Australia and Brazil: two big Southern Hemisphere countries, two global leaders in the infamy of biodiversity loss.

This urgent but complicated issue is one of the reasons a group of Brazilian researchers is being hosted in and around the New England for the next fortnight by the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law (AgLaw). It is part of a long-running collaborative effort, involving teams from a number of countries, that is trying to improve the effectiveness of biodiversity protection and environmental governance.
 
The central workshop that frames the Brazilian visit, Governing for Megadiversity, will examine some of the common issues our two countries face – including mining, marine invasive species and Indigenous people’s interests – and consider how to address them.
 
“We hope to come away with new insights into what the challenges are, beyond politics,” AgLaw centre director Professor Paul Martin said.

“This is timely because more than 20 leading Australian environmental organisations have recently launched the Places You Love initiative, and are drawing on a panel of more than 20 leading environmental law experts to devise a blueprint for environmental law reform across Australia.”