During National Threatened Species Week, Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) is calling on the Victorian government to deliver on its election promise to review the state’s threatened species laws and has released a report setting out how to do so. EJA is questioning the progress made to date by the Victorian government to meets its commitment …
Key points: Legislation will permanently ban development, production of all unconventional gas in Victoria Moratorium on conventional gas extraction to be extended until 2020 Government says ban will protect Victoria’s agriculture sector The Victorian Government is introducing legislation to permanently ban exploration and development of unconventional gas in the state, including coal seam gas and …
Bushfires in Australia can have a devastating impact on an environment and destroy homes and lives, so any effort to prevent them is a welcome move. But the way that we have traditionally understood bushfires and forest flammability in Australia is not up to the challenges of our changing climate. Thankfully, a new approach is …
The Earth’s biodiversity is under attack. We would need to travel back over 65 million years to find rates of species loss as high as we are witnessing today. Conservation often focuses on the big, enigmatic animals – tigers, polar bears, whales. There are many reasons to want to save these species from extinction. But …
Pretty much everyone is sick of the slogans used by the major parties in the election. But jobs, growth and fairness remain pertinent to the current situation in the native forests of Victoria’s Central Highlands. There, the reality is that native forest logging provides few jobs; it is not a growth industry – its resource availability …
Wildlife carers say they cannot continue to nurse injured kangaroos back to health only to risk having them shot by a neighbouring farmer once they are released. Marcus Ward, owner of the Pastoria East Wild Life Shelter, says he will have to close his doors after 30 years. He said he was left with little choice after the Department of Environment, Land, Water …
Greg Hunt is gone, but the man who replaced him is likely to be even worse on climate action. Max Chalmers reports. For environmentalists, climate scientists, and any Australian who wants the Great Barrier Reef to outlive them, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that Greg Hunt is no longer …
UP TO 300 staff responsible for managing Victoria’s public land could be forced to reapply for their jobs in a “spill and fill” process, according to the union that represents them. A proposed restructure of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s Forest, Fire and Regions Group would leave the workers — most in …
The viability of Victoria’s government-owned native forestry business has been thrown into doubt by a high-level analysis concluding it takes more than $5 million of investment in roads, machinery and equipment to create a single timber job. A confidential report by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers warns VicForests is “not generating an appropriate return” to meet its stated objectives, including maximising its contribution to the …
From the Wombat Forestcare Newsletter – June. With thanks to Tanya Loos “As you read this, an estimated 400 billion individual feathered dinosaurs, of 10,000 species, can be found on earth, in almost every habitable environment. You need only step outside and look up into the trees and the wide blue skies to find them.” …
