‘Back from the Brink: A Protection Agenda for Nature’ is a new report by the Conservation Council of WA, calling for sweeping nature law reforms in Western Australia to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, to avoid further threatened species extinctions. 

It sets out 36 recommendations for change, developed with community groups, scientists, First Nations leaders and other experts across the WA environmental movement. Alongside the recommendations, the report highlights real-life examples that link local conservation threats to the broader system failures driving biodiversity loss in WA. 

This report is a starting point. It is not an exhaustive list of recommendations, but it is the first iteration in a broader suite of reforms that community groups, business and local government can collectively advocate for to help bring nature back from the brink. 

The recommendations are presented in four key governance principle sections:

• Strategic decision making
• Environmental law and processes
• Monitoring, compliance, enforcement and transparency
• Effectiveness, independence and public participation in decision making