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Thank
you, David, for expressing well a concern I am sure many of us have. On
this forum, it is probably true to say that we are all concerned about land
clearing, pesticide use, shooting, 4WD overuse, feral animals, National Park
preservation, etc, etc. But far too often well meaning people will just
pick up on an opinion expressed on a forum like this and race off with
petitions, letters to Ministers or into the media, without doing what David
urges - explore and investigate the issue - from all sides -
first.
Many,
many times, the pleas of "conservationists" are ignored or, even
worse, ridiculed because the arguments and facts are not well understood
and are not well represented by these (well meaning) folk. Unfortunately,
the whole cause of moderation and common sense in conservation is then damaged
and given less credibility, through the media and politicians, into the eyes of
"the man in the street", i.e. the people who really need to be
convinced.
I
rarely follow up on the requests on this forum to send letters, etc., as I do
not have all the facts. If it really concerns me I will learn more and
then act if I believe there needs to be action.
Please, explore and think first - act later!
Bob
Cook
Mildura
Victoria
The draft
Regulation and other documents will not deliver on the Governments promise to
end broadscale landclearing for the following reasons:
Ø There is no
ban on clearing of remnant vegetation. Instead, a system of offsets has
been introduced which will mean that putting a fence around one patch of
remnant vegetation can be used to gain approval to legally clear another area
of remnant vegetation.
Ø In addition, there are numerous loopholes and
flaws that will allow extensive clearing without any environmental assessment
or approvals being required. Added to this is the fact that core
provisions are essentially unenforceable.
I think the above is a bit simplistic and, perhaps, even a bit
misleading. If you are interested in this subject I suggest you do a bit
of research rather than accepting the opinion of others (including myself).
It's interesting that some green groups are not happy with the new
regulations, particularly as they supported them not so long ago. It
seems they have something in common with the farmers who are also not happy.
The new system is not a
perfect one but I think it will deliver an end to broadscale land clearing in
NSW. Why? Because the system in place to deliver the offsets
mentioned above (through Property Vegetation Plans) requires the farmer to
work through a series of processes before the Dept of Infrastructure &
Natural Resources (DIPNR) can give the green (or red) light to the
development. To say that putting a fence around one patch of remnant veg
will allow another patch to be cleared is reducing the case to it's simplest.
A number of conditions must be met before such an offset is allowed.
The farmers aren't happy because they can see that these conditions are
going to be very difficult to meet and that, in essence, broadscale land
clearing will cease.
I'm
not sure what the loopholes and flaws mentioned above are. It would be
nice if these loopholes and flaws were explained rather than just expecting
one to accept that they exist.
The impacts from clearing native vegetation are severe and many are
irreversible - the destruction of wildlife and habitat, erosion, widespread
salinity, the release of greenhouse gases, and the extinction of species.
And yet this regulation gives more of the same and will not solve the
problem of landclearing.
The
clearing of native vegetation, along with the lack of regeneration, is a major
issue in the long term survival of our birds. It is the primary reason
why Regent Honeyeaters (and many other woodland birds) are now endangered.
The new regulations are far from perfect but I think they will fulfil
one thing, the end to broadscale land clearing in NSW. What I think may
happen in the future is that the system proposed will be overhauled to make it
more workable. The one advantage of this is that it will allow those
interested in the conservation of our woodlands to get their head around the
problem and come up with some workable solutions.
Cheers
David Geering
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