Laws, legal owners and a last mine: Everything you need to know about the environment this week

The United States is set to declare 23 federally-protected species officially extinct - the most ever at one time.

Ahead of COP26, the EU and the UK have urged Russia to commit to reaching net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

COP26 talks are a crucial catalyst for urgent action to keep a lid on global warming, a global coalition of 40 energy producers, industrial companies and financial institutions said this week.

India's June-September monsoon rains are likely to start withdrawing from the northwest region from 6 October, marking one of the most delayed retreats of the seasonal rainfall, the Indian Meteorological Department said on Thursday.

Panama will push forward its clean-energy transition by embracing ethanol in its gasoline and ending the use of heavy fuels and coal for its power plants by 2023, its energy minister has announced.

US Democrats are considering including the first federal fee to tackle plastic pollution. The proposal is drawing opposition from the plastics and petrochemical industry, though.

On Wednesday, funds managing nearly $30 trillion in assets called for 1,600 of the world's most polluting companies to set science-based emissions reduction targets.

The European Parliament's environment committee has backed EU plans to make companies and countries cut their methane emissions.

Research suggests if current trends continue, people born today will suffer many times more extreme heatwaves and other climate disasters than their grandparents.

Norway's state-owned coal company has announced it will close its last mine in the Arctic Svalbard in 2023.

Youth activists from across the globe met in Milan this week for the Youth4Climate event ahead of COP26. They've called for action in areas including a more transparent climate finance system, sustainable and responsible tourism and a phasing out of the fossil fuel industry by 2030.

US climate envoy John Kerry told the summit that the upcoming COP26 meeting must produce a 'new level of transparency and accountability'.

The Australian state of Queensland has announced it has given ownership of the world's oldest tropical rainforest to a local Indigenous group.

The Daintree Rainforest has been listed as a World Heritage Site since 1988 and is thought to have been growing for 180 million years. The forest, famed for its rich biodiversity, has come under pressure from climate change and industries including logging.

It'll now be returned to the traditional owners of the land. "This agreement recognises their right to own and manage their Country, to protect their culture, and to share it with visitors as they become leaders in the tourism industry," Queensland Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said in a statement.

Vanuatu is asking the International Court of Justice to issue an opinion on the rights of present and future generations to be protected from the adverse impacts of climate change.

Vanuatu, with a population of some 280,000 people spread across roughly 80 islands, is among more than a dozen Pacific island nations facing rising sea levels and more regular storms that can wipe out much of their economies.

"In response to the catastrophic levels of climate change loss and damage faced by this small Pacific nation, Vanuatu recognises that current levels of action and support for vulnerable developing countries within multilateral mechanisms are insufficient," the government said in a statement on Saturday.

While advisory opinions by the court are not legally binding, they carry legal weight and moral authority given its status as the highest U.N. court for disputes between states. Its opinions can inform the development of international law.