10 Landmark Cases for Biodiversity

The document details ten significant court cases across ten different countries—China, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Belgium, Finland, Australia, Tanzania, the Philippines, and India—where legal action successfully protected habitats or species. These cases highlight the application of the precautionary principle, the recognition of the 'rights of nature', and the use of public interest litigation to challenge government inaction or illegal industrial activities. Key outcomes include the halting of a hydroelectric dam in China, the liability of landowners for illegal deforestation in Brazil, and the reintroduction of Asiatic lions in India.

• In China, the Yunnan High People’s Court halted the construction of the 270 MW Jiasa Hydropower Station to protect the habitat of the critically endangered green peacock, marking a shift toward 'preventive public interest litigation' where environmental protection is prioritized before damage occurs.
• Brazil's Supreme Court ruled in February 2021 that landowners are liable for reforestation and penalties for illegally deforested land, even if they purchased the land after the deforestation occurred, effectively closing a legal loophole used to 'launder' land in the Amazon.
• The Supreme Court of Colombia recognized the Colombian Amazon as a 'subject of rights' and an entity entitled to protection, maintenance, and restoration, ruling that government failure to control deforestation violated the fundamental rights of youth.
• The Supreme Court of Costa Rica applied the precautionary principle to order a scientific study on neonicotinoid pesticides' effects on bees, ruling that a lack of absolute scientific certainty cannot be used by the state to postpone protective measures.
• A Belgian court dismantled an international criminal network trading protected bird species, with the judge equating the lucrativity of illegal wildlife trade to that of drugs and weapons trafficking.
• The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland declared wolf hunting permits illegal after the European Court of Justice (CJEU) found that the Finnish government failed to provide rigorous scientific data to justify the culling of wolves, a protected species under the EU Habitats Directive.
• In Australia, the Land and Environmental Court of New South Wales rejected an expansion of the Warkworth coal mine, determining that the project would have an 'unacceptable impact' on local biodiversity and endangered ecological communities.
• The East African Court of Justice issued a permanent injunction against the Tanzanian government to prevent the construction of a highway through Serengeti National Park, ruling that such a project would cause 'imminent risk of irreversible damage' to the ecosystem.
• The Supreme Court of the Philippines stopped oil exploration by JAPEX in the Tañon Strait, ruling that the area's status as a protected habitat for whales and dolphins took priority over a presidential decree.
• India's Supreme Court adopted an 'eco-centric' approach to compel the government to reintroduce the critically endangered Asiatic lion to Kuno National Park, asserting that the state has a duty to prevent species extinction under the doctrine of public trust.

APA

Jiang, B., Ugirashebuja, E., de Boer, D., & Fan, D. (2021). 10 Landmark Cases for Biodiversity. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/upvbjd4p/10-landmark-cases-for-biodiversity.pdf

Chicago

Jiang, Boya, Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, Dimitri de Boer, and Danting Fan. 10 Landmark Cases for Biodiversity. ClientEarth, 2021. https://www.clientearth.org/media/upvbjd4p/10-landmark-cases-for-biodiversity.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jiang |first1=Boya |last2=Ugirashebuja |first2=Emmanuel |last3=de Boer |first3=Dimitri |last4=Fan |first4=Danting |title=10 Landmark Cases for Biodiversity |publisher=ClientEarth |date=September 2021 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/upvbjd4p/10-landmark-cases-for-biodiversity.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jiang2021landmark, author = {Jiang, Boya and Ugirashebuja, Emmanuel and de Boer, Dimitri and Fan, Danting}, title = {{10 Landmark Cases for Biodiversity}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/upvbjd4p/10-landmark-cases-for-biodiversity.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }