Re: landclearing - and the future of birds in nsw

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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