Australia’s rapidly disappearing biodiversity is still not a priority

Across party lines, political ambitions are trumping environmental protection, leaving Australia’s wildlife without a future, writes sue arnold.

The biggest loser in the fight to win the next federal election is undoubtedly the environment.

The effects of climate change are not a priority. The plight of Australia’s rapidly disappearing biodiversity is getting worse every day Angus Taylor We won as the opposition leader.

Taylor has opposed stricter climate policies and often supported technology’s role in reducing emissions. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

His record speaks for itself.

A company partially owned by Taylor and his brother in 2016-2017 poisoning 30 hectares of endangered native grasslands in the Monaro lowlands,

Angus Taylor has consistently voted against measures to increase shipping. protection and constantly voted in favor in live animal export

Open forestryAs Energy Minister under the Morrison government in 2020, Taylor said:

The government is committed to supporting forestry businesses by enabling the sector to participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF).

Reducing red tape for projects located in the five Regional Forestry Centers will support regional employment and investment, including in communities hard hit by last summer’s bushfires.

This will make it easier for the private sector to invest in new Australian forestry projects, supporting jobs and reducing emissions.

Taylor’s Deputy Minister Jonno Duniam added:

“The Morrison Government supports the development and expansion of sustainable plantation forests that will capture more carbon, create jobs and provide the timber Australia will need in the future.”

Starting locations are: South West (Western Australia), Green Triangle (South Australia), North/North West (Tasmania), North East (New South Wales) and South West Slopes (New South Wales and Victoria).

“The government will consider adding forestry centers in the future on a case-by-case basis, provided appropriate arrangements are in place to manage water impacts.”

But there is stiff competition over which party has the worst environmental credentials. One Nation Now he is looking to capture the conservative votes that are rising in the polls.

One Nation’s environmental record makes dismal reading.

The party’s environmental policy prioritizes traditional conservation, natural disaster mitigation (backburning), and opposes the rapid expansion of renewable energy sources and nuclear energy and coal. The party challenges mainstream climate science and advocates withdrawing from climate change. Paris Agreementand opposes large-scale solar/wind projects on prime farmland.

One Nation opposes reducing greenhouse gas emissions and proposes abandoning net zero targets. The party supports building new nuclear power plants, dams and expanding forest plantations to move towards timber self-sufficiency, promote local timber and preserve regional employment.

adding Barnaby Joyce It ensures that One Nation belongs to the Dark Ages.

In September 2018, National Party MP Barnaby Joyce dismissed scientific reports suggesting koalas in NSW could face extinction by 2050 due to land clearing, calling them “sensational rubbish”.

In 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Joyce called for protections to be removed for species if they conflict with industry. He advocated eliminating the endangered situation. Leadbeater’s opossum Allowing logging in Victoria’s central highlands.

As Minister of Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce promoted the commercial kangaroo industry, which involved mass culling of kangaroos in several Australian states.

But the lack of significant environmental policies is not limited to the conservative side of politics.

In 2025, the Albanian government will consider any changes to Australia’s environmental laws, climate trigger This could hinder coal and gas projects.

Given that his government has approved 31 to 34 new or expanded coal, oil and gas projects since taking office in 2022, Labor’s failure to include a climate trigger is a gift to the fossil fuel industry. Approved projects are estimated to produce over 6.5 billion tonnes of CO2-e over their lifetimes.

Large project owners are required to disclose their expected emissions and a plan for how they plan to reduce them.

Companies that violate new environmental laws could lose out on profits from undefined “unacceptable impacts.”

New National Environmental Standards (NES) are widely considered inadequate by the environmental movement because they rely on offsets.

The Albanian government’s statement regarding NES is nothing but nonsense.

‘QC should provide results or objectives and may also include parameters, principles, processes or actions to achieve results or objectives. These standards are designed to ensure quality and consistency in environmental approvals while providing greater certainty for promoters and industry. ‘

Similarly, the purpose of the project Offset Standard ‘To provide a framework in which offsets adequately compensate for residual significant impacts, in order to contribute to the protection and development of protected subjects’. This will increase the threshold for project approval, as sponsors must demonstrate that offsets provide a measurable net gain to the affected protected substance, rather than simply preventing a net loss. There are eight principles that must be met, including the timing, delivery and format of offsets.

The draft standards on environmental offsets and matters of national environmental importance (MNES) set out the objectives, outcomes and principles for the protection and management of MNES, including:

threatened species,
ecological communities,
wetlands,
heritage places and
sea areas.

It applies to all actions requiring approval under the EPBC Act.

It sets specific targets for each category of protected substances under the EPBC Act. For example, objectives for Ramsar wetlands include maintaining, protecting, preserving and (where not declining) restoring the ecological character of the declared Ramsar wetland.’

Offsetting requirements have been the subject of numerous investigations and significant criticism.

according to Federal Department climate change, energy, environment and water:

“If you need an offset, it should be directly related to the environmental impact of your project. For example, let’s say your action will impact the foraging habitat of a protected animal. In this case, you need to create, enhance, protect or manage that same animal’s foraging habitat in your offset area.”

The logic of the balancing requirement for listed species makes no sense. If one koala habitat is destroyed by a project, there is no benefit in restoring or protecting another koala habitat. The destroyed habitat and the animals living there disappear.

Changes to the EPBC Act are complex, difficult to understand, lack clear definitions and fail to address the impacts of climate change and protect biodiversity. Bilateral agreements will continue to allow state governments to destroy critical habitat, and major projects will be self-managed.

Although Regional Forestry Agreements exemption With the environmental provisions of Part 3 of the EPBC Act, which establishes the legal framework for protecting matters of national environmental importance, due to expire on 1 July 2027, it is unclear whether forestry companies will have to submit environmental impact statements for proposed harvests of native forests that contain the habitat of endangered species. Logging will continue.

Western Australian Audit The office is currently assessing whether offset conditions have been effectively implemented and the intended environmental outcomes have been achieved.

Criteria will include but are not limited to:

Are environmental balancing conditions effectively implemented?

Do offsets achieve desired environmental and biodiversity outcomes?

More than 2,200 species are listed as threatened in Australia, with more than 100 currently extinct. 144 species It was added to the national threats list in 2023 due to habitat loss, fire, drought, flood and climate impacts. Australia holds the record for the highest mammal extinction rate in the world.

Political parties of all stripes appear to have pushed the loss of more than 3 billion species in the 2019-2020 bushfires into the policy closet in the expectation that ‘things will quickly bounce back’.

Australian Greens We have to force biodiversity loss together with the effects of climate change, as both issues cannot be separated from the other.

With no political party ensuring the environment is a top policy priority as global environmental crises threaten the planet, Australia’s wildlife, ecosystems and native forests are struggling and there is no help or recognition in sight.

It is an ugly, unacceptable situation that can only result in further environmental crisis and loss, with biodiversity and future generations paying the price for a nation governed by ignorance and greed.