Australia urged to take leadership role at global biodiversity summit

Countries will meet in Montreal for the Cop15 biodiversity summit this week to work on a new framework agreement to end biodiversity decline. If successful, it should result in the global destruction of nature being halted and reversed with wild areas and habitat for threatened species starting to increase in size between now and 2030.

Western Australian police have raided the home of Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper while she was giving evidence as an expert witness during the trial of three climate protesters. Ms Cooper is the former chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation and has been campaigning to protect sacred rock art on the Burrup peninsula in far-north Western Australia.

And a new report by WWF Australia has ranked state and territory performance on renewable energy, with NSW taking out the top spot.

Australia urged to take leadership role at Cop15 biodiversity summit
Australia is being urged to take a leadership role at a global summit that aims to reach what has been described as the nature equivalent of the landmark Paris agreement on climate change.

WA police raid home of Indigenous woman campaigning to protect sacred rock art
Western Australian police have raided the home of an Indigenous woman campaigning to protect ancient rock art while she was giving evidence as an expert witness in a case involving climate change protesters on Thursday.

NSW best state in Australia for renewable energy, report finds
NSW is the nation’s renewable energy leader as the state government increases investment in the sector and focuses on agenda-setting policies, according to a new report by WWF Australia.

Greenpeace voices concerns for an endangered species of whale off the WA coast amid plans for ocean testing
Gas company Woodside’s plan for seismic blasting close to a whale migration “superhighway” off the coast of North Western Australia poses an unacceptable risk to endangered whale species and could threaten local tourism, according to a new report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

What the Santos Federal Court loss means for the Barossa gas project off the Tiwi Islands, and future projects like it
In a major victory for Traditional Owners, gas company Santos lost a landmark legal battle this week, with its appeal over the finding against its $4.7 billion Barossa gas project north of the Tiwi Islands slapped down by the Federal Court. But as celebrations erupted on the islands north of Darwin on Friday, Santos confirmed it intends to push ahead with the project. So what does the decision mean and what happens next?

Greater glider now endangered in NSW, but what is driving its demise?
The southern greater glider has been made endangered in NSW due to climate change, bushfires and native logging severely reducing its population and habitat, the latest in a rapidly growing list following back-to-back natural disasters.

Northern Territory government allows onshore petroleum companies to sell fracked gas during exploration phase
The Territory government has been widely criticised for “caving” to the gas industry and ignoring traditional owners after passing new fracking laws.The legislation, which passed in parliament with bipartisan support, allows fracking companies to sell gas during the exploration or ‘appraisal’ phase.

Big investors turning to opportunities in Australia in wake of Albanese Government’s climate policy certainty
There has been a major drop in the number of investors who now view climate policy uncertainty as a barrier to investment in Australia, compared to one year ago, according to new data to be published on Monday from the Investor Group on Climate Change.