Logan and Albert Conservation Association

Global agricultural practices must change if we are to reduce hunger, poverty and environmental degradation, say a set of comprehensive international reports released by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) in April. These reports present a new paradigm for agriculture that represents an evolution of the concept of agriculture - focusing only on food production - to one that also enhances rural livelihoods while ensuring environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development.

An executive summary of the Synthesis Report is available here and as a pdf file here. A global summary for decision makers is available here.

Professor Roger Leakey, Australia's coordinating lead author of the global report, says the key actions identified in the global and regional reports can be summarised as:

*re-direction of agricultural science and technology - moving away from processes that have profited primarily large-scale enterprises, to processes that address the basic needs of the world's 900 million small farmers and lessen environmental impacts;
*innovation - initiatives that allow local communities to set the agenda alongside scientists and policy-makers;
*investment - in rural infrastructure, local governance and education.
'The overriding challenge is to revitalise farming processes and rehabilitate natural capital. To do this we need to even up the balance between "globalisation", which is the dominant paradigm now, and "localisation",' Professor Leakey says. Read more here.

 The story was provided by  CSIRO Publishing in Ecos Magazine.

TrekNature is a dedicated nature and wildlife photo community, dedicated to fostering a global community interested in nature photography from around the world. TrekNature members strive to provide engaging photographs and useful critiques for each other and the entire internet community.  The underlying theme of TrekNature is learning more about the world through nature photography. TrekNature fosters this by allowing photographers to display their work grouped by regions in a supportive and orderly environment. This is accomplished by an easy-to-use system which encourages people to critique each other's work. Integrated with this system are forums designed to encourage discussion about specific photos, countries, and general topics. Since TrekNature is globally oriented, it is completely multilingual capable, allowing for the widest audience possible.

Photo galleries are arranged by countries Australia is here.

The Queensland Government has produced a state of environment (SoE) report every four years and has completed three reports to date: the 1999, 2003 and 2007 reports. The EPA is the lead agency in the preparation and delivery of the report. The reports describe:

the pressures acting on the state's air, land, inland and coastal waters, biodiversity, and natural and cultural heritage;
the state or condition of the environment; and
the responses by society to reduce pressures and protect and conserve the state's natural and cultural heritage.
The reports are an important tool for environmental management in Queensland. They provide an information base to support the community, industry and government in working towards improved environmental management and the sustainable use of our natural resources.

The report describes the environment in terms of nine major themes (chapters): sustainability; atmosphere; land; inland waters and wetlands; the coastal zone; biodiversity; invasive plants and animals; human settlements; and natural and cultural heritage. Each chapter is made up of a series of issue papers. The report concludes with an assessment of the key legislation relevant to the Environmental Protection Agency in achieving environmental outcomes.

Links to the report, the government's responses, sources are available from the EPA website here

Key policy responses are available here 

Planning for a rapidly growing economy and population
Moving freight and reducing congestion
Understanding climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Managing pollution and waste
Delivering water security
Maintaining and improving liveability
Sustainable use and management of natural resources
Minimising the effects of invasive plants and animals
Understanding and protecting our natural and cultural heritage

The June 2008 issue of Spinifex, QCC's newsletter has some critiques of the Queensland State of Environment Report by Carol Booth and Simon Baltais. This is available for download here. 

PARADISE LOST?
A report released by The Wilderness Society, WWF-Australia and Queensland Conservation shows that Queensland's environment is in a state of decline after ten years of Labor in power. In response, the conservation groups are seeking a strong commitment from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh to usher in a new era of environmentally responsible policy to build on some of the successes and address the major deficiencies in areas such as climate change, biodiversity protection and water management

Paradise Lost?: A review of Queensland Labor Government environmental policies 1998 - 2008 rates the Government's performance in the areas of climate, water and biodiversity. It uses the State of the Environment Queensland 1999 and 2007 reports to track the impact of Queensland Government policies in protecting the environment.

Download the report here.

SEQ WATER STRATEGY - HAVE YOUR SAY!
The Queensland Water Commission's (QWC) 50 year water supply strategy is nearing the end of its consultation phase. You can read it on the QWC website at www.qwc.qld.gov.au/SEQWS. Public submissions are due by the 31 July.

We encourage you to lodge a submission, as the more submissions QWC receive the more they will take notice of community concerns.

SNEAKY politics had a win at Logan City Council's ordinary meeting last week.
But more importantly, ratepayers got their first true glimpse since the new council was sworn in of how politics is played in Logan City, and the picture painted was not pretty.
Deputy Mayor Russell Lutton's successful attempt to bypass debate and alter the recommendations attached to a confidential planning and development committee item should alarm Logan City ratepayers. Obviously unwilling to accept the recommendations put forward, Cr Lutton rallied enough votes to have a previous set of recommendations reinstated and the new recommendations dumped.
Some may say ‘that is democracy' as Cr Lutton had the numbers on the day, but it was the way the Deputy Mayor went about having the recommendations altered which is cause for concern.  His latest move ensures relations between two factions which have appeared within Logan City Council will remain frosty. It also raises questions as to why Cr Lutton felt no additional debate was required on what most councillors have described as an item likely to have a "significant" impact on the city's growth.
Crs 'gagged'  By Henry Tuttiett  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
THE veil of unity at Logan City Council has been shed as infighting between councillors boiled over during debate on a confidential planning and development report last week.

Although the report remains confidential, Jimboomba Times understands it concerns a submission to the State Government including information on the future development of North MacLean .

The report was titled 'Growth Management Core Matters' and was confidential under section 463 (l)(h) of the Local Government Act 1993 which states, "other business for which a public discussion would be likely to prejudice the interests of the local government or someone else, or enable a person to gain a financial advantage".

Division 11 Councillor Hajnal Ban accused Deputy Mayor Russell Lutton of intentionally gagging the debate after he moved a procedural motion on the confidential planning report.

The details could not be debated in open council due to the confidential nature of the report and the motion was adopted.

The motion made redundant a set of recommendations previously agreed upon by councillors, instead reverting to the original recommendations.

The move created immediate unrest among councillor ranks with Crs Ban, Darren Power and Aidan McLindon recording their dissent against the motion and Sean Black recording his against the entire planning and development report.

Cr Ban said she was disgusted at how the issue was handled.

"I am not going to speak about anything in the report because obviously it's confidential," Cr Ban said
."But I think the way this was handled was deplorable. It makes a mockery of the local government process and democracy.

 "Cr Ban said Cr Lutton intentionally moved the motion to block debate on the item, which she called "significant".

"I am disgusted the Deputy Mayor would move a motion which effectively gagged debate," she said.

"It didn't even allow the opportunity to move into closed session to debate. He was well within his right to do so but I don't think that item, as significant as it is should have been handled that way." .

Despite the report's confidential status, Cr Black hinted it had major implications for North MacLean.

"The biggest fear I have is I don't support the North MacLean precinct, where it's at," Cr Black said.

"It's not worth destroying the lives of the people living there. The revolting way the whole issue has been handled by council, long term, will be viewed by the public in a very poor light.

"The way it's been handled will enrage the community. It enraged me."

Cr McLindon said Cr Lutton's motion was politically motivated and unethical.

"At the executive (meeting prior to the ordinary meeting) we had all the amendments in front of us and everyone was happy. It's legal what they did but I don't think it was ethical."

Despite the motion, Cr McLindon said he did not think the report should have been confidential in the first place.

"It's secret politics and I don't like it at all," he said.

Planning and development committee chair Cr Cherie Dalley declined to comment while Cr Lutton did not return phone calls from Jimboomba Times.
• Editorial, page 32

Jimboomba Times reporter recently visited and spoke with Logan and Albert Conservation Association Project Officer Carla Parker on site at Cedar Vale where some precious remnants remain. A copy of the newspaper story follows.

PROTECTION FOR SCRUB

A FRAGILE ecosystem based around endangered dry vine scrub species has attracted a Logan City Council grant to help protect the remaining pockets of scrub. The Logan and Albert Conservation Association was awarded $5000 to produce a colour brochure containing information on how to identify and protect the scrub.

Project coordinator Carla Parker said there was very little of the scrub left, although small patches could be found in Cedar Vale, Veresdale and surrounding areas."With development, that's eliminated a lot, as you can imagine, but there is still little patches of it left and we'd love people to recognise that and to try and preserve what we've got, because once it's gone, you can't get it back," Ms Parker said.

She said the brochure would help people who may have the scrub on their property, but did not recognise it or know what to do about it.

"The project is about informing, educating the community about what we have here, and to recognise it, protect it and encourage it," Ms Parker said.

"In this brochure we will be suggesting how to manage, to assist our wildlife, because they have to be sustained by what native vegetation we leave.

"We'll be giving people suggestions on wildlife friendly fencing, for example."

A late 2005 Beaudesert Shire Council report noted the Veresdale scrub originally covered about 7000ha from Cedar Vale to Waters Creek but only 4ha, or 0.06 per cent, remained.

The community services committee report noted the 1.48ha Champney reserve was considered one of the most biologically significant patches of bushland in the shire and contained 74 native plant species including one that was presumed extinct until the 1980s.
Ms Parker said the brochure would be distributed in numerous ways including letterbox drops and through information centres.

"It will encourage the community to manage this environment more sustainably and assist in retaining the natural environment, lifestyle, and amenity of Logan country and contribute to community wellbeing," Ms Parker said.

"If you've got pleasant surroundings - not just bricks and tin roofs - obviously that's got to make you feel better inside."

 Carla Parker identifies plant species at the Champney's dry vine scrub reserve in Cedar Vale.

Logan City Council recently recognised and awarded Logan and Albert Conservation Association's valuable long term restoration project in the endangered remnant dry vine scrub rainforest. Our group has received funding to continue surveys of flora and fauna and present that information in brochure format for the local community especially. Project Manager Carla Parker proudly received the certificate and cheque at the presentation event. Mayor Cr Pam Parker made the presentation. 25 groups in all received recognition and funding.

If you are interested to follow discussions and decisions made by council concerning Environment and Sustainability issues, one way is to read the minutes of meetings. Council in May agreed to participate in EPAs Koala Habitat Mapping program and also a Queensland University research project called Conserving species in Human Modified Landscapes. The document for the committee meeting Tuesday 27 May 2008 is available on Logan's website.  

The minutes of the previous meeting, available here contains discussion about State of Environment Queensland 2007.

The release of the report was widely reported in the media with the key issue of our ecological footprint being 7.19 global hectares which is three and a half times the world average. Whilst it states that this is 2% less than the Australian average, it must be recognised that this is very much a consumption based measure and the Australian average reflects more on the higher consumption rates of major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.
Other key issues of relevance include:-
• Queensland's greenhouse gas emissions increased by 4.9% from 1999 to 2004 despite the reduction in tree clearing which contributed a fall of 26.2% for that sector of the emissions.
• Air quality remains good with few exceedences of the Air National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) and where they occurred in SEQ it was the result of essential burning programs and bushfires.
• Atmospheric concentrations of Ozone depleting substances continue to fall.
• The States wetlands continue to be lost at the rate of 7,000 hectares per year.

• Salinity is expected to affect 3.1 Million hectares by 2050.
• The Brisbane and Logan estuaries are reported for poor water quality.
• Point source discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus have reduced slightly but no data is available on diffuse discharges.

Meeting dates are available online here.

The following was obtained from a recent CSIRO newsletter  Science by Email 27 June 2008  available free by subscription. See current issue here.

Seeing our native fauna lying injured - or dead - on the side of our roads is an all too common sight. It is an unfortunate reminder that the wilderness surrounding our cities is often little more than islands of habitat, making it risky for animals to move about.

In the past, a solution has been to erect a series of nets spanning the width of the highways - a lofty pedestrian crossing for possums. While there is some evidence that animals will use these walkways, only recently has this been studied in detail.

Ecologist Rodney van der Ree, from the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, has completed the first study investigating the behaviour of animals in a habitat prior to a bridge being constructed. "We've been able to measure the extent of the problem before the bridge went up," Rodney says.

Using radio tagging, a range of marsupials - including several types of possum - were tracked for six months near the Hume Highway in Victoria. Their movements across the highway were recorded.

The tiny squirrel glider was the only animal studied capable of gliding between trees. It was found that it only crossed the road where large trees were grown on the highway's median strip. Other animals, such as brushtail possums, simply did not cross at all.

Reduced movement in a habitat can destroy entire populations of native species. Without the ability to relocate, groups of fauna are threatened by diseases that can spread rapidly. For threatened species, such as the sugar glider, this could make a significant impact on their numbers.

While the study is not yet complete, early results indicate that many animals are making use of the rope bridges. For example, some ringtail possums have been recorded crossing the walkways up to fifty times over six months. Others, such as brushtail possums and sugar gliders, have been seen making partial crossings. A number of other animals such as magpies, spiders and geckos have also been spotted on the bridges.

This information will be used to make decisions concerning where future bridges will be built. As more roads are built and more native bushland is affected, knowing how this will impact on our wildlife is becoming increasingly important.

Why did the possum cross the highway?
Because it can do so safely - at least that is what an Australian study into the impact of wildlife rope bridges shows.

He says early results show the animals have acclimatised to the bridge.

Since June last year they have recorded more than 50 crossings of ringtail possums and almost as many partial crossings, seven partial crossings of brushtail possums and four partial crossings by squirrel gliders.

"These early findings are impressive as they show that native animals have acclimatised to the 70 metre rope bridge and are using it to cross the highway to find food, shelter and mates," says van der Ree.

He says the squirrel glider results are particularly positive as they are faced with the threat of extinction in Victoria and New South Wales.

The team will continue to monitor movements for another few years to determine whether population sizes on either side of the highway change and what motivates the animals to use the bridge.

He says climate change will also increase the importance of similar structures as animals will need to move from lowlands to highlands as the temperature increases.

"Ultimately the measure of success is whether the population size on each side of the road increases," he says.

"This is not just about crossing the road, this is about reducing the risk of extinctions."

See some photos and read more here.