“The universe is a continuous web. Touch it at any point and the whole web quivers.” – Stanley Kunitz
Neon beetles and curious marsupials. Birdsong echoing through ancient rainforests. Wetlands croaking with the gutbucket concerts of frogs.
The biodiversity on our continent is like nowhere else on Earth.
Our ecosystems are so complex and delicately interconnected, they shape not just the lives of frogs and beetles — but our climate, soil, food, air, water, livelihoods, health and happiness.
Yet right across Australia, a startling number of these vital ecosystems are in peril.
Under pressure from a rapidly warming climate, land-clearing, over-extraction and deforestation, entire ecosystems are collapsing before our eyes.
Our forests are being destroyed at such a rate that Australia is a global deforestation hotspot alongside the Amazon and Congo.
The Murray-Darling river system is now one of the most vulnerable water basins on Earth.
Australia has one of the worst extinction records on the planet.
These ecosystems are vital for life. The knock-on impacts of their collapse threatens all of us.
We must urgently protect, regenerate and connect these life-giving ecosystems.
Because we literally cannot live without them.
That’s why at EJA, we are using the law to defend, protect and regenerate five key ecosystems that are vital for life.
From the Southern Ocean to the Northern Territory’s Savannah Woodlands, from temperate old growth forests in Australia’s south east to Gippsland Lakes and the Murray River floodplains – these ecosystems are home to vastly different plants, animals and communities.
Yet all five face pressing environmental challenges.
So EJA lawyers are litigating and campaigning for law reform. We believe good laws can help protect our ecosystems, curb extinction and guide human activity so we can all live in balance with the natural world and leave plenty for the next generation.
We are collaborating with environmental organsiations, grassroots groups and courageous communities — because community power, backed with legal support, can hold governments and corporations to account for their actions and secure environmental justice.
And we are advocating for bold solutions — because forward-thinking policies put into action can safeguard the ecosystems, creatures and places we love for the long term.
Our focus
We run public interest litigation to defend nature from destruction
We use legal advocacy for long-term protections
We push for law reform to protect and regenerate nature
Our five priority ecosystems
Ancient forests
Using litigation and legal advocacy, we are defending the extraordinary forest ecosystems of south-eastern Australia from destruction. Read more
Savannah Woodlands
Teeming with threatened birds, mammals, plants and reptiles, we are protecting the Northern Territory’s fragile woodlands from bulldozers.
Read more
The mighty Murray
The lifeblood for Aboriginal Nations, river communities, ancient red gums, turtles, birds and fish, we are using the law to protect the Murray River from harm.
Read more
Gippsland Lakes
With the local community, we are using the law to protect and regenerate Gippsland Lakes, an internationally recognised ecosystem at risk of collapse.
Read more
Antarctica & the Southern Ocean
Beneath the icy waves, the Southern Ocean teems with life. We are using the law to protect this critically important ecosystem.
LEGAL CASE HIGHLIGHTS
More of our work protecting nature
Fixing our environment laws
We’re advocating for state and federal laws that actually protect nature, and institutions to properly enforce them. Read more
Rivers and waterways
We’re a nation of swimmers, but too many of our rivers and waterways are drying and dying, polluted and in peril. Read more
Protecting Birrarung
For years, we’ve campaigned to reimagine and protect Melbourne’s Yarra river.
Read more
