Sunday, May 5, 2024

CATEGORY

Land & environment

Government war chest to buy more Cape property

The state government says it has a war chest to spend on land purchases in Cape York in a bid to right the wrongs of the past ... “Since the Goss government, we’ve united more than one million hectares of protected areas and Aboriginal land. But there remains about 400,000 hectares of national park and reserves and more than 200,000 hectares of other state land yet to be transferred": Queensland Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon.

Koalas: How threatened? Threatened how? Webinar, 21 April 2022

Speakers: Emeritus Professor Helene Marsh FAA FTSE, Chair of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee; Cheyne Flanagan, Port Macquarie Koala Hospital; Audrey Koosmen, Hunter Wildlife Rescue; Vic Jurskis, Ecologist and Author; Peter Rutherford, Forest Scientist, South East Timber Association.

New trial explores almond orchard recycling in Australia

Scientists are working with a Victorian almond grower to trial an orchard redevelopment practice that is reducing the industry’s carbon footprint in the United States. ‘Whole Orchard Recycling’ involves chipping trees and incorporating them into the orchard soil prior to planting new trees. It replaces the traditional practice of burning the trees once they have been removed from the orchard.

Restdown’s sustainable tourism recognised

Jo and Don Hearn from Restdown Winery and Jungle Lane Beef Co and their business were recently recognised as part of Tourism Australia’s new international marketing campaign on sustainable tourism, and Tourism NSW has also included them in the top 10 things to do along the Murray River, alongside the iconic Mungo National Park.

Call to reject skywalk

A former Narrandera resident who now lives in the tourist town of Noosa wants to alert Narrandera residents to a project she believes will have a negative impact on tourism in Narrandera– the proposed skywalk which will extend over and above Lake Talbot .... The preliminary design for the skywalk at Lake Talbot has been completed by Teleo Design and put out for public feedback by the Narrandera Shire Council by April 15 with intentions to start building it in July this year and complete the project by December.

Can prescribed burning assist in the control of wildfire? Frank Batini

... these disastrous wildfires have also given land managers and fire services a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get on top of the bushfire situation. By the end of this year, the fuels in the NSW and Victorian 2019/2020 fire areas will be three years old. The next few years will be a wonderful opportunity to break up these large areas of contiguous fuel by widespread prescribed burning, safely, with minimal chance of escapes. It is a chance that must not be missed.

Buy back of houses in flood risk zones

Houses identified as being at risk in the Kyogle Flood Study are purchased at market value in a voluntary House Buy Back Scheme. Kyogle Council contacts all identified property owners each year and asks them if they would be interested in selling their properties. Only identified properties are eligible for the grant.

Woodburn slowly comes back to life, one bakery and one pub at a time

Empty shells of houses. Rubbish piled up outside homes. Waterlogged Woodburn is drying out. In week three since the floods, the sound of dozers and trucks echoes though the empty streets removing the rubbish piles, one at a time. There was one place where there were a lot of people – a queue of them. The Woodburn Wurlitzer Bakery opened today, March 21.

ADF troops and the flood emergency

Brigadier Robert Lording, Commander of ‘ADF Operation Flood Assist 22’ for the NSW Northern Rivers Region said the first request for assistance came from the NSW State Emergency Services. “By Saturday February 26, the SES were aware there was going to be a flood emergency develop and they were quickly onto it, requesting ADF assistance to doorknock residents and provide other logistical aid”, said the Brigadier.

What the Minister and CEO FCNSW did not say!

On 15 March 2022, NSW Budget Estimates Portfolio Committee No 4 saw Justin Field MLC and David Shoebridge MLC once again argue the closure of selective harvesting of native forests in NSW.

Australia’s Galapagos officially proclaimed and protected: Ley, Marino

Two new marine parks have been established at Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean, home to life found nowhere else on earth. Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said the spectacular seascapes cover 744,000 square kilometres, an area greater in size than the Great Barrier Reef.

Carbon credit profits as primary production income – Carbon Count CEO Phil Mulvey’s view

"The latest government announcement about primary producers being able to claim their carbon credit profits as part of their primary production income looks positive indeed. What is important to understand however is that this development, whilst positive, is only benefiting those primary producers that have already started a carbon farming project and are soon ready to sell. What this development doesn't doesn't do is incentivise farmers to take up a carbon project in the first place; the key issue we need to overcome to meet our netzero2050 targets. What we need most now are governmental incentives that mitigate the financial barriers of entry for farmers and enable them to get started fast": Phil Mulvey.

NFF backs changes to recognise carbon credits as farm income

The National Farmers' Federation has praised Federal Government changes to see Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) and biodiversity credits treated as farm income ... NFF Chief Executive Tony Mahar said the change was due recognition that income related to carbon and biodiversity were part of the farm business. It is also consistent with policy analysis the NFF has progressed under the Australian Agriculture Sustainability Framework (AASF) project.

Tax changes for farmers to bolster land stewardship: Littleproud, Taylor, Sukkar

The Morrison Government will apply concessional tax treatment to primary producers that generate revenue from the sale of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) and biodiversity certificates. This will encourage carbon abatement activities and help Australia deliver on its net zero emissions target by 2050.

Sustainable forestry continues to achieve positive outcomes: Forestry Australia

International Day of Forests 2022 – “Forests and sustainable production and consumption” ... “Forests are one of Australia’s greatest natural assets, and Australia has the first-class forest management skills, experience and people needed to manage our forests. However, as a nation, we must do more. We need to manage this precious resource actively and adaptively across all land tenures including National Parks, State forests and private land to achieve best outcomes now, and into the future" : Bob Gordon Forestry Australia President.

Ocean-based Carbon Markets Australia and New Zealand – webinar, 28 March 2022

Researchers, Investors, Project Developers and industry participants all play an important role to scale up ocean carbon project development that will bring new innovation to enable large scale emissions reduction, plus many co-benefits such as biodiversity and jobs.

Monitoring the effects of wildfire on water, vegetation and biodiversity: Frank Batini

The very large wildfire in the Perth hills catchments in January 2005 had the potential for severe consequences on water quality in domestic water supply reservoirs ... full recovery will take some decades. This large fire was eventually contained when it reached areas that had been prescribed burnt and carried low fuels.

Activists campaign to determine the future of the native forest industry in NSW: South East Timber Association

Peter Rutherford. The article published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on 15 March once again highlights how activist networking paints native forest harvesting as THE threat to the sustainability of NSW native forests. Like many reports advocating for the closure of the native forest industry, the article contains a mix of academic opinion, anti-native forest harvesting rhetoric from a green politician, creative accounting, words to trigger outrage, such as "woodchip exports," and opinions from an activist non-government organisation, that monetise the outrage to generate more outrage and a reporter to join the dots.

I’m still lost

For a moment, can we establish that if I was to save the environment it would require a net benefit? This means that I save more environment than I destroy, the environmental assets and ecosystem function are greater than the baseline of where we began. In watching Australia’s water policy develop, be implemented and progress, I often find myself lost or searching for some understanding of how we got here. “We wonder why a frog near a coal mine is environmental matter of national significance, yet a 47,000 hectare wetland is not. 220,000 bird movements a year is a national treasure and now the testimony in this place is the state and federal governments are going to murder Menindee,” was a question put forward by Senator Malcolm Roberts at a recent Federal Estimates hearing on water.

‘Falling through the gaps’: Catch-22 for small farmers applying for flood recovery grants

Cattle farmers like Rachel Bell at Coraki need help. Having just experienced their worst flood ever, they need to rebuild and the flood recovery grants are supposed to make that rebuilding easier. Unfortunately, Rachel has found herself in the position where she doesn’t qualify for the flood recovery grants because she doesn’t fit the eligibility criteria for a farmer or as a small business owner.

Australia could still become a leader in climate change mitigation – interview with Phil Mulvey, CEO, Carbon Count

Phil Mulvey, Carbon Count CEO, expands further on the need for strong policy frameworks, on regenerative farming practices, carbon sequestration, profitability and other issues arising from the whitepaper, “Change at our feet – Australian agriculture’s role and responsibility in mitigating climate change”.

ATTENTION: Message the army for help

One thousand army personnel are based in Casino helping with the flood recovery ... This group isn’t only for Casino, residents in surrounding areas can put in a request for assistance ... The army have been in Woodburn and Coraki and helped out at the Rappville Pub.

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