Econews - Sunshine Coast

By Paul Mischefski

The movement towards a return to living in communities is one that is growing in momentum in Australia and world-wide. Smaller micro-communities and larger ventures are springing up alongside others that have been long-established.

Yet many people also consider a move to community living with a mixture of curiosity, dread, some fear and uncertainty over losing independence and whether or not it is a truly viable option. Done the right way and with the right approach, living in a community can provide an immensely rewarding lifestyle and quality of life.

However, without a good organisational structure and a clear sense of direction, communities can run the risk of ending up as simply a microcosm of what is happening in the outside world - the type of situation many have been set up to try and grow beyond.

Working bee and Communities Convergence Conference at Bellbunya Community

The return to living in communities is being fuelled by awareness and a growing bulk of eco-scientific evidence that intensive living in sprawling cities, booming population growth, spiralling property prices, pressure on water supply and infrastructure and a world facing finite and dwindling resources is a recipe for unsustainability.

Governments have been pursuing a cheery and seemingly reassuring drive towards a healthy-appearing economy. But the underlying disquiet over sustainability is becoming too loud to ignore.

Several years ago I interviewed Richard Heinberg, from California, one of the world’s leading authorities on the anticipated/looming peak oil crisis.

Richard’s medium-term vision for Australia was one of people in cities being forced to divide into smaller, more sustainable urban communities focussed around co-operative growing of community-garden food sources and shared resources.

Once fuel becomes too expensive or sparse to support the agricultural industry and the transport of food supplies to hungry cities relying on the food chain of local supermarkets, people will have little option but to adapt to a massive change in lifestyle and approach to self sustainability.

As Richard pointed out, much of the world has been complacent over the need to learn the skills to support a new way of existence. It is part of human nature to leave things until it is forced upon us and then rely on crisis management.

Some conditioned to materialism and convenience will do it painfully, others will adapt with resilience. But it does not need to be an issue around fear. Richard predicted that those who do adapt to the change proactively will help to create a new paradigm of human co-operation and a much more enlightened and healthy society based on people values.

Many spearheading the movement towards communities are pioneering new methods of resourcefulness and skills sharing, it is an evolving industry of learning and adaptation.

Yet many people also consider a move to community living with a mixture of curiosity, dread, some fear and uncertainty over losing independence and whether or not it is a truly viable option.

SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITIES
Creating a successful community requires some fundamental elements, which can be viewed as a balance of Yin and Yang, or head and heart – Spiritual values and communication to support people and resolve human issues, and effective organisational systems to keep practical day-to-day needs running efficiently and maintain progress.

Where many communities struggle is in not having an effective organisational or project management system to share the inevitable workload and development that needs to take place.

It often falls on the shoulders of a few inspired people who eventually lose motivation and become discouraged.

One well-proven system involves dividing the community up into key areas of responsibility that are each overseen by a small working group, meaning all bases can be covered.

Effective use of time/energy and “people-power” teams means the whole community can move as a workforce resource around these different areas and knock out what needs to be done, under the direction of the relevant working group and using checklists they have devised.

A team of 12 working in a concerted way for just a few hours, or one hour a day, can achieve what a few people would take a week to do. With a bit of practice and commitment, it can become very streamlined.

The Spiritual health benefits to the community come from a great boost in morale from the teamwork, a sense of achievement and progress, and a learning of tolerance and camaraderie from working alongside others.

It is building this sort of co-operative effort and team contribution mindset that will be a strong and vital asset in years to come. Traditional communities like the Amish of North America, through to the tribal communities of the Pacific Islands and New Zealand have always had this down-pat.

Likewise they always take time to celebrate and acknowledge their achievements, which can be one of the great joys of living in community. Singing, jokes, conversation, building valuable, genuine friendships and a shared meal afterwards are great motivators.

PERSONAL IDENTITY
Often one of the biggest arguments to living in community and one of the biggest reasons why people leave, or resist the desire to live in community, is the feeling of losing the “sense of self”, or being absorbed in the needs of the community and the issues of others.

The system above is one key in helping to overcome this. When people know there are consistently scheduled times when they can fulfil their contribution to community and responsibilities are clarified, the rest of their time and independence becomes clear.

A Spiritual mentor I had always had a favourite saying: “When things are organised, people are relaxed. When things are disorganised, people get under pressure.”  It is an important energy to understand.

Another vital key, particularly in a close community is having a clear understanding of the distinct and different energies of personal time, business time and social time.  And likewise personal space, business space and social space.  It is a necessary advance on understanding healthy boundaries, and very effective.

Living in community can sometimes be like living in a giant share house. There is always someone who wants to chat when others are trying to stay focused on important business or earning a living from their space within the community. Fragmentation and distraction can be energy-sapping and the financial vitality of the community as a whole can suffer if this area is not understood clearly and practised proactively and with a positive, co-operative attitude.

SPIRITUAL WELLBEING
The Spiritual health or wellbeing of a community can also determine its overall vitality and success.

Community living by its very nature can attract people who are inherently creative and possibly a little rebellious against the idea of status quo. It is often why they have left the mainstream.

Recognising and appreciating this and giving it space and direction to flourish can utilise some of people’s strongest assets. Anywhere there are people living together there will unavoidably be conflicts and differences of opinion. It is vital to have regular communication or clearing circles where the community gets together as a whole and creates a genuine, safe “heart space” to hear each other fairly and focus on creating solutions to give that energy direction.

Nothing can cause frustration and resentment in people more than feeling they are not being heard or listened to. Over time, small grievances can build into larger resentment if regular clearing circles are not being held. What is not being expressed will still be felt uncomfortably on an intuitive level.

Heart circles can require some good facilitation skills, and if the role is shared around it can become a major area of personal growth for anyone. Done well, the heart circles can also be a great area of personal growth, communication and character development, moral support and personal wellbeing for many.

Communities which have a common Spiritual belief and values focus, such as Buddhism, already have a great advantage.

Where this is not the case, a mixture of different beliefs and values systems can benefit from having a concerted focus effort to reach agreement on the core values and mission statement of the community.

Some form of optional Spiritual development group, as well as healthy lifestyle practices such as yoga and meditation, can become the life blood and cultural richness of a community and nourish its people.

Communicating or relating workshops such as the increasingly popular Non-Violent Communication can be a vital asset for maintaining harmony.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Living in a closer community can sometimes be like an ongoing workshop, and it can also be a great deal of fun and growth and source of enduring friendships. It helps greatly if people have the character resilience of a sense of humour and some personal development training, or if this is an ongoing activity within the community.

Areas of self-awareness like tolerance, patience, listening skills, good verbal communication, respect for people’s space and views, honesty and integrity can become valuable assets to getting on with others.

It is a good basis also if people become aware of their own motivations and what is involved in living in community, so it is a clear and conscious choice. Finding a community that resonates in values is a wise move also.

LEARNING CENTRES
It can be a great benefit if a community sets up its own 'learning centre', where people with different skills can run workshops or exchange knowledge or services and healing modalities.

This can create an avenue for bringing income and valuable cashflow opportunities into the community also.

Often communities have a particular strength or success they have developed, such as renewable energy source, developing biodynamic or permaculture food supply, cottage industries, low-cost building practices, or obtaining grants and funding.

A project I am working on with a few other community-builders is developing an exchange network between communities where facilitators can travel to share their individual skills and knowledge with other organisations.

As these various aspects of a community and its structure develop and strengthen, they begin to attract more of the type of people with the skills and motivation to want to help make a difference.

With the right approach, communities can become a vibrant, efficient, growing and viable option for sustainable living and shared resources, rich in people and culture.

***

WORKSHOPS

Paul will run a series of workshops at the Bellbunya Community eco-conference centre, at Belli Park,  10km from Eumundi, on the Eumundi – Kenilworth Rd.

Saturday, July 31, from 6.30pm – 9pm:  COMMUNICATE AND LISTEN, on safe relating and heart circle skills. Cost $30.

Sunday, August 1,  from 8.30am to 5pm:  MANAGING EFFICIENT COMMUNITY,  this will include setting up a community project management system that can be adapted for share-housing or a business.  Cost $100. Bring a plate for shared lunch.

Monday, August 2, For those wanting to stay overnight, practical coaching on team-building projects will run from 9am to noon.  
Bookings:  (07) 5447-0181 or  0429-478-129, or paulmis@powerup.com.au

See:  www.bellbunya.org.au for details.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Mischefski is a journalist, photographer, environment and social issues writer and lifeskills trainer. He has studied communities from the Pacific Island and New Zealand cultures to the Amish of North America and societies in Northern India. Paul has lectured extensively throughout the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and spent several years in the US helping to manage a world-wide chain of Spiritual retreat centres. He runs Spirit In Organisation Processes For Communities.

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By Jaylene Musgrave

Australia's world heritage listed Fraser Island is renowned for its beautiful dingoes but the country's purest strain of dingo is now on the verge of extinction under the Queensland Government's current management plan. Some of the Australia's leading experts are speaking out on the sad plight facing the island's dingoes.

The late Steve Irwin's father, Bob, says the dingoes have become emaciated and weak since the electrification of grids and fences on the island. More than 100 dingoes live on the World Heritage-listed island but, since electrification began in 2001 after the attack and death of 9-year-old Clinton Gage, the animals now have limited food sources. A multitude of dingoes, including puppies have been shot and poisoned on the island in the wake of the boy's killing.

Throughout Queensland, hundreds and possibly thousands may have been poisoned and shot in the week following his death.  Renowned scientist Alan Winton predicts the fate of the island's dingoes is an inevitable one if the Government's management plan is not changed.

Photographs show malnourished dingoes on the island, including one animal loitering around a rubbish bin at the Eurong dump looking for food. Can you imagine an Australia without the dingo?

Well, it's something you may not have to imagine if this continues as Fraser has the countries purest strain, and scientists agree there will be no wild dingoes left except in dingo parks and sanctuaries.

Sustainability Minister Kate Jones and Premier Anna Bligh continue to take advice from their minions instead of visiting the island and need to be held accountable for the excruciating pain the dingoes are suffering daily and their ultimate demise, if nothing is done immediately.

The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service defended the dingoes' wellbeing and say the animals are "not starving".

"It is important to remember that dingoes in the wild are of a naturally lean build," an EPA spokesperson said.

"The hierarchical population structure means the dominant animals are likely to prevent access to food by subordinates, and this means there will always be some animals that are in poorer condition than others."

Residents of the island sighted the dingoes bringing rats to their pups before electrification of the fences and grids but now some of the dingo mothers are believed to be too weak to feed their young.

Bob Irwin  says the current laws are “heavy-handed".

"Nobody should have to walk past an animal that's starving and the Fraser Island dingos are emaciated,” he said.

Hervey Bay MP Ted Sorensen has spoken to Minister Jones to discuss the health and feeding of dingoes on the island .He says claims there is no evidence of dingoes on Fraser Island starving to death are "laughable". Mr Sorensen says the minister is out of touch and she should visit the Island.

"To say that is absolute rubbish at the end of the day and I think Kate Jones should go over there and have a look at some of the dingoes on Fraser Island that are starving," he said.

"If you had a dog like that in your backyard, the RSPCA would have you charged with animal cruelty for what's happening on Fraser Island."

But Ms Jones says there is a healthy number of dingoes on the island and a census is under way to confirm the population level. Ms Jones says she has seen no evidence the dingoes are starving. She says feeding stations are inappropriate because the dingoes are wild animals. She also says the government's dingo strategy is working.

But Mr Sorensen says he fears the island's management strategy is affecting the health of the dingo population.

"With the amount of animals that have been shot on Fraser Island I'm really concerned about the number of dingoes," Mr Sorensen said.

On online petition being circulated has hundreds of people worldwide expressing their disgust at the way the dingoes are being mistreated with many saying they won't return to the island until and when the dingoes are made a priority and protected.

Nicola Ziebarth is one such visitor and writes: "If you went to America would you let your kids run around the forest with wild bears? No you would hope to be smarter than that.  In saying that, dingoes are wild animals and we as Australians should respect that and be aware that if you are going to camp on Fraser that yes, there are wild animals there. I have camped there prior to the first culling after slack parents did not watch their children as they climbed over a fence that was clearly posted with signs to stay out as dingoes had young -- we had no problems with the first lot of dingoes who were on our camp site. People just need to be smarter, watch their children and not interfere with the dingoes and keep their wits about them."

It is not the dingoes that have created a problem on the island, it is people, and people need to rectify this abhorrent and shameful situation before these precious animals go the same way as the Tasmanian Devil.

For more information visit Jaylene's website - Eden Handmade Chocolates

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By Sharon Green

A cypress framed and clad cottage nearing completion.

The South East Queensland Regional Plan has predicted that the population of the region will grow from 2.8 million in 2006 to 4.4 million by 2031.

The Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning claims that this rapid growth will create the need for an additional 754,000 new homes.  As the state government chatters excitedly about economic growth, many of us wonder about the cost to the environment.

We can't avoid using some timber products in most building and that means trees do have to be logged.  Look around the building you are sitting in right now.  Check out the window frames, door frames, doors, floors, walls and of course what's holding it together;  the framing.  So when you set out to build your new home, add that essential 'parent's retreat' or  build  a new deck, how are you going to know which timber is the best for biodiversity?  You can get a different perspective depending on who you talk to.

Many construction industry professionals have come together to move the industry in the direction of sustainable forestry management.  The Green Building Council of Australia, responsible for the Green Star Rating System for green building, acknowledges  both the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as robust regulatory bodies.  Both are internationally recognised and both utilise the idea of chain-of-custody certification.  This type of certification claims to make it possible for anybody to verify that the source of the timber is legal and from a sustainably managed forest.  

However, it does seem that some certification standards are greener than others.  For example, the FSC will not certify any plantation timber sourced from a stand that replaced natural forest, cleared after 1994.

Dave Kirby from Kirby Fine Timbers on the Sunshine Coast is a saw miller who believes that biodiversity can be protected by logging these older Queensland plantations.  His small stands from Eumundi to Amamor provide him with enough rainforest hardwoods to supply musical instrument manufacturers worldwide and some local joiners and furniture makers.  He says though the plantations, (monocultures -- one type of tree),  do not support biodiversity at all -- these forests are eventually clear-felled and then regenerated again as plantations.

“These old plantations are as green as it gets, I'm against clear felling old growth forests. Plantations are the best way to provide industry with the timber products we need and preserve the rest.”

Though the AFS promotes itself as similarly responsible as the FSC, its certification of all Forestry Tasmania practises means that it approves the clear-felling of old growth forests.  The Forestry Tasmania website proudly states: “One of the key outcomes of the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement was the commitment by the State and Federal Governments to reduce clear-felling in old growth forests to 20 per cent of the old growth harvest by 2010."

This level of so-called 'sustainable' forest management may not sit well with many people and points to the need for those involved in the building industry or those currently managing their own building project to do their own research.

Richard Beaumont from Cooroy Joinery and Woodworks points out that the industry is complicated and is hopeful that the FSC certified wood he uses to craft doors, door frames and windows is as sustainable as FSC claims.  He says that the New Guinea Rosewood he likes to work with is not clear-felled but selectively logged by locals who are paid fairly or may even share in the profits.   He is also assured that similar situations exist in other countries where he sources timbers from the old growth forests in the Solomon Islands to the plantations of Mahogany in Fiji.  

Greg Phipps from Eco Cottages in Pomona thinks he has hit on the perfect green timber.  He uses cypress for most parts of each building.  Apparently there is more cypress in Australia now than there was when Captain Cook visited.  Greg says that cypress is sensitive but robust, naturally resistant against termites and, best of all, it won't grow effectively in a monoculture.  It is not drought resistant but can survive on very little rain, about 300mm a year.

“It is a prolific seeder.  When it does rain, the trees throw lots of seeds but then if it grows too thick, it goes into lock up, it says to every other cypress tree, don't eat and drink too much and then what you get is thick spindly trees that are not much use.”

In this case, human interference actually aids biodiversity because cypress does much better through selective logging and in a mixed forest environment (thus when the cypress is logged, the forest remains).  However, this is not apealing for the big companies.  Cypress cannot be clear-felled thus reducing the speed and quantity of the operation.

“The good thing about Cypress for farmers,” says Greg, “is that is not only encourages biodiversity but also income diversity.  Cattle farmers can encourage stands of cypress on their land for selective logging.”  

Andrew Webb from WD Architects in Cooran says that there are rarely any perfect solutions for both good environmental outcomes and good mass-market construction outcomes.  But, cypress comes pretty close to that for framing, “if the industry would shut-up long enough to take notice and stop their scrambling over each other trying to show who's high-energy, toxic product has more green cred.”

Andrew says cypress isn't suitable for every application but it is the stand-out winner for framing timbers.  Auracaria cunninghamii (hoop pine) has a lot going for it too.  Timbers for other applications, particularly window and door frames, are a much harder proposition but generally logs from a small-scale community production, such as CBFT-certified timbers (Community Based Fair Trade), on the evidence seem to be the most sustainable for a good quality product (and if the finished product is not of a reasonable quality, it's unlikely to be sustainable).  

Staying local as much as possible is a good policy but unfortunately there are no easy answers.  So when beginning your building project, start with the the Good Wood Guide , talk to some locals and be aware of the many shades of green.

Image Credit: Andrew Webb from WD Architects.

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Cob lends itself to organic shapes.The word "cob" comes from an old English root meaning "a lump or rounded mass".

Cob builders use their hands and feet to form lumps of earth mixed with clay, straw and sand. It is a sensory and aesthetic experience similar to sculpting with clay. Cob is very easy to learn and inexpensive to build.

Because there are no forms, ramming, cement or rectilinear bricks, cob lends itself to organic shapes: curved walls, arches and vaults. Earthen houses are cool in summer and warm in winter.

Cob has been used for millennia, even in the harsh climates of southern England, where thousands of comfortable and picturesque homes have been continuously occupied for many centuries. In fact, earth homes, built in this free form manner, have existed around the world for thousands of years.

Welshman Ianto Evans and American Linda Smiley, of "Oregon Cob" fame, brought Cob to Australia in 1995, teaching a workshop in Caboolture. Linda McKee and Mal McKenna continued teaching Cob until 2000. Since then, Mal and his builder friend, Michael Leo, have succeeded in getting Council approval for a Cob building, which will be built in the near future. In the meantime, Alan Atkinson of Eco Homes and Gardens has formed a new partnership with Mal, who lives at Bellbunya Eco Conference Centre, to bring Cob  building into the mainstream of new green housing approaches, beginning with an exciting series of Cob building workshops at Bellbunya.

Because earth is non-toxic and completely recyclable, many people searching for a more eco-friendly lifestyle are bound to embrace this living, breathing choice of home. Further, Cob is ideal for owner-builders, who can have friends help out with this easily learned form. The cob lump goes straight from the mixing spot to the wall, where it is knitted in using feet, hands and blunt sticks to form one mass -- a hand sculpted home. The lumps are made to your size, making it easy for children to be involved. It is a very safe work site; there are no power tools, as we encourage the use of hand tools and as little timber as possible. ??Zenning in tranquility, laughter and fun is the sustainable standard we seek, and the occasional 'Aha', as another cobber 'gets it' -- that feeling of cob in action.

No, Cob is not a fast process: it can be made timeless, though, when we get that right mix of soul and mind. You might as well take your time slowly building your home which, if tended to lovingly over the years, will stand proudly for years to come.

An introductory Cob Building Seminar will be held on the 26th May at 7pm and the first Cob Building Workshop from July 26th-31st at Bellbunya Eco-Conference Centre, 114 Browns Road, Belli Park, near Eumundi.

Contact Mal on 07 5447 0181 or Alan on 0402494252.

Image Credit: www.cobprojects.info

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The mainstream media excites their readers and listeners with many things. Fall under their spell and you would almost be forgiven for thinking that the biggest threat from climate change, if you still believe the scientific facts as opposed to columnists’ opinions, will be upon the size of your wallet.

Professor Roger Kitching reminds us of the real and present threats and that the diversity of Australian wildlife will be the first to suffer.

A biodiverse Australia is under threat. Image:greghardwick.com.au

Biodiversity! – kangaroos, kookaburras, possums, willie wagtails, bluetongues – perhaps even birdwing butterflies and funnel-web spiders – all things we might associate with this (relatively) new word.

But what about a couple of other lists -  ‘Aberdeen Angus, Ayrshire, Santa Gertrudis,  Friesian, Jersey and Charolais’ – or  ‘rainforests, grasslands, deserts, tundra, coral reefs and eucalypt woodlands’ – these, too capture something essential about this thing we call ‘biodiversity’.

Biodiversity is nothing more nor less than the entire diversity of life – within a species, species themselves, and sets of species.  Let’s put this another way, the essential diversity of life on Earth includes genetic diversity within species – all those and many other races of cattle, for instance; species themselves – the familiar original list and many million more; and, ecosystem diversity – the list of ecosystems  mentioned and many more made up of repeatable sets of species on the landscape.

The modern conservation movement was triggered in the late 1960s by Rachel Carson’s epic book ‘Silent Spring’.

Carson focused popular attention on a trend which biologists had been aware of over century – first, in fact, given voice by Darwin’s prescient, polymath co-worker, Alfred Russell Wallace – that the number of species on Earth was gradually diminishing – not by the slow inexorable processes of extinction on a geological time-scale, but through the landscape changes imposed by human ‘development’ – by clearing, agricultural chemicals and housing developments as well as the more direct impacts of hunting and gathering to satisfy an exponentially growing human population.

Rachel Carson’s agenda focussed on the species and the consequences of the outcry that followed publication of her book took the form of ‘red lists’ of threatened and endangered species around the world and tentative legislation to prevent their slide into oblivion.

At the time of publication of Carson’s book the global estimate of species diversity on Earth was about 3 to 3.5 million.  This tally was confidently made up of about 10,000 species of birds and 5000 species of mammals (mostly rats, mice and very small bats).
The remaining 3 million or so were principally insects and their relatives.  So I was taught as a university student in the early sixties.  In 1982 Terry Erwin from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington introduced rainforests, canopies and the tropics into the equation.

Based on some rather preliminary estimates of the number of different beetle species in the canopies of one species of tree in Panama he made the outrageous extrapolation that there were probably 30 million species of insects and their relatives in the tropical rainforests of the world.

We now know that this was indeed an overestimate – the ‘true’ figure may be nearer 7 to 10 million – although the jury is still out on the actual number.  Nevertheless Erwin’s huge estimate, its association with rainforests and the observation that rainforest were being cleared faster than ever before, led to the biodiversity crisis of the 1980s and 1990s.

Indeed it was in that welter of concern that the organiser of a 1988 symposium on diversity and conservation coined the term ‘biodiversity’ – contrary to popular belief this was not the famous American biologist E. O. Wilson, although he edited the book in which the term first saw the light of day.

Indeed, Wilson assured me he opposed the coining of such a gauche neologism – but subsequently regretted not having coined the term, which subsequently took off in the public and political imagination.

Bringing the many, many species of invertebrates (which includes the insects) into the picture gave the whole biodiversity ‘movement’ a huge boost – its promoters were able to talk loosely but portentously of how many species were being lost in a day, a week, a year and so on – usually estimated in terms of the number of ‘football fields’ of rainforest being cleared.  But this boost contained the seeds of its own demise.  Very soon sceptics began to ask, for example, why some tiny, recently discovered soil mite was to be given the same weight as the mighty tiger, rhinoceros or giant panda – legally if not in the wider public mind.  Lists of threatened and endangered insects have been drawn up and given legal protection.  Do you know for example, that in Western Australia a whole raft of tiny Crustacea found nowhere else but in water-filled crevices deep in the Earth are not only protected under legislation but have caused vast mining projects to be relocated or delayed at costs which make the proposed resource tax seem like peanuts?

The real value of the invertebrates and indeed the even smaller and less well-understood micro-organisms, is not as ikons of the magnificent or the soon to be lost – these are not thylacines or paradise parrots – but as tiny cogs in the maintenance of the life-support systems on which they, and us, depend totally.  In the late 1990’s the biodiversity emphasis rightly changed to a focus not on each individual species but onto the idea of ecosystems and ‘ecosystem services’.  In a nutshell these are the many benefits we get from functioning ecosystems which, were they not there, we might have to pay for (or try to pay for, assuming there was an appropriate service provider).  These services include nutrient storage and movement, soil building, water purifying, the maintenance of local climate, the natural control of potential pests, pollination, waste recycling, pharmaceutical products, even the fine forests, reefs and rivers that feed our tourism industry.  It is hard to estimate the dollar value of these ‘services’ simply because we are not accustomed to having to pay for them but such estimates as have been attempted fall consistently into the many billions or even trillions of dollars.  The problem with these estimates, as I said before, is that they carry the implicit assumption that were these ecosystem services to be destroyed then we, somehow, could buy replacements – this is not the case!  Humanity at large depends intimately on being surrounded by functional ecosystems.

Professor Roger Kitching from the Griffith School of the Environment, Griffith University.

You could be forgiven for thinking that these are simply the burblings of academics or other stirrers who have been out of the ‘real world’ for too long.  Yet contemplate the slow death of the River Murray that we are currently watching.  Think about the dieback affecting our Tablelands and its consequences on local soil conservation, fertility and micro-climate.  Observe the gradual encroachment of agricultural lands by desert.  Peer in horror at the leprous landscape of ex-irrigation lands scarred probably for ever by salting.  Watch the bleaching of coral reefs to unattractive ghosts of their past glories.  These are not intellectual maunderings but real disasters – human made and not readily ‘fixable’.  

So much of human history has taken place in a world where there was always more – more lands to conquer, more forest to clear, more seas to fish.  Our increasingly sophisticated technology allowed us to do this.  Once the forests of Western Europe were cleared we could send our fleets to find forests elsewhere – and there always was an elsewhere – from the point of view of tropical hardwoods this is currently Papua New Guinea.  But there are almost no frontiers left: we have not learnt the lesson of sustainability – all political rhetoric notwithstanding.  Why are we in Australia having a debate about whether or not to control our population size, on the one hand, while advocating ‘sustainabilty’ on the other.  Population growth and sustainability are oxymoronic concepts.

So in this Year of Biodiversity 2010 what are the greatest threats to the biodiversity on which our future depends.   In Australia three pervasive inter-related threats promise to wipe out great chunks of the very special biodiversity with which this once-isolated continent is endowed: land clearing, invasive species and climate change.  Mixed up with these three are drivers such as inappropriate fire regimes, pervasive agricultural chemicals and lack of connectivity across the landscape.  Anyone of these ideas deserves a whole book not just a short article.  Let me dwell finally then on the most all-pervasive of them, climate change.  

All the predictions of climate models show Australia as a whole becoming warmer and drier with a shift in patterns of rainfall away from the south-east, and an increase in the number of extreme events such as cyclones and droughts.  Predictions of how serious these changes will be vary from model to model.  One thing is certain though, without prompt urgent mitigation we are heading for the worst of any range of modelled scenarios.  Recent global data collected since the famous set of IPCC Predictions were made, show us tracking at or above the most extreme of the predictions whether we are talking about temperature or sea-level.  Some of the first impacts we will see – indeed are seeing already – will be upon biodiversity.  Mountaintop ecosystems will be the first to go – in Australia the unique faunas of our subtropical Antarctic Beech forests and the endemic marsupials and birds of our tropical mountains will likely not withstand the most mild of heating trends.  And all this will impact on us through an undermining of the ecosystem services provided by this biodiversity.  

The recently published book on Australia’s biodiversity and climate change of which I was one of eight authors (Steffen et al. ‘Australia’s Biodiversity and Climate Change’, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2009) makes many suggestions as how we might cope with these predicted changes.  I close with just two of these.  First we need to start thinking about and managing biodiversity as whole inter-connected sets of species driving complex ecosystem-level processes - retaining our species-centricity for the ikonic symbols of conservation – the striped bandicoots, hairy-nosed wombats and bilbies. Second, we know that ecosystems and the organisms that comprise them have some capability of adapting – not without change and loss of species – but possibly sufficiently to keep the essential services going.  For this ‘resilience’ to be maximised we need to minimise other stressors imposed on biodiversity.  We need to keep our National Reserve System in good order, indeed keep expanding it - it will be more vital than ever under climate change.  We must restore our landscape to put connectivity back into the environment so that natural species have some hope of re-sorting themselves into new ecosystems as the climate vice tightens.  The control of environmental pests and the strict quarantine that minimises their occurrence must be maintained – even in the face of probably unwinnable wars against, for example, invasive ants.  Precious water must be partitioned to allow due amounts to the natural environment itself – this is not water ‘wasted’ but water expended on our own well-being through the services provided by healthy ecosystems.  The list goes on.  Most important of all we need to keep educating people to realise this threat is real and action is essential.

The science is incontrovertible and the few highly vocal nay-sayers deserve no more than pity.  Every month delayed through the playground fights in Canberra or the bully-boy tactics of special interest groups, makes the task of recovery that much harder.

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With Ian Christesen

A recent opinion poll commissioned by WWF of 4000 residents showed that 79 per cent of respondents believe Australia should either begin reducing carbon pollution before other countries, or start reducing regardless of when other countries choose to act.

Rudd has duped the electors by refusing to take action on climate change despite exit polls at the last election showing climate change was a major issue in electors dumping the coalition. It appears that Rudd and Abbott have come to a silent agreement to take climate change off the agenda for the upcoming election.

This is despite the science continuing to mount of the need to take urgent action and that the world needs a stabilisation by 2015 followed by significant reductions. Economic research has also continually shown that the longer we forgo action the greater will be the detrimental impacts on our economy.

“Australia’s carbon pollution keeps going up and up. The longer we delay setting a price on carbon, the more it is going to cost Australian households and Australian businesses,” said Mr Bourne, CEO of WWF.

The Australia government continues to ignore the wealth and job creation opportunities of embracing the “clean industrial revolution” in favour of opening up more coal mines and becoming increasingly more economically dependent on a risky carbon pollution based economy.

"Since October last year more than 150 new measures have been announced globally to reduce climate pollution and 32 countries now have emissions trading schemes. Around US$200 billion is expected to be invested in clean energy solutions, in 2010.” Mr Bourne said.

Barack Obama, said in his State of the Nation address: “Providing incentives for energy-efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future, because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation."

The way government policy is going it is certainly not going to be Australia.

Even proposals to promote major energy efficiency initiatives also appear to be rejected by the Rudd government.

Greens Senator Christine Milne said: "Minister Ferguson and his government have rejected Greens' proposals for mandatory efficiency programs for large energy users, and recommended that the Senate oppose the Greens' bill for energy efficiency in office blocks, shopping centres, schools and hospitals.”

So what are some opportunities for a way forward?

Abbott and the coalition have successfully sidelined themselves from any credible solutions to the climate change debate.
This leaves the Greens trying to convince the government to support Professor Garnaut’s option of an interim fixed carbon price. The proposal would see a carbon levy of $20 a tonne growing at CPI plus 4 per cent each year. The levy would raise $10 billion annual revenue to support household, commercial, industrial and transport emissions reductions.

This is similar to another proposal by James Hansen, Director of the Goddard Institute for a flat fee collected from fossil fuel companies at their mines or wellheads. Obviously fossil fuel based energy costs would rise but householders would be compensated from the fund for those increases.

The issue has to be addressed now and with some goodwill and longer term vision solutions can be found to have climate policy aligned with the science and the economic opportunities that can be created.

Ian Christesen is Climate Change Policy Officer, Sunshine Coast Environment Council

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A noisy pitta recovers after being attacked by a cat. Image: Donna Anthony

Reflecting on World Environment Day, what have we done for the environment in the past year? Our Wildlife Volunteers Association, can be proud of its achievements this year, once again providing a 24-hour hotline for injured and orphaned wildlife.

So often, callers are just so grateful that they reach an actual person instead of the ubiquitous answering machine. This initial phone call is just the first step in the long process of rehabilitating a compromised animal on the way to its eventual release back into the wild.

In the past twelve months the world has attacked the technological arena with the usual great zeal, progressing in leaps and bounds, while seeing everything through the eyes of financial gain.

On the other hand, ‘e’ books could ultimately be good for the environment.  We must be optimistic about our future in the web of life, and strive for better.

I still walk through the supermarkets shaking my head. Who buys these spray cans of poison?

Why would someone spray toxins in their house, around their precious family, when a fly swatter, or equivalent, would achieve the same end?

It also defies all sensibilities to even consider buying some gadget that emanates artificial ‘smells’ throughout the house all day. What is wrong with fresh clean air?

Of course, it is all too simplistic. People have to be cajoled and encouraged to buy these products – to be convinced they can’t live without them.  Not enough profits can be made from the basics.  Give someone a bag of flour and sugar and just see how creative they can be in producing the next meal.

Insensitivity to the environment is a concern and that is probably why I am a wildlife carer.  People have different ways of attacking a problem. To me our native wildlife has to survive, in these tumultuous times, for we, as humans, to survive.

I have great admiration for anyone in any field of environmental sustainability. Many people see caring for wildlife as a joyous activity. Oh, if it was always so.

I have recently had to have a beautiful swamp wallaby euthanased. Chased into a dam by dogs, she was past rehabilitation when brought into care.

I do get angry about these preventable disasters. To add to the tragedy, this female had one elongated teat, which meant somewhere, out there, was a young orphaned wallaby, either killed by dogs or dying of starvation.

Why can’t people control their domestic animals? Is it that difficult? I love to see people out walking their dogs on leads. Everyone is a winner.

There are always some humorous days in wildlife care. A recent release of a wood duck had me ‘in stitches’.

On its day of release, it showed a preference for human company to its fellow ducks. I felt like a guilty parent sneaking away after leaving an infant in daycare.  Nevertheless, given just a couple of days, this young duck joined the other wood ducks of varying ages, on our dam. It was a happy release story.

We have other happy days, too. A Noisy Pitta, a bird which does not often come into our care, had been attacked by a cat.
Fortunately, the WILVOS  5441 6200 number was called and with immediate antibiotics that exquisite little bird was returned to its habitat after a week of dedicated nursing. The owners of the property had time to set up an aviary for the cat and all was well.
Over past years, people really have improved in some areas of pollution. I remember, as a child, the long drive, from the bush to the beach, on the traditional annual holiday and it was not uncommon to see the roadsides littered with bottles and rubbish.

Very few people in this day and age would just thoughtlessly throw rubbish out of a car window.

There is still some education to be done on the waterways.

Plastic bags and fishing line are still a major problem for our aquatic animals. The rings attached to jars and bottles are a never-ending worry. WILVOS have calls come through regularly to report animals trapped in these insidious pieces of plastic. Our Community Awareness Officer, Roslyn, was overjoyed when a class of schoolchildren presented her with a bagful of the rings they had collected from their homes. The young really are our future.

I was shocked at a photo showing a turtle converted to a figure 8 shape because one of the plastic rings off a large jar was encircling its middle.

It had been caught there as the poor animal continued to grow around it. Birds die of starvation as these rings choke them. Other animals try to remove these encumbrances, only to get their feet caught in the ring as well.  I would encourage everyone to lobby the producers of these many products and ask that these seals be redesigned.

Meanwhile, it is easy to remove these rings and  cut them  in one or two places before disposal in the recycling bin. We can all make a difference in our individual ways. It was suggested to me recently  that ringtail possums seemed to be one of the main mammals affected by urban development.

Pondering on the matter, it suddenly struck me that there was a good reason for this. The majority of the smaller marsupials have been decimated, their ground cover removed and the destroyed habitat leaving them no protection.

Ringtail possums are just the next step up in size to be affected.  The larger brushtail species, though also impacted upon, have the advantage of that additional size.  The ringtails are an easier target for domestic cats and dogs, which is the main reason why they come into our care.

The Sunshine Coast Regional Council is involved in a subsidised desexing program, and this is a major step in the much needed area of domestic animal responsibility and management.

I look forward to a future of cat curfews, cats housed in suitable aviary-like structures, and dogs confined to their yards, unless on a lead.

Designated areas are available for people to take dogs to play off the leash, and these areas hopefully will continue to be provided for pet owners. Ultimately, it would be good to see pet owners receive a subsidised desexing voucher when they register their animals.

They could then take this voucher to the vet, who would be recompensed on presentation to the council. If the community can take just small individual steps towards environmental awareness in the next year, the 2011 World Environment Day can be another day of celebration.

Wildlife Volunteers Assoc Inc. (WILVOS)  Ph: 54 416 200

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Author, John Burrows, on the Noosa Trail

It’s hard to resist the beach at Noosa, but for an adventure off the beaten track you must travel west a little way into the hinterland.

Exploring here has become a lot easier with the establishment of the Noosa Trail Network. It offers 106 kilometres of trail through a smorgasbord of landscapes – rolling hills and mountain peaks, bushland often in National Parks and State Forests, farmland, a scenic lake and the hinterland townships.

The Network was designed for horse riders, walkers, and mountain bike riders, and caters for all tastes and levels of fitness and experience. It utilises gazetted roads, road reserve, bush tracks and some private property, it crosses paddocks and small bridges in quiet valleys or climbs hills of daunting steepness.

Access is possible from many points, particularly the townships which can be reached by public transport, except for Kin Kin.
The Network is made up of eight separate trails, and the ultimate experience would be to combine some of these into one long circular trip.

Lake Macdonald near Cooroy is a good starting point for such a circuit. A picturesque spot, the artificial lake is Noosa’s main water source. Birdwatchers will find many species here – it’s one of 32 sites on the Noosa Bird Trail, and you’ll encounter more of these sites as you explore the Noosa Trail Network. The lake has Canoe Trails, but swimming is not allowed. In any case, Lake Macdonald is infested with cabomba, a pernicious water weed controlled to some extent by Council’s weed harvester which you may see crossing the lake like some weird contraption from Mad Max.

Our circuit begins by following Trail 4 - all trails have excellent signage, some markers may be obscured by vegetation so keep a sharp eye open. There’s interpretive signage too, describing the vegetation or snippets about the first Europeans in the area.
Trail 4 passes through pleasant bushland, dropping and climbing a little, a taste of things to come. It crosses a portion of Ringtail State Forest along an old Cobb & Co route – there’s some nice vine scrub here, although the track is boggy and unpleasant after rain and the alternative Trail 4 route may be preferable.

The country starts rising now up along a watershed separating the Noosa River and Six Mile Creek catchments. There’s a chance to rest and take in admirable views at Twin Hill Views Lookout. The Trail then runs along fence lines through private property and road reserve, the climb continuing to the top of Sheppersons Hill. The going here is steep, rocky and difficult.

Further along is Cootharaba Hills Lookout, offering one of the best panoramas along the Trail. Eastwards, the outlook includes the Cooloola Sandpatch, Lake Cootharaba and the ocean. Camping is permitted – there’s water and a picnic shelter – and it’s a beautiful spot to spend the night.  The lights of Noosa Heads can be seen twinkling after dark.

To the west, the Cooran Tableland dominates the horizon, with rolling hills of the Kin Kin Valley in the middle distance. Immediately below, the view is less appealing.

Preliminary work has begun on a mega-quarry which has locals worried. They’re concerned with the danger posed by many large trucks on small winding roads, including Sheppersons Lane which is part of Trail 4. The quarry spells bad news for the Network, could even result in this section being closed. Residents are organising legal action to have the scheme scrapped, or at least wound back.

For the moment you can continue peacefully along Trail 4. It leads a short distance westwards to Kin Kin, but our circuit switches to Trail 1, and runs through undulating farming country to Wahpunga Lane, the northern-most part of the Network.

Trail 1 then turns south to meet Trail 3, which follows quiet country roads until heading west and ascending the Cooran Tableland. There’s a short excruciatingly steep section up to Johnstons Lookout. A good spot to rest – it has a picnic shelter and water – it’s mostly enclosed in bushland, with limited views northeast into the Kin Kin Valley.

After this, the Trail is merely very steep. The long climb out of the valley reaches an altitude of 450 metres and leads to the shady rainforest of Woondum National Park, a welcome relief on a hot day. It’s one of Queensland’s newest National Parks, 4001 hectares in size.

It’s also one of the few National Parks where horse-riding is allowed. Conservationists objected strongly when the State Government amended the Nature Conservation Act to allow horses in Woondum and several other National Parks. They were dismayed with possible impacts - increased erosion, compromised nutrient status and water quality, and a general undermining of the integrity of National Parks.

The Noosa Trail heads south through Woondum, passing some interesting side tracks. Then it’s delightfully downhill to Tablelands Lookout and a commanding view of the countryside with its spectacular steep-sided volcanic peaks prominent. More descent, including a notoriously steep section known by mountain bike riders as The Mother, before the Trail flattens out and enters Cooran, where Trail 3 ends and our circuit switches to Trail 5.

With the terrain more or less level now, travelling on the Trail is not so arduous. There’s a close-up view of Mt Cooran and you’ll pass by a couple of lagoons that might be good for cooling off on a sweltering day.

Pomona is the next township, on the way the appealing bushland of the Tuchekoi National Park and the start of the walking trail to the top of Mt Cooroora. At 439 metres, it’s steep but manageable and popular.

From Pomona, there’s one last section to complete our circuit. The latest addition to the Network, Trail 7 leads east to our starting point at Lake Macdonald (it’s dubbed Mac ‘N’ Back). Another excellent section of trail, most of it runs alongside or through Yurol State Forest.

Allow plenty of time if doing the entire 70 km circuit as described here, and make sure your trip is well-planned and within your capabilities. Cooler months are best. Cyclists, especially if loaded with camping gear, should expect tough conditions.

Accommodation along the way is plentiful – hotels, bed and breakfast, campgrounds, with bush camping allowed at Cootharaba Views Lookout and Middle Lookout on Trail 2.

Trail users should follow caring-for-the-bush practices and respect the rights of landowners by staying on the trails. In National Parks, horse riders must be aware of the Code of Conduct for riding in protected areas.

More information: the very useful Noosa Trail Network map is available free from any Sunshine Coast Regional Council office, or: the Sunshine Coast Regional Council website.  

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If it weren't for the scientific data, meticulously documented case studies, analysis of legislative and political machinations and the honest, personal narrative, one would prefer this book to be a work of fiction. Sadly, it is not. This stuff of nightmares is real – and getting worse. Unless we urgently do something about it.

Dr Markus has produced a chronicle of this continent’s amazing biodiversity and the systematic failure to protect it to the point of collapse. Fuelled by exponential population growth and over-consumptive behaviours, the vested interests of high impact industries such as mining, unsustainable agricultural methods and development wreak havoc on the environment.

Political expediency and continued ‘business as usual’ in a time of climate change are driving species to extinction at accelerating rates and destroying the fabric of ecological integrity. Bringing to life the complex and fascinating ecosystems of such areas as the alpine regions, the deserts, coastal plains and more, we come to realise the depth of ignorance and abuse this land has been subjected to, notably since the time of white settlement.

Dr Markus cites the impetus to write the book came from conversations with people from a range of cultural and professional backgrounds who revealed an alarmingly poor understanding of the challenges facing Australia.

While many are aware of issues such as land clearing, salinity and species loss, the sense of the long term implications, or the scale and extent is missing. Certainly there is little grasp of the effort needed to deal with arresting these declines or who is ultimately responsible for doing so.

A disconnect pervades between awareness of what is occurring to this country’s unique and fragile landscapes and what people feel personally responsible for.

We resile from images of Amazonian rainforest and Borneo highlands being razed and burned displacing orang-utans and incredibly diverse wildlife from their habitats and demand their protection. And rightly so. However, Australia is as just as much a culprit with the long term effects yet to be fully realised.

The book describes where a report commissioned by WWF-Australia outlined that ‘Queensland’s clearing rate between 1997 and 1999 was estimated at around 446,000 hectares per year, a rate equivalent to one hundred football fields every hour.

The ‘panic clearing’ of brigalow, gidgee and eucalypt open forest and woodland before stricter clearing regulations came into force in late 2004 is estimated to have caused the deaths of about 100 million native mammals, birds and reptiles each year’.

Disbelief, frustration and downright anger combine with sadness for the shocking loss and treatment of the flora and fauna in this country. This is not because of an overly emotive writing style but due to thoroughly researched information and intelligent insights delivered in an extremely well structured and accessible manner.

The biodiversity in this country and across the globe is in crisis. The science and growing list of threatened terrestrial and marine species cannot be ignored. Weak environmental legislation must be bolstered and loopholes closed. Adopting and demanding more environmentally conscious practices and exerting political pressure as a community will help turn the tide.

Speaking with Dr Markus recently, she expressed her deep disappointment in the Rudd Government for backing down on its 2007 election promises for the urgent and necessary action on the environment and climate change since gaining government.

Seeing a need to break down the political steadfastness on action, with even ‘pathetic’ attempts making no mark, she observes that this government is ‘Sacrificing Australia’s future and Australia’s voice globally’, thus urging the community to keep moving the politicians on until the necessary policies are in place.

Nicola Markus is to be commended for bringing this shameful situation into stark and unflinching reality. This pivotal and enormously important book is a must-read, empowering call to action.

With an impressive professional and personal resume, Dr Nicola Markus has taken on the role of Chief Conservation Officer with Bush Heritage Australia since completing On Our Watch.

Reviewer: Narelle McCarthy

On Our Watch: The race to save Australia's environment

Author: Dr Nicola Markus

Publisher: Melbourne University Press 2009

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The Sunshine Coast Environmental Council (SCEC) is the umbrella organisation of more than 50 community groups. In this issue of ECO, we feature a group and its role in resisting the tsunami of development that threatens the Sunshine Coast.

Decisions in the 80s gave the green light to high rise development

Survey after survey has confirmed the sentiment of most Sunshine Coast residents -- “We don’t want another Gold Coast.

With some predictions that the population here may reach a half a million by 2030, restraining the aspirations of developers and property marketeers is important for residents, and there are many examples of how the community has worked to prevent the urbanisation of the Coast from top to bottom.

One group of Coolum residents gathered in 2004 and set up Development Watch Inc, its spur to action being an inappropriate development proposed for Mount Coolum. They were perhaps inspired by the bulk of Mt Coolum overlooking this coastal suburb. The prominent peak is now protected as National Park instead of hosting a major development involving chairlifts and restaurants - this was an odious proposal of the late 80s defeated by an irate and determined community.

Coolum itself is far from being the sleepy village that attracted so many who live there. It suffers the ignominy of high rise on the beach as a result of shoddy decision-making by Maroochy Council in the 80s. Now it’s faced with fast-growing industrial and commercial precincts and expanding suburbia.

Development Watch fights to keep it all at bay by making sure that the community is well informed and has a strong voice in making its views known.

The group has about 50 members, they meet in Coolum bi-monthly and take a close look at any applications for development that are inappropriate not just for the Coolum area but also for the wider Sunshine Coast.

Careful monitoring of development proposals is very important, to make sure that they’re in line with the various State Acts and Policies and the planning schemes of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, and also compatible with community aspirations. Members are adept at reading and understanding the fine print and negotiating the bureaucratic maze.

They keep a keen eye on Council's website and PD Online – the Council’s self-help service - and pick up development applications of interest at the application stage.  They then monitor the application's progress through the system and will usually know when the white signs go up.? The group involves the wider community with letter box drops, by getting petitions signed and holding public meetings. They formulate detailed submissions to local and state government to make sure that community views are represented.
Their involvement may not end even when Council rejects an application. Developers will often appeal the decision to the Planning and Environment Court.  Development Watch may then elect to co-respond with Council to provide them with support and to reinforce the community view.  Current applications now before the court range from an application for commercial offices in a residential area at Coolum Beach to a 950 dwelling residential development at Pacific Paradise.

President Brian Raison says that while the primary aim is preventing inappropriate development in the Coolum area, it’s important to have a regional perspective.

“Any major development proposal north of the Maroochy River could have an adverse impact on Coolum residents and businesses.  Even residential developments further afield can affect parking, traffic congestion and liveability in Coolum,” he said.

“Take for example the proposed Caloundra South development – the Coast’s population jumps by 50,000 if it goes ahead. Creating a city the size of Gladstone so close to existing towns will really have a serious effect on liveability along the coast and in the popular hinterland towns.”

Unsustainable population growth is the key threat, according to Mr Raison. With a State Government determined to accommodate huge population increases in South East Queensland, and much the same outlook at the national level (both the Federal Government and Opposition seem to favour a forecast population 60% increase by 2050, which outstrips all other industrialised nations) what’s the best way deal with this?

“For starters, the Federal Government has to be convinced to have a population policy,” said Mr Raison.

“It has given no indication as to how it will stop the ever-increasing tide once its absurd target of 35 million by 2050 is reached.  The country's post-secondary education system needs serious overhaul so that skilled workers for Australia's future needs are sourced from within, rather than relying on an unacceptable level of immigrants.

“This is an arid country and we will become a net importer of food unless the Federal Government can think beyond the ballot box and can also dampen the drivers of immigration.?“The Federal view is unlikely to change unless the States understand the problem.  I don't have a positive view of that happening.  Development Watch is focussed on convincing our Council to maintain its publicly stated policy of determining carrying capacity before committing to development.  With the Department of Infrastructure and Planning having the power to impose development on our Council, this conflict may only be resolved in the courts. That is, if our Councillors have the courage to pursue this course of action.”?Development Watch also sees unrestrained tourism growth as a threat to community liveability and well-being.

“We must have tourism, of course, but there is a limit to the number that can be accommodated,” said Mr Raison.

“Tourist blight - the disease that sees the very things that attract tourists to an area destroyed - is a serious concern of ours.  As an example, Council plans to construct a new airport runway.  Accommodating and amusing the increased number of tourists that will be required to justify expenditure on this project will exacerbate this blight.

“Remember, the Queensland Government requires the Sunshine Coast to have, in 20 years time, the same population that the Gold Coast has now.”?We are keen to hear from residents in the Coolum area who would like to assist in ensuring Coolum remains a great place to live and visit.

Phone Brian on 5446 4493 if you would like more information.

More information about Development Watch

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Take a walk in August from Maroochydoore to Caloundra? Along the beach at low tide? While we no longer call it ‘tramping’, read between the lines here and it is still a fair distance to hike. When Vance and Nettie Palmer walked this southward route about ninety years ago, they encountered all kinds of creatures and plants we might not see today. Some-things have changed, some-things have not. Vance Palmer is still right when he tells us that meandering along the beach, not ‘spinning at top pace’, (even if top pace is thirty miles an hour which is hardly what we call speed today) is what you must do if you want to see shells, and fish, and more.

This is an early piece by Vance Palmer, early in his days spent living at Caloundra and early in his attunement to the place, and early in his ecocritical and placemaking writings. Still he was Queensland born and bred and well used to beachcombing; part of his writing philosophy was the importance of as a more recent critic has phrased it of  'profound individual and social experiences that constitute enduring and recognisable territories of symbols'. Spinning at top pace meant places would become little more that a superficial cloak of 'arbitrarily fabricated and merely acceptable signs'.

‘Maroochydoore to Caloundra: A Day’s Tramp Beside the Sea’ (Daily Mail, 7 August [1926?])

Vance Palmer

A day’s walk along the coast, with a low tide and a hard stretch of sand beneath the feet, is a delightful experience. Luckily, at this season of the year the tides are low in daytime, and there is rarely need to plough through the loose sand that sometimes make coastal walking feel like trudging through fields of snow. There are occasional strips of our coast where a car could spin for 30 miles at top pace without a check: the outer beach of Bribie, for instance. But on the mainland, little tidal creeks and occasional jutting headlands put obstacles in the way of a car. Who wants to spin at top pace, though, along these marvellous sands, where the chief pleasure is idling and doing a little beachcombing by the way? There are always shells; strange fish come ashore; the upper sands are littered with flotsam and jetsam that may be pieces of wreckage, but more probably are useless junks of timber thrown overboard by various ships’ carpenters.

From Maroochydore south to Caloundra the coast runs for 20 miles [32.1km] in an almost unbroken line, and for most of the way the amateur beachcomber can feel sure he is exploring virgin soil. Maroochydore is a little township clustering round the estuary of the Maroochy River, a pleasant stream flowing down through the canefields from Yandina, and watering one of the richest and most closely-settled districts in Australia. It reaches the sea in a wide inlet with low banks, and round this smooth stretch of water sprawl the scattered houses of Maroochydore. It is a modern watering place with café, cinemas, and all the paraphernalia beloved by summer visitors but, in addition, it has real charm and beauty. Wide stretches of still, blue water, lapping up to the very posts of the houses, and big combers breaking on the white beaches outside! No wonder the cars come spinning down to it from the ranges in summer and the little boats chug down the river from Yandina, laden with excursionists! It is one of the places that has created itself in the image of the cheerful holiday-maker, from the gay little boats drawn up on the sands to the tinned music issuing from the open windows.

But, leaving it, and going south along the beach, one enters a more primitive world. There is the great bulk of Coolum behind, seeming to rise like a whale’s back from the sea, though in reality it is several miles inland. In front is a strip of white beach, broken only by the impressive headland, where the Mooloolah River enters the sea. This swiftly-flowing river is the first obstacle to the walker. It runs out under the shadow of a black, beetling cliff, and is so masked by the white sand that one comes on it with surprise. A perfect entrance for small boats! So completely does the steep headland protect it that the fishermen from Mooloolabah, a couple of miles higher up, can go out and in safely, even in rough weather. To cross it, one must leave the beach and go inland a little to the township, where there are always plenty of boats lying at anchor. At low water it would almost be possible to paddle across the shallow lagoon, but when the tide is high it comes brimming up among the mangroves, where sharp roots lie in wait for the naked feet. Once across, a narrow track leads back to the beach again, and the hard, white sand stretches ahead as far the eye can see.

It is here that one can appreciate what is meant by the “long wash of Australian seas”2 The lazy Pacific rollers come in on a mile-long front, lift themselves with an effort, and seem to stay suspended in a frozen, greenish arch for an indefinite time before they fall with the crash of splintering glass. The pause, momentary as it is, leaves an impression of eternity. Its effect is most vivid when one of the schools of mullet that are passing up the coast at this time of the year come edging into the land. The fish, caught up in the roller, are outlined against the glassy inner curve like creatures in a bowl. They fall and are lost, and the next wave takes up another lot. Yet always one seems to be gazing at the same row of fish, flattened out against the same glass. It is a spectacle that lays a spell upon the senses.

A little further on a curdling of the smooth water beyond the breakers hints at porpoises at play. There is a continual splashing, a gleam of satiny black shapes, a hovering of brown sea-hawks above. A closer inspection shows that they are not porpoises, but bonito. The water is literally alive with them, short, chunky fish of a couple of pounds or so, and if they were of commercial value a school like this would set some of our fishermen beating up the coast. Unfortunately, though, they are coarse eating, and there is little demand for them. Occasionally a Greek or Italian vendor will take a case of them, but only when daintier fish are scarce; and there is no need to be driven back to bonito now when the schnapper are biting, and sea mullet coming up the coast like the drifting shadows of clouds.

This little strip of coast has a particular interest for beachcomers. Not long ago a leading Sydney conchologist, on his way down from the Barrier Reef pronounced it to be the best in the world for shells.
“For numbers, that is”, he qualified the statement. “Some of the Japanese beaches have a slight lead, as far a variety is concerned.”

And far ahead, a couple of black figures appear to be brooding over some rare specimen. They put their heads together for a while, and then walk on in slow procession, one after the other. On this deserted beach, miles away from any house or sign of human habitation the presence of men is such a rare event that our curiosity is roused. Who are these strangers in the distance? Holiday visitors that have wandered a little further afield than usual? The speculation is soon answered by the presence of tell-tale footprints in the sand – three long toes spread wide apart at intervals of a couple of feet or so! The emus look around, hold a hurried consultation, and make across the sand at a stately trot for the scrubby bush in-shore.

It is mostly plain country that skirts this strip of coast – open, untouched territory that is a sanctuary for emus or any other kind of wild thing. From the higher ground one can look as far as the eye can see and not come across a sign of human presence. Low-lying sandy soil, covered with shrubs and various healthy plants, and seeming as if it would remain untouched for a hundred years! In spring this sombre mass of spiky vegetation can produce a miraculous mass of bloom, from the quiet little wax flowers to the large and gorgeous Christmas bells. It can show a riot and intensity of colour that more fat and fertile country can never hope to achieve; but the time of its flowering is not yet.

A wide sheet of water catches the eye. It is Garramundi lagoon, one of those slow-flowing creeks that have their entrances to the sea shut off for most of the year by heavy banks of sand. Occasionally, after a fall of rain, their waters overflow and cut a channel outward, giving freedom to the swarms of mullet and whiting they have brought to maturity. But the tide forces the sand back again and dams them up, so that they spread over the country behind like a lake. A delightful spot, Garramundi with it overhanging tree and dark, sandstone rocks! But we are on familiar ground now, and the grey headlands of Caloundra loom in the distance, not more than three or four miles away. Soon comes the gleam of the lighthouse shining brightly through the dropping dusk.

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Noosa Landcare natural resources manager Phil Moran. Image: Brian Rickards

Phil Moran is so passionate about the environment that he admits to hugging every tree he can.

In his youth he had ideas of pursuing a career in the legal profession, but it wouldn’t have been as satisfying for this man who instead grew to love the bush.

Phil is the natural resource manager for Noosa and District Landcare Group which is based in the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Pomona. And his personal journey to that point has been a long and winding one.

While he now oversees this not-for-profit organisation that works with the community to deliver hands-on environmental solutions, he sees it as a life blessing.

“I am very fortunate to be able to a job that I love,” he said as we talked on the verandah of the Futures Centre nursery where Phil and his team work.

This is a man who worked in the tourist industry starting at the Tangalooma resort on Moreton Island and later becoming a trainee manager at Brisbane’s biggest hotel at the time. At 21 he became catering manager and stayed there for another nine years in a role he enjoyed and which eventually inspired him to open his own catering business.

“But always I had the bush in the back of my mind I had,” Phil said.

He had a friend who owned a piece of land on the outer limits of Brisbane and he went there when he could to learn about the bush. Later they took a trip to Malaysia, Sumatra and Thailand where Phil got a thrill from looking at the jungle.

That trip took place while he was running his business at Ashgrove where he catered to the Brisbane glitterati and had begun planting trees in at the back of the premises, starting his own small jungle which exists to this day.

But it was the end of another nine-year cycle when his sister became ill and he decided  to sell and move up to Cooroy where he bought himself 5 acres.

His real passion for the bush and its fauna and flora was awoken as he established a small wholesale nursery. At the same time he joined the Landcare group as a volunteer and helped out in its riparian nursery.

It began to take over his life. At first he worked one day a week for Landcare, then two days until eventually he was given paid work.
Since then he has seen the twin nurseries of Landcare grow steadily; the riparian nursery now producing nearly 90,000 tubestock a year and the Futures Centre performing similarly.

Phil was picking up a lot of tree planting knowledge as well as learning about the bush. One of his mentors at Landcare was Dave Burrows who left to eventually work as a  senior manager for Land for Wildlife.

When Phil was given a day a week killing off camphor laurel and privet on one of the council reserves at Yellowbelly hole he found he really enjoyed it – no mobile phone reception and he just got on with it, working in the wild.

He was also involved in some funded land projects such as Corridors of Green which linking riparian zones.

“I was paid as a labourer and I loved it,” said Phil.

One thing led to another. The group went through many changes and as more work became available Phil climbed up the ladder and was offered more work where eventually he was able to employ his past business acumen.

Burrows, who was the project officer for the Corridors of Green, moved on to a council position and it left a hole at Landcare which Phil was able to fill and get work for five days a week with them. Now Phil has climbed his personal tree to become the natural resources manager, responsible for 31 staff of which 24 are employed full-time. Of those 10 are the Green Army – a state government employment project.

“In fact, we are now the second biggest employer in Pomona,” said Phil.

He said another thrill he gets is to see kids he has trained move on and perform brilliantly at places such as the Sunshine Coast Regional Council. At a school talk about the environment two of his former ‘students’ who had made the big leap forward joined him.

“They were there in their council uniforms and stood out front with me, teaching that second generation of kids what they had been taught by the old bloke. I though it was a lovely circle and happy that I had infected them with that passion for the environment.

“That keeps me going as well as keeping me grounded.”

Phil says he certainly doesn’t do it for the money, saying it’s really caring about how we all live.

“I now live on 33 acres of land on the far west of the old Noosa council region. It was the first refuge to be declared in the shire. So my heart is there,” he said.

At first he lived in a tin shed on that property, but it was more than your ordinary tin shed. It was part of his continuing education.
“My place is rough country – quite steep, spotted gum country with basalt and phyllite. But I think of it as a university without the sandstone. You never stop learning – if I go for a walk I’ll see a plant I haven’t seen before,” he said.

“I have already identified 240 different species on my place so far.”

Phil’s attachment to the environment has led him to also be appointed as a board member for the UNESCO-recognised Noosa Biosphere. In 2007, the old Noosa Shire boundary was designated as a biosphere region – a first for Queensland.

A biosphere reserve is an international conservation listing awarded to an area with innovative approaches to conservation and sustainable development. Biosphere reserves promote a balanced relationship between humans and the biosphere.

Phil is also hands-on with the biosphere project, organising the Landcare team to help maintain and environmentally improve parts of the area with weed removal and tree plantings. He also does a blog for the biosphere.

Then Phil gets philosophical.

“Our biggest problem these days is the disconnect between day to day life and the environment,” he said.

“When I lived in the city, you’d get out of bed, have brekkie on the run, jump into air-conditioned car, join others in a traffic jam, get into a lift. You don’t even get to walk on grass. The only nature you see is a token one, on a computer screensaver.

“So it’s really hard to teach people about biodiversity -- because they don’t get to experience it. But if I can give them little stories about how the way these things are all inter-related, hopefully the lights will come on.

“When I was a kid I’d be squatting down on the ground playing with ants and little lizards and things, but then you’d grow up and start going out to nightclubs and meeting girls. Then things like the environment might take a back seat.”

So Phil’s idea is to instill such a passion for the environment into kids, that they will never forget it and retain that connection.

“I have son who is almost 18. He grew up with me in my shed. Because I lived in it for 12 years out there with no power for four of those years, no TV or anything, we’d go out in the bush and we’d make cubbies, kill weeds and do stuff,” he said.

“My son can still walk around now and tell me that that’s a white-headed pigeon or that plant is looking sick, It’s amazing what ticks in kids’ minds. When his mates come up from Brisbane now, I hear him talking to them – he even told one not to whack a white ants nest. He’d say ‘no, leave them alone – that’s not the type that eats the house, it’s the one that cleans up the bush’.

“I never tried to force this environment stuff down his throat, It’s a symbiosis thing – kids tend to pick it up from you if you have that passion.”

He said Landcare likes to work with the schools.

“I go out to them to talk about weeds and I’ll help them with tree planting,” he said.

While Phil is encouraged by the kids, there are many things in the adult world of developers and governments that upset him – especially in his own region. The Cooroy-Curra bypass was a project he fought against as was the Traveston dam.
But successful or not, Phil has a belief that when the fight is over, it’s over. His way is ‘to work like hell’ in the initial stages to persuade authorities not to go ahead with a bad project and to try to get the best outcome for the environment.

“I’ll always work with people to get the best result. If I fail, I fail but I’ll give it a good shot. Once the law is passed I am not going to stand in front of a bulldozer – that’s not my area. I prefer to do the work beforehand.”

One of Phil’s other major environmental roles, they seem to cling to him like lawyer vines, is as vice-president of the National Aquatic Weeds Management Group. It means he gets around Australia identifying the weeds and helping with action plans to get rid of them. But in his region there are significant water weed problems – cabomba, water hyacinth and salvinia being just a few examples.

However, it’s the education side of environmental matters that really gets his juices flowing. He loves to give advice to people who might have moved into the Sunshine Coast area and are looking how to best look after their properties.

“The year before last I did more than 90 property visits. I go out to their newly-acquired and identify the weeds and the native plants, erosion issues etcetera. It’s great to see the thrill they get when I say ‘Wow, look at this wonderful plant. Or even that’s bad, you need to get rid of that’.

“They’re really keen – they’ve actually reached out and sought advice – that’s encouraging. We’re even getting to real estate agents to get the message out there.”

Phil is also pleased that the local tourism industry is coming on board as many players are doing much to reduce their ecological footprint.

“They now recognise that they have a goose here with a golden egg that is the environment. I tell them they wouldn’t have their business without that healthy environment,” added Phil.

His message in this Year of Biodiversity is ‘to get out there and have a look. Go for a walk. Learn something that’s outside the square. Get involved with the Biosphere, your local catchment group, the local Landcare group, even a P&C group with school environment activities’.

“Go to the World Environment Day event at the Sunshine Coast university, go to the Festival of Water at Lake McDonald. Just get out to have a look at your environment and get a real feel for it,” he added.

And finally, some timely advice from this man who loves the land: ‘If you want to be involved in bush regeneration, it’s not neat and it will take a while. Nature’s the best –SHE is the teacher and we need to learn from her before it’s too late.

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By Narelle McCarthy

If you were an orang-utan you wouldn’t be happy at your prospects

Act now, act quickly and even act radically or else we will see the collapse of the planet’s natural systems that support our economies, lives and livelihoods.

That’ s the urgent warning from top level environmental scientists and some governments  who provided material for a sobering report recently produced by the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity.

While the report carries the dusty deadpan title ‘Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3)’ and at first glance might excite academics, the reading behind the front cover is dynamite.

The convention’s headline message was: ‘New vision is required to stave off dramatic biodiversity loss’.

The report continued to say that these vital global natural systems were at risk of rapid degradation and collapse, unless there was also creative action to conserve and sustainably use the variety of life on Earth.

That was the principal conclusion of this major new assessment of the current state of biodiversity and the implications of its continued loss for human well-being.

There was also another red alert as the report confirmed that the world had failed to meet its target to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.

If you were a koala or an orang-utan, or a glossy black cockatoo – just to name a very few of countless life forms that struggle to survive on this planet -- you wouldn’t be happy at your prospects. You wouldn’t be happy with many who belong to the human species. Would they all hear your calls for help?

From Australia’s perspective in this in this Year of Biodiversity, Professor Roger Kitching, from Griffith School of the Environment, considers the greatest threats to biodiversity.

“In Australia three pervasive inter-related threats promise to wipe out great chunks of the very special biodiversity with which this once-isolated continent is endowed: land clearing, invasive species and climate change,” he said.

“Mixed up with these three are drivers such as inappropriate fire regimes, pervasive agricultural chemicals and lack of connectivity across the landscape.”

The UN report was also based on a study on future scenarios for biodiversity. Some of them make grim reading.

The report has been subject to an extensive independent scientific review process and its publication seen as one of the principal milestones of the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity.

In September it will be put before top world leaders and heads of state at a special meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. But the crunch talks will come in October at the Nagoya Biodiversity Summit in Japan, when their conclusions will be central to negotiations by world governments.

The executive secretary of the convention, Ahmed Djoghlaf, said:”The news is not good. We continue to lose biodiversity at a rate never before seen in history – extinction rates may be 1000 times higher than the historical background rate. It should serve as wake-up call for humanity – business as usual is no longer an option.”

The Outlook contains the sobering facts and figures while identifying key reasons as to why the challenge of conserving and, indeed, enhancing biodiversity remains unmet.

One key area is economics. Many economies continue to ignore the significant value of the diversity of animals, plants and other life-forms and their role in healthy and functioning ecosystems from forests and freshwaters to soils, oceans and the atmosphere.
And yet, significant reports and data stressing the economic imperatives and opportunities of restoring, preserving and enhancing biodiversity are being shunned in favour of the selfish and dangerous business-as-usual approach at the root of the catastrophes we now face.

A major international initiative called The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) has also presented a study to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity; to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. It draws together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward.

And the Outlook warns that the principal pressures leading to biodiversity loss are not just constant but are, in some cases, intensifying.

The critical analysis of the failure of countries to meet the 2010 biodiversity target will underpin the forthcoming conference of participating countries, including Australia, in Japan.

Most parties have confirmed that five main pressures continue to affect biodiversity within their borders: habitat loss, the unsustainable use and over-exploitation of resources, climate change, invasive alien species, and pollution.

The report sums up with yet another dire warning: “The consequences of this collective failure, if it is not quickly corrected, will be severe for us all. Biodiversity underpins the functioning of the ecosystems on which we depend for food and fresh water, health and recreation, and protection from natural disasters. Its loss also affects us culturally and spiritually.  This may be more difficult to quantify, but is nonetheless integral to our well-being.”

Professional biologists and an increasingly informed community are in little doubt that Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past.

As long ago as 1993, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that Earth was currently losing something in the order of 30,000 species per year - which breaks down to the even more daunting statistic of some three species per hour.

Some biologists have begun to feel that this biodiversity crisis -- this ‘Sixth Extinction’ caused by ourselves, Homo sapiens - is even more severe, and more imminent, than Wilson had supposed.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has long been ringing warning bells.

In 2004 they calculated the rate of extinction had reached 100 to 1000 times than that suggested by the fossil records before humans. The IUCN also has grounded reason to  believe one in five mammals, one in three amphibians and one in seven birds are extinct or globally threatened, and other species groups still being assessed are showing similar patterns.

Simon Stuart, a senior IUCN scientist, has warned that: “For the first time since the dinosaurs, humans are driving plants and animals to extinction faster than new species can evolve.”

According to the IUCN, never has the world faced a more pressing crisis than the current loss of biodiversity which affects all of humanity. The gap between the pressure on our natural resources and governments’ response to the deterioration is widening.
As a sign of elevating this crisis in the context of other perceived global crises, the IUCN is calling for governments to come up with a ‘bail-out plan’, a 10-year strategy that will help countries halt and reverse this loss.

“Twenty-one per cent of all known mammals, 30 per cent of all known amphibians,12 per cent of all known birds, 35 per cent of conifers and cycads, 17 per cent of sharks and 27 per cent of reef-building corals assessed for the ‘IUCN Red List of Threatened Species’ are threatened with extinction,” says  IUCN deputy director general, Bill Jackson.

“If the world made equivalent losses in share prices there would be a rapid response and widespread panic, as we saw during the recent economic crisis,” he said.

“The loss of biodiversity, crucial to life on earth, has, in comparison, produced little response. By ignoring the urgent need for action we stand to pay a much higher price in the long term than the world can afford.”

Jane Smart, director of the IUCN Biodiversity Conservation Group, continues: “Countries are taking a very short-sighted view of the need to fuel their economies at the expense of nature, so much so that we’re now at crisis point when it comes to the loss of biodiversity.

“We can’t afford to forget that all economic activity is linked to nature. We need new targets and a concerted effort to ensure our natural assets are protected.

“This year we have a one-off opportunity to really bring home to the world the importance of the need to save nature for all life on earth. If we don’t come up with a new big plan now, the planet will not survive.”

Another telling statistic of Australia’s poor environmental stewardship is that close to half all mammal extinctions worldwide in the last 200 years have occurred here.

With headlines across the world and mounting reports giving the dire warnings of a global biodiversity crisis and its repercussions impossible to ignore, are they being heeded?  Alarmingly, not as urgently as warranted and not with the commensurate action such a crisis demands.

So what connection does the Sunshine Coast have to the ‘sixth extinction’ and this critical loss of biodiversity?  

The region is recognised as a biodiversity 'hotspot' boasting the second greatest biodiversity outside of the wet tropics in Queensland.

And yet, it is slated to be home for at least 500,000 people in the next decade compounded by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year bringing incredible pressure on the environmental and liveability values of the region.

How will this unique biodiversity be protected, with its coastal lowlands and forests, waterways and the internationally listed Pumicestone Passage already approaching tipping points?

This region is set to be a contributor to the shocking statistics of biodiversity loss, extinctions and declining well-being unless protection from the recognised threats of overpopulation and clearly unsustainable practices are arrested.
Ecological integrity and respect for this amazing planet, of which we know so little is paramount.

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By Simon Baltais

Southeast Queensland is one of Australia’s biological hotspots. It is an area where the sub-tropical and temperate regions known as the McPherson/MacLeay Overlap Zone are a region of diverse landscapes from mountain rainforest to open woodland and wallum wetlands to huge sand islands, mangroves forest, seagrass meadows and coral reefs.

Government reports show many koala populations will be extinct within a few years

It’s not surprising then that the region supports 151 terrestrial ecosystems and a great diversity of species. This richness is recognised worldwide, with southeast Queensland supporting the greatest number of birds in Australia and being botanically one of the richest regions.

However, you would think given this uniqueness and the economic, social and environmental benefits this brings, it would be proudly protected.  On the contrary, only 13.1 per cent of the region's bushland is protected in National Parks or such like and only 17.5 per cent is in some form of public estate.

The State Government would argue about these figures stating that 80 per cent of southeast Queensland is protected from residential development. But, when you cut through the rhetoric, you soon realise it’s not protected from the impacts of urban growth. Dams, roads, powerlines, pipelines, agricultural and industry are rapidly destroying and fragmenting the little remaining bushland in southeast Queensland.

The fact is biodiversity in southeast Queensland is under pressure from habitat loss primarily due to increased urbanisation, driven by population growth, a fact stated in the State Government’s  State of the Region (SEQ) report.

Another fact is that by 2026 a further 70,000ha of bushland and open space will be lost to urbanisation and, by this time, there will be as much urban land as there is protected bushland estate.

Protecting biodiversity isn’t about protecting the cute and the furry. Protecting our precious biodiversity in southeast Queensland is central to providing people with many economic, social and physical benefits.

The importance of biodiversity to mankind is now more clearly understood and the science around ecosystem services highlights these benefits. Simply put, biodiversity is important for the provision of the air we breathe and drinkable freshwater.

More specifically, biodiversity is responsible for the health of our forests and crops through pollination. There are  hundreds of free services biodiversity delivers and yet State Government planning allows it to be readily destroyed. In essence it appears we are living as though there were no tomorrow.

State planning is currently based upon the fool’s dream of endless growth. The consequence of this is a tragic decline in the diversity of species. No species highlights this better than Queensland’s fauna emblem the iconic koala. The southeast Queensland koala has declined from common to vulnerable.

While being one of Australia’s largest urban koala populations the southeast Queensland 'Koala Coast' population has declined by 51 per cent in less than three years with a 64 per cent decline in the 10 years since the original 1996-1999 survey.

The cause of this decline is urban development driven by our unsustainable population growth. Sadly, the State Government is not prepared to stop this growth and government reports show many koala populations will be extinct within a few years.

The story is the same with southeast Queensland birds. Something like 20 or 30 species are in serious decline particularly those reliant upon lowland forests which are subject to the impacts of rampant urbanisation.

This population growth is also impacting upon our waterways. The science shows that urban areas produced more pollution and silt than the same area of farmland.

No surprises then that since 2004 the Healthy Waterways Report card has shown Moreton Bay has gone from a B+ to a D. The situation is grim with the science estimating by 2026 point source and diffuse pollution will increase by 50 per cent and 20 per cent respectively due to population growth.

Sadly if we pursue continued population growth, what made southeast Queensland unique and a healthy place to live will have been replaced by tar and cement. One has to ask is this what southeast Queensland residents really want.

If there is a take home message it is if we continue to grow we will destroy our biodiversity and can only expect southeast Queensland will become an increasingly greyer and grottier place to live.

Read more about Simon Baltais

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By Professor Tor Hundloe

From an economic perspective the population debate is all about scale -- economies of scale and the opposite, diseconomies of scale are, the key concepts.

Illustration by Alex Mankiewicz

From the day ex-Treasurer, Peter Costello, made the extraordinary plea “to have one for the country”, we have politicians on both sides, business leaders and media commentators calling for population growth.

It is no longer the ‘populate or perish’ rhetoric. We have come to realise wars are not won with a mass of ground troops supported by a thickly-populated countryside.

We have also come to accept that most of our country is arid or semi-arid and filling the vast inland with people would cost us in enormous and unsustainable subsidies.

More recently we have the ‘have one for your old-age’ all to the bedroom. Sure, we are living longer. If we remain healthy that is a wondrous gain. Time on the planet is our scarcest resource.

In Australia we have pushed through the 80-year barrier while there are numerous countries in sub-Sahara Africa where the 40-year barrier is still a forlorn wish.

On the ageing issue, I shall make one observation. If we live longer we can work longer to support ourselves. I'm not talking about slave-like labour in a sweat-shop in the desperately poor countries. With a few exceptions modern-day work is easy and often a pleasure.

And be mindful of the fact that various professionals including farmers tend to continue working until they die.
I admit that as we grow older there can be increased medical costs. However, these tend to be compensated by decreased expenditure on the children, the mortgage, and the costly sports and recreation of the young and middle-aged.

So what is the debate about?  Business people have a case for supporting increased population, because the larger the market the lower the average cost of the good or service being sold and this means greater profits and ( assuming the market is competitive) lower prices for the consumer. Hard to ignore!

Cheap computers, television sets and mobile phones exist because there are enormous world markets for them.  Economies of scale.  Now consider the increase in costs of numerous goods and services. What happens when we notice higher costs is that diseconomies of scale have set in.

In other words, we are trying to provide goods and services to more and more people and we run into barriers.
We have most of the world's arable land under cultivation. Most of the planet's extremely limited supply of fresh water is already allocated or over-allocated.

We will recall the dramatic reduction in agricultural production in the drought affected parts of Australia. There are limits to growth.

In the recent drought, in the world's best fine wool country, in the midlands in Tasmania, farmers attempted to save their sheep  by borrowing money to buy stock food. In the drought their scale of operation was too high. Major diseconomies set in.
We would do as the farmers, but it is a completely different matter to call for more people to simply add to the profits of the rich.

This we call greed. To dress this up as something else (good for the economy, good for the country) is to attempt to hide the truth. Beware of anyone wanting to sell you on the idea of population growth.

At the turn of the 18th century, the Reverend Thomas Malthus stated that the human population would outstrip our ability to feed ourselves.

He said there would be periods of starvation, bloody conflict over food supplies and population ‘culls’. The mechanisation of farm machinery, the use of steam, then in the 20th century oil and the opening-up of the plains in America made Malthus look foolish.

Keep in mind that after Malthus wrote his thesis, Carlyle coined the phrase ‘the dismal science’  to describe economics. It has stuck to the present even though most economists are technological utopian dreamers when it comes to limits to growth.
Come the 20th century and the human population grew dramatically but had it not been for the ‘green revolution’  developed by Norman Borlaug our population would have stalled at about half its present number.

Because it did not, Malthus continued to be wrong. The human population is rapidly approaching 9 billion, another 2 billion in the next 40 years. Many will rightly claim a place at the middle class table we enjoy.  Malthus is about to be proved right.  Where do we find another two or three planet Earths?

Economics drives population numbers not the other way round. This our politicians don't understand. Furthermore, they don't comprehend that once people reach a certain level of wellbeing they do not have more children.

The proof is to be found in Catholic Italy as well as Protestant Holland. Readers can explore the history of ideas, inventions, ethics and population growth as they relate to the sustainability of the environment and human society, in my recent book  From Buddha to Bono: Seeking Sustainability.

I conclude with a number. I have done a brief analysis of the economic cost of one aspect of the present level of population in the southeast of Queensland. I refer to the cost of congestion. Each and every one of us who is on our roads during peak hours causes a loss of valuable time for other motorists.

Some of us actually feel the lost time in our hip-pocket and can do something about recouping it.  Many of us (salary and wage earners) have to accept it as simply less time with family and friends.

Tradies, doctors, delivery drivers, taxi drivers and anyone else who can charge by the hour builds into the cost of a job the time lost on our over-crowded roads.

This may or may not show up on the hourly charge rate ( it can be incorporated into the bill in other ways and you do not see it) , but since crowding became very serious 10 to 15 years ago there has been an added cost.

Each time we call out a ‘sparky’ or plumber, each delivery we get, each visit to the dentist we make is costing us. My figures are in real dollars (inflation has been taken out) and they are averaged across a range of professions.

In a nutshell, you can add between 15 per cent and 20 per cent to your bill simply because there are too many people in vehicles clogging up our roads. That’s a big tax.

Tor Hundloe is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Management at the University of Queensland; Research Professor in the Environment School, Griffith University; and Foundation Professor in Environmental Science, Bond University. His most recent book is The Planet of the Thinking Animal: Surviving the 21st Century.

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WILVOS' hotline is always a good indication of how our wildlife is managing out there.

We didn't need a crystal ball 10 years ago to predict what was going to happen in southeast Queensland, and we don’t need a crystal ball now to see what is ahead for our wildlife. It is depressing!

A common brushtail possum that was found as a pinkie in the middle of the township of Coolum

This isn’t unique to southeast Queensland.  I  have been reading statistics from fauna returns in North Queensland, and the impact is also being felt there.

Queenslanders know we are in ‘God’s own country’, so why can’t we see the necessity to preserve the qualities we love.
We have the technology and the climate to make a difference.

Individual households can be responsible for their own power and water useage.  Funds should be going to every household to ensure self-sufficient alternative power sources (such as solar), and water catchment. This all effects our wildlife in the long run.

I intensely dislike visiting subdivisions where forests have been demolished to make way for housing blocks that daily look deserted.  Inhabitants are either working or at school. So why have a house and yard?

It is so much wasted space.  It would be kinder to our environment to encourage multi-storey development, and provide ample public space, sporting facilities,  bikeways and walkways  for the ever-growing population. The transport, fuel and energy savings alone would be phenomenal.

Simple ideas are never looked upon as a solution.  There always has to be a complicated,  expensive alternative.  Otherwise, it will not be taken seriously.

WILVOS’ fauna returns span almost a decade and they show that the number of calls to our hotline are ever-increasing, partly due to people being aware that there are people at the ready to help distressed wildlife.

Often, these calls are for advice, and it is wonderful that people are interested enough to ring up with their questions about local wildlife.

The days of ‘it’s just nature’ are hopefully fading, as people realise that such incidents as domestic animal attacks and  vehicle accidents are not ‘nature’  – they are a result of human impact.

However, there has been an increase in calls for some species, and a decrease in calls for others.  These are indicative of the effects of population growth. And either way it's not good news.

From the coastal and fast-developing areas, we are receiving more daily calls about possums having their habitat destroyed.
Of course, the brushtail species are going to seek refuge in ceilings – there is hardly a hollow or sheltered area to be found.  Our ringtail possums are grateful for the palm trees, usually not native, but providing a good base in which to build their dreys (nests).

Unfortunately, when the fronds fall down, or the tree is removed, these animals are again displaced – that's if they survive crashing to the ground. Refugees in their own country!

But even more depressing is the lack of calls about the glider species. Ten years ago, we were being called often about squirrel gliders and sugar gliders, even though their numbers were diminishing.

Now there are so few calls about gliders, that it is a challenge getting  a colony together for release. These animals, as with ringtail possums, cannot be released singularly.

Luckily, WILVOS have the expertise of an ecologist to assess release sites and chose suitable sites for our rehabilitated animals, which are returned to the wild in a nestbox.

Putting them up a tree on a few hectares is not enough.  All sites are becoming overpopulated as animals compete for territories, with adequate food and shelter.

Another obvious victim of development is the macropod.  We now receive far fewer calls about kangaroos and wallabies than we did 10 years ago – a 25 per cent decrease in some areas.  Other areas are totally bereft of macropod populations.
A tragedy that could have been foreseen, but it was more important to put up houses on 450 to 650 square metre blocks of ex-forest and grassland.

Whie development will always continue in this beautiful area, there are some peoeple who have taken on the responsibility of  helping  the previous inhabitants.

What happened to the bandicoots, echidnas, reptiles and birds that were once so commonly seen around southeast Queensland?

Tawny frogmouth chicks sit in a fragile nest made of a few sticks.  If they fall to the ground, the parents will care for them – but they are at the mercy of feral animals.

Urgent calls made to find help for injured and orphaned birds are soaring.
In some cases, nestling birds can be re-installed in a man-made nest up a tree near the parent birds, then observed to see if they are again being fed.

However, this cannot be done when the parents have been mauled by a cat or dog. But why is it so difficult to keep domestic pets contained? People do not think twice about putting a bird in a little cage, but the same persons would not build an enclosure for their cat, with activities installed to entertain it while they are away all day. In the meantime cat can be left at home to roam freely and do its bit to decimate the dwindling bird, reptile and marsupial population.

I believe that people, domestic pets and wildlife can live together. But we are supposed to be the superior species, so it is up to us to at least ease the developmental impact on our precious Australian native wildlife.

Putting a stop to what seems to be inexorable urban growth into our precious bushland would be a start. For more information visit the WILVOS website.

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