Friday 17 January 2020

News from the Australian bushfires

Government to maintain 

kangaroo cull despite 

bushfires

12 January, 2020

Despite estimates that over a billion animals have been killed by bushfires, the NSW government has given no indication it will cease commercial kangaroo culling.

A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment (DPIE) told Yahoo News Australia that a significant portion of the fire activity in NSW was in the non-commercial management zone along the coast.

The spokesman noted that commercial harvesting had already been suspended in four areas due to low population densities.

DPIE will be monitoring fire and harvesting activity within the commercial management zones and will be engaging with commercial harvesters and animal dealers that may operate within the affected zones,” the spokesperson said.

Our goal is to ensure that kangaroo populations remain ecologically sustainable.”

In the fire-ravaged coastal areas, at least two prominent kangaroo sanctuaries have been decimated by the fires.

Sara Tilling from Cobargo Wildlife Sanctuary told Yahoo News Australia that few animals remain alive on her 850-acre property.

We’ve just lost our only survivor from our mob. I’m not in a great space right now,” she said.

Nearby, Wild2Free near Batemans Bay was also destroyed, but a handful of kangaroos remain and they are being tended to by sanctuary owner Rae Harvey.

Ms Harvey told Yahoo News Australia last week that before the fires she considered the area to be the last stronghold of kangaroos in NSW.

The fires have gone all the way to the water and they’ve had nowhere left to run,” she said.

I couldn’t talk to people about it – I just felt their fear, and pain.

There’s no wildlife left now, we’re killing the last of them.”

Unless a sophisticated aerial count is done, there’s absolutely no way the minister for the environment should allow any slaughter of any kangaroo for any purpose,” he said.

That doesn’t matter whether it’s commercial, mitigation, or recreational.

The government should move to ceasing all harm to them.”

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Mr Pearson revealed that after assisting with fire-affected animals, he submitted a letter to the NSW environment minister today calling for the kangaroo cull to be immediately halted.


He noted the Victorian government announced yesterday that it will suspend the commercial cull until authorities could ascertain how wildlife numbers had been impacted by the fires. 
At least 80% of the Blue Mountains world heritage area and more than 50% of the Gondwana world heritage rainforests have burned in Australia’s ongoing bushfire crisis.
The scale of the disaster is such that it could affect the diversity of eucalypts for which the Blue Mountains world heritage area is recognised, said John Merson, the executive director of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute.
The data is based on a Guardian Australia analysis of areas burned in New South Wales and Queensland and was confirmed by the NSW government.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/17/its-heart-wrenching-80-of-blue-mountains-and-50-of-gondwana-rainforests-burn-in-bushfires

https://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/6573247/shenhua-coal-to-start-exploration-drilling-next-week/


The Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission has found Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) acted unlawfully and “completely ignored” climate change projections when determining water allocation.


The findings of the Commission were made public on Thursday and highlighted the complex web of issues threatening the Murray which are exemplified by the recent fish deaths in the Darling River and dry riverbeds at Walgett in NSW.



The report was particularly critical of the government’s failure to acknowledge scientist recommendations in the past and lack of openness when describing water management decision-making processes.

https://australiascience.tv/australians-have-been-lied-to-murray-darling-royal-commission/


From July, 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/11/nsw-deputy-premier-vows-to-open-up-murray-valley-national-park-to-logging?CMP=share_btn_fb

Parts of Australia are littered with animal carcasses as wildfires continue to devastate the country, an animal charity has said.

I can barely describe it,” says Evan Quartermain from Humane Society International. “In some places you can’t walk 10 metres without coming across another carcass.”

The charity has rescued animals on Kangaroo Island suffering from burns, smoke inhalation and mental trauma, as well as building food and water stations for unharmed animals.

The island – famous for its natural wildlife – is “utterly scorched with charred animal bodies everywhere”, according to the Humane Society International CEO.


At one area, which was badly burned a week ago, the scenes were nothing short of apocalyptic,” Erica Martin said. 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-wildfires-latest-news-animal-deaths-humane-society-international-kangaroo-island-a9282681.html




 
 The devastating bushfires currently ravaging the country have been burning for months and have resulted in dozens of lives lost and thousands of homes destroyed.


Countless Australians have been impacted by the bushfire crisis, with the blazes turning many lives completely upside down.

A series of aerial images taken in bushfire affected areas and provided by Nearmap show the major impact these fires have had on multiple communities.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/photos-show-huge-impact-fires-have-had-on-aussie-communities/news-story/f93eb2bd4982341510706411bd8387cc


A DROUGHT-HIT Australian town has run of water weeks after a Chinese water extraction operation was given the go-ahead.


The town of Stanthorpe in Queensland is dependent on 42 truckloads of water a day, which is transported in from a dam around 60km (37 miles) away.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10739475/australian-town-out-of-water-as-chinese-firm-allowed-to-take-from-drought-area/
As a mega-fire continues to burn in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area near Sydney, concern about the future of some of the region's unique flora and fauna is increasing.

Key points:

  • Experts say it could take centuries for the ecosystem to recover after the bushfires — if at all
  • Wildlife rescue groups have seen a large loss of kangaroos, wallabies, possums, insects and marsupials, and other groups fear relic plant species could be "wiped out"
  • The Invasive Species Council is calling for culls to address feral animal populations while vegetation cover is reduced

Local plant and animal rescue groups have been swinging into action to help with recovery, but one expert has warned that the environment may "never recover".

"It will take decades or even centuries to recover," said Brajesh Singh, an ecosystem ecologist at the Hawkesbury Institute.

"And the rate of recovery will also depend on rainfall in the next few weeks, months and years.


"Action should be taken reduce greenhouse emissions, move to a carbon neutral economy and reduce the rate of global warming."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-01-15/blue-mountains-bushfire-recovery/11869056


 

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615035/australias-fires-have-pumped-out-more-emissions-than-100-nations-combined/?utm_campaign=site_visitor.unpaid.engagement&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social_share&utm_content=2020-01-14


Farmers are facing a sudden spike in fodder prices, on top of drought and 

fire costs





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Australian Woman Speaks The Truth - People Who Have Lost A Home, NEED A HOME, NOT A 

THERAPIST!


She responds to the Australian gov't allocating $76 million for mental health services to fire victims. Does anyone know this woman channel? If so, please drop the link below.

Thank you. aplanetruth 4u


Should you want to donate, I would very much appreciate it. I have a PayPal account under smilinrocks@gmail.com. Thank you


From April, 2017






“We have been made trespassers on our own country,”


The Queensland government has extinguished native title over 1,385 hectares of Wangan and Jagalingou country for the proposed Adani coalmine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin - without any public announcement of the decision.


The decision could see Wangan and Jagalingou protesters forcibly removed by police from their traditional lands, including lands used for ceremonies.

W&J Council leader Adrian Burragubba, and a group of Wangan and Jagalingou representatives, had been calling on the government to rule out transferring their land, arguing they had never given their consent for Adani to occupy their country.

In a meeting with government officials Friday, seeking a halt on leases being issued for mine infrastructure, they learned the state government had instead granted Adani exclusive possession freehold title over large swathes of their lands on Thursday, including the area currently occupied for ceremonial purposes.





Bushfire victims are wary of using caravans as temporary accommodation due to a NSW law preventing their long-term use without council approval.

The issue was discovered by volunteer organisation Find A Bed, which was set up as a mediator between those who want to donate between the bushfire recovery effort and victims.

They have received caravans as donations for emergency accommodation, but a state law is stopping people from accepting the offer.

The legislation states caravans, campervans and tents can only be used for two days at a time without prior council approval. They also can’t be occupied for more than 60 days over a 12-month period.

Find A Bed co-founder Erin Riley tells Luke Grant they have approached the state government and asked for an exemption for bushfire victims.

We haven’t got a yes yet but it was positive, so we’re hoping that a bit of attention and a bit of pressure might get this amendment added.”

Adani mine would be 'unviable' without $4.4bn in subsidies, report finds
Read more

We have been made trespassers on our own country,” Burragubba said.

Our ceremonial grounds, in place for a time of mourning for our lands as Adani begins its destructive processes, are now controlled by billionaire miner Adani.

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview



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