Ecological world

Among those leading the fight against the massive Indian-owned Carmichael coal project in Australia's Queensland state is 21-year-old Murrawah Johnson of the Wangan and Jagalingou aboriginal people, the traditional owners of the land where the proposed mine is to be located. Murrawah Johnson, 21, of the Wangan and Jagalingou Family Council, is among those standing in the way of the huge Carmichael coal mine project in Australia's Queensland state. Photo courtesy of Murrawah Johnson. "Our people are the unique people from that country," says Murrawah, whose name means ‘rainbow' in the indigenous Gubbi Gubbi language. "That is who we are in our identity, in our culture, in our song and in our dance," she adds. The Wangan and Jagalingou, numbering up to 500 people, regard the Carmichael coal mine as a threat to their very existence and have repeatedly rejected the advances of Adani Mining, the company behind the project. The traditional owner...

                          Major economies outside The Australia Australia (53rd) rose eight places in the overall ranking compared to the 2009 benchmark thanks to strong performance on the economic growth and development sub-index. However, Australia’s relatively poor performance on environmental sustainability has heavily penalized its overall score, with the country producing some of the highest CO2 emissions from electricity production (ranked 120 out of 126 countries), with almost no progress over the last seven years. In fact, Australia took a step backward in 2014 when it became the first developed nation to repeal carbon laws that put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast to these resource-rich nations, other major economies depend heavily on energy imports . However, their weak performance on the EAPI due to imports is often balanced by energy policies that promote environmental sustainabil...