Notices by BellingenNSW (bellingen@mastodon.au)

The Murray-Darling Basin
A $13 billion, 30-year flop: landmark study reveals stark failure to halt Murray-Darling River decline

"Some A$13 billion in taxpayer dollars and 30 years of policy reform have failed to arrest the devastating decline in the health of Australia’s most important river system, the Murray-Darling Basin, new research shows."

"Historically, state governments have allowed too much water to be taken from the system, primarily to irrigate crops. This has caused extensive environmental damage such as toxic blue-green algae blooms, dramatic falls in bird and fish populations and undrinkable town water supplies, to name just a few.
The damage has been exacerbated by invasive species, climate change, dams that block water flows, and bush clearing which makes water running into rivers more salty."

"Troublingly, we found that after more than a decade of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, 74% of success indicators were not met. This means there was either no improvement or worsening conditions.The Murray-Darling Basin Plan is due for review in 2026. Clearly, monitoring to date has been inadequate. Our paper outlines ways to fix this, so real outcomes are achieved."

"Among our suggestions, river ecosystems could be mapped to ensure Australia meets its international obligation this decade to restore 30% of inland water ecosystems and include 30% of these ecosystems in protected areas.And those responsible for implementing the basin plan, primarily state and federal government agencies, should be held accountable when targets are not met".
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https://theconversation.com/a-13-billion-30-year-flop-landmark-study-reveals-stark-failure-to-halt-murray-darling-river-decline-244296
#water #rivers #ecosystems #MDB #murraydarling #extractivism #cotton #biodiversity #GBF #Kunming #birds #fish #governance #failure #FishKill #IndigenousPeoples #rights

Native freshwater fish at risk of extinction

"More than one-third (37%) of our freshwater fish species are at risk of extinction, including 35 species not even listed as threatened...At present, 63 freshwater fish species are on Australia’s national list of species declared as threatened under federal environmental law."

"Invasive fish such as brown and rainbow trout are the biggest driver of native fish loss...Australia’s southern states are greatly adding to the problem by releasing millions of trout into waterways each year for recreational fishers...The other major threats facing native fish are agriculture and aquaculture (38%), pollution (38%), hunting and fishing (19%), energy production and mining (17%), and urban development (13%)."

"In 2022, the Australian government made a commitment to end extinctions. Our study provides a blueprint for how to do that for our overlooked native freshwater fish."
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https://theconversation.com/troubled-waters-how-to-stop-australias-freshwater-fish-species-from-going-extinct-242950
#fishes #biodiversity #conservation #rivers #extinction #InvasiveSpecies #trout #fishing #RecreationalFishers #sport #agriculture #aquaculture #pollution #mining #DynamiteBlasting #SettlerSociety #sprawl #EPBCAct #IUCN

"Our leaders are collaborators with fossil fuel colonialists. This is the source of our communal dread. We act like colonial subjects because, in effect, that’s what we are. A child born now will experience 24 times the number of extreme climate events as a politician born in the 1960s. The IPCC’s latest report states emphatically that to spare the worst effects of climate breakdown there should be no new fossil fuel development."
Tim Winton
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/30/our-leaders-are-collaborators-with-fossil-fuel-colonialists-this-is-the-source-of-our-communal-dread
#FossilFuels #ClimateBreakdown #climate #coal #CivilDisobedience #resistance #ProtectProtest #disrupt #ClimateAnxiety #ExtremeHeat #livability #YoungPeople #parenting #Intergenerationaljustice #SettlerSociety #ExtremeClimateEvents #Australia

"Air pollution
accounted for 8.1 million deaths globally in 2021, becoming the second leading risk factor for death, including for children under five years. Of the total deaths, noncommunicable diseases including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) account for nearly 90% of the disease burden from air pollution."

"In 2021, more than 700,000 deaths in children under 5 years were linked to air pollution; this represents 15% of all global deaths in children under five.'
State of Global Air Report 2024.
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https://www.stateofglobalair.org/resources/report/state-global-air-report-2024
#air #Pollution #cars #COPD #PM2.5 #Particles #combustion

What’s so bad about a road?
Roads are forest killers.

"A road means access. Once roads are bulldozed into rainforests, illegal loggers, miners, poachers and landgrabbers arrive. Once they get access, they can destroy forests, harm native ecosystems and even drive out or kill indigenous peoples. This looting of the natural world robs cash-strapped nations of valuable natural resources."

"When ghost roads appear, local deforestation soars – usually immediately after the roads are built. We found the density of roads was by far the most important predictor of forest loss, outstripping 38 other variables. No matter how one assesses them, roads are forest killers."
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Ghost roads and the destruction of Asia-Pacific tropical forests
https://theconversation.com/roads-of-destruction-we-found-vast-numbers-of-illegal-ghost-roads-used-to-crack-open-pristine-rainforest-227222
#roads #NativeForests #rainforest #biodiversity #deforestation #extractivism #destruction #LoggingIndustry #NSWLogging #BellingenLogging #access #LoggingImpacts #mapping #roadless

‘Revolutionary’: EU Parliament votes to criminalise most serious cases of ecosystem destruction

"Countries will have two years to put the updated directive, which covers crimes 'comparable to ecocide', into national law. Ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, will be punished with tougher penalties and prison sentences under the EU’s updated environmental crime directive."

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/02/27/revolutionary-eu-criminalises-the-most-serious-cases-of-ecosystem-destruction
#ecocide #law #EU #logging #ecosystems #destruction #crimes #CarbonMarketFraud #greenwashing #Agro-IdustrialPollution

Therapists see surge in eco-anxiety as smoke fills skies.
"The climate crisis is a main talking point in the weekly therapy sessions. The more people experience the crisis first-hand, the more they realize they need to have support to talk about it...The fires have triggered a sense of fear, rage and despair, which is a completely healthy response to what we’re witnessing on Earth.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/09/climate-crisis-psychology-new-york-smoke

Never Forget: They Knew
"As fossil fuel executives join the rest of us currently choking on the ash of old growth forests being consumed in the apocalyptic conflagrations directly linked to their actions, we must never forget: THEY KNEW."
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/8/2174113/-Never-Forget-They-Knew
#OneHealth #FossilFuels #PetroleumIndustry #Fires #Bushfires #Smoke #Pollution #Forests #Biodiversity #EcoAnxiety #ClimateCrisis

Despite $246.9 million in taxpayer money, Forestry Corporation still lost $28 million
"The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has today released a new report from Frontier Economics which reveals for the first time that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been gifted to the taxpayer owned logging business Forestry Corporation NSW over the past five years."

"The report finds the taxpayer-owned logging business received $246.9 million worth of grants since 2019/20 financial year, while the hardwood division (which is responsible for native forest logging) made a loss of $28.2 million over the same period"
>>.
https://www.echo.net.au/2023/11/despite-246-9-million-in-taxpayer-money-forestry-corporation-still-lost-28-million/

"The NSW Government needs to come to terms with the fact that native forest logging is a dying industry and make a plan for a transition. How much more taxpayer money has to be wasted and endangered animals killed before this reality sinks in?" Statements attributable to NCC Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford
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https://www.miragenews.com/forestry-corp-loses-28m-despite-246-9m-taxpayer-1120847/

Public native forest logging: a large and growing taxpayer burden, report
"The Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) asked Frontier Economics to examine the financial and budgetary drivers behind the Victorian Government’s decision to accelerate the closure of its public native forest logging (NFL) – and how comparable these drivers are in New South Wales and Tasmania.
Poor financial performance and associated budgetary burdens associated with State run NFL operations are common across Australian jurisdictions. Taxpayers are bearing the cost burden of these risky and persistently loss-making government businesses."
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https://assets.nationbuilder.com/natureorg/pages/2713/attachments/original/1699421741/23-11-02_Public_native_forestry_a_growing_taxpayer_burden_Final_report_STC_%281%29.pdf?1699421741
#NSWLogging #LoggingIndustry #NFL #tax #NativeForests #StopLogging #degradation #biodiversity #ThreatenedSpecies #habitat #TheGreatKoalaGhetto #wildlife #koalas #ClimateEmergency #ExtinctionCrisis #conservation #SaveTuckersNob

Marcia Langton: ‘Whatever the outcome, reconciliation is dead’
>>!
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/indigenous-affairs/2023/10/14/marcia-langton-whatever-the-outcome-reconciliation-dead#mtr

"As the late Patrick Wolfe phrased it, “settler colonizers come to stay: invasion is a structure not an event.” Settler colonialism as a “structure not an event” captures the idea that settler colonial invasion of Indigenous lands should not be contained as a phenomenon of the past, but rather is continually reproduced throughout the history and present of settler societies..."
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-politics/article/abs/review-essay-on-settler-colonialism/E861A62A56088716F22C34C77C01F5C9

Australians reject Indigenous recognition via Voice to Parliament, referendum set for defeat
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-14/voters-reject-indigeneous-voice-to-parliament-referendum/102974522

#Australia #Australians #culture #truth #Voice #reconciliation #IndigenousPeoples #rights #21stCentury #Constitution #Parliament #PatrickWolfe #SettlerSocieties

Why was there no water to fight the fire in Maui?

"Big corporations, golf courses and hotels have been taking water from locals for years. Now the fire may result in even more devastating water theft."

"All over Maui, golf courses glisten emerald green, hotels manage to fill their pools and corporations stockpile water to sell to luxury estates. And yet, when it came time to fight the fires, some hoses ran dry. Why?"

"This is a classic case of the most craven disaster capitalism: a small elite group using a profound human tragedy as their window to roll back a hard-won grassroots victory for water rights, while removing civil servants who pose a political inconvenience to the administration’s pro-developer agenda."...
by Naomi Klein and Kapuaʻala Sproat

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/17/hawaii-fires-maui-water-rights-disaster-capitalism
#bushfires #disasters #water #rights #theft #golf #plantations #developers #resorts #SettlerCulture