Whether Environment Laws Can Stop Extinction Examined

A seven month-old Northern Koala joey clings to his mother Tara after emerging from her pouch at Sydney Wildlife World in Sydney, Australia on July 31, 2007. Ian Waldie/Getty Images

Concerns that environmental laws lack transparency and adequate ambition will be put under the microscope at hearings into extinction in Australia in April.

Consultations for reforms to environmental and biodiversity protection laws have been secretive and stakeholders gagged as well as lacking in ambition, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.