Associate Professor Justine Bell-James

Associate Professor

School of Law
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
j.bell-james@law.uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 56588

Overview

Justine Bell-James is an Associate Professor at the TC Beirne School of Law with expertise in environmental and climate change law. She holds a PhD from QUT (2010) and was a postdoctoral research fellow at UQ's Global Change Institute from 2011-2013.

Justine’s main research interest is legal mechanisms for the protection, management and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems. She currently leads an ARC Discovery Project (2019-2023) considering how coastal wetland ecosystem services can be integrated into legal frameworks. She is also currently funded as the legal expert on the $3m CSIRO/BHP project ‘Accelerating Adoption and Implementation of Blue Carbon in Australia’ and on two National Environmental Science Program projects to lead legal analysis on interdisciplinary projects related to coastal wetland restoration.

Justine's work on legal mechanisms to facilitate blue carbon projects in Australia and internationally informed the development of a 'blue carbon' methodology under Australia's Emissions Reduction Fund. This methodology has allowed for the carbon abatement generated by particular coastal restoration activities to receive Australian Carbon Credit Units. Much of her research now focuses on remaining legal barriers to upscaling coastal and marine restoration, including legal permitting processes and land tenure.

Justine's work cuts across disciplines, and she is an affiliated researcher with UQ's Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science. Her recent collaborations and consultancies have involved colleagues from science, industry, NGOs, government and legal practice.

Justine also has expertise in climate change litigation, and her work on opportunities for litigation under Queensland's Human Rights Act 2019 has underpinned the successful Waratah Coal case decided by Queensland's Land Court in 2022.

Research Interests

  • Climate change and the coast
  • Blue Carbon
  • Protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems
  • Land tenure, ownership and use of the intertidal zone

Research Impacts

Justine's work on legal mechanisms to facilitate blue carbon projects in Australia and internationally informed the development of a 'blue carbon' methodology under Australia's Emissions Reduction Fund. This methodology has allowed for the carbon abatement generated by reintroduction of tidal flow projects to receive Australian Carbon Credit Units.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology
  • Postgraduate Diploma, Queensland University of Technology
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Law, Queensland University of Technology

Publications

View all Publications

Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Publications

Featured Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Bell-James, Justine (2021). Climate change litigation in Australia. Climate Change Litigation: A Handbook. (pp. 288-303) edited by Wolfgang Kahl and Marc-Philippe Weller. Oxford, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.

  • Bell-James, Justine (2020). Ecosystem-based adaptation in coastal areas: lessons from selected case studies. Research handbook on climate change, oceans and coasts. (pp. 348-365) edited by Jan McDonald, Jeffrey McGee and Richard Barnes. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781788112239.00027

  • Bell-James, Justine (2019). Climate change. Environmental law in Australia. (pp. 683-714) edited by Gerry Bates. Australia: LexisNexis.

  • Bell-James, Justine (2018). 'Blue carbon' and the need to integrate mitigation, adaptation and conservation goals within the international climate law framework. Global Environmental Change and Innovation in International Law. (pp. 81-101) edited by Neil Craik, Cameron Jefferies, Sara Seck and Tim Stephens. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108526081.006

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Note for students: Associate Professor Justine Bell-James is not currently available to take on new students.

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

Completed Supervision