One way to protect our ecosystems is to confer legal rights on them. This idea is at the heart of the ‘rights of nature’ movement – but Australia has few examples of this principle in action.
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Articles on environmental protection
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Nature, everyone agrees, is in trouble. But can Australia’s new market-based mechanism help?
A group of prominent environmental scientists devised this list of 5 things we must see in Australia’s new national environmental laws, if we are to avoid calamity and hasten recovery.
Australia has a once-in-a-decade opportunity to fix environmental law. A new Wentworth Group report says the cumulative impacts from multiple projects must be considered.
Most of us see only the dry treeless plain and spectacular sea cliffs. But beneath the surface there’s a precious world of caves and unique species that could be lost without better protection.
Australia’s environment does not have sufficient legal protection from climate change, as outlined in a new report from the Climate Council Australia.
The Darwin woodland is home to endangered species and important for the Larrakia people. The development approval requires habitat offsets – yet the minister herself has publicly doubted offsets work.
Two states will soon end logging of native forests, but what about the other states? The federal government has powers to intervene but also faces obstacles to nationwide protection of these forests.
Using leaves for local food packaging is beneficial for health and the environment.
Offering ‘carrots’ like biodiversity credits to landholders won’t stop natural collapse. Banning land clearing and stronger environmental laws are much more likely to work.
More of us than ever want to see the ice continent. But is the environmental awakening many return with worth the emissions and possible environmental damage?
To address the climate and biodiversity crises, we must stop criminalizing Indigenous Peoples for exercising their treaty rights and start upholding them instead.
A small congregation of the cockroaches was under the first rock scientists looked under, by sheer accident.
The Federal Court has essentially said it can’t act. But the decision certainly doesn’t mean the government can’t act. In fact, that’s exactly who the judges indicated must.
Empathy is an important factor in getting people to act on environmental issues. Virtual reality can bring oceans closer to home for those who can’t experience the wealth of marine ecosystems.
A recent declaration of a river as a legal person in Canada recognizes Indigenous laws and governance, and champions people as the guardians of nature.
How does the spirit of Byron Byron endure wave after wave of seekers and lately, Instagram influencers? Sally Breen took a road trip and found a something deeper in the beachy township.
Honduras is the most dangerous country in the world for environmental activists. Those who have opposed mining, hydroelectric, logging and tourism have faced violence and death.
The election of the Biden administration raised hopes of a new dawn in US environmental protections. But left-right views will continue to stymie progress, just as they do in Australia.
You could hardly imagine a worse report on the state of Australia’s environment, and the law’s capacity to protect it, than that released on Thursday.
Top contributors
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Professor of Environmental Management, The University of Queensland
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Senior Research Fellow, Environmental Science, The University of Melbourne
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Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University
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Associate Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland
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Assistant professor, University of Groningen
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ARC Future Fellow, Queensland University of Technology
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Associate Professor, Tourism and Society, University of Tasmania
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Professor of Antarctic Studies, School of Humanities, College of Arts, Law and Education, University of Tasmania
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Visiting Professor, University of Kent
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Research Fellow, Marine Ecology, University of Tasmania
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Professor, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney
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Assistant professor, Wageningen University
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Professor of Law, Stellenbosch University
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Associate Professor, Griffith University
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Senior lecturer, University of Tasmania
