colloquium provided a forum for environmental law academics and practitioners to share and discuss their experiences, research, and teaching practices. We aimed to:
- Foster a supportive and inclusive network of like-minded individuals;
- Explore innovative environmental law ideas and insights within and beyond our discipline;
- Contribute meaningfully to the future of environmental law in our region;
- Share approaches to teaching and learning in environmental law; and
- Assist environmental law academics to actively build their careers.
Image attribution: Environmental Law Stock photos by Vecteezy
Colloquium Themes for 2026 - Is all law environmental law?
As the global climate and biodiversity crises worsen, and as human activities continue to overstep planetary boundaries, the project of environmental law and environmental lawyers is also expanding. Continued attention to strengthening, implementing and enforcing the core body of environmental laws - which directly address climate change, biodiversity loss, resource extraction, pollution and other issues - remains critical. But alongside these efforts, we see increasing attention being given to the integration of environmental considerations - particularly climate change - into other recognised bodies of law such as company law, consumer law, human rights law, property law and constitutional law. This integration takes shape through strategic litigation, creative lawyering, environmental advocacy, and law and policy reform.
In 2026, we invited colloquium participants to reflect on this expansion of the project of environmental law and its implications - Is all law environmental law? Not only did we explore recent developments and new directions within environmental law, but also the integration and mainstreaming of environmental considerations into other areas of law and the potential for these developments to shift behaviours and constrain human activities in line with planetary boundaries.
To ground our discussions, we urged participants to engage closely with ongoing developments in environmental policy and practice in Australia and in our region. To this end, in addition to academic presentations, the Colloquium included targeted keynotes and panel discussions designed to:
- bring together legal academics with policy makers, practitioners and other disciplinary experts working in key reform areas such as biodiversity conservation and circular economy; and
- strengthen networks and collaboration between environmental law academics in the Pacific, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia.
Hosted by Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne and the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Business and Economics (Business Law and Taxation), Monash University, in association with the National Environmental Law Association (NELA).
The organising committee for 2026 consisted of Rebecca Nelson (University of Melbourne), Astrid Bernal (University of Melbourne), Gerry Nagtzaam (Monash University), Anita Foerster (Monash University), Ella Vines (Monash University), Mark Beaufoy (National Environmental Law Association and Monash University).
