Securing justice for the planet: Opportunities for, and barriers to, course correction

International conference

Macquarie University Wallumattagal Campus, Sydney, Australia

18-19 March 2026

Humanity stands at a pivotal moment. Scientific assessments, including the Stockholm Resilience Centre’s 2023 update on planetary boundaries, reveal that six of the Earth’s nine environmental thresholds have already been breached due to human activity. These transgressions are driving a triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution – that threatens not only ecosystems but also the fundamental human rights to life, health, food, water, housing, and a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. 

Securing Justice for the Planet: Opportunities for, and Barriers to, Course Correction will bring together diverse global perspectives to explore how law, policy, and collective action can deliver the transformative change our world urgently needs. Convened by Macquarie University’s Environmental Law Research Centre in collaboration with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Regional Office for the Pacific, this international conference will take place in Sydney on 18–19 March 2026. 

The conference will invite reflection on the legal, institutional and societal pathways needed to achieve a just and sustainable future. Themes include evolving international judicial opinions and their implications for environmental governance, climate justice and intergenerational equity, fair and sustainable trade and investment, the protection of biodiversity and ocean systems, corporate accountability, and the integration of Indigenous knowledge and gender perspectives.  

This conference welcomes scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and community leaders, to collaborate on charting new directions for securing justice for the planet—ensuring that no one, and nothing, is left behind.

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