The push for a new environmental crime has attracted high-profile backers including French President Emmanuel Macron, Pope Francis and Greta Thunberg. But we must get the details right.
How do we ensure solutions to climate change doesn’t make biodiversity loss worse? Fifty of the world’s leading researchers on biodiversity and climate have sought to answer this question.
Saving our threatened species shouldn’t be seen as a cost, but rather a very savvy investment to ensure the support systems sustaining life on Earth remain intact.
Rodd’s star hair (Astrotricha roddii) an Endangered NSW shrub.
Gavin Phillips/NSW DPIE, Saving Our Species
It’s in everyone’s interests to ensure our environment stays healthy – including farmers. What did the Nats think they’d gain from this destructive game of brinkmanship?
We should stop developing into high-risk areas, as the associated land clearing is too significant to our ecosystems and may still result in houses being lost.
Australia has been identified as a hotspot for emerging diseases, which occurs when human activities collide with a richness of animal species.
The Tasmanian tiger is among the best known of our extinct species, but researchers have now revealed the extent of the crisis.
TASMANIAN MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
New research has revealed 100 plant and animal species have become extinct in the past two centuries – a far higher number than previously thought.
Left, farmer Ian Turnbull being who was convicted of murdering compliance officer Glen Turner. Right, Mr Turner’s partner Alison McKenzie outside court. Tensions over land clearing can have tragic consequences.
AAP/DAN HIMBRECHTS
Politicians and the media often stoke tensions between the city and the country. Nowhere is this more common than on the issue of land clearing – and the consequences can be tragic.
Land clearing, cattle populations and carbon emissions stand alongside temperature as important measures of climate change.
DAN PELED/AAP
What if the nightly news had regular updates on forest clearing, ocean temperatures and fossil fuel consumption? These indicators sit alongside temperatures as signs of climate change.
A koala mother and joey seeking refuge on a bulldozed log pile near Kin Kin in Queensland. Federal environment laws have failed to prevent widespread land clearing across Australia.
WWF Australia
Environment Minister Sussan Ley has announced a review of Australia’s nature laws. The poor state of our biodiversity shows we must do a better job of protecting the places we love.
Eastern-yellow robin. Some 60 per cent of the native birds of south-east mainland Australia have lost more than half of their natural habitat.
Graham Winterflood/Wikimedia Commons
Aside from their intrinsic value, common bird species might be one of the only ways we connect with nature in our everyday lives. But these opportunities are under threat.
Palm oil development is not just about the economy but also needs to consider social and environmental costs.
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A staggering 7.7 million hectares of critical habitat has been destroyed since environment laws were enacted - and 93% was not referred to the federal government for assessment.
Huge fires are raging across multiple regions of the Amazon Basin.
Guaira Maia/ISA
A new petition is urging state and federal governments to rein in Australia’s rampant land clearing, which worsens the risk of bushfires and threatens to undo the work of the Emissions Reduction Fund.
Koalas can adapt to urban areas with enough suitable green spaces but would benefit from wildlife crossing areas to reduce their risk of being hit by cars.
Julian Smith/AAP
Across large ares of Australia, rocky outcrops are being obliterated to open up more land for farming. But many of these “bush rocks” are refuges for fragile ecosystems.