Invitation for public comment on the draft National Recovery Plan for the Koala.

The Department of the Environment and Energy have drafted a “National Recovery Plan for the Koala.” “The National Recovery Plan for the Koala identifies national-level strategic actions to support recovery of the EPBC Act listed Koala.” The plan “sets out the research and management actions necessary to stop the decline, and support the recovery, of the…

World Environment Day Festival – Knox Park Murwillumbah

UN: “THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A MORE URGENT NEED TO RESTORE DAMAGED ECOSYSTEMS THAN NOW.” UN Secretary General: “Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Biodiversity is collapsing. Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes.” Ecosystems are the systems of inter-related, inter-dependent lifeforms on this planet. This year’s event launched “The UN Decade on…

Public Statement to Au & NSW.gov from AFCA et al [incl. CEC]: “Reject plans by Verdant Technologies to recommission Redbank Power Station.”

We call on the governments of NSW and Australia to reject plans by Verdant Technologies to recommission Redbank Power Station near Singleton and use native forest biomass as fuel.  Redbank operated as a coal-fired power station from 2001 to 2014 when it was mothballed after the company went into receivership.  The new owner, Verdant Technology,…

Your Native Forests Are To Be Used As Furnace Fuel For Electricity

Your Native Forests are to be industrially fed into electricity power station furnaces overseas – to replace the now banned coal – to boil water to turn turbines to make electricity to be used momentarily then it is gone. ‘Somehow’, The European Union have legaly declared that burning Native Forests as coal-replacement fuel for electricity generation…

Hope, Resilience and Healing for Humanity and the Earth – Workshop

A Work that Reconnects workshop at the Chillingham Community Centre on the 23rd of May Time: 8.30am-4.30pm. “We are living through difficult times, witnessing immense growing social injustices and the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth. Many of us feel called to act, and while political engagement is crucial, many are also asking, how do we…

The SEPP 2021 Explained

State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) (Koala habitat Protection) 2021, in the Ministers words:  1. SEPP21 Gets land zoned for primary production or forestry out of the SEPP “Land zoned for primary production or forestry in regional NSW will not be subject to the new SEPP.” 2. SEPP21 Gets the Koala-Habitat-Protection-Laws out of the SEPP  “Koala…

D Day for Koalas

Dailan Pugh, North East Forest Alliance. It is D Day in the Koala Wars, this is the day we need to turn around Koala’s extinction trajectory and begin their recovery. First we need to urgently identify where their core habitat is and then we need to protect it, to save Koalas we need to stop…

Submission – ‘Nightcap on Minjungbul’ (DA21/0010) Caldera Environment Centre

Submission opposing DA21/0010 ‘Nightcap on Minjungbul’. A concept development application (DA) was lodged with Tweed Shire Council on 14 January 2021 over land at 2924, 2956, 2984 and 3222 Kyogle Road, Kunghur & Mount Burrell, hereafter referred to as “the site”. The application seeks approval for: Integrated Development – staged concept development application under s4.22 of…

Local Koala Protest – National Day of Action

MEDIA RELEASENorthern Rivers Guardians Inc. Koala advocates demand Koala habitat protection The clouds parted and the sun was shining on koala advocates who gathered at Knox Park in Murwillumbah on Saturday, for the Northern Rivers Guardians (NRG) hosted #SaveOurKoalas Day of Action. The Murwillumbah event was one of many similar public gatherings scheduled to be held across…

NEFA: Forest Media

NEFA: Forest Media Koalas continue to be the key issue. Kean came under attack from the ALP and the right-wing shock-jocks when it was revealed that he had been strongly advised not to set a target for Koalas before he announced he was going to double their populations. He thought it was good politics. His…

Friends of the Koala, Cudgen Nature Reserve, Caldera Environment Centre Representation to the Member for Tweed, the Hon. Geoff Provest, MP

Conserving and recovering Tweed’s koala populations The issues on which we seek representation:  1. Local Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2020 – Adverse impact of Private Native Forestry (PNF) Amendments and ‘Allowable Activity Land’ The amendments to the discredited Local Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2020 not only sought to double the duration for PNF…

North East Forest Alliance Meeting with Geoff Provest

NEFA considers it reprehensible that the NSW Government have refused to approve Tweed Shire Council’s Koala Plan of Management for the past 6 years because they wanted it weakened, even though two Government agencies helped draft it. The National’s Local Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill sought to limit accreditation of Koala Plans of Management under…

Bob Brown Foundation: UPDATE 2: “The judgment was against us as the Federal Court decided that the purpose of the RFA Act was not to protect the environment.”

The Bob Brown Foundation campaign and court action to end native forest logging (!), a monumental legal case challenging the regulation of native forest logging.  The Great Forest Case is the best chance in a generation of ending native forest logging.   UPDATE 1:   The Great Forest Case hearings were on 2nd and 3rd of December! The Bob…

NEFA: Forest Media Review

Forest Media Review from the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA)     Burning forests for electricity not on:  The Nambucca Guardian had an in-depth story on biomass (with a focus on Way Way, Newry, Tarkeeth, and Redbank) (citing Michael Jones, Susie Russell, Dailan Pugh).  https://www.nambuccaguardian.com.au/story/7118714/will-nambuccas-forests-be-burnt-for-electricity/   … A group of over 500 international scientists have written to…

EPBC Act Review Condems EPBC Act

“… the EPBC Act does not position the Commonwealth to protect the environment, … it is not fit to manage current or future environmental challenges.” “Australia’s natural environment and iconic places are in an overall state of decline and are under increasing threat. The current environmental trajectory is unsustainable. “The EPBC Act is ineffective. It…

TSC Towards Zero Waste Strategy – Have Your Say

Tweed Shire Council Towards Zero Waste Strategy is on exhibition until Wednesday 28 April. The Towards Zero Waste Strategy that aims to guide Council on future actions and targets towards zero waste practices. To view the details, and to have your say about it please visit www.yoursaytweed.com.au/zerowaste at the TSC website.

The Wollumbin Caldera

Caldera pic

The Wollumbin Caldera is one of the three top biodiversity hotspots in Australia. It covers an area of approximately 1500 sq km and supports around 1250 types of plants. The Caldera includes a high diversity of ecosystem types because it is in an area where temperate and sub-tropical bio-geographic areas, both terrestrial and marine, converge.…

End the subsidies that destroy our forests

NCC: “… we are subsidising the destruction of our remaining native forests. Over the past seven years, we have propped up the uneconomic native forests logging industry to the tune of $79 million.” Taxpayer handouts to destroy the ecology. “End subsidised and unprofitable logging of our public state forests.” Read the full report here.  The NCC…

Australian Native Forests Are To Replace Coal As Furnace Fuel For Electricity

Australian Native Forests are to be industrially fed into electricity power station furnaces overseas – to replace coal – to boil water to turn turbines to make electricity to be used momentarily then it is gone. ‘Somehow’, The European Union have legally declared that burning Native Forests as coal-replacement furnace fuel for electricity generation plants is…

CEC Movie Club: Rob Kooyman – Gondwana, Northern NSW

Rob Kooyman, forest ecologist of note, traces the history of the ancient forests of Gondwana, until now, bringing the focus to the forests here, the forests of Northern NSW. The new 29 min film by Frontier Films (David Bradbury). Proudly presented here in association with the The Caldera Environment Centre. About Rob Kooyman … protected…

UN Secretary General: “Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal.”

“Biodiversity is collapsing. Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes. Human activities are at the root of our descent toward chaos.” The UN Secretary General listed the human-inflicted wounds on the natural world: the spread of deserts; wetlands lost; forests cut down; oceans overfished and choked with plastic; dying coral reefs; air pollution, … “Next year…