Melbourne Law School Clinics, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
Kate Fischer Doherty – Director of Clinics
Brad Jessup – Coordinator, Sustainability Business Clinic
The city of Melbourne was founded on the banks of the Yarra River, or Birrarung. The river is beautiful, spiritually significant and central to Melbourne’s identity, but like many urban waterways it is also impacted by pollution, unsustainable riverside development and planning, poor water flow and climate change. The impacts of climate change include higher average temperatures, declining rainfall and more frequent and severe storms and bushfires.
[Yarra River/Birrarung at Yarra Bend Park (inner suburban Melbourne)
Kate Fischer Doherty 2024]
For our action this year we are putting together a self-guided walk for students and friends of the clinics along the banks of the Birrarung, highlighting sites of significance, points of intersection with laws/lore and policies that affect the river’s health, and actions that community members can take.
The Birrarung walk will set the scene for the second part of our action – hearing from the team behind the Swimmable Birrarung project. This initiative aims to build coalitions of support and momentum to regenerate the river from its source to the sea, recognising the interdependence of all living systems and the importance of the river to biodiversity and health. It’s summer in the southern hemisphere so hopefully Melbourne Law School, we can end with a swim!
Photo by Andy Wang on Unsplash
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