What about species mapping?
EPA is underfunded, so species are officially unrecognised, meaning environmental protection (as it stands) cannot be triggered. EPA Environment Protection Agency is a victim of the Bligh government restructuring process and has been subsumed into DERM Department of Environment and Resource Management.
Environmental consultancy firms are not bound to rigorous practice in assessing areas for development. There is no peer review.
Private individuals and groups often know more about conservation values of an area than government/commercial authorities, but have limited voice.
Beleaguered species - Koala, Platypus, Quoll ...
SEQ Koala should be declared endangered - there is enough evidence to convince many koala scientists of rapid decline to extinction of the Koala Coast koala.
Redlands Koala are the subject of State e-petition and a Stateline Report.
Logan City Council and Gold Coast City Council equally, if not more of concern; koala populations not officially recognised.
Logan City Council and Gold Coast City Council are also home to similarly unmapped platypus, quoll and other wildlife populations.
Some impacting societal factors in SEQ...
Large numbers of people are relocating to SEQ - encouraged by State Government - every week 1000 - 1500 people.
State Government SEQ Regional Plan Urban Footprint crushes habitat - and it has mechanics to keep expanding.
There are very limited requirement for sustainability practices - benchmarks do little better than 'business as usual'.
Prevalence of low socio-economic and low educational levels leads to zero or anti ecologism as people themselves struggle to stay alive.
The Baby Bonus is highly utilised by people in the low socio-economic communities with low educational achievement.
Impact of borderline location
As an area or precinct on the outer edge of three diferent local government areas, the unique value of Bahrs Scrub has been overlooked. Studies have been begun - but not carried through to fruition. Fragmentation of council processes has resulted in loss of value and important waterways - major and minor - have been neglected because of ever changing jurisdictions.
This has been - and continues to be - a challenging situation for the local community who strive to preserve unique ecosystems within Bahrs Scrub Precinct.
Some less than ideal situations.
EAGLEBY WETLANDS while a very welcome community asset does not address the imbalance of a sewerage plant that was built along the banks of the Albert River and the general area given over to Housing Commission estates.
What potentially should have been prized riverfront land now has low real estate values. The area is host to many bird species of international conservation value. Australia is a signatorary party to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, called the Ramsar Convention, which is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
YATALA
This area is now an extensive massive industrial development of the moonscape variety with associated quarries and the multiple roadways to accommodate increased quarry truck use and possibly to link future city-size developments to Motorway over Darlington Range.
Prior to this massive industrial development there was a very large scale koala forest (unmapped) - and also viable waterways for platypus (unmapped). Current planning for local area plans and development applications have not improved in reality, Flora and fauna studies do not occur before city-size planning occurs. Seems incredible that despite all the government spin and rhetotic there are currently many examples where essential koala habitat is not being mapped and some community infrastructure is being planned.
ORMEAU
Ormeau is known to home to pockets of rare, threatened and officially undiscovered - so unmapped -, unique species, presently threatened by the third quarry for the area. Much eucalypt forest / koala areas have been lost to urban development on mostly small acreage blocks.
Climate Change Issues and Deforestation Avoidance
Biodiversity loss will be accelerated and exacerbated by climate change.
Revegetation / fauna-relocation cannot reproduce lost species or totally replicate the original ecosystem.
Revegetation is promulgated as a method of drawing down atmospheric carbon; however, deforestation avoidance is equally crucial in addressing atmospheric carbon: existing forests serve as carbon storage / sinks; decaying or burned vegetation releases more carbon into atmosphere.
An ETS has the potential to make preservation of forest as lucrative as reafforestation.
Emissions Reductions Targets will not be met by SEQ local council areas if deforestation for urban expansion continues at present rate;
loss in Logan and Gold Coast shires is arguably already too great! {backbutton}