This project is part of a larger research agenda, which is interested in the scope and efficacy of Environmental Restorative Justice in diverse contexts.
Environmental Restorative Justice is a way to prevent and heal environmental harm. Rather than just focussing on what rules have been broken and who should be punished, Environmental Restorative Justice:
- Focuses on healing to humans, animals and nature as well as repairing relationships
- Empowers victims to tell their stories of impact
- Requires direct participation of those responsible for causing harm to listen deeply, and take responsibility
- Enables accountability beyond traditional sanctioning and punishment
This multi-year ARC Linkage project aims to explore how the processes and values of restorative justice do or could operate in the context of environmental harm. We also investigate what a focus on harm to nature and ecosystems contributes to the theory and practice of restorative justice.
The project brings together restorative justice experts from RegNet with the Victorian Environment Protection Authority, which has experimented with Restorative Justice for over a decade and now seeks to understand how it can be more broadly applied, using the principles of action based research.
The project seeks to draw on and build upon the EPA’s history of experimentation with restorative justice, identifying opportunities to situate restorative justice approaches at all stages of environmental regulation, both before and after harm has occurred.
The second project of this research agenda, Introducing justice into the UN’s Decade of Ecosystem Restoration: A community of practice for research and action, has been completed. It created a theoretical, empirical and policy agenda for incorporating justice into the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration “the Decade”, a 10-year plan to promote efforts to “prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide”.
Impact
Justice for Environmental Restoration: A Community of Practice for Research and Action
When we discovered that the UN’s Draft Strategy on the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) did not reference justice at all, we were shocked. Justice needs to be a guiding value in order for restorative work to be effective in both the short- and long-term.
Luckily, the UN was calling for submissions. Through this, we and others advocated that restorative justice needed to be at the core of the Decade’s principle, priorities and programs. We were delighted to see that the final strategy released in September 2020 stated “Investments in restoration that adhere to principles …restorative justice will…provide and improve: work opportunities and income streams;… and cross-sectoral collaboration, learning and innovation on the use of ecosystem goods and services.”
Now it is vital to understand what including restorative justice means both practically and theoretically. We will explore this through a community of practice, where diverse researchers and practitioners can share their thoughts, ideas and working experiences of Environmental Restorative Justice’ as it relates to restoration work.
We will also create a blueprint for further research that would help ensure that environmental restorative justice remains at the heart of the Decade’s vision. This will include ideas for how scholars, practitioners and community members can make best use of environmental restorative justice as a part of restoration projects and how to champion it within specific communities.
Publications and resources
Academic publications
Articles
- Forsyth, M., Cleland, D., Tepper, F., Hollingworth, D., Soares, M., Nairn, A., and Wilkinson, C., (2021), ’A future agenda for Environmental Restorative Justice?’ International Journal of Restorative Justice Vol 4(1), pp. 17-40. doi:10.5553/TIJRJ.000063.
- Hojabrosadati, H., Forsyth, M. and Braithwaite, J., (2021), ‘Restorative Nodes of Governance in the Anthropocene: Iran’s Kashaf River’, Law & Policy Vol 43(3), pp. 205-228, doi.org/10.1111/lapo.12173
- Tepper, F, (2022), ‘The animal question in ecosystem restoration: foregrounding animal kin through environmental restorative justice (ERJ)’, Revista de Victimologia / Journal of Victimology, pp. 99–146, DOI 10.12827/RVJV.15.04.
- Forsyth, M. and Tepper, F, (2024), ‘Environmental enforceable undertakings: An innovative tool to repair and prevent environmental harm’, Journal of Environmental Law, Vol 36(3), pp. 385-411, doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqae021.
- Forsyth, M., Hollingworth, D., Tepper, F., and Walker, C., (2025), ‘Environmental restorative justice: Creating spaces for Traditional Owner knowledge and cultural values in regulatory environment protection’, Environmental and Planning Law Journal, Vol 41(1), pp. 41-60.
Books and book chapters
- Braithwaite, J., Forsyth, M., and Cleland, D., (2019), ‘Restorative environmental justice: An introduction, in E. Biffi and B. Pali (eds.), Environmental justice restoring the future: Towards a restorative environmental justice praxis, pp. 8-12.
- Braithwaite, J., (2019), ‘Motivational interviewing and restorative justice praxis’, in B. Pali, K. Lauwaert, and S. Pleysier (eds.), The praxis of justice: Liber Amicorum Ivo Aertsen (pp. 33–40). Eleven International Publishing.
- Pali, B., Forsyth, M., and Tepper, F. (eds.), (2022), The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN (Electronic) 9783031042232; ISBN (Print) 9783031042225.
- Pali, B., Forsyth, M., and Tepper, F. (eds), (2022), ‘Environmental restorative justice: An introduction and an invitation’, in B. Pali, M. Forsyth and F. Tepper (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice, pp. 1-23.
- Forsyth, M., (2022) ‘Turning up the restorative dial in environmental regulation with an adaptive learning loop’, in B. Pali, M. Forsyth and F. Tepper (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice, pp. 147-169.
- Amparo, J.M.S., Bibal, A.C.M., Cleland, D. et al., (2022) ‘Environmental restorative justice in the Philippines: The innovations and unfinished business in waterways rehabilitation’, in B. Pali, M. Forsyth and F. Tepper (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice, pp. 477-504.
- Tepper, F, (2022) The importance of environmental restorative justice in the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration’, in B. Pali, M. Forsyth and F. Tepper (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice, pp. 275-301.
- Tepper, F, (2024), ‘Koala perspective of restorative circle facilitation: epilogue’, in Varona, G. (ed.) Justicia restaurativa medioambiental y animal: Guia de aprendizaje y acción a través de la narración de casos. Dykinson S.L.
- Tepper, F, (2025), ‘Amplifying edge-awareness: socio-ecological restorative approaches to human-wildlife coexistence’, in Varona, G. (ed.), Criminología Verde: Alternativas a la Impunidad y al Punitivismo Ante los Daños Bio-socio-ecológicos/Green Criminology: Alternatives to Impunity and Punitivism Facing Bio-Socio-Ecological Harms, Dykinson, S.L., doi.org/10.14679/ 3879.
- Tepper F. and Forsyth, M., (2025) ‘Researching restorative justice in an environmental regulatory organisation’, in Barnekow Rasmussen, K., Fonseca Rosenblatt, F. Pali, B., and Zinsstag, E., Handbook on methods in restorative justice research, Brill.
- Forsyth, M., Tepper, F., Hollingworth, D. and Nairn, A. (2026, forthcoming), Growing restorative regulation, ANU Press.
- Tepper, F., (2026, forthcoming), ‘Hues of justice: The restorative power of colour eco-narratives in repairing environmental harm’, in P. Karpouzou, S. Slovic and N. Zampaki, Chromatic Ecologies: Entangled Natures through the Colour Turn, Bloomsbury Publishing, UK.
Practical guidance & impact
Practice resources
- Submission to UNEP on the UN’s draft Strategy on the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), in which our researchers asked for restorative justice to be included, and we were happy to see it was included in the final Strategy.
- Tepper, F (ed.), (2025), Restorative justice approaches for environmental harm: Practice Guide, European Forum for Restorative Justice, ISBN 9789083615905.
- Kershen, L. and Tepper, F, (2025), ‘Outreach guide: Implementing environmental restorative justice’, in Tepper, F. (ed.), Restorative justice approaches for environmental harm: Practice Guide, European Forum for Restorative Justice, ISBN 9789083615905.
Fact sheets*
Core principles of Environmental Restorative Justice
Healing with Environmental Restorative Justice
Restorative values for Environmental Regulation
Practising Environmental Restorative Justice: Open houses
Using restorative practices across environmental regulation
Braiding restorative practices across environmental regulation
* We are developing these fact sheets into a booklet, which is expected to be released in 2026.
Other resources
Presentations and media outreach
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Deb Cleland, presentation: Restorative Justice in Environmental Regulation: pathway for healing legacies of harm?
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John Braithwaite, Cheryl Batagol, Dimity Kingsford-Smith, Alan Fels, John McDonald, Christine Parker, Rhianna Kerr, Miranda Forsyth, with assistance from Deb Cleland and Felicity Tepper, ½ day restorative justice symposium at EPA Victoria headquarters, Victoria, 24 October 2019: ‘EPA staff restorative justice symposium: Restorative justice through enforcement action – enforceable undertakings, civil and criminal proceedings.
- Miranda Forsyth, Brunilda Pali, John Braithwaite, Val Braithwaite, Deb Cleland and Felicity Tepper, roundtable discussion, Canberra, 2019: ‘Roundtable on environmental restorative justice’.
- Miranda Forsyth and Deborah Hollingworth, presentation at the AELERT/INECE conference 2020: ‘Restorative justice approaches in environmental enforcement - opportunities for collaboration and shaping reform, achieving prevention and better outcomes’.
- Deb Cleland and Deborah Hollingworth, presentation to EPA staff online, 2020: ‘AELERT-INECE post conference learning session’. Approximately 160 people attended.
- Felicity Tepper, presentation at the 17th Symposium of the World Society of Victimology, San Sebastian, (2022): ‘Doing with, being withing: iterative thoughts on ERJ’s potential for rebuilding connectedness and improved animal welfare’.
- Felicity Tepper, presentation at Leuven University, 2022: ‘Turning up the restorative dial in environmental regulation’.
- Felicity Tepper, presentation at the European Forum for Restorative Justice conference, Sassari, 2022: ‘Environmental restorative justice in Australia and New Zealand: Current state of play’.
- Miranda Forsyth, Deb Cleland, Meredith Rossner and Felicity Tepper, Book launch for The Palgrave Handbook on Restorative Justice, March 2023.
- Felicity Tepper, blog post on Power to Persuade (2023): ‘Restorative justice for animal harm’.
- Miranda Forsyth, Deborah Hollingworth, Felicity Tepper and others, workshop at the Justice Innovations Summit, University of Hawai’i, February 2024: ‘Environmental Restorative Justice: A Workshop’.
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Deborah Hollingworth, presentation at the Justice Innovations Summit, February 2024: 'Restoring cultural values in environment protection, EPA Victoria'.
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Felicity Tepper, presentation at the Justice Innovations Summit, February 2024, 'Co-existing with the more-than-human: amplifying voice through environmental restorative justice'
- Miranda Forsyth, Deborah Hollingworth, Felicity Tepper, Ivo Aertsen, Adreanne Ormond, Gema Varona panel presentation at the Justice Innovations Summit, University of Hawai’i, February 2024: ‘An Introduction to Environmental Restorative Justice’.
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Miranda Forsyth, presentation for ANZSOG training program, Canberra, May 2024: 'Growing restorative regulation'.
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Deborah Hollingworth, presentation at the International Seminar on Restorative Environmental Justice, Campo Grande, Brazil, May 2024: 'Restoring cultural values in environment protection'
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Felicity Tepper, podcast 11 September 2024: ‘Environmental restorative justice with Felicity Tepper’
- Felicity Tepper, presentation at the World Mediation Forum, Brazil, 4-7 October 2024: ‘Restorative approaches to human-wildlife coexistence: A path towards planetary healing’.
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Deborah Hollingworth, presentation at the Centre for the Study of Restorative Justice & Mediation, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria Ten Years Ten Lectures, online, October 2024: 'Changing the Regulatory Paradigm – Opportunities for more restorative regulation and outcomes'.
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Deborah Hollingworth, presentation at the AELERT-INECE Global Summit, Brisbane, November 2024: 'Restorative pathways to effective environmental regulation'
- Miranda Forsyth, Deborah Hollingworth, Felicity Tepper, Mark Hamilton, Adreanne Ormond, Ashleigh Dore, panel presentation for the Contemporary Restorative Practice Conference, Canberra, 22 November 2024: ‘Environmental restorative justice: An interactive conversation on current and future practices’.
- Felicity Tepper and Mark Hamilton presentation at AELA/AAPAE conference ‘Ethical Futures for People and Planet’, Griffith University, Brisbane,1-3 May 2025: ‘Environmental restorative justice: Amplifying relationality, interconnectedness and voice in Earth centred governance’.
- Deborah Hollingworth, presentation at the 4th International Symposium RJ4All, 'Inter-community and inter-state conflicts: peacebuilding and reconciliation', Cyprus, June 2025: Embedding restorative justice in environmental regulatory governance – a transformative pathway toward preventing and healing environmental harm.
- Felicity Tepper, presentation at the AASA conference, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, 2025: ‘Edge awareness and the entangled work of repair: Environmental restorative justice and coexisting with animal kin’.
- Fiction Anthology: Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures
Workshops
- APIP workshop #1, Deb Cleland, Felicity Tepper and Ian Zhang, 26 November 2020: ‘Repair and care through restorative crafting’.
- APIP workshop #2, Deb Cleland, Felicity Tepper and Ian Zhang, December 2020: ‘Repair and care through restorative crafting part 2’.
- Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law workshop, John Braithwaite, Miranda Forsyth, and others, June 2021: ‘Environmental restorative justice: A new justice framework for environmental harm’.
- Felicity Tepper, presentation at Living Classrooms for Ecological and Restorative Justice in Action workshop, San Sebastian, April 2025: Heeding the edges: Multispecies attentiveness and environmental restorative justice’.
- During this project, we delivered several internal workshops for research team participants and EPA staff. We would be pleased to discuss future workshops on restorative regulation or environmental restorative justice.
Hero image by Jody Davis from Pixabay