We should use Australia’s environment laws to protect our ‘living wonders’ from new coal and gas projects

Wed, 1 Nov 2023 12:16:19 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/we-should-use-australias-environment-laws-to-protect-our-living-wonders-from-new-coal-and-gas-projects-214211>

"From Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef in the North, to the Snowy Mountains in
the Southeast, and jarrah and marri forests in the Southwest, Australia is home
to incredibly diverse ecosystems. Many of our plants, animals, birds and fish
are found nowhere else in the world.

Our First Nations people protected these living wonders through their holistic
approach to managing the land and caring for Country for more than 65,000
years. But the European settlers took a different approach and the land
suffered.

Federal laws made in 1999 to better protect the environment are failing.
Climate change is not explicitly mentioned in the legislation. These
shortcomings have prompted a volunteer environment group to mount a legal
challenge against federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek “to protect our
living wonders from coal and gas”. The matter is currently before the courts.

This week’s new report from the Climate Council Australia (which I was an
expert reviewer on) explains the problem with our environment law and charts a
way forward.

The fundamental flaw in our national environmental law must be urgently
addressed if we are to have any hope of protecting our wildlife and habitat
into the future."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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