Pages tagged “CleanFoodWater”
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Kuranda Paper May 2018
Toolbox for Sustainable Development
What is sustainable development?
Perhaps the most complete definition is development that meets the needs of the current generation without degrading the ecological inheritance of future generations.
Is this what we are seeing in our region?
Over the last few decades, there has been an onslaught on the recovering rainforest and bush in Kuranda and the wider region. Cassowaries and other endangered wildlife have been killed by loss of habitat, traffic, feral animals and domestic cats and dogs. Just recently, large numbers of paperbarks have been cut down in the centre of Mareeba to evict flying foxes.
As habitats shrink, the clashes between humans and wildlife will increase unless a more collaborative and sustainable planning approach is taken. With this vision in mind, the Kuranda Region Planning Group (KRPG) has been set up. See www.kurandaregion.org for further information. This is a network of local residents, environmental groups and wildlife experts that aim to work with government at all levels. FoE FNQ is a member of this network.
ACTION: Support KRPG's Wet Tropics World Heritage Vital Corridor Buy Back Scheme email [email protected] for further information.
Opposing environmentally destructive development
We have various options:
Engaging with the official governmental planning system at local, State or Federal level
We can put in submissions to Mareeba Shire Council about potentially environmentally destructive developments that conflict with the Mareeba Shire Planning Scheme 2016 For a list of current development applications, see https://msc.qld.gov.au/building-planning/development-applications/
If the development is still approved, we can then appeal in the Planning and Environment Court against the approval – but only if we were submitters. The Environmental Defenders' Office (EDO) offers legal advice, fact sheets and community handbooks prepared by legal experts. However court cases can be lengthy and expensive. Mediation is another option to achieve a better outcome.
Very large developments are assessed by all three layers of government – and this is the case for the mega resort KUR-World.
ACTION: Write a submission to the Coordinator General about KUR-World. Email [email protected] to find out more.
Nonviolent direct action
In the 50th year after Martin Luther King was killed, this remains one of the most powerful tools we have. The Daintree Blockade in the 1980s was a local example of people risking their lives to protect the rainforest. Though it failed to stop the Bloomfield track being bulldozed through, it helped to save the Daintree and kick started the listing of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. This inspiring local history has been chronicled in the new book The Daintree Blockade: the battle for Australia's Tropical Rainforests by Bill Wilkie.
It is well worth the read with the added bonus of name spotting local eco-heroes who still live in the area. As Bob Brown said ' The sheer energy and commitment of those campaigners on the ground- that was the core to saving the Daintree itself' As we battle mega resorts and huge subdivisions and find out how weak and woolly the planning law is in Queensland, this may be what it takes to save the Kuranda region.
Protesters buried in the path of bulldozers in efforts to stop the Daintree road.
Photo by Cliff Frith.
Bryan Law and others up to his chest in mud blocking the Daintree Road.
Written by Sarah Isaacs
May 09, 2018 -
Chain Reaction Articles from FoE FNQ! 1/ Militarism 2/ The Reef
Chain Reaction is the journal for Friends of the Earth Australia.
The August 2016 edition had the following two articles written in the Far North by FoE FNQ president John Glue and Margaret Pestorius.
Will militarism block the climate change movement?
by Margie Pestorius
Militarism and climate change are closely linked and joining anti-militarism to the climate justice discourse is an important move that was visible during the UN COP21 climate conference last December. It is becoming evident that militarism will block the goals of the climate change movement if these links are not addressed.
Militarism is defined as: "The belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests."
A recent inquiry of climate justice activists and academics in Melbourne threw up the following connections.
Sacrificing the Reef with militarism, mining, censorship and tokenism
by John Glue
At the start of the election campaign Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt visited Cairns to re-announce $50 million in new projects to boost water quality, including efforts to keep sediment, fertilisers and pesticides off the Great Barrier Reef. This re-announcement was partly to allay concerns over research showing 93% of the Reef had been bleached and dire predictions that the Reef will be terminal in as little as 5 to 20 years.
Written by Margaret Pestorius
October 10, 2016 -
The Great Artesian Basin, Great Barrier Reef, Gulf of Carpentaria and Inland Australia at risk
The Queensland Labor Party is backtracking on pledges it made before the last election to repeal water reforms which deregulated the use of groundwater by resource companies, giving big mining operations rights to billions of litres of water without the need for a licence.
Written by Friends of the Earth Fnq
December 18, 2015 -
Gas Pipelines Planned for Cape York and Northern Queensland, Kuranda Paper, Dec 2015
Gas Pipelines Planned For Cape York and Across Northern Queensland
Two members of FoE Kuranda and CSG Free Kuranda along with 120 people from around the country attended a Lock the Gate conference in Lismore. Some of the new gas proposals for our region that were discussed was the gas pipeline from New Guinea through Cape York as well as the gas pipeline coming across from the Northern Territory and on down to export facilities at Gladstone. These pipelines would also enable gasfields to be developed all along their route. Currently over half of Queensland and Australia is covered by coal and gas licenses and could be turned into gasfields.
Written by Friends of the Earth Fnq
December 03, 2015 -
Hancock Aerial Spraying Stopped at Bellingen, NSW
Here is an inspiring example of what community action was able to achieve on related forestry issues in Northern NSW.
This article also names the chemicals used in forestry operations.
No Spray, No Way community fights chemical weed spraying in Gladstone state forest
March 16, 2015 in Media
It has been described as a laid-back, tree-fringed town with a community that prides itself on making a living out of organic farming and healthy lifestyles.
So when residents around Bellingen in the state’s north were told that the nearby Gladstone State forest was about to be aerially sprayed by the Forestry Corporation with a cocktail of chemical weed killers they reacted angrily and immediately mounted a campaign to stop it.
“We set up camps in the forest, on the helipad site and the entrance to the forest to run around-the-clock on-ground vigilance at all times,” said resident and No Spray No Way campaigner Susan Weil.
“Forestry Corporation was not allowed to conduct any aerial spraying while there were community members in the forest and we took full advantage of this protocol,” Ms Weil told Fairfax Media.
Trouble started with the announcement from the Forestry Corporation that an area that had become overrun with weeds after it was logged for hardwood was going to be sprayed from a helicopter to kill the weeds before a new plantation of timber was planted. Forestry Corporation said it was planning to mix four chemcials and herbicides: Glyphosate, Metsulfurin Methyl, Fluroxypyr and Simazine and the adjuvants Liaise and Pulse, to do the job.
Written by Friends of the Earth Fnq
November 30, 2015 -
Legal Personality for the Reef Kuranda Paper Feb 2015
A innovative new way to protect and preserve the environment is to bestow legal personality to significant ecosystems.
Legal personality means that a person or entity has rights and duties in law. These rights commonly include the right to be free from unlawful interference, and the rights to exist, persist and reproduce. Where the rights of a legal person or entity are breached, they have the right to seek enforcement and a remedy through the legal system.
Written by Friends of the Earth Fnq
February 04, 2015 -
Written by Friends of the Earth Fnq
December 04, 2014 -
Written by Friends of the Earth Fnq
November 24, 2014 -
Written by Friends of the Earth Fnq
September 30, 2014