Forests, land and agriculture
Sydney Morning Herald
Landscape management expert Peter Andrews believes unpredictable weather across Australia is more likely due to widespread gross mismanagement of our land than the impact of global warming. Andrews briefed the Sydney Morning Herald’s Paul Sheehan on the direct connection between land use and weather systems, while also strongly criticising management of the Murray-Darling Basin and the cogency of the Australian Greens party.
posted by seamas on January 3, 2012 at 7:23 am · filed under 
Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Greenpeace is calling on the Queensland Government to reject an application by mining company Waratah Coal to create Australia’s biggest ever coal mine in the Galilee Basin. The group claims the proposed “China First” mine will see open cut mining in the 8000-hectare Bimblebox Nature reserve and result in millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions.
posted by seamas on December 26, 2011 at 3:15 pm · filed under 
Sydney Morning Herald
A concerning spike in forest clearing in New South Wales is revealed in a newly released government report. A total of 42,700 hectares of trees were cleared for forestry, farming or infrastructure in 2010; that’s 38% more than the previous year and almost double the average seen over recent decades. About half of the forest was cleared for crops and grazing, SMH’s Ben Cubby reports. The spike means logging is closing in on bushfires as the biggest cause of forest destruction in the state. Although the government claims no net loss of forest when accounting for regrowth, conservation groups are concerned it is not doing enough to prevent clearing of habitat and watersheds.
posted by seamas on December 23, 2011 at 7:02 am · filed under
The Wilderness Society
The Wilderness Society reports that a whopping 4.5 million hectares of land around the pristine rivers, lakes and wetlands of the Lake Eyre Basin will now be kept safe from coal seam gas and petroleum mining, irrigated agriculture and other destructive industrial activities, thanks to a decision by the Queensland Government. Ten additional Indigenous Wild River Ranger jobs will be created to help ensure the protection of these rivers.
posted by seamas on December 20, 2011 at 7:14 am · filed under 
WWF
Indonesian NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest and WWF are drawing attention to the hollowness of claims by Asia Pulp & Paper that it is working to protect Sumatran tiger. The company fails to acknowledge in it’s blatant greenwashing, that it has been responsible for logging more than two million hectares of Indonesia’s tropical forests in recent decades, including elephant, tiger and orang-utan habitat; and, most shockingly, even clear-cutting inside the “Senepis Tiger Sanctuary” that it claims to have helped create in Sumatra. The company had also previously tried to halt a government-proposed national park in the area.
posted by seamas on December 15, 2011 at 7:28 am · filed under 
The Wilderness Society
More than 1,000 companies and organisations have signed the Wilderness Society’s Ethical Paper Pledge, promising to ditch Reflex paper products. The Wilderness Society has linked the Reflex brand with the destruction of native forests and is campaigning for the manufacturer to change its ways.
posted by seamas on November 11, 2011 at 7:21 am · filed under
The Wilderness Society
Greenpeace Australia Pacific, The Wilderness Society and My Environment have jointly released an international report detailing repeated failures of the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) forest certification standard. “On the Ground 2011″ draws on case studies from the US, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Europe and Malaysia to show that PEFC certified products are being sourced from areas where high value forests are being destroyed and human and community rights are being abused. The PEFC stamp (and its Australian affiliate AFS) is widely used on products in Australia and around the world.
posted by seamas on October 17, 2011 at 8:16 pm · filed under
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