Australian teens take legal action against mine extension project
Teenagers mobilized for the environment have lodged a legal appeal against the mine extension project.
William WEST / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A collective legal action has just been filed against the Minister of the Environment by teenagers.
Its aim is to prevent the authorization of a planned extension of a coal mine in the state of New South Wales.
Australia, whose economy remains heavily dependent on its mining industry, is the country that pollutes the most in the world per capita.
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With our correspondent in Sydney,
Grégory Plesse
Greta Thunberg
was emulated in Australia
since adolescents from all over the country are at the origin of a recourse to prevent a mine 450 km from Sydney from expanding.
The extension project would allow it to double its extraction capacity, up to ten million tonnes of coal per year.
This is the last straw that broke the camel's back for these young people.
“
I am participating in this legal action because I want to fight for my future.
We need to act now, but right now the government is not doing enough,
”Ambrose said on ABC.
Coal, Australia's second largest export product
This remedy has the particularity of not contesting the project in itself but of taking the minister directly to task.
“
We believe it has a duty to protect young Australians and young people around the world from the effects of climate change,
” explains 13-year-old Izzi.
Despite
the terrible fires
that ravaged Australia earlier this year, the government remains a staunch supporter of the mining industry.
Coal is
Australia's
second most important export after iron
.
It brought in more than 30 billion euros last year.
►Also listen: Fires in Australia: biodiversity in danger?
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