Australian conservation NGO The Wilderness Society has launched a court case against the country’s environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, alleging her failure to put in place formal recovery plans for a number of threatened species. The public interest legal organization Environmental Justice Australia recently announced that its lawyers are representing The Wilderness Society in the federal court action against Plibersek as she and her predecessors “have failed in their legal duties to create recovery plans that would give threatened wildlife a better chance at surviving extinction.” Environmental Justice Australia noted that under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the federal environment minister is legally obligated to craft and implement recovery plans for wildlife facing the danger of extinction. Had such plans been made, they would have served the government as roadmaps for conservation, identifying key threats to species and critical habitats for protection. Amelia Young, national campaigns director at The Wilderness Society Australia, said in the statement that they hope “the case will shine a light on the legal and moral duties of current and future environment ministers to do their job to help Aussie wildlife beat extinction.” Australian law requires a recovery plan to be made within three years of a species being identified as needing one. However, since 2013, only 2% of plans were finished within the required time, according to Environmental Justice Australia, citing a 2022 auditor-general report. The Wilderness Society is seeking to compel the minister to create recovery plans for at least 12 threatened species, including Baudin’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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