Environmental News and Action
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Environmental News and Action |
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Blue Mountains World Heritage Area The million-hectare Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area was listed by the World Heritage Committee on 29 November, after 14 years of effort to secure the listing. The nomination covers seven national parks, plus the Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve. Dedicated conservationists have struggled to protect the Blue Mountains wilderness since the Blue Gum Forest campaign of the early 1930s. Many major developments have been fought off, ranging from dams to mines and pine plantations. World Heritage listing celebrates the Myles Dunphy vision of the Greater Blue Mountains National Park, and the determination of the bushwalking conservationists who supported it. Through national park proposals and campaigns by groups like NPA, Total Environment Centre, the Colo Committee and Colong Foundation, this great vision was realised. The Greater Blue Mountains has been listed as an outstanding universal example of the ongoing ecological and biological processes of eucalypt-dominated ecosystems. The evolutionary processes that created this diversity also cradle treasures from the past, typified by the Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis). The Mountains were also judged to contain the highest biodiversity of temperate sclerophyll forests, with more than 90 of the world’s total of 700 eu-calypt species. Unfortunately, the Greater Blue Mountains’ outstanding natural beauty was overlooked in the flurry of the World Heritage Committee’s deliberations, as was the outstanding universal value of the Sydney sandstone upland geomorphology. The World Heritage Bureau rejected the nomination’s outstanding universal value for its associations with Aboriginal occupation and the conservation movement. It is hoped that listing under these values may be revisited, and that it may also be possible to extend the listed area. Keith Muir, Colong Foundation for Wilderness
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Culling horses in Guy Fawkes
This article temporarily suspended from publication during a court case.
Andrew Cox
Executive Officer
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Sydney Foreshore Lands
"Nature has endowed Sydney with one of the greatest natural harbours on this planet. More by accident than good planning, a great deal of unspoiled foreshore remains in its natural state". (Tom Uren) Much of the land now in Sydney Harbour NP was transferred from the Commonwealth Defence to NSW in 1979, through an agreement between Prime Minister Fraser and Premier Wran. This agreement has not been honoured by succeeding Commonwealth governments. From 1996, community groups have opposed moves by defence bureaucrats to sell off significant land on Middle Head/Georges Heights and Woolwich. Together with groups for North Head and Cockatoo Is, NPA, NCC, National Trust and others under the coalition "Defenders of Sydney Harbour Foreshores" have lobbied the Federal Government to prevent this selling of public land. In September 1998 Mr Howard issued a policy paper transferring management of the lands from Defence to a Trust, but without adequate funding. In the meantime, the Interim Trust has commenced work. They have appointed consultants who seem to recognise the unique opportunity given to rehabilitate and conserve these important parts of our harbour. Community consultative committees have also been formed. The Trust has yet to receive the necessary funds to act on management plans. NPA is concerned that the lack of cooperation from the State Government may jeopardise the future status of these lands. Peter Caldwell |
NO TO Charcoal plant
The major partner in Australian Silicon, Portman Mining Pty Ltd, intends to sell its 90% stake in the $150M joint venture to establish a silicon smelter in Lithgow. This raises serious doubts about the future of the proposed smelter and associated Cowra quartz mine, and a charcoal plant at an undecided location. This comes after Australian Silicon’s decision in November to scrap the charcoal plant at Gunnedah supplying the smelter, which would have consumed 230,000 tonnes of wood from western woodlands and north-east forest.
Sustained lobbying by NPA and local and regional environment groups meant Pilliga and Goonoo were exempted, limiting the economic viability of a charcoal plant in the woodlands. Australian Silicon is still seaching for an alternative location.
This clears the way to create a new Goonoo Goonoo National Park from Goonoo State Forest and for significant parts of the Pilliga to be protected as national park. Unfortunately, the NSW Government has delayed a decision until further conservation and resource assessments are complete, while granting the largest cypress mill in the Pilliga a 10-year contract covering 37% of all cypress extracted.
Action: Write to the Premier, Bob Carr (Parliament House, Sydney 2000) and congratulate him for refusing to permit Australian Silicon access to western woodlands such as Pilliga and Goonoo. Ask that the NSW Government immediately creates new national parks in these areas.
Andrew Cox
Executive Officer
WALK AGAINST WOODCHIPS 2000
WAW2000 followed the successful Walk Against Woodchips 1999 and again highlighted the destruction of native forests by woodchipping. Walkers came from Sydney, Canberra, the South Coast and East Gippsland.
The walk commenced on 27 November in Canberra and proceeded to the Embassy of Japan where a letter was presented. The letter stated that most Australians are opposed to woodchipping of native forests, and that there will soon be sufficient plantation resource available as a substitute.
Public meetings were held in Braidwood, Moruya and Bega. The Moruya meeting passed a motion calling on Eurobodalla Shire Council to ensure greater public discussion of the proposed wood-fired electricity plant at Moruya.
On 7 December, at the Eden Daishowa woodchip mill, a number of walkers entered the main office. They intended to present a letter to the mill manager, but they were ejected and the manager refused to accept the letter. A number were arrested and then charged.
Walkers blockaded the main road to the mill on 8 December. Blockading the log trucks is a symbol that Australians are strongly opposed to taxpayer-subsidised destruction of our native forests.
Local media, particularly radio, gave the walk/protest good coverage. The main message was the failure of the Regional Forest Agreements, which have entrenched woodchipping in our old growth forests and amount to privatisation of public forests for the benefit of Daishowa.
Bruce Dover
WAW
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Salinity & water
quality plan
The Federal Government has released a new Action Plan on salinity and water quality as a significant step forward in developing a national, strategic and coordinated approach to two of Australia’s most pressing environmental concerns. The $700 million Action Plan was announced by the Prime Minister, John Howard, in October, and the States agreed at the COAG meeting in November to match the Federal contribution. The strategy includes setting targets and standards for natural resource management, developing integrated plans for catchments and regions including biodiversity conservation, funding for catchment management plans being linked to Federal accreditation, further water reforms to cap and wind back over-allocations from rivers and aquifers and prohibiting land clearing in areas where it would lead to unacceptable land and water degradation. However, despite the Prime Minister’s assurance that the new reforms would be funded by money from consolidated revenue, the proposed Federal funding for the 20 catchments nominated under the Action Plan works out to only $5 million per catchment per year over 7 years. Further efforts are still required to wind back clearing of native vegetation and to ensure these new national measures are enforced. Jamie Pittock |
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