Catherine C. Wallace (born 1952) is a New Zealand

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

and academic. She is a lecturer in economics and public policy at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, and has been active in environment organizations in New Zealand. She was awarded the

Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists. History Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...

in 1991, for her contributions to the protection of the environment of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

Political work and activism

Since 1987, Wallace has been a lecturer at Victoria University in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

in economics and public policy focussing on the environment. She was the chair of the Environment and Conservation Organizations of New Zealand (ECO) for over a decade. ECO is a non-profit network of organization with a concern for conservation and the environment. Wallace is still a board member of ECO. She was a member of the Council of IUCN, the World Conservation Union for two terms. Her main focus was on keeping environmental costs in mind in national decision making. She pushed for reforms in environmental and energy policies. As part of her activism she led a resistance movement together with other activists against business interests that were trying to curtail the Resource Management Act. This act is important for the protection of natural resources. In her position in ECO she advocated to change the national fishery law to be changed to manage the entire ecosystem instead of just managing the fish harvest. Wallace researched the effects of New Zealand's fishery quota management system and pressed the Ministry of Fisheries to stop violating its environmental responsibilities under the New Zealand Fisheries Act of 1996. Wallace continues to advocate for the implementation of strong local environmental policies throughout New Zealand. Wallace was also co-founder of the New Zealand arm of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) an international alliance that works for the comprehensive protection of Antarctica and repudiation of the Antarctic Minerals Convention. In association with ASOC she lobbied internationally on banning mining in antarctica. A major step in the protection of the Antarctic environment was made with the Antarctic Environmental Protocol. The protocol designates Antarctica as "a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science". Also known as the Madrid protocol it established rules for the protection of the environment and banned mining. In 2008, she collaborated on the book ''SEAFOOD Ecolabelling Principles and Practice''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Cath Living people 1952 births Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand environmentalists New Zealand women environmentalists Goldman Environmental Prize awardees