More than 30 public figures including Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton and Greta Thunberg have written to Shell criticising its “callous and vindictive” lawsuit against Greenpeace after activists occupied a moving oil platform last year.

In one of the biggest legal threats in the environmental charity’s 50-year history, Shell is suing it for $1m (£790,000) in damages, with costs that could run into the millions.

The palm oil company PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa (JJP) has withdrawn its USD 32.6 million SLAPP suit against Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) forestry professor Bambang Hero at the Cibinong District Court.

It is the second time that the company has attempted and subsequently withdrawn legal action against Professor Bambang for his expert testimony.

Professor Bambang Hero Saharjo of Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) is once again facing legal action for his role as an expert scientific witness in the case against PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa (JJP), an oil palm plantation company operating in Rokan Hilir, Riau, Indonesia, in the latest chapter of a years-long legal battle to secure justice and remedies for nature.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). has just released its global assessment on the sustainable use of wild species of plants, animals, fungi and algae around the world. Notably, the report notes the important role of environmental liability litigation – not only to protect biodiversity, but also to promote more sustainable use of wild resources.

The Environmental Liability & Biodiversity Webinar is now available online. In 2021, colleagues across 5 continents - from Brazil to Indonesia - discussed how liability laws could be used to remedy harm to biodiversity. This global webinar included judges, practitioners and researchers to explore the scope and potential for conservation litigation.

From the frontlines to the courthouse, this month’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Fund Newsletter takes explores ways of improving enforcement efforts to put an end to wildlife crime - including a highlight on our work with judges.

A new report from the Anti-Corruption Resources Centre, U4, discusses the role of strategic litigation in helping to tackle corruption in the natural resources sector. The report anticipates growth in strategic litigation to improve resources governance, highlighting work by conservation litigation. The report offer key lesson from litigation in other sectors, including climate and human rights, to help guide our efforts.

Writing for the American Bar Association’s Trends, Dr. Carol A. Jones, Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute, describes the emerging potential of liability lawsuits to help protect biodiversity—including from illegal wildlife trade.

Wildlife is valuable. When harmed, such as by commercial poaching or illegal trade, our response should be not only to punish offenders, but to seek remedies. Conservation litigation provides opportunities to secure justice for wildlife. This article in Conservation Frontlines E-Magazine, an independent newsroom that covers wildlife issues globally, highlights the opportunities to sue for wildlife.

London Natural History Museum Live discussion with Jacob Phelps about conservation litigation. Watch it here!

How should the law handle those who poach, pollute or otherwise harm the environment? Legal action against people and organisations tends to focus on punishment, but this hasn’t fixed the problem. An alternative approach is to use legal action to force offenders to fix the damage

A new Mongabay article explains how “it is possible to sue environmental and wildlife offenders for the damage they inflict upon ecosystems and biodiversity and seek compensation to help restore what has been lost.”

Writing for The Conservation, Jacob Phelps explains why a conservation lawsuit in a rural Indonesian court is of global importance.

Writing for the University of Oxford’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, Dr Jacob Phelps explains how conservation litigation may be an important approach to tackle large-scale, commercial illegal wildlife trade.

Contribution to the Political Ecology Network highlighting the under-explored role of political ecology in helping to inform environmental litigation.

Garda Animalia reports on the importance of a remedy-focused approach to biodiversity conservation. “Rika Fajrini, Environmental Law Researcher at the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), explained that one aspect of law enforcement that needs serious attention is related to recovery… ‘The most important thing is that there is a clause in the law which stipulates that parties committing conservation crimes are responsible for the impact of their crimes and are charged with taking action to restore resources or paying for recovery costs.”