Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH), Victorian Forest Alliance (VFA) and Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) Media Release

Citizen scientists from Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) and the Victorian Forest Alliance (VFA) have discovered state-owned logging company VicForests has continued to illegally destroy numerous endangered Tree Geebungs while doing ‘regeneration’ works. The area is within the Immediate Protection Areas announced by the Daniel Andrews government back in 2019. One tree knocked over is estimated to be hundreds of years old.

The groups have reported the illegal logging of the endangered plant, calling for VicForests to be charged for violating state environment laws. The Environment Department’s regulator has responded saying they don’t have the power to act on the breach because the protection areas haven’t been formalised.

“State-owned VicForests have once again been caught red-handed. The agency repeatedly flouts the law, while the regulator does nothing to stop them. Despite the government’s plan to bring an earlier end to native forest logging, we hold grave concerns for forests and endangered species like the Tree Geebung, that are still under threat from VicForests destructive logging. VicForests needs to be wound up,” said Chris Schuringa, Victorian Forest Alliance Campaign Coordinator.

While the government has said they are phasing out native forest logging on Jan 1, they have not made a decision about the future of failed state-owned logging agency VicForests.

Tree Geebung (Persoonia arborea) is a mid-story tree found only in the tall wet forests of Victoria’s Central Highlands. Research shows trees over 20 cm in diameter can be hundreds of years old^[1]. On 26 October 2022, Warburton Environment Inc. won a landmark Supreme Court case against VicForests over the agency’s failure to protect Tree Geebung from logging. In his judgement, Hon. Justice Garde stated;

“…no attempt was made by VicForests to show that it was not reasonably practicable to protect the significant number of Tree Geebungs… Given the evidence as to the past harvesting and burning practices of VicForests, it is highly likely that significant numbers of mature Tree Geebungs have been lost in the Central Highlands in the past through harvesting and regeneration burning. The precise extent of the loss will never be known, but on the basis of recent records it is likely to amount to many hundreds or even thousands of mature trees.”

“Citizen scientists and volunteer groups have been shouldering the responsibility of finding and reporting countless breaches of the laws for years. Yet the state government recently brought in laws to further criminalise citizen scientists and peaceful protestors, who now face thousands of dollars worth of fines and potential jail time, instead of cracking down on rampant illegal logging,” said Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) President Hayley Forster.

“The government must enact proper protections for forests, particularly after Jan 1 when logging is slated to end. Logging has had terrible impacts on forests over the last 50 years, and there’s a lot of important ecological restoration work that needs to be done. But VicForests have shown that it cannot be trusted in that role,” said Hayley Forster.

“These areas were promised to have been protected since 2019, but the government has been slow to formalise, now threatened species are being smashed up in the name of restoration. The forests need real restoration, not further destruction,” said VNPA Executive Director, Matt Ruchel.

“The community has lost faith in VicForests and they need to go sooner rather than later,” said VNPA Executive Director, Matt Ruchel.

Grata Fund and Greenpeace Media Release

Muru kalma sipa – ‘All together we stand’: Torres Strait and Pacific communities on board for climate justice

First Nations leaders and plaintiffs of the Australian Climate Case, Uncle Paul and Uncle Pabai, join Greenpeace’s iconic Rainbow Warrior as it sails from Cairns to Vanuatu in support of the historic campaign to take climate harm to the world’s highest court.

Greenpeace’s iconic Rainbow Warrior will arrive in Cairns this week to join with First Nations leaders from the Guda Maluyligal in the Torres Strait, Uncle Paul and Uncle Pabai, plaintiffs in the Australian Climate Case who have taken the Australian government to court for failing to protect their island homes from climate change.

Uncle Paul and Uncle Pabai, alongside other inspiring climate litigants like Anjali Sharma, will join the ship as it sails to Vanuatu in solidarity with Pasifika communities who, like those in the Torres Strait, are holding governments and corporations to account after decades of inaction.

Cairns is the launchpad for the Rainbow Warrior’s tour, which sees the ship return to the Pacific as part of a global campaign to take climate harm to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s highest court. After passing the United Nations General Assembly by consensus earlier this year, the historic campaign for an advisory opinion on climate now heads to The Hague where, if successful, could change the destiny of millions of people bearing the brunt of climate impacts, from rising seas, to cyclones and extreme weather events, and usher in a new wave of climate litigation globally.

Uncle Pabai Pabai says:

“We come in friendship and solidarity to meet with Pacific communities and leaders. The most important part is that we engage together in sharing our experience of climate change and our cultural ways of connecting together, and that gives us strength.”

After years of inaction, the Australian Government has indicated a renewed focus on rebuilding relationships in the Pacific. Last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “the entry fee for credibility in international relations [in the Pacific] in this century is action on climate change.” The Australian government says that it will reduce emissions by 43% in 2030, but this is not enough to save our island homes in the Torres Strait and low lying communities in the Pacific. Leading climate scientists on the Climate Targets Panel calculate that Australia’s greenhouse emissions need to be reduced by 74% by 2030.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Campaigner Steph Hodgins-May said:

“Australia’s relationship with the Pacific is contingent on real climate action, but at a time when we should be moving rapidly away from coal, oil and gas, the government is green lighting new fossil fuel mega projects.”

“The Australian Government must act in line with the best available science to protect everyone’s island homes – a strong submission to the ICJ is a statement in support of communities in Australia and the Pacific who need urgent action to protect them from climate harm.”

Through this voyage, Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul want to build a bridge between Boigu and Saibai in the Torres Strait to Vanuatu strengthening the mutual support between communities. They hope that by working together they can help each other to increase the pressure on the Australian Government, and other countries to take climate action that will protect our communities.

National Museum of Australia Media Release

The National Museum of Australia has launched its inaugural environmental sustainability action plan, which commits it to reducing its carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.

The Museum has embraced both Federal and Australian Capital Territory government legislation and guidelines to achieve certified carbon–neutral status of its building and business practices by or before 2030.

Among the first steps the Museum has taken to reach its targets is acquiring electric vehicles, installing solar panels and reducing the use of utilities.

ACT Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Mr Shane Rattenbury said, “The launch of the National Museum of Australia’s environmental and sustainability action plan is a significant step towards addressing climate change at the community level. By committing to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030, the Museum demonstrates its dedication to taking action on climate change.”

“By setting targets and taking action to reduce emissions, the Museum sets an example for other institutions to follow. This is the kind of leadership we need as we work together to create a zero emissions, environmentally conscious future,” Mr Rattenbury said.

National Museum Director, Dr Mathew Trinca, said, “The Museum takes great pride in setting out its vision of building audience capacity to sustain Australia’s rich natural environment and cultural heritage.

“Through this action plan, the Museum commits to achieving its goals of carbon–neutral certification, reducing its impact on the environment, and engaging audiences with knowledge to promote a sustainable future,” Dr Trinca said.

“We are particularly proud of our new gallery Great Southern Land, which explores Australia’s unique landscapes and biodiversity and asks visitors to consider how the land can help guide us through the environmental challenges of the future,” Dr Trinca said.

This year, electric vehicles will replace two of the Museum’s fleet of six internal combustion engine vehicles, with others to follow as the leases expire.

A 192kW solar panel system has recently been installed on the Museum building’s roof, which provides approximately 4.5% of the building’s electricity requirement.

The Museum’s action plan aligns with the Powering Australia plan’s emissions reduction program, APS Net Zero 2030, which requires the Australian Public Service to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030.

The Museum’s plan also aligns with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals, which seek internationally agreed outcomes in relation to sustainability.

While the Museum is subject to Federal legislation, its location within the ACT allows it to benefit from the ACT Government’s Waste Management Strategy, and electricity derived from 100% renewable sources.

Background

The Museum has developed four streams of activity, which reflect key areas of the Museum’s endeavours that impact on environmental sustainability.

Audience and community – collecting, developing and delivering content that inspires and encourages audiences to join our sustainability ambition and take individual action.

Staff engagement – championing an inclusive approach to improving business practices, knowledge, skills and delivery of sustainability activities.

Energy and materials – improving levels of energy efficiency and the use of ethically sourced and renewable materials in our buildings, services, project outcomes and consumables.

Governance and partnerships – embedding environmental sustainability, implementing best practice and developing mutually beneficial partnerships.

The National Museum’s Environmental Sustainability Action Plan 2023–2030 is available here.

Victoria University Media Release

Victoria University research in partnership with the Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) shows young people are keen to get involved during times of natural disaster preparation and recovery, yet they have few opportunities to help or have their needs heard.

Associate Professor Fiona MacDonald and YACVic colleagues drew on the experiences and views of young people in regional areas affected by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 for the study, and found many felt overlooked during times of crisis.

She called for natural disaster decision-makers and strategies to “change the narrative about young people, and regard them as capable and constructive ‘agents of change’ in their communities, instead of vulnerable and passive victims when preparing for, and recovering from natural disasters.”

Associate Professor MacDonald said this approach echoes an international disaster risk reduction strategy in the United Nations’ Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

“When young people are included in disaster management, there are benefits for themselves, their peers, community, and the environment. Yet as they increasingly seek opportunities to engage with issues that will impact them and their futures, they often find they are sidelined,” Associate Professor MacDonald said.

Young people in the study reported they heard adults talking to them instead of with them, and not seeking their perspectives about what they needed to rebuild their own resilience for future events.

She recommended government, community organisations, and educational institutions establish formal structures to provide opportunities and recognised training for young people to get involved across all levels of natural disaster planning and management.

The research examined the success of Rural Young Activators, a youth empowerment pilot program that was developed in regional Victoria with YACVic following the 2019-20 bushfires to support, upskill, and build the confidence of young people through local advocacy projects.

In 2020, YACVic partnered with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Victoria (RSPCA Victoria) for young people to co-create animal welfare projects following the bushfires.

Research from this program about ways young people could be better engaged and empowered during natural disasters recommends:

• providing opportunities for young people to assist with rebuilding and clean-up, so they develop local skills and a sense of community contribution
• ensuring government-funded youth workers and youth-safe spaces are established in areas prone to natural disasters in advance of disasters to help young people build prior resilience and connections
• ensuring young people are meaningfully included in governance committees that make decisions about disaster preparedness and recovery.

Agents of change in bushfire recovery: Young people’s acts of citizenship in a youth-focused, animal-welfare and environmental program was recently published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Management.

Victorian Forest Alliance (VFA) Media Release

This morning the ABC has reported that the Daniel Andrews government has made a decision to bring forward the transition out of native forest logging, from 2030 to January 2024.

Conservationists and forest campaigners from across the state are celebrating the news, after long, and hard-fought campaigns, some spanning nearly four decades. Only months after the announcement in 2019 that native forest logging would be phased out through a decade-long transition, one of the largest and most devastating bushfires in human memory wiped out more than two thirds of the forest in the far east of the state, decimating forests and wildlife. Despite the catastrophic impacts of the fires, native forest logging continued.

Before the announcement in 2019, and to this day, state owned logging company VicForests has been involved in countless controversies and scandals, from serious breaches to environment laws, to using public funds to spy on conservationists and scientists. Last year VicForests reported a record annual loss of $54 million, subsidised by taxpayers.

Community legal cases and forms of direct action like citizen science have long been used to hold the state-owned logging agency accountable to the law, and to try and protect forests under threat from logging. Most recently a landmark case halted logging where endangered greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders are found. The case was instrumental in upholding VicForests’ legal requirements to survey for wildlife prior to logging, a law they had been ignoring for years.

Spokesperson and Campaign Coordinator for the Victorian Forest Alliance, Chris Schuringa stated, “This is a monumental win; for forests, for wildlife, for climate, and for the hard-working people who have spent countless hours surveying for endangered species, preparing evidence for court cases, lobbying, and campaigning. Some have been fighting for this for over three decades.”

“There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure these forests are permanently protected from all kinds of destructive practices – not just conventional logging. The next priority is to focus on supporting workers through a just transition and restoring Victoria’s native forests, which will provide real, lasting, sustainable employment for regional communities.”

“But for now, we are overjoyed by this historic announcement, and acknowledge the hard work, passion and perseverance of all the people who have been fighting for this for so long.” said Chris Schuringa, VFA Campaign Coordinator.

Burnett Mary Regional Group Media Release

Burnett Mary Regional Group (BMRG) scientists have discovered critically endangered white-throated snapping turtles in the Baffle Creek for the first time.

Researchers made the important discovery recently while assessing the waterway as part of the Australian Government’s Emergency Flood Recovery project for wildlife and habitat.

Until now, the white-throated snapping turtle’s natural distribution had been documented as the Fitzroy, Burnett and Mary Rivers.

BMRG research director, Tom Espinoza, said the breakthrough was made on a freshwater section of the creek near Lowmead with landholder assistance.

Nets were used to safely trap, record and release fish and turtle species.

“It’s the Baffle by name and baffle by nature,” Mr Espinoza said.

“The catchment has a lot of value because it’s one of the only rivers on the east coast of Australia that doesn’t have any major water infrastructure on it.”

Mr Espinoza said three turtles were found, one female and two males.

“The significance of finding three of the turtles is there’s potentially a self-sustaining population of a critically endangered species,” he said.

“It extends the area we now know the species inhabits and genetically it could be very important.

“Historically, this catchment has been rarely sampled for freshwater threatened species, and it’s free of any dams or weirs.

“It’s a largely untouched, natural watercourse.”

Mr Espinoza said next steps included more comprehensive sampling, genetic analysis and risk assessment.

“It’s potentially an important research population to look at how a species behaves in its natural environment,” he said.

“Turtles are extremely important in rivers. They’re the vacuum cleaner of a watercourse; they clean up decomposing organic material and help to maintain good water quality.

“They’re also a totem for local First Nations people.”

The white-throated snapping turtle (Elseya albagula) grows to about 45cm long and is Australia’s largest freshwater turtle. It can live for up to 100 years.

It’s known colloquially as a “bum-breathing turtle” because it can absorb oxygen through its anus while submerged.

Climate Change Authority Media Release

The Climate Change Authority has released a consultation paper inviting Australians to contribute their input to the Authority’s advice on the response to climate change.

The Issues paper, entitled Setting, tracking and achieving Australia’s emissions reductions targets, asks 31 questions including “what do you think Australia’s 2035 target should be?” and “what more could the Government do to help you reduce your carbon footprint?”

“Climate change affects every one of us, and the Authority’s recommendations to Government will be improved by listening to voices across the Australian economy and community. There are significant opportunities and challenges in accelerating decarbonisation, yet the pace of change must increase. Hearing people’s ideas and concerns is vital for ensuring we can present advice to the Government that is based on robust research, the most up-to-date science and the views of Australians”, Mr Brad Archer, CEO of the Climate Change Authority said.

The Authority is keen to hear from the broadest range of perspectives, especially from groups who will be particularly affected by the transition and whose voices can be lost – such as those belonging to First Nations, regional, remote and very remote communities.

The Authority is starting work on four major projects:

• Advice on emissions reduction targets for Australia’s next Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement
• Advice for the Minister for Climate Change and Energy’s Annual Climate Change Statement (2023 Annual Progress Report)
• Review of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (CFI Review)
• Review of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (NGER Review).

“The purpose of this paper is to initiate an efficient, inclusive, and effective consultation process across these four projects. We are seeking general feedback on the Authority’s frameworks for developing advice and more detailed input on a range of issues.”

“We recognise individuals and organisations have different areas of interest. We invite people to answer as many or as few questions as they wish and to share their personal perspectives and experiences with climate change. All feedback is welcome,” Mr Archer said.

Europe is joining a number of other regions on the planet in suffering a prolonged water crisis; and it is one that shows little sign of abating. To this can be added the near catastrophic conditions that exist in other parts of the globe, where ready and secure access to water supplies is more aspiration than reality.

Since 2018, according to satellite data analysed by researchers from the Institute of Geodesy at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), the continent has been enduring increasingly dire drought conditions. Groundwater levels have been, according to the institute, low, despite the occasional dramatic flooding event. Even through winter, there has been no relief.

In a piece published in Geophysical Research Letters, Eva Boergens and her fellow authors picked up on sharp water shortages in Central Europe during the summer months of 2018 and 2019. “In the summer months of 2018, Central and Northern Europe experienced exceptionally dry conditions […] with parts of Central Europe receiving less than 50% of the long-time mean precipitation.”

In July and August that year, vicious heatwaves aided in inducing drought conditions. Much the same pattern was repeated in 2019: below-average precipitation, beating heatwaves in June and July. The consequences for such deficits in water, the authors note, are severe to “agricultural productivity, forest management, and industrial production, with the latter cut back by disrupted transport on inland waterways due to extremely low water levels.” Levels since have barely risen.

The researchers from TU Graz also note the bleak picture from prolonged drought, one all too familiar to those inhabiting dry swathes of land on such continents as Africa and Australia. The dry riverbed and bodies of stagnant water are becoming more common features of the European landscape. Aquatic species are losing their habitats and ecological disruption is becoming the norm.

From the human perspective, the water crisis has also encouraged an energy shortage. The French nuclear industry has prominently struggled with inadequate supply, even in the face of a parliamentary bill to accelerate the construction of new reactors. As Marine Tondelier, national secretary of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV, Greens), declared on March 7, “Once and for all, let’s say it, simply and firmly: at this rate, there will soon not be enough water in our rivers to cool the nuclear power plants!”

In Spain, the country’s weather service, Aemet, has concluded that the situation is nothing less than extraordinary. Last November, Catalan authorities imposed a number of water restrictions, limiting the refilling of pools, limiting showers to five minutes, prohibiting the washing of cars and cutting down the watering of gardens to two times a week.

In Barcelona, water supplies responsible for nourishing six million people, are at risk. The Sau reservoir, for instance, is at a mere 9 per cent of capacity, necessitating the removal of fish to prevent them from perishing.

In Italy, the mighty Po has declined in the worst drought in seven decades. Supplies have fallen in lakes and reservoirs. This is critical for a country which relies more than any other EU member state on those sources for their water supply. The Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) recently noted that the country’s aqueducts lost 42 per cent of carried water supply in 2020.

Last year, over 100 cities in Italy alone were called upon to limit water consumption as feasibly as possible. States of emergency were declared in five regions. This has sufficiently concerned the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni to take a number of measures, though these have yet to bear fruit. In a meeting chaired by Meloni and attended by various top government representatives, a decision was reached that a steering committee would be established involving all relevant ministries “in order to define a special national water plan in agreement with regional and local authorities.” This would involve as yet unspecified technologies.

Legislative measures would also be passed “containing the necessary simplifications and waivers and speeding up essential works to cope with drought conditions.” And, for good measure, “an awareness-raising campaign about using water responsibly” would be launched.

Despite such conditions, a number of European states have struggled to find measures of coping. One obvious response is recycling water. But France, by way of example, has a mere 77 of 33,000 treatment plants in the country up for the task.

The picture only promises to get uglier and more desperate. The 2022 Global Water Monitor Report does little to provide any cheer, observing that the last two decades had “seen increased air temperatures and declining air humidity, increasing heat stress and water requirements for people, crops and ecosystems alike.”

Even in the face of such climatic disturbance affecting that most vital of resources for life, countries will still find the miraculous energy and industry to wage war or at least prepare for it, all the while continuing to despoil environments. In time, the proposition that war will even be waged over water supply is a distinct, disturbing possibility.

University of South Australia (UniSA) Media Release

They’re well known for their industrious work, but now a species of ant on Kangaroo Island is also showing that it is skilled at ‘playing dead’, a behaviour that University of South Australia researchers believe is a recorded world first.

Accidentally discovered as researchers were checking pygmy-possum and bat nest boxes on Kangaroo Island, a colony of Polyrhachis femorata ants appeared to be dead… until one moved.

Researchers believe the ants were ‘playing dead’ as a defensive strategy to avoid potential danger.

Published by CSIRO, this is the first time that a whole colony of ants has been recorded feigning death, and the first record of the Polyrhachis femorata ant species for South Australia.

Wildlife ecologist, UniSA’s Associate Professor S. ‘Topa’ Petit, says she was surprised to discover a colony of what appeared to be dead ants in one of the nest boxes.

“The mimicry was perfect,” Assoc Professor Petit says. “When we opened the box, we saw all these dead ants… and then one moved slightly.

“This sort of defensive immobility is known among only a few ant species – in individuals or specific casts – but we don’t know of other instances when it’s been observed for entire colonies.

“In some of the boxes containing colonies of Polyrhachis femorata, some individuals took a while to stop moving, and others didn’t stop. The triggers for the behaviour are difficult to understand.”

Assoc Prof Petit says that nest boxes may present an opportunity to study the ants’ death-feigning behaviours, which are of great interest to many behavioural ecologists investigating a diversity of animal species.

The discovery was made during the Kangaroo Island Nest Box Project, where 901 box cavities have been monitored across 13 diverse properties as part of wildlife recovery efforts following the devastating 2020 bushfires.

Co-researcher at the Kangaroo Island Research Station, Peter Hammond, says that he used to call the Nest Box Project ‘Friends of the Invertebrates’, because invertebrates were often the only occupants of the bat and pygmy-possum nest boxes.

“We are learning a lot about invertebrates as well as targeted vertebrates,” Hammond says.

“Most of our several hundred boxes are on burnt ground, but we also have some on unburnt properties as controls because our aim is to determine the value of nest boxes in bushfire recovery.

“Polyrhachis femorata is strongly associated with the critically endangered Narrow-Leaf Mallee community, where it colonised several boxes very quickly. However, we also have records for two other properties further west, indicating that the ants will use other habitats.

“We believe that the Polyrhachis femorata species was strongly affected by the bushfires.”

Assoc Prof Petit says there is a lot to discover about this species.

“Polyrhachis femorata is a beautiful arboreal ant that tends to be quite shy, but little else is known about its ecology or behaviour,” Assoc Prof Petit says.

“We have a relatively unknown world of ants under our feet and in the trees. Ants provide crucial ecosystem services and are a vital part of functional ecosystems on Kangaroo Island and elsewhere.

“It is very exciting that such an endearing species as Polyrhachis femorata is living on Kangaroo Island and we look forward to finding out more about its ecology.

“We have no doubt that other ants with similar death-feigning behaviours will be discovered in Australia, but it is thrilling to be among the pioneers.”

Pitch Media Release

Former President of Kirabati, Anote Tong, stands with Torres Strait communities to demand greater action from Australian Government.

Former President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, has been visiting communities in the Torres Strait between 17-24 April to stand alongside Uncle Paul Kabai on Saibai Island and Uncle Pabai Pabai on Boigu island as they bring the landmark Australian Climate Case against the Australian government, demanding emissions reduction in line with the science. President Tong, a well-known advocate for greater global climate action, is visiting as part of the Pacific Elders Voice, a group of former Prime Ministers, Presidents and high-level officials in the Pacific. Today, these communities together release the MURA KALMEL SIPA statement:

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY (“MURA KALMEL SIPA”) BETWEEN
SAIBAI, BOIGU AND PACIFIC ELDERS

At the invitation of the Saibai and Boigu Island Elders, the Chairman of the Pacific Elders’ Voice and former President of Kiribati, HE Anote Tong, visited the Islands in April 2023 and noted that climate-related threats faced by the communities there are similar to those faced by other Pacific Island countries like Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, as well as other Pacific communities on the frontline of climate change impacts.

The Pacific Elders’ Voice, together with Saibai and Boigu Elders, stand in solidarity with each other’s homelands and peoples, and our shared experience in the face of the climate crisis.

We stand together in calling for governments to move away from subsidising fossil fuel projects and take urgent and decisive climate action that will ensure global warming remains below 1.5C.

We stand together in friendship and solidarity in the pursuit of climate justice.

We stand together in asking Australia and those responsible for perpetuating the climate crisis, including the fossil fuel industry, to hear our voices and act immediately to ensure the survival of our homelands, peoples, cultures and way of life.

Signed,

Herbert Warusam
Chair, Saibai Mura Buway PBC
Dhoeybaw Clan Chair and community member

Conwell Tabuai
Saibai Councillor, TSRIC
Director Ait Koedal Clan and community member

Uncle Ialatie Gilbert Akiba
Saibai Migi Buwai Clan Elder and community member

Uncle Elvis Terrigton Warusam
Koey Buwai Clan Elder and community member

Aunty Vera Toby
Custodian of Boigu Island

Uncle Dick Gibuma
Boigu Samu Clan Elder and community member

Uncle Percy Maitie
Boigu Koedal Clan Elder and community member

Brian Peter
Boigu Karbay/Baidham Clan and community member

Pastor Namia Marama
Boigu Spiritual Leader and community member

Tanaio Anau
Boigu Dhoeybaw Clan/Environmental health worker, TSIRC

HE Anote Tong
Former President of the Republic of Kiribati
Chair, Pacific Elders’ Voice

*Mura Kalmel Sipa means ‘all together we stand’ in KKY language.

During President Tong’s tour of Boigu and Saibai the community members across all ages, from children to Elders, are taking part in workshops and training about the causes, impacts and solutions to climate change run by the Edmund Rice Centre’s Pacific Calling Partnership. Elders have been taking President Tong on tours of their islands to examine the damage caused by climate change and discuss the impacts on community, culture, food security and fears of displacement due to sea level rise.

People living in Pacific nations are suffering from much the same climate change impacts as people living in the Torres Strait such as severe erosion from rising seas, saltwater inundation of freshwater areas, saltwater pollution of soil preventing families from growing fruit and vegetables, changes to fishing patterns and impacts on cultural sites including the flooding of cemeteries on Boigu and Saibai. The trip is a reminder of their ancient links and shared cultures.

Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul’s landmark climate case is the first of its kind in Australia. Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul will argue that by failing to prevent climate change the Australian government has unlawfully breached its duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders, because of the severe and lasting harm that climate change would cause to their communities. They are seeking an order from the court requiring the government to prevent this harm to their communities by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in line with the best available science. The first hearing will be held by the Federal Court on-country in Boigu, Saibai and Badu, followed by Cairns in June.

Copyright © 2023 Pitch Projects, All rights reserved

BMRG Ecosystem Resilience Media Release

A 10-day, 150km scientific and cultural expedition along Mary River, funded under the Australian Government’s program for Emergency Flood Recovery for Wildlife and Habitat, has documented flood impacts and endangered species, and uncovered ancient Aboriginal artefacts.

Conducted in canoes, the expedition was a collaboration between Burnett Mary Regional Group (BMRG), Kabi Kabi Peoples Aboriginal Corporation, Jinibara People Aboriginal Corporation, Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, Butchulla Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, Griffith University, and Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee, marking the first time these groups have come together.

Scientists and Traditional Owners used modern technology and Indigenous knowledge to map threatened species, cultural heritage, vegetation, and flood impacts along the river from Kenilworth to Tiaro.

The expedition discovered evidence of occupation along the entire river, including ancient Aboriginal artefacts and scar trees whose bark and wood was often used for shelter or toolmaking; the leftover scars serving as landmarks or territorial boundaries. Baseline habitat records were created for the threatened Mary River turtle, white-throated snapping turtle, Mary River cod, and the Australian lungfish – species unique to the Mary River.

BMRG’s Director of Research, Tom Espinoza, highlighted the significance of the discoveries: “This expedition immersed itself to map the landscape, not only scientifically but culturally, providing valuable data to manage this precious region into the future.” Data was also collected for key cultural species including platypus, freshwater mussels, rakali, large birds of prey and elder trees. As intellectual property, this information will undergo considerations and approvals to determine dissemination of results prior to release.

“If there’s a project to restore habitat in the river, managers will know where the good habitat is and where more work needs to be done. The same goes for targeting flood mitigation, conserving threatened species and cultural heritage,” Mr Espinoza said.

Conway Burns, a Butchulla Traditional Owner, says the trip reconnected three tribes to their ancestral river and allowed for sharing of knowledge with the scientific community.

“Our people have lived alongside the Mary River for thousands of years, and the information gathered during this trip will help ensure the river and its cultural heritage are protected for generations to come, and it will also help our mobs strengthen connections” said Mr Burns.

The collected data will be fed into the Mary River Regional Environmental Account, the first step towards unlocking conservation investment, according to BMRG CEO, Sheila Charlesworth.

“As climate change forces the world economy to decarbonise, investors are looking to direct billions into protecting the ecosystems that sustain us,” Ms Charlesworth said. “To facilitate investment in natural assets, we must first value them, but we can’t value assets until we know what they are, where they are, and how much there is. That is what this expedition achieves. We now have a stocktake of the Mary River’s natural and cultural assets. This information will become priceless.”

Healthy Futures Media Release

This month, the smooth closure of the Liddell Power Station will be celebrated as a historic moment of the inevitable and overdue retirement of the polluting coal-burning facility.

Health professionals lobbying for urgent climate action at Healthy Futures are calling on AGL to align its business plans with the Paris Agreement and close its remaining coal-fired power stations to keep catastrophic global warming below 1.5 degrees.

AGL’s commitment to close its remaining coal-fired power stations before 2035 is still insufficient, and this month’s successful closure of Liddell will show Bayswater and Loy Yang A could be brought forward another 5 years each before 2030.

“We are in a climate emergency and must act now to avoid the worst of the impacts of global warming. AGL is in a position to become a green energy leader and likes to advertise itself as such to no end. But as long as AGL continues to operate Bayswater and Loy Yang A, they will remain one of Australia’s largest carbon polluters” said Healthy Futures Energy Transition Campaigner Bronwyn McDonald.

The closure of AGL’s Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley, NSW, marks a significant milestone in Australia’s transition away from coal and towards renewable energy sources.

This is an important moment in Australia’s energy transition and one with especially good outcomes for public health and the climate.

The closure of Liddell power station shows that it is possible to transition away from coal and that it can be done in a responsible and orderly way. Liddell’s closure will also immediately see cleaner air for local communities.

“We believe that AGL Energy should take this chance to set an even better example for other energy companies and close its remaining coal-fired power stations within the decade and go fully renewable by 2030,” said McDonald.

Healthy Futures believes that AGL Energy should accelerate its investment in renewable energy sources and announce an updated climate action plan that shows how it will align with the Paris Agreement and 1.5-degree target.

Healthy Futures is a network of health and community service workers working together to take action on climate change and protect health.

Climate Change Authority Media Release

Sequestration is a necessary part of any rapid, urgent decarbonisation, and the sequestration industry represents a huge opportunity for Australia if we get it right, according to a new Insights Report released today by the Climate Change Authority.

The paper Reduce, remove and store: The role of carbon sequestration in accelerating Australia’s decarbonisation, contains 23 policy insights as part of a “deep dive” designed to help policymakers, emitters and markets to better understand how sequestration can be scaled-up, accelerated and used responsibly.

What is Carbon sequestration? Carbon sequestration is the capture and storage of carbon. Carbon can be captured from the atmosphere or from point sources of emissions. Once captured, carbon can be stored in geological formations, biological material, minerals, the ocean or long-lived products.

“Meeting the Paris Agreement objectives for limiting global warming is only possible with both rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions and the removal of emissions from the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency indicate the only technically feasible, cost effective and socially acceptable pathways to net zero by 2050 combine ambitious emissions reductions with carbon dioxide removals at far greater scale than at present,” Mr Brad Archer, CEO of the Climate Change Authority said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that for a 50 per cent chance of limiting global warming to below 1.5°C, around 6 billion tonnes of CO2 would have to be removed per year by 2050 globally, and about 14 billion tonnes per year by 2100.

“The Authority’s Report highlights that more work is required to map and understand just how much of Australia’s sequestration potential can be realised,” said Mr Archer.

“While reducing emissions at source is critical, the extent of the climate challenge means there must be effort directed to sequestration. We need to use all the tools in the toolkit. That includes developing a carefully designed portfolio of approaches, as no single technology can achieve the levels of sequestration likely to be needed.”

Other key policy insights from the report include:

• The Government’s forthcoming net zero plan and the Authority’s Annual Progress Reports should include sequestration and identify how it will be delivered and used over time.
• Separate targets for emissions reduction and carbon removals should be set to help incentivise future demand and help guard against sequestration being used to delay emissions reductions.
• Sectoral pathways and targets for decarbonisation would improve understanding of the likely future demand for sequestration, by clarifying the extent to which mitigation is likely to be possible, particularly from production processes in the agriculture and industrial sectors.
• Governments should pursue policies that help ensure there is adequate supply of sequestration to meet demand, including policies that: 1) prioritise direct emissions reductions where economically feasible; 2) protect, increase, and renew biological sequestration; and 3) scale-up engineered and geological sequestration, both onshore and offshore.
• Australia should prioritise sequestration approaches that make optimum use of resources (land, energy, and water) for the volume of carbon stored. Addressing market imperfections would enable markets to better resolve trade-offs in an economically efficient way.
• Global demand for sequestration and low emissions energy is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decades, presenting economic opportunities for Australia to support increasing global ambition, establish new industries and reinvent existing ones.

The policy insights presented in this paper will inform the Authority’s upcoming work, including advice for the Minister for Climate Change and Energy’s second Annual Climate Change Statement and Australia’s next Nationally Determined Contribution.

To learn more, click here.

University of South Australia Media Release

South Australian scientists have documented the catastrophic decline of a stand of red stringybark in the Clare Valley, a tree species that has survived in the region for 40,000 years but is now at risk of extinction due to climate change.

Two severe droughts driven by climate change since 2000 are blamed for “staggering losses” of an isolated population of the South Australian species Eucalyptus macrorhyncha in the Spring Gully Conservation Park.

Multiple surveys led by University of South Australia environmental biologists Associate Professor Gunnar Keppel and Udo Sarnow have recorded tree and biomass losses of more than 40 per cent, during the Millennium Drought from 2000-2009 and the Big Dry from 2017-2019.

More than 400 trees were monitored over 15 years, within two years of their dieback first being reported in 2007.

The scientists say that approximately 250 tonnes of biomass per hectare have disappeared.

“In areas that experienced complete dieback, drooping she-oaks remain as the only trees, suggesting that the red stringybark ecosystem could be replaced by a more open woodland,” Assoc Prof Keppel says.

The research team, which included scientists from the State Herbarium of South Australia and University of Adelaide, has published their findings in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Genetic data show that the red stringybark trees in the Clare Valley have been isolated from their closest relatives in the Grampians National Park in Victoria for about 40,000 years. This predates the Ice Age when Australia was much drier and cooler.

“The Clare Valley provided a safe haven that facilitated the survival of the red stringybark during this arid period. However, current climate change is different from the last glacial age. It is associated with much hotter temperatures compared to the preceding time periods, which were cooler but much drier.”

The team used trees marked by the Department of Environment and Water to document the progress of the eucalyptus dieback in the Clare Valley.

During the Millennium Drought, sites with less water and on flatter ground were most severely affected, while sites subjected to the greatest heat stress were most susceptible during the Big Dry.

Dieback is further compounded by intensive agriculture and viticulture in the Clare Valley, potentially adding more stress and preventing migration to sites that may facilitate the species’ survival.

But there is hope, researchers say.

“Mortality was much lower on the south and east-facing slopes – sites that received less sun and therefore less heat and drought-stress,” Sarnow says.

“In these locations, some regeneration was also evident. Hopefully, the population can persist in pockets that provide milder microclimates.

“If we can manage the population in Spring Gully Conservation Park, protecting these microclimates, we may be able to save this unique element of Australian biodiversity.”

Ever so rarely, the human species can reach accord and agreement on some topic seemingly contentious and divergent. Such occasions tend to be rarer than hen’s teeth, but the UN High Seas Treaty was one of them. It took over two decades of agonising, stuttering negotiations to draft an agreement and went someway to suggest that the “common heritage of mankind”, a concept pioneered in the 1960s, has retained some force.

Debates about the sea have rarely lost their sting. The Dutch legal scholar Hugo Grotius, in his 1609 work Mare Liberum (The Free Sea), laboured over such concepts as freedom of navigation and trade (commeandi commercandique libertas), terms that have come to mean as much assertions of power as affirmations of international legal relations.

The thrust of his argument was directed against the Portuguese claim of exclusive access to the East Indies, but along the way, statements abound about the nature of the sea itself, including its resources. While land could be possessed and transformed by human labour and private use, the transient, ever-changing sea could not. It is a view echoed in the work of John Locke, who called the ocean “that great and still remaining Common of Mankind.”

With empires and states tumbling over each other in those historical challenges posed by trade and navigation, thoughts turned to a relevant treaty that would govern the seas. While there was a general acceptance by the end of the 18^th century that states had sovereignty over their territorial sea to the limit of three miles, interest in codifying the laws on oceans was sufficient for the UN International Law Commission to begin work on the subject in 1949.

It was a project that occupied the minds, time and resources of nation states and their officials for decades, eventually yielding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Brought into existence in 1982, it came into effect in 1995. UNCLOS served to define maritime zones, including such concepts as the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf, the high sea, the international seabed area and archipelagic waters.

What was missing from the document was a deeper focus on the high sea itself, lying beyond the “exclusive economic zones” of states (200 nautical miles from shore) and, by virtue of that, a regulatory framework regarding protection and use. Over the years, environmental concerns including climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution became paramount. Then came those areas of exploration, exploitation and plunder: marine genetic resources and deep-sea mining.

The High Seas Treaty, in its agreed form reached by delegates of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity and Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, retains the object of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. The goal is in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) which was adopted at the conclusion of Biodiversity COP15 in December last year. This, it is at least hoped, will partially address what has been laboriously described as a “biodiversity governance gap”, especially as applicable to the high seas. (To date, only 1.2% of the waters in the high seas is the subject of protection.)

The Treaty promises to limit the extent of a number of rapacious activities: fishing, busy shipping lane routes and exploration activities that include that perennially contentious practice of deep-sea mining. As the Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority explained to the BBC, “any future activity in the deep seabed will be subject to strict environmental regulations and oversight to ensure that they are carried out sustainably and responsibly.”

Laura Meller of Greenpeace Nordic glowed with optimism at the outcome. “We praise countries for seeking compromises, putting aside differences and delivering a Treaty that will let us protect the oceans, build our resilience to climate change and safeguard the lives and livelihoods of billions of people.” There were also cheery statements from the UN Secretary General António Guterres about the triumph of multilateralism, and the confident assertion from the Singaporean Conference president Ambassador Rena Lee, that the ship had “reached the shore.”

The text, however, leaves lingering tensions to simmer. The language, by its insistence on the high seas, suggests the principle of “Freedom of the High Seas” having more truck than the “Common Heritage of Humankind”. (The ghost of Grotius lingers.) How the larger powers seek to negotiate this in the context of gains and profits arising out of marine genetic resources, including any mechanism of sharing, will be telling.

The text also lacks a clear definition of fish, fishing and fishing-related activities, very much the outcome of intense lobbying by fishing interests. Given the treaty’s link to other instruments, such as the Agreement on Port State Measures, which defines fish as “all species of living marine resources, whether processed or not,” the risk of excluding living marine resources from the regulatory mechanism is genuine enough.

Then comes the issue of ratification and implementation. Signatures may be penned, and commitments made, but nation states can be famously lethargic in implementing what they promise and stubborn on points of interpretation. Lethargy and disputatiousness will do little to stem the threat to marine species, complex systems of aquatic ecology, and disappearing island states.