The annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) wound up in Hobart on Thursday last week without declaring a system of marine protected areas (MPAs…
Shark fins are a delicacy in Asia, which can sometimes lead to unsustainable fishing practices.
mario ruckh/Flickr
Whether it’s from fishing and by-catch, finning or even culling, global shark populations are under a growing threat from human activity. But how successful is international law at protecting some of the…
Rape as a weapon of war needs to stop – but how can local and international communities help?
EPA/Nicolas Postal
During the chaos of war, rape is used by the powerful as a deliberate strategy to destroy any opposition. The law, seemingly, has little role to play. After all, during conflict the normal rules of law…
Humans as well as animals are affected by climate change. A treaty could keep them safe and reduce forced migration.
AAP
Climate change will lead to significant human displacement. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other groups warn that the effects – including rising sea levels, heavier floods, more…
Australia had a special interest in fixing the ozone hole.
Jon Tunley
SAVING THE OZONE: The final part our series exploring the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – looks at Australians…
Reduced ozone means increased UV radiation, and that leads to skin cancer.
Tracey Lawson
SAVING THE OZONE: Part seven in our series exploring on the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – explains how the…
Is there a relationship between the ozone hole over Antarctica and the global climate?
AAP/Dean Lewins
SAVING THE OZONE: Part five in our series exploring the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – explores the parallels…
By collecting air at pristine Cape Grim since 1978, scientists have been able to track the concentration of ozone depleting substances.
AAP/Bureau of Meteorology
SAVING THE OZONE: Part four in our series exploring the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – looks at the substances…
This is bad, but it would be a lot worse without the ozone layer.
garth.kennedy/Flickr
SAVING THE OZONE: Part three in our series exploring on the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – explains why we…
For more than three decades Antarctica has experienced the most severe depletion of stratospheric ozone.
NASA Goddard Photo and Video
SAVING THE OZONE: Part two in our series exploring on the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement”. Yesterday’s article…
The Montreal Protocol negotiators should get a lot of credit for developing such a flexible treaty.
hhesterr/Flickr
SAVING THE OZONE: It might not seem so long ago that the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica had us in a frenzy over CFCs in hairsprays and insecticides. In fact, on September 16 2012…
Australia has signed up to three international agreements to outlaw shark finning, but sharks still wash up minus fins.
Alex Hofford/EPA
Another critically endangered grey nurse shark has washed up on a northern NSW beach, with its fins removed. Shark fins are valued at more than A$400 per kilogram. This high market value encourages the…
Tuna fishers agree that too many tuna are caught. But there is no good system to decide who should catch less.
Justin Woolford
The world catches too many tuna. Thanks to our high levels of fishing, some tuna species are under threat. Everyone involved in the fishing industry agrees that fishing effort needs to be reduced. But…
Universities such as Yale need to respect the human rights of their staff and students.
Flickr/Snap Man
Yale university’s decision to set up a liberal arts college at the National University of Singapore (NUS) while accepting Singapore’s restrictions on students’ rights to free speech and freedom of association…
Western Governments will be recklessly ignoring their human rights obligations if they continue to support Shell in its US supreme court case.
EPA/George Esiri
We all know corporations do bad things. Big corporates have been publicly named and shamed for their participation in causing harm to people and the planet, and they are not always held to account. As…
Libyans celebrated when Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was arrested, but he won’t get a fair trial while his lawyers are detained.
EPA
The detention of Melinda Taylor in Libya since June 7 has thrown into the spotlight the roles, responsibilities, and risks associated with being a lawyer in the international realm. Taylor is necessarily…
The UK Supreme Court has ruled in favour of extraditing Julian Assange.
EPA/Kerim Okten
Julian Assange’s legal battle has taken a new direction overnight, with the UK Supreme Court ruling in favour of his extradition to Sweden following the issue of a European arrest warrant in November 2010…
Australia’s newly declared continental shelf may be as big as its land mass, but its not a stealth attack on Antarctica.
AAP
Despite recent commentary in the media, Australia’s proclamation of its extended continental shelf does not represent new “claims” in Antarctica and does not contravene the Antarctic Treaty. With Australia…
Why has Paul Watson suddenly been picked up in Germany on a Costa Rican charge?
Kay Nietfeld/EPA
Captain Paul Watson, founder of the marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd, was arrested last week in Frankfurt, Germany, on an international arrest warrant issued by the Costa Rican government…
Ratko Mladić’s trial is more than likely to exceed three years in duration.
EPA Valerie Kuypers
The trial of former Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) Colonel General, Ratko Mladić commenced in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) this past Wednesday. Mladić’s arrest at his cousin’s…