PANDANUS protecting nature
living sustainably
creating a climate for change
JUNE 2013
Koongarra - Kakadu From Uranium Project to National Park
website:
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plus:
Seismic Surveying Explained Shale Gas and Oil Water fever on the Roper Sustainable Neighbourhoods Program
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hanging to the
IN THIS ISSUE From the Convenor From the Director
The big Koongarra win
Top End Water Planning
Happy 30th B’day ECNT!
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PANDANUS Calotropis gigantea SHRUBS & HERBS
WE EDS
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NoRTH ERN AUSTR ALIA A FIELD GUID E
Environment Centre
Nicholas Smith
Giant rubber bush
Calotropis procera
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If you haven’t got your copy of Weeds of Northern Australia: A Field Guide yet you’d better be quick. They are selling fast. To place an order please call: 08 8981 1984 or visit:
www.ecnt.org
Desert Update
Water fever in the Roper
Field Guide to the Wildlife of the Top End
Sustainable Neighbourhoods Program
Welcome to our new staff
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Contact us
Environment Centre NT GPO Box 2120, Darwin, NT, 0801 Unit 3/98, Woods Street, Darwin. T 08 8981 1984 E admin@ecnt.org E COOLmob: coolmob@ecnt.org W www.ecnt.org Letters to the Editor E communications@ecnt.org Facebook: Environment Centre NT Flickr: environment_centre_nt Twitter: EnviroCentreNT
Australian Marine Conservation Society
Northern Marine Campaigner: Daisy Barham E sealife@amcs.org.au T 08 89417461 W www.sealife.org.au
Printed on FSC certified paper from sustainable sources using vegetable inks. Cert no. L2/0031.2012
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Siesmic surveying explained
Darwin Harbour Our Harbour
Proposed Muckaty waste dump UPDATE
Other bits ‘n’ pieces
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Environment Centre NT Director Stuart Blanch Office Manager Lisa Peters Policy Officer Rob Law Nuclear Free NT Campaigner Cat Beaton Shale-free Campaigner Emma Murphy Wildlife Field Guide Author Lindley McKay COOLmob Program Manager Sian Gleeson COOLmob Audit Manager Adrielle Drury COOLmob Sustainability Officer Emma Burkitt
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Shale Oil and Gas in the Territory
Rubber bush
le family) APOCYNACEAE (periwink 3-5m tall (or small trees) Description: Shrubs and milky sap. Stems are ce with a waxy appearan , green-grey, n. Leaves opposite smooth, grey-gree often stemwith heart-shaped, splitting thick and waxy, green, bladder like, clasping bases. Pods med seeds. to release white-plu of the two, C. gigantea larger and coarser • C. gigantea is the petals. with mauve-pink flowers are larger purple are white with • C. procera flowers blotches at tip. year round Flowers/Fruits: All areas, roadsides, disturbed Thrives Habitat: Found on and coastal dunes. flats river ing has water courses, rly where overgraz on poor soils particula on from native grasses. removed competiti wind and water by spread in Dispersal: Seeds . Local stands increase an over large distances spread as . C. gigantea also size by suckering ornamental plant. Land pulling, grubbing); Control: Physical (handreduce grazing intensity, Management (hygiene, revegetation); Chemical C. gigantea animals, feral control bark, cut stump). C. gigantea (foliar spray, basal India and is native to Sri Lanka, Notes: C. gigantea C. procera is common in Timor. d into Asia and is very Asia and was introduce native to Africa and either as in the early 1890s Australia from India camels. It in pack-saddles of native a garden plant or with which compete forms dense thickets appearance transforms the sm by plant species and Also hinders pastorali of the savanna. mustering making and lands degrading pasture however to be toxic to stock, tropical difficult. Reported and in semi-arid it is sometimes grazed in drought. the arid areas, even areas but rarely in
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2013 NT BUDGET The NT Budget 2013 was slim pickings for the environment, with big cuts across key agencies due to staff cuts and cuts to many important initiatives. A budget squeeze is understandable given the drive to cut the deficit, but there were plenty of lost opportunities to invest in green infrastructure, nature-based tourism and urban sustainability that seem to have been lost. The Treasurer did mention ‘environment’ twice, but only at the very end his speech under ‘Territory Lifestyle’ and only to announce ‘highlights’ of $0.5M for new weeds officers to ‘help pastoralists’ and $200K to support litter reduction. What didn’t get a specific mention? Climate change and renewable energy. Quite a sad irony really given the world reached an unwelcome milestone recently of 400ppm of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere. Note – gas got two mentions. National Parks – zip. Conservation – zero mention. Restoring endangered species to our beleaguered landscapes – silence. The Department of Land Resource Management is down almost $10M, or 17%, from estimated spend in Budget 2012/13. Funding cuts have hit Flora & Fauna ($1.3M), Rangelands ($4.9M), and Water Resources ($2.6M). The NT EPA got $7.3M, down $10.5M in 2012/13. Parks & Wildlife Commission is down $3.6M on estimated Budget 2012/13, or 6.6%. No funds set aside for buying pastoral leases to create new National Parks. However the new legacy mines levy is a very welcome mechanism and we hope it helps fix up polluting abandoned mines like Redbank.
Cover images: Top: Picture from the film “YELLOW CAKE” www.yellowcake-derfilm.de, Copyright UM WELT FILM. Bottom: Mangroves in Ludmilla Bay. Image by Stuart Blanch.
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From the Convenor Thirty years ago, the Environment Centre was born - a reincarnation of the previous Environment Council which had closed four years earlier after losing Government funding. Over the decades we have fought many strong campaigns and marked some great achievements, including support for declaration of Stages three and four of Kakadu and establishing the Kakadu plan of management. Glyde Point remains free from heavy industry following a three year campaign by ECNT and Jabiluka has never been mined, thanks to absolute opposition by the Traditional Owners, the Mirrar people who were strongly supported by ECNT. This year, we were proud to be thanked by Djok Traditional Owner Jeffrey Lee during the official return
By Di Koser
of Koongarra to Kakadu National Park. COOLmob has been running and growing since 2004 and is now involved with sustainability matters including water and energy use and waste reduction. Although we in the Territory are lagging behind with around 1000 householders installing roof top PVS, we may soon catch up to other places in Australia, where in total over 1 million households are making their own power from PVs. Local school Millner Primary is now generating over 60% of the school’s energy from PVs installed on its roof. There are many other good news stories in our community! Our Weeds of the Wet/Dry Tropics, now in its third issue, continues to sell well all over Northern Australia and our current project of producing
From the Director The change in Territory Government has brought some major challenges to our amazing ecosystems and wildlife, as well as the welcome introduction of an independent EPA and hopefully a focus on better urban planning. The Federal Coalition announced it has plans for 100 new dams across Australia, targeting the ecologically healthy free-flowing rivers of Northern Australia. Our team met with senior members of their northern development taskforce a year ago to voice the strong concerns of Territorians about the plans. In one exchange Senator Barnaby Joyce proposed plans for massive cotton farms along the rivers of the north, akin to the northern Murray-Darling Basin, and was open to dams being built on tributaries of the Daly River to support major irrigation. This forms part of the Coalition’s new vision for the north, which from the executive summary appears to be focused almost solely on damaging
We had a wry laugh when we saw that the only mention of large scale renewable energy – despite the north being a global hotspot for solar irradiance – involved importing hydropower from Papua New Guinea into Queensland! No apparent mention of utility scale solar power generation in the Top End. This is despite growing interest in scoping the potential for generating and exporting electricity from solar power here and feeding it into a connected electricity grid between Northern Australia and Southeast Asia. This opportunity is the topic of a workshop being held in Darwin on 29-30 July and hosted by the Environment Centre NT, Charles Darwin University, Australian National University (ANU), CSIRO, local engineering firm UNO Management Services and consultants Earth Systems and Aloka Group. Environment 2
Centre
As we celebrate our thirtieth birthday, we are aware of the increasing threats to our natural environment, but can draw strength from the solid support of our members and the passion and commitment of our great crew here at the Environment Centre. Imagine how Darwin Harbour would look if the Environment Centre had not campaigned against 14 months of blasting Walker Shoal three times a day by Inpex! It was great to see you at many of our events. I look forward to keeping in touch throughout the rest of 2013. A special thank you to those who have helped celebrate our 30th year of operation. We look forward to many more.
by Stuart Blanch
major developments, dams, large scale irrigation, fossil fuels and mines.
The
the first ever field guide to the wildlife of the Top End is Di Koser well under way.
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understands miner Western Desert Resources told the Territory Labor Government in 2012 that it had legal advice it could bulldoze a large section of its haul road using loopholes in the Territory’s weak pastoral and environmental laws and avoid prosecution, despite not being given approval for the mine by the Territory Government. The cosy relationship between senior government advisers and miners was further on display when Territory Labor accepted donations totalling $50,000 in 2011/12 in the lead up to the August 2012 NT election, from companies held by Directors of WDR. This occured as the company developed its mine proposal. We wonder what promises or favours it extracted from the then government in return for the donation, if any? Being granted Major Project Status? A favourable response to its EIS? Dismissal or downplaying of concerns amongst environmental or mining regulators? Given the company
Nature Territory
deliberately and cynically bulldozed a long section of the haul road prior to being granted approval to proceed, Territory Labor should return the donation. Federal regulators are investigating whether bulldozing the haul road during the dry season in 2012 breached federal environment laws, as the work also occurred before federal approval was granted. But even if a breach of the law is proved, the small maximum fine ($500,000) and the absence of gaol time shows the company decided any potential prosecution was worth the risk, akin to copping a speeding ticket on the way to cashing a big cheque at the bank. Our Nuclear Free NT campaign has been highlighting the failures and risks at ERA’s Ranger uranium mine inside Kakadu, including at the company’s AGM in mid April. We strongly oppose ERA’s planned Ranger 3 Deeps underground uranium mine and call on the company to absolutely commit to closing Ranger by 2021. We’re also working with other community organisations to protect East Point, Ludmilla Bay and Ludmilla Creek from damaging developments. These include the Arafura Harbour canal estate, which was not supported by the Territory Labor Government in 2009 but is expected to resurface in modified form, as well as the stockpile on the Kulaluk lease near Minmarrama Village, and bulldozing some of inner Darwin’s last remaining
The Daly River has long been the focus of efforts to develop the northern foodbowl. Image: Julian Murphy, WWF.
Construction of the Arafura Harbour canal estate would destroy mangroves in Ludmilla Bay and Ludmilla Creek. Image: Stuart Blanch
urban bushland for commercial and light industry between Bagot Road and Dick Ward Drive in Ludmilla. Prue Barnard is working with us to support efforts by Friends of East Point, many Larrakia people, Ludmilla Creek Landcare Group, PLaN and Save Darwin Greenbelt to protect this important natural infrastructure. Dissapointingly, the Territory Goverment says is will cut COOLmob’s core funding from 2014/15, despite recent power price increases hurting Territorians. This contrasts with the Ferderal Government’s offer of a multi-million grant to COOLmob to support energy efficiency in the Top End. Read more at page 9. You can read about our efforts to support traditional owners in Arnhem Land to keep oil companies out of their sea country (see page 5), and watch the YouTube clip on our website. Thanks to the support of the Dahl Trust, Perpetual Trustees and Melliodora Sub-Fund we have created a new position to bring sustainabilityminded organisations and leaders across the north to develop a truly 21st Century vision and plan for conserving and sustainably developing the north. Kimberley to Cape Manager Clare Taylor will work with diverse partners to build a consensus about a future for the north that ensures the world’s largest tropical savanna is protected and restored, and our amazing network of free-flowing tropical rivers remain healthy and clean. We’ve also appointed other new staff to work with community and our partners. Sian Gleeson has taken
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on the role of COOLmob Program Manager, and Emma Burkitt is our new COOLmob Sustainability Officer. They work with COOLmob Audit Manager/Project Officer Adrielle Drury to create new partnerships to work with governments, business and communities to support sustainable living. Thanks to Robin Knox and Bridget Edmunds for all their hard work and passion for sustainability. Lindley McKay is busy writing a field guide to Wildlife of the Top End, and Rob Law is settling in as our new Policy Officer. You can read about Emma Murphy’s work to support the community regarding shale gas on page 9. Our team is also hosting Sustainability Month this year, from mid May to mid June. Check our website for more details and events. An exciting event will be a Solar Summit on June 12, which will highlight what’s happening in the commercial, household and community sectors in solar. I hope you enjoy this issue of PANDANUS. Stuart Blanch
The Uterne solar farm at Alice Springs. Our team is looking into bringing forward investment in utility scale solar power in the Top End. Image: Jimmy Cocking, ALEC.
Nature Territory
Environment and Indigenous interests hung out to dry in Top End water planning? By Rob Law, Policy Officer
Victoria River. Image: Glenn Walker
Since 2008 the NT Government has been working with the community to develop water allocation plans (WAP’s) for different regions across the Top End. The benefits of a WAP process is that it is transparent and aims to ensure the sharing of water amongst different users is equitable and does not compromise the health of sensitive groundwater dependent ecosystems. Despite the large amount of rain the Top End experiences in the wet season, water is not in endless supply and availability during the dry season is heavily dependent on groundwater reserves that are replenished each year. Perennial rivers in the Northern Territory such as the Roper and the Daly Rivers are entirely reliant on discharge of groundwater in the dry season. The amount of groundwater available to these rivers will vary each year depending on the amount of wet season rainfall received. Best practice water planning uses the best available science to estimate the amount of water entering these groundwater systems each year, known as the “recharge”, and a large portion of this recharge should be allocated for environmental purposes. In most of the draft WAPs being developed in the NT, at least 80% of recharge has been allocated for environmental and cultural purposes, and the remaining portion is allocated for use amongst the different water
stakeholders such as irrigated horticulture, tourism and townships. This remaining portion is known as the ‘consumptive pool’. The Environment Centre NT is seriously concerned by recent NT Government decisions regarding water allocations in the Mataranka region that have violated the entire water planning process and the rights of Indigenous people. In April this year, the NT Government decided to alter the estimates of recharge to the Tindall Limestone Aquifer in the Mataranka region. By changing the climate data used to estimate recharge from 100 years down to 40 years, the consumptive pool available for water extraction in the WAP has essentially doubled. Adoption of a 40 year timeframe for water management appears to be a cynical choice of model inputs to coincide with above-long-termaverage rainfall during that period and justify government policy to increase food production through encouraging irrigation. The standard time frame for modelling long term water availability and impacts of water extraction on aquatic ecosystems in Australia is 100 years, or longer. It is of serious concern that these significant changes to the draft WAP were not consulted with the Water Advisory Committee. Furthermore, the NT government 4
has recently decided to forego the rights of Indigenous people to secure a portion of the consumptive pool for future economic development. During the WAP process it was agreed by many both within and outside of government, the rights of Indigenous people to an equitable share of water from the consumptive pool should be formally recognised. This set aside allocation became known as the Strategic Indigenous Reserve, and an SIR was negotiated and included in the draft WAPs for the Oolloo and the Mataranka Water Plan Areas. A recent CLP government decision has determined that there will no longer be a SIR included in the final WAPs, and that a review of this decision will occur in 3 years time. This undermines the entire water planning process and severely disadvantages the rights of Traditional Owners to access water on their country for their own economic development. The Environment Centre NT is currently working with Traditional Owners from the affected areas and other community stakeholders to challenge these recent decisions. If you would like to support the rights of Indigenous People to an SIR and the proper water planning process we urge you to contact the Minister for Land Resource Management Minister Hon Willem Westra van Holthe to express your concern over these recent decisions.
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Shale Gas and Oil in the Territory By Stuart Blanch, Director
The shale gas and oil industry is exploring tens of millions of hectares of the Territory’s most remote, and ecologically intact ecosystems, Indigenous lands and seas, and valuable pastoral lands. Regrettably there seems little interest within the Territory Government, or amongst any Members of the Legislative Assembly, in opposing this damaging industry or at least ensuring our laws and policies were modern and reflected best practice.
protect farmland, high conservation value ecosystems and water sources.
The NT Mines and Energy Minister Willem Westra van Holthe seems to have ignored the well founded concerns of Territorians to date about the industry, rather choosing to see only the royalties and jobs from more polluting fossil fuels.
So when will Territory Labor Opposition Leader Delia Lawrie listen to Territorians and follow suit?
No members of the Country Liberals Government, including those MLAs who are supposed to represent the concerns of constituents in their electorates currently being targeted by the shale gas industry, have spoken out against the industry. NSW Labor Opposition Leader John Roberston has repeatedly called for a moratorium on coal seam gas to
Territory Labor Mines spokesperson Kon Vatskalis supported calls by ourselves, pastoralists and Land Councils after the August election for a moratorium on fracking. Of course, it would have been helpful if he’d done so before the election when he actually had the power to enforce a ban, but I guess it is better late than never.
The intransigence by our leaders comes despite the known major risks and impacts of the shale gas and coal seam gas industries in Australia and abroad. These include water pollution, drawdown of aquifers, carving up landscapes with roads and seismic exploration tracks, worsening health of families living amongst gas fields, falling property prices and often an inability to sell properties with gas wells, and worsening climate change through the release of methane and combustion of fossil fuels.
Rather, our elected leaders and the business leaders seem to be in thrall to the industry and unquestioningly accepting the lies and arguments of the industry’s well paid spin doctors and executives. That’s why we continue to call for a moratorium on exploration for shale gas and oil, including fracking, until there is adequate scientific information about risks, our petroleum and environment laws are modernised, and landholders are given the right to say no to the industry on their land. The recent 4 Corner’s expose of rushed environmental approvals for coal seam gas projects in Queensland must serve as a warning to Territorians. Gas companies do not provide enough information for regulators to allow them to make informed and impartial decisions. They pressure Ministers and senior government officials to approve massive damaging fossil fuel projects in spite of community and landholder opposition. And they make promises they know they cannot keep. For example, the industry knows it has real problems
Above image: Shale gas public meeting in February. From left to right are the following people: Drew Hutton, President, Lock the Gate; Luke Bowen, Executive Director, NT Cattlemen’s Association; Craig Ingram, NT Amateur Fishermen’s Association; Eddie Mason, Spokesperson for Protect Arnhem Land; Stuart Blanch, Director, ECNT.
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Nature Territory regarding well integrity, with many examples globally of wells cracking and causing pollution. But despite the pollution to water and the climate this causes through releasing frack chemicals and methane, they continue to spin their industry is low risk. But thanks to the support of our members and donors we have been busy building a shale gas campaign in the past six months. Given the vast onshore gas resources in the Territory we expect this to be a very long campaign. We’re talking to various groups and developing partnerships with many to highlight the major risks from shale gas and oil in the Territory. We’ve been working with Traditional Owners in Arnhem Land, NT Cattlemens Association, Amateur Fishermens Association of the NT, NT Seafood Council, Land Councils, NT Farmers Association and the Arid Lands Environment Centre. On 20 February we held a public meeting in Darwin that allowed the community to hear from a range of organisations and landholders about their concerns. We hosted Drew Hutton from Lock The Gate Alliance who talked to the meeting about how farmers, pastoralists and environmentalists have refused to cooperate with governments and the CSG industry in NSW and Queensland by refusing gas companies permission to come onto their land. They’ve locked the gate,
Take Action! Tell Chief Minister Adam Giles you want a moratorium on exploration by the shale gas industry until an independent inquiry into the science, legislation and community concerns is conducted. Contact the Chief Minister on: Ph: 08 8928 6500 Email: Chief.Minister@nt.gov.au www.facebook.com/ Facebook: adam.giles.9693 Twitter: @adamgiles
which has seen the CSG industry all but fall over in NSW. We have appointed Emma Murphy as a part time shale gas community campaigner to help the community get information about the industry, understand its risks, and take action to oppose it. Following a strong response from the public meeting we are supporting a new community campaign, which as affiliated with Lock The Gate. And Stuart Blanch has travelled twice to Maningrida to support Indigenous landowners from north Arnhem Land, and members of the Protect Arnhem land community campaign, to learn about the risks of oil exploration in coastal waters. He plans to visit Borroloola and Croker Island to meet with traditional owners regarding shale gas and oil. In March senior Indigenous leaders gathered from across north Arnhem Land in Maningrida to talk about the threats to their sea country from Paltar Petroleum’s plans to explore for oil. The meeting was loud and angry, and the men ended it with burning the response from Paltar to their earlier concerns. You can hear their concerns in a YouTube posted on our website.
Did you know unconventional oil and gas companies have their sites set on exploring about 90% of the Territory, including our coastline, national parks, pastoral land and almost all of Arnhem Land? The Northern Territory is rich with shale oil and gas deposits. To extract it, companies use technologies like hydraulic fracturing –fracking - which pose serious threats to drinking water, air quality and human health (check out the film Gasland if you want to know more). But we can stop it! It’s not too late to stop the NT from becoming the
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Images from top to bottom: Stuart with Helen Williams; Maningrida Traditional Owners burning the response from Paltar; Audience at shale gas public meeting in February.
next gasland. A new campaign group, “Don’t Frack the Territory”, has launched to spread the word about the risks fracking poses to the cultural and environmental heritage of the NT. On May 22, Don’t Frack the Territory joined forces with the Anti-Nuclear NT collective to protest outside the Australia-China Mining Investment Summit, to say: “Stop uranium mining, lock the gates on shale oil and gas, go solar!”. To get involved, support the campaign or find out more about the issue, contact Emma at the Environment Centre NT, or email shalefree@ecnt. org
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Water fever in the Roper By Stuart Blanch, Director Bitter Springs, which flows into the Roper River. Image: Glenn Walker.
The Territory Government is turning back the clock on water planning.
period – rather than the 100 years of data that includes earlier drier times.
Yes, it’s like a free for all on water in the Roper.
They reverted to that hoary old chestnut to justify increasing extractions – the’80-20 rule’ – removing a 5% buffer under the more cautious ’85-15%’ share between the environment and extraction. There’s no science to justify the 80-20 rule.
It’s a triumph of 1950s ideology over science and legitimate community concerns, where foodbowl thinking ignores the reality all our water is already being used. They say they have an election mandate to push agricultural development. But who gave them the OK to put your rivers at risk, damage cultural sites and dreaming places, reject science, ignore communities, or threaten fishing?
They selectively quoted - or verballed – the CSIRO and justify their assumption of decade of wet years ahead, the scientist’s warnings
perhaps BoM to another ignoring about
increased variability from climate change and the dry wet we’ve just had. This foodbowl-at-almost-any-cost ideology killed off wildlife, wetlands and fish in the Murray Darling Basin. They approved a massive water licence for CLP candidate Tina MacFarlane for over five billion litres that will clearly threaten flows in Mataranka Hot Springs in the Elsey National Park next door, which is one of the most brazen water speculation manoeuvres seen in the Territory for many years.
Many in the Roper ask how government water managers can go along with such a poor water plan for the Tindal Aquifer at Mataranka? The government effectively sacked the head water planner, who was deemed too green. They weakened the draft water plan that locals developed. This has seen almost a doubling in the average volume of water that can be extracted, up from 19 billion litres to 36 billion litres. They cynically modelled the impacts of water extraction on river flows using only data from the past 40 years – helpfully coinciding with the wet post-war
Pivot irrigation wastes a lot of water in a hot climate like ours. Image: Stuart Blanch
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nn Walker.
Nature Territory And then the Controller of Water Resources publicly said he would happily issue lots more water licences. Another licence for 9 billion litres is being considered, plus several more large licences are being considered. The government’s goal seems to be to issue the full 36 Gl asap. The result: Mataranka would be capped at a higher volume than Katherine, which is wetter (36 vs 32 gigalitres). And Katherine is already over-allocated. Unlike the Daly River, the Roper receives no meaningful inflows once the river flows east of the Tindal aquifer, so any over-extraction of water will have a clear and detrimental impact on this beautiful and culturally important river. Over allocation of water will cause the Roper River to dry up more than naturally. The number of days when the river stops flowing will increase in drier times, and occur further up the river. The salt wedge will move further upstream in drier times, endangering Ngukurr’s water supply.
Pivot irrigation from the air. Image: Stuart Blanch
The government says it can claw back water use if there are shown to be adverse environmental impacts on the Upper Roper in the future. This is naive. Clawing back water use is politically very hard, a nightmare for local communities and irrigators with established farms and businesses, and would likely require taxpayers to compensate irrigators. Just look south. Cabinet also ditched the Strategic Indigenous Reserve that allowed Aboriginal people to develop irrigation in the years ahead if they were interested. That’s another environmental buffer gone. And add to this 1.65 Gl for the Roper Ilmenite mine and Sherwin Iron’s proposed catchment dam for its iron ore mines on Hodgson Downs, the impacts at Ngukurr and in the mid and lower reaches will grow. Along with AFANT and Indigenous traditional owners we’ve objected to the latest large water licence and are jointly hosting a public meeting at Mataranka on 13 June about water. Centre pivot irrigation wastes a great deal of water. Images: Stuart Blanch
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Green Living
CO COOLmob is a community based project of the Environment Centre NT. COOLmob aims to help people reduce their CO2 emissions through their activities which include household energy audits, television advertisements, publications, campaigns, media events and activities.
Sustainable Neighbourhoods Program Connecting, Sharing and Saving COOLmob is delighted to announce that it has kicked off the start of its Sustainable Neighbourhoods program. The premise of this program, which is funded by the Territory Government, is to empower residents to collectively take action to reduce their ecological footprint. That is, for householders to: • Reduce their use of energy and water consumption • Decrease waste generation • Increase recycling rates, and • Reduce fuel consumption. As part of the program, COOLmob will provide participants with practical information and support on how they can achieve this. Households will receive a COOLmob membership, which provides access to selected discounts on energy and water saving products and services. Participants will also be able to learn how to undertake their own home energy audits using self assessment checklists. Being part of the Sustainable Neighbourhoods program will importantly provide people with an opportunity to meet with their neighbours and to build networks within the community. Collectively participants will be able to decide on what issues they would like to focus on and how they can collaborate together to see best results. This may include, for example, sharing the use of resources like a compost bin or swapping home grown vegetables. Participants will also be encouraged to make use of COOLmob’s online discussion forum to share these ideas, discuss ‘hot topics’ and see what other neighborhoods are doing. Relevant questions which can be
explored through the forum include: • What techniques do you use to stay cool and keep your energy bills low? • Who installed your solar system? Is the size appropriate and what are your energy bills like because of it? • Which plants require less water in this climate? Similar grass-root projects that have been adopted elsewhere in Australia have shown positive steps in encouraging the update of sustainability and reducing resource consumption. Participants in the Victorian Sustainability Street program, for example, have reported average reductions of 30 – 40% in energy use, 25% in water consumption and 15 – 20% in waste production Interested households are encouraged to sign up to the neighbourhood program and to engage and network with other houses already participating in their area. If you are interested please contact COOLmob to learn about how you and your neighbourhood can become involved.
COOL Ranger! COOLmob are delighted to introduce our newest team member... COOL Ranger. COOL Ranger has a wealth of knowledge about energy and water efficiency which he is able to share with kids. COOL Ranger will be leading discussions and talks throughout the year on why it is important to conserve energy and water and how kids can be the energy boss of their own home! COOL Ranger will be making his first appearance at our Family Day in June. Be sure to check our website for details of future appearances!
Solar power is a clean form of energy which can be installed on households.
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Green Living
COOLmob
If you would like to receive our email NEWSLETTER send your email address to : coolmob@ecnt.org. The free newsletter is full of exciting sustainable living tips, gadgets and news. COOLmob now has a Facebook page! Please search for us and stay in the sustainability loop.
An update from COOLmob In the last twelve years COOLmob has flourished. Established in 2001 as part of the Federal governments Cool Communities program the focus of COOLmob was predominantly on supporting households to cut greenhouse emissions. Since becoming a uniquely Territory program in 2004, COOLmob has expanded significantly to offer the following services: • Energy and water household assessments • Discounted energy and water products, and • Community education and engagement. The scope of COOLmob’s assessments has also broadened, with household audits including private benevolent institutions, non government schools, aged care and apartment’s body corporate. Each year COOLmob now undertakes a number of additional sustainability programs through grant funding received from the Territory Government and Darwin Council. In 2012/13 COOLmob was able to establish a carpooling database and website, launch our Sustainable Neighbourhoods program, facilitate another Sustainable House Day and undertake an auditing based project for apartment blocks within Darwin. The latter program in particular has yielded strong results, with the common area of one apartment block identifying opportunities for energy efficiency savings of up to $500,000 over a ten year period!
As the Program Manager of COOLmob for over five years Robin has been instrumental in growing COOLmob into the successful program it is today. It is through Robin’s hard work that the program has expanded from one to three full time staff members and effectively supported the community to live more sustainably. During his time with COOLmob Steve has also been a wealth of knowledge to not only the community, but also our staff. Steve led development of our Greenhouse Friendly booklets, undertook numerous energy efficiency audits and also provided training and advice to COOLmob. The year ahead promises to be both a challenging and exciting one. COOLmob has a number of new programs planned and we look forward to introducing sustainability initiatives into new sectors, such as schools and low income households. We have recently received confirmation that we will receive another year of funding from the Territory Government. This is great news and could only have been made possible through such strong support from the community. With changes in our funding anticipated for the following financial year COOLmob will look to develop new fee-for-service programs in order to achieve long term funding security. As part of this we will examine opportunities for partnership and collaboration with relevant organisations within the Territory. We look forward to working closely with you all as we go down this new path!
Sadly we have recently farewelled two of our long term staff members – Robin Knox and Steve Beagley. 10
Sustainable House Day 2013 In September this year, COOLmob would once again like to open Darwin homes to the public, with the purpose of showcasing and celebrating household sustainability. The day will provide the community with an invaluable opportunity to discuss the experiences of occupants in introducing energy and water efficiency initiatives. To ensure that the day remains fresh and fun COOLmob is proposing a number of changes to the Event this year. This includes concluding the day with a community BBQ and a number of informal talks by green businesses and community organisations. Stay tuned for more information as the year progresses!
A Humpty Doo home which previously participated in our 2011 Sustainable House Day
Marine
Four years on from the devastating Montara oil spill in the Timor Sea, the risks posed to our marine life from offshore oil and gas developments remain very real. Image: Chris Twomey
Siesmic Surveying
Out of sight, out of mind, but not without impacts By Daisy Barham, Northern Marine Campaigner Imagine a sound louder than a jack hammer, pulsing every 8-10 seconds, lasting for days and weeks on end. Add in the amplification of being underwater and you may just begin to get a sense of how loud seismic surveying is for our dolphins, dugongs and other marine life. The majority of our 72,000 km2 Territory coastal waters are being eyed off for oil and gas exploration and development. This places our Top End Sea Life at threat from seismic surveying, destruction of habitats, disruption of migration routes and feeding grounds, and increases the risk of an oil spill similar to the devastating 2009 Montara spill in the Timor sea. Despite its documented impacts on marine life, seismic surveying is often overlooked as a threat to our seas. Seismic surveying is conducted as part of the exploration process
for oil and gas companies to identify reserves of fossil fuels beneath the sea floor. It involves airguns releasing highly compressed pulses of air which creates a sound pressure wave. These waves then reach deep into the sea floor before being reflected back to surface receivers which then enable an accurate picture of what lies beneath the seafloor to be developed. The underwater world is a surprisingly noisy one. Great depths and low light mean that many animals, particularly mammals like whales and dolphins, rely on sound for survival. Marine mammals use sound to locate prey, detect and avoid predators, attract mates, communicate with other members of their species, and navigate through the darkness of deep ocean waters. Without sound, marine mammals would be incapable of carrying out many daily activities
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that are vital for their survival. Recently, the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) recognised that “anthropogenic ocean noise constitutes a form of pollution [that] may degrade the marine environment and also have adverse effects on ocean fauna, even resulting in individual fatalities…” Scientific research has shown that reactions of marine organisms to seismic surveys include surprise, fright, stress and avoidance. Changes in behaviour and vocalisation patterns such as disruption of feeding, avoidance of particular areas, altered dive and respiratory patterns, and disruptions to mating have also been reported. Marine mammals may even permanently abandon areas as a result of chronic underwater noise. Resting humpback whale pods containing cows have been shown
imor Sea, s develops Twomey
Marine
to avoid an area 7-12km from seismic survey sites. And it’s not just the big critters that are affected. Cephlapods like squid and calamari are found to significantly change their behaviour within 2-5km of seismic activity when simulated in a lab. As for fish, exposure to stresses such as airgun blasts have been shown to have a detrimental effect on marine fish and effects growth, disease resistance, fecundity and can even lead to death. Trials with captive fishes showed fish were ‘alarmed’ and swam faster, to the bottom of their habitat, tightened their school structure, or all three, at an estimated 2-5km from a seismic source. Our marine life deserves better than to be bombarded by airguns. That’s why the Environment Centre NT and the Australian Marine Conservation Society are working hard to protect
Initial tests have shown turtles swim faster and more erratically when near seismic activity. Image: Jess Abrahams
our Top End sealife from the impacts of oil and gas developments. We’re calling on the Territory Government to permanently reserve all Territorial waters from oil and gas exploration and development under the Petroleum Act and Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act.
Take Action! Be part of the tidal wave of action at www.sealife.org.au and keep our coast oil and gas free.
Thanks to Oceana for this useful graphic, see www.oceans.org for more.
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Nuclear Free NT
NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP BATTLE 8 years on
By Cat Beaton, Nuclear Free NT Campaigner For almost a third of the time that the Environment Centre NT has had it’s doors open the Territory has faced the ludicrous federal proposal of a national radioactive waste repository – a nuclear dump in the Territory. There was never any pretence that NT sites were the most suitable on scientific and environmental grounds; it was purely a political decision reflecting the small number of federal electorates in the NT and weaker legal powers. While it is now eight years since Liberal Federal Minister for Science Brendan Nelson announced a nuclear waste dump for the Territory – the fact that it is unwanted, unnecessary and unsafe have not changed. What has changed however is the Federal Minister for Resources and the Northern Territory Chief Minister - both supporters of the dump. On March 13 exactly a year after the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill passed through the senate, the Territory saw the overthrow of Chief Minister Terry Mills to be replaced by Adam Giles. In November 2012 Mills had made his support for the waste dump clear – disappointing a range of NT groups and Traditional Owners and placing CLP in pro-dump waters. In April, Adam Giles was questioned live on air about his position on the waste dump and whether he would meet with Traditional Owners of the Muckaty region. The Chief Minister said that the CLP ‘did not have a position from a cabinet point of view’ on the issue and that he thought it was important to sit down with Traditional Owners and local residence to discuss the matter. The Environment Centre NT looks forward to seeing these
meetings happen and Giles and the CLP adopting a policy opposing the waste dump. The second change came in Canberra with the fall out from the March federal leadership challenge which included the resignation of Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources. Minister Ferguson had championed the waste dump at Muckaty since Labour won the election in 2007. In all those years the Minister never once met with Muckaty Traditional Owners opposed to the dump despite many appeals and invitations. When Muckaty Traditional Owner Dianne Stokes and others came to the Ministers electoral office the doors were locked on them. New Federal Resource Minister Gary Gray is now faced with an opportunity to take a responsible and pro-active approach to Australia’s radioactive waste management woes. With approaches made to him by the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance, we hope to soon find out his position on the waste dump and hopefully he will unwind the years of failed
consultation and take the Muckaty site off the table. The Territory and Australian governments must look to examples overseas where governments are engaging with communities to discuss radioactive waste storage options. The key principles should be waste minimisation, robust science and informed community consent. The current Muckaty plan fails all of these benchmarks. In 2013 the battle against the proposed nuclear waste dump at Muckaty continues to gain strength and numbers. Many groups share the vision that 2013 will be the year that nuclear dump plans for the Territory are taken off the table forever. Ark up in 2013 and let both sides of Federal politics know that the waste dump plan is un-Territorian and lacks support from communities across the Territory.
Muckaty Traditional Owners. Image: Jagath Dheerasekara from the exhibition “Manuwanku”
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Nuclear Free NT
KOONGARRA - KAKADU
From Uranium Project to National Park
In 2013 – after decades of fighting - Jeffrey Lee’s vision to remove the threat of uranium mining from his country was finally realised. His land at Koongarra was incorporated into the surrounding World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park in Australia’s Northern Territory and permanently protected from mining. The former Koongarra Project Area (KPA) lies within the traditional lands of the Djok clan and is a region of approximately 12,000 hectares. Until February 2013 Koon- garra was excluded from the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park, which completely surrounds the area. The region is unique, magnificent and important in traditional storylines that include the Rainbow Serpent and Lightning Man. It is also home to an estimated 15,000 tonnes of highgrade uranium which the French nuclear and mining giant Areva has been trying to access and develop for several decades. Jeffrey Lee, the senior Traditional Owner of the Djok clan, speaks for Koongarra. Mr Lee has long resisted Areva’s promises of wealth and remained firm in his commitment to care for the land. In 2010 Jeffrey Lee asked the Federal Government to protect Koongarra by including it within Kakadu, stating at the time: “When you dig a hole in that country you are killing me. I don’t worry about money at all.” The Government promised to honour his wishes, and now it has. Uranium mining in the Kakadu region has always been controversial with three uranium deposits never included in the Park’s original proclamation. A significant Australian Gov- ernment report in the 1970s and UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee Kakadu assessment mission in the 1990s both recommended against mining at Koongarra. The oth- er two
uranium deposits: Ranger and Jabiluka occur on the land of the Mirarr people. Rio Tinto owns the Ranger uranium mine which was imposed on the Mirarr Traditional Owners and has been operating to the north of Koongarra for 30 years. Since Ranger opened in 1981 the mine has been plagued with water management and contamination issues. A detailed investigation of the impacts of uranium mining by the Australian Senate found clear evidence of “a pattern of under performance and non-compliance” and concluded that significant changes were needed to avoid “serious or irreversible damage”. In the late 1990s in the face of enormous pressure from Government and the mining company, the Mirarr lead an extraordinary campaign which saw mining halted at Jabiluka. Senior Traditional Owner Yvonne Margarula has recently restated her desire to see Jabiluka included within Kakadu and permanently protected from uranium mining. When Koongarra’s protection was
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announced, Jeffrey Lee acknowledged the inspiration he has drawn from the Mirarr’s struggle: “I also want to thank the Mirarr people and especially the senior traditional owner, Yvonne Margarula, and the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation. They have stood by me and showed me that Aboriginal people can say no.” Protection of Koongarra is a long overdue recognition of Jeffrey Lee’s vision and tenacity and a powerful and lasting victory for both Aboriginal and environmental rights. One of the three missing pieces of Kakadu has been restored but the heart of Kakadu still has two uranium related holes at Ranger and Jabiluka. The threat and struggle continues.
Watch Jeffrey video on-line at: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Ac_6hapxMlo and send a message congratulating Jeffrey here at: www.ecnt.org / awinforkakadu.
Nature Happy Territory B’day!
ONE PAGE POLICY - ROB
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ellnd w a m r te long- s so far. ome s ar e d y e r 30 ask u e o w e rate ebrat celeb , and cel o T ! n 0 o 3 turns elect e NT p us r l r t e n h e C to ords ment When all the doors viron er a few w n E e slam in our off r th o a t e s y r fac e, when we want to This porte stand up p u s n for country - the EC know s NT has been a h t a th up there standing by us strong gro to protect Centre tive and e c th e ff , e e c wh n at is ours. r differe n m e nt a o jo ir a v to m n E in a e s e e mad tered th rritory issu it was I e n co u n played Te Happy y 90’s and s rl a a h e 30th e th in Birthday tucked e. g n a io st is l v a Centre NT n En ig o vir b ti on a me a n nt h Centre NT! it i w e D b d o a le p m rc a o ll e a n a sm great p end of a been some e bottom am, Donna There have ark Wakeh away at th Jackson, M , rs e Larrakia p e t. e S W rd h a e g h a n ic n Ja a R v , r, Tra a ir dit se la ion o B K al off C n Ow e ne st r t ir n K e , n m n r so o ert rge , the Envir Peter Rob Krockenbu ades since llen, Mike A constant ers n a th Ly o d In the dec r, e e d ss g Led s expre aton an a e g h B n T ro t a N st C e r ), rong , Centr le fo (the Kroc of great, st ood peop st r g li fo a m e o n d fr a o m keep acti voice w h o h av e those who d olicy and n p ts a h g ts y, ri c is v a c cti a d vo human staunch a nning. ntal and e room ru in s. g environme n n o e ti c e te th ro p d an on with tic outcomes a connecti t c e v ta a Happy Birthday ECNT. Fantas n h o c to most proud nd I wish e a m th T a just N I d not e a to h ed tr olv n I’ve sues effort by all inv n m e nt C e and a The area nuclear is g the Enviro y birthday lation to p e p re a th h keep going, but to keep growin in , u ry is d e with all a v in Kaka u o g y in . nce in ere diff m mp and making a re. aste du – uranium great futu uclear w n e v ti c d a se io o d an prop t of ra y, Australi Lyn Allen and Richard Ledgar m o ve m e n v e Sw e e n e ory. The a it D n rr o and the Te ti a e d o n Fo u n through th n an Conservati materials T has bee N e tr n e C nt Environme
Congratulations and Happy Birthday to the Envir onment Centre NT!
Jabiluka site.
It is safe to say that without the practical supp ort that ECNT provided during the Jabiluka blockade everything from coordinating food and transport for the camp to providing the infrastructure for media and political liaison in Darwin – that this significant component of the Jabiluka camp aign would never have happened. The dedication of ECNT and other s to supporting the Mirarr in their aspiration to host protesters ECNT ’s proud history of campaigning for a nucle from all over the ar free Kakadu world on Mirarr country was and still is enorm stretches back to well before Gundjeihmi’s incep ously appreciated. tion in 1995 and boasts some impressive victories. In recent years ECNT has employed a nuclear-fre e campaigner and GAC has been glad to participate in and enga The two organisations began to work closely ge with ECNT ’s at the outset of Kakadu campaign through public events, share the Jabiluka campaign in the late 1990s. The d information commitment and and perhaps most notably the collaboration on respectfulness of ECNT staff and volunteers Dirt Cheap thirty at that time paved years on: the story of uranium mining in Kaka the way for a productive and trusting set du. This film is an of relationships extremely important and valuable campaign between Gundjeihmi and environment document as well groups. Our two as tangible evidence of the fantastic joint outco groups worked together (along with others) mes our two to establish and organisations continue to achieve. deliver a broadreaching and ultimately succe ssful campaign which included hosting student visits to Kakad u, national and From all of us here at Gundjeihmi: Congratulations on three international public speaking tours, a suite of legal challenges, decades of campaigni ng in what can be a very difficult political political engagement at a range of levels both national and environment. We look forward to many years of continued work international and of course the eight mont h blockade of the together. Happy Birthday ECNT! Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation – the organisation representing the Mirarr people whose land includes both the Ranger uranium mine and the Jabiluka mineral lease – is proud to recognise a strong, positive and long standing relationship with the Environment Centre NT.
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ands nd ECNT st u ro g e th on longare thick nity and sa f is o th s si n a o o isati redible as a rare stic organ many inc ta s n o e S ri fa o . g a m e in k been W h at a ny m term thin ries have to have so m d ic n v e a d W rs n . e a is rious lunte one campaigns those va ere as vo th . f 4 o e 0 0 m 2 t ti u r o proud 7 to of ou achieved from 199 d we are n y a it rs n s to u e a ic m in ff m o lved in l co coord cramped been invo wonderfu e h y v n it a a h w h d to it e l As w involv and gratefu the people em. . ic group, it ’s g a m a few of th ng the ri b t a role of th T EC N s honour n u o io ri ss se a p a e halting EC N T h a s forget th Jabiluka, r d g e n v in a e p n p d o se l st oring We’l propo victoriesDaly, rest e Di Koser ld th o h ic e in h th w t g n ce a proved with landcleari e bushdan kadu, im t a th a K d th te a t to h in ig r and a n coord Koongarra in Harbou aol (what G y rw a d y d D a a B r P fo h ie whic Fann mpaigns protection glee with s from ca r e in fo th w s r n re o la o ) p ere is was! so many m er the period we w describe h ld ts u n o a w rv ft ry a se a c d O’Le cord for publi before an lacent NT amazing re s. p n ie m a it o t il c a b g h si in n W forc spo ation. involved. ty organis ith their re is in w fe e t e n g u li a b g ll n e a to e ct phon such a sm their dire g from articular p a s (Printing a w d one thin r e e rn tt a e le sl w e e n structive But if we’v the ECNT s that de it rs a e y re never ECNT ’s 30 favourite). o n m e nt a ir an v n h e it e w th nd that work plans for the NT, a s lucky to u in ro e ly re e n p e p w g We and gain and short in su mmitted ught for a d o c fo te e is ly b ss ib a d to o incre ittee wh wins need f e nt co m m all kinds o in m a n a ge m w ro g again. ation to you’ve es twice ic ff the organis o e v s on all o n o m ti s a la d ll tu e e arm in seem So congra ways, as w th to your g e – always n b re n a st c d t n a achieved a what fun th too. ahead. e Build Up th in e b the years to e th ir and re e h irsten Bla town w K d rs te to la c o e d is ir an Former D In a small l prevails ntality stil es eham e k m m a e h r W e sc ti rk n a g M fro spinnin y e n o m short-term
– for anyone who RT of the Northern Territory HEA the is tre Cen nt me The Environ ECNT has always l campaigns in the Territory, nta me iron env h wit ed olv inv has been to help the campaign been visiting the Top End e hav I rs yea 14 For re. been the ndjeihmi) – and en working with the Mirarr-Gu wh ing lud (inc ing min m niu against ura port. ECNT has been id centre of gravity and sup sol k roc a n bee ays alw ECNT has ngarra projects as to stop the Jabiluka and Koo gn pai cam l sfu ces suc the pivotal to ger uranium mine, ion or expansion of the Ran ens ext on re ssu pre ing tinu well as con gle). I remain proud hur River, Brown’s-Rum Jun Art Mc . (eg ts jec pro ing min and other all Australians. e to protect the Territory for to support ECNT to continu Dr Gavin Mudd, sustainable
mining expert
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Happy B’day!
I can remember when the Environment Centre coordinator was Sue Jackson and the Centre ran from a shop front on Cavanagh Street. In the Territory it’s important we have environmental advocates because we are living in a culture that considers exploitation of the environment normal and seems to work in favour of quick dollars rather than long term care of the environment. Thank god for the Environment Centre because there are days when I don’t have the time or energy to advocate for the environment and I feel much relief knowing that the Environment centre is there Here’s to the next 30 years! Kathy Bannister, member since 1990
s to the Congratulation Centre for 30 Environment g for country’. years of ‘carin ue to care If we contin nment, the for the enviro will reward environment d future and us with a soun . future survival he country is Lok Kemek (t good) Senior Mills, Kathy Traditional Koongarakang Owner
T R E S DE
TE A D UP
By Jimmy Cocking In 2005, the Arid Lands Environment Centre (ALEC) produced the first Roadmap to a DesertSMART Town. The Roadmap aimed to move Alice Springs towards a more resilient future with a strong, localised economy and a unique, well articulated desert identity. Community members, local experts, Power and Water Corporation along with ASTC and NT government representatives provided input to the Roadmap. The accompanying document, 70 Actions to Make Alice Springs A DesertSMART Town, identified key actions which could make Alice Springs more resilient and sustainable in the areas of waste, water, energy and built environment. Seven years on, many of these actions have been achieved. Improved water and energy efficiency have been areas of particular success with the Alice Solar City project and the Alice Water Smart program leading changes to the way we think about and use these important resources. The Roadmap development process also provided space for the discussion of the ‘desert knowledge’ concept, now well established. In 2013, desertSMART COOLmob (an initiative of ALEC) will coordinate the
Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles). Image: Glenn Walker
development of a new Roadmap, based on interviews with key players from across the seven key areas of water, energy, waste, planning, transport, local food and economy. This new Roadmap will set the stage for Alice Springs to transition from being highly dependent on external inputs (food, fossil fuels, resources) to better utilising local resources to create a vibrant and sustainable regional centre. The new Roadmap will be an action plan, not just a list of actions. A Joint Steering Committee will provide direction in the development of the Roadmap.
submission to desertSMART COOLmob with suggestions for the Roadmap; - By completing a quick online survey which outlines key areas of interest and concern and; - By attending the community forum on June 13th 2013. Establishing a strong community vision for a sustainable Alice Springs will enable the community to leverage support for innovative projects aimed to increase the town’s resilience.
desertSMART COOLmob will also be conducting interviews with local ‘experts’ to provide input to the Roadmap and increase our understanding of what the ‘roadblocks’ to sustainable development are in Alice Springs. Recommendations from an evaluation of the original 2005 Roadmap to a desertSMART Town will also feed into the development of the document. The Alice Springs community will be able to contribute to the development of the new Roadmap in three ways: - Through 17
writing
a
Visit ALEC’S new website
www.alec.org
Nature Territory
Field Guide to the Wildlife of the Top End Coming in 2014
By Lindley McKay, Wildlife Field Guide Author Environment Centre NT’s “Field Guide to Wildlife of the Top End” will be the definitive handbook to common and iconic non-marine invertebrates and vertebrates, and protected areas, of NTs monsoonal tropics. The purpose of the guide is to help raise awareness about wildlife amongst the wider public, inclusive of locals, tourists, and professionals. It will nurture a deeper appreciation and curiosity about wild creatures, and provide access to accurate and
helpful information. ECNT seeks like-minded people and organisations who are interested supporting this initiative. For parties who share our interest in promoting nature tourism or conservation, your financial support will be valuable, so please contact us. For the casual or serious photographer, this is a chance to get your images printed and disseminated in a work focusing on high quality photography. Particularly, we seek clear images of
n Walker
wildlife in their natural surrounds, photos showing aspects of wildlife biology, eg mating, feeding, grooming etc, and images of wild places from novel viewpoints. All contributors will be credited in the text, and receive a free copy of the book. The book is slated to be finished, with copies on sale, by the end of 2014. Further information: Lindley McKay, Project Manager
A quick peak of what’s coming ...
ake
Arafura File Sn
Black-headed Monitor
Buff Banded Rail
Forest Kingfisher
Torniers Frog
Ring-tailed Dragon
Tiwi Masked Owl Comb-crested Jacana
y-Bandy
Northern Band
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New Staff
Welcome to our newest staff members Emma was born and bred in Darwin and is passionate about the territory, the unique lifestyle and environment in which it offers. Emma joins the team after having a few years off raising her two young children. Emma has a background in accounting but felt compelled after the birth of her children to return to study and pursue Emma Burkitt, her real passion. Emma says COOLmob “I’ve seen a huge change in the Sustainability Officer growth of Darwin since i was a child, and became concerned about the environmental impacts of that change; it compelled me to change my career and return to university”. She has recently completed a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management and was the recipient of the George Brown Memorial Scholarship for environment in 2011.
Rob has returned to live and work in the Territory, after a futile attempt at living back Down South in Melbourne for the past four years. Rob says “I love so many things about the NT, the amazing landscapes and space, the people and sense of community, being kept awake at night by curlews and scrub fowls - it is a really unique incredible Rob Law, Policy Officer place. In Melbourne, I often found myself sitting at my desk gazing out the window and dreaming of the Territory. One day I finally admitted that I just gotta move back up here!”. For the past four years, Rob has worked in climate change policy for the Victorian State government and more recently with the Centre for Climate Change Adaptation. Prior to this he worked for the Tropical Savannas CRC and with Stuart Blanch at WWF developing carbon maps for the Northern Territory and working on issues around land clearing. He completed a Masters in Tropical Environmental Management in 2008 at CDU, and holds a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Music.
Emma has been an Environment Centre NT Volunteer for the past 14 months where she has worked closely with Cat Beaton supporting her Nuke Free NT Campaign, and was also employed as the Environment Centre NT Election Campaigner where she spent time campaigning for better environmental policies pre 2012 Territory elections.
He has been returning to the NT each year to play music with friend Jess Ribeiro, and each time has been alarmed at the rapid unsustainable changes occurring in Darwin and the rest of the NT. “The Territory is facing unprecedented development threats such as food bowl visions, fracking and gas developments, and nightclubs owned by the Hoff. I look forward to my new role defending the NT from bad ideas and helping to promote the good ideas and visions for a sustainable north!”
Emma is thrilled to be joining the COOLmob team and is looking forward to engaging with the local community about sustainable living and sustainable issues in the Top End.
Emma Murphy has joined the Environment Centre NT team as our part-time shale-free campaigner. While she is new to the Territory, she spent her first two years here working with remote Aboriginal communities. She saw a lot of amazing country and quickly became passionate about protecting the unique cultural and environmental heritage of the NT.
Sian recently took over from the Robin Knox as Program Manager of COOLmob. Sian has worked within the sustainability space for a number of years. Most recently she was engaged by the engineering firm Arup as a sustainability consultant. During her time at Arup Sian Gleeson, she worked largely within COOLmob Program the carbon accounting and Manager management space. Much of this worked focused on identifying opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the community. Sian also enjoyed working on broad sustainability assessments of projects, programs and organisations to identify how sustainable thinking may be more strongly integrated.
Emma Murphy, Shale-free Campaigner
Emma lives in Darwin with her partner and gets out bush as often has she can. Before moving to the NT, she had been in campaigning groups in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. She has studied various languages, which has helped her to appreciate different ways of thinking and approaching situations. Wherever she has been, Emma was firmly committed to the idea that people can come together and create change in their own community - and, in fact, that this is urgently needed if we are to create a safe and sustainable future.
Sian’s work at Arup built on time spent at the climate advocacy group, The Climate Group and Beyond Zero Emissions. Sian is really excited to be joining COOLmob and to be working with a great team. She looks forward to building on and expanding the strong work already undertaken by COOLmob and Robin Knox, as well as developing strong relationships with the Territory 19
New Staff
Exiting gloomy beginnings in the grey suburbia of southern Australia, Lindley McKay wandered tropical zones of the world for many years formulating his much lauded treatise “why catching snakes makes you live longer”.
Clare Taylor joins the Environment Centre NT in June as our Kimberley to Cape Manager. The role is an exciting new position that seeks to build a shared vision and plan for conserving and sustainably developing Northern Australia. Clare comes to us from being a senior Manager in the National Clare Taylor. Water Commission, where Kimberley to Cape she provided high level strategic advice to the NWC on Manager sustainable water management in the north. Prior to that she worked for the federal Dept of Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts/Dept of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry as a facilitator of the Caring for Our Country Program and as an NRM Facilitator on water issues.
Upon returning to Australia some time later, he was a key Lindley McKay, developer in a new meditation Field Guide Author style involving one sarong, a bandage and a sack, the results of which were the esoteric “Frogcalls of Bali” audio recordings, and “Field Guide to Amphibians and Eeptiles of Bali”. The latter scripture was later wrestled from the sinewy grip of a geriatric publishing company and reborn in an Indonesian language edition. With help from the famous conservationist Gede Nyoman Bayu Wirayudha (restorer of the Bali Starling to the wild) the Indonesian version was then delivered to all secondary schools on Bali.
She has a long history in WA, having worked for the Institute for Regional Development and Water and Rivers Commission, and as a geologist/ geomorphologist for various mining companies.
Reluctantly returning to Australia, McKay drifted northwards and in Darwin was seconded by the (then) Biodiversity unit of Parks and Wildlife and exploited brutally as a crowbar lackey, skink identifier and reconditioner of vehicles.
She gained her doctorate in fluvial geomorphology studying the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley.
Unsatisfied, he then went on to produce a book dedicated to the iconic frillneck lizard, featuring many photographs of behaviours never before seen in print. Naturally, when approached by the Director of ECNT on the topic of a wildlife field guide for the Top End, McKay’s reply was: “I need to leave the country for awhile”, however, the persuasion of the Director was insidious and in the end successful. When asked what he sees for the future, McKay replies with the comment: “the best things in life are an umbrella, top quality binoculars and pint glasses.”
Thanks to the following organisations that support us:
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Nature Territory
Darwin Harbour - Our Harbour By Prue Barnard, Save Darwin Harbour Alliance
We have it all in the Top End; glorious dry season days, incredible thunder storms and a never ending list of things we can do, from camping in Kakadu or Litchfield to enjoying a laksa from one of our famous markets.
That is why we need to protect Darwin Harbour from inappropriate developments and we need your help. If you love our harbour and want to protect it please sign our
In the last six months it has been hard to appreciate this as we have been slugged with one of the longest build-ups, followed by the shortest wet seasons on record. We are now in a dry season that feels more humid than dry. This topped with Power and Water price hikes and Government budget cuts it’s hard not to feel disgruntled and question why we live in the top end. Despite this, there is one BIG reason living in the Top End is better than anywhere else and that is Darwin Harbour – our Harbour. Darwin Harbour is spectacular and abundant with wildlife. It offers countless recreational opportunities. The harbour is our lifestyle. Sadly our harbour is not protected. In the last ten years it has had more pressure placed on it than ever before. Two gas plants, port expansions, large scale dredging and the clearing of mangroves are starting to take its toll. With more developments earmarked, like the formerly proposed Arafura Harbour our harbour is at risk of being destroyed.
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petition online at www.ecnt.org or visit our office at 98 Woods St, Darwin and sign the paper copy.
Other bits ‘n’ pieces
Taking action in the Dry Thanks to all our members and friends who took part in our ‘Action in the Dry’ program during May and June. The Environment Centre NT, COOLmob and the Australian Marine Conservation Society hosted a range of events including sustainable family day, a solar summit, a Ludmilla mangrove walk, world turtle day sandcastle making, the transition film festival, a campaign showcase and a concert against the nuclear waste dump. All these events helped to celebrate and reflect 30 years of taking local action at the Environment Centre NT. Thanks to those for being involved and all those who purchased tickets of our very special 30 year pearly anniversary ball. We look forward to sharing photo’s from the ball in the next edition of PANDANUS!
its er bces h t O ’ pie ‘n
Container Deposit Scheme Update In March this year there was much disappointment when Coca-cola and other soft drink companies Schweppes Australia and Lion were successful in applying to the Federal court to have the NT container deposit scheme scrapped. However, the NT Government was busy in response and decided to underwrite the scheme while plans were put in place to appeal the federal courts decision.Recycling in the Territory had doubled in the first year that the scheme was introduced! The NT government were successful in getting support nationwide from all Australian jurisdictions needed for the Territory to receive commonwealth exemption to keep the popular and environmentally friendly scheme going. So while we await final paperwork the Territory can celebrate a win for the Environment and look forward to continue to benefit from the NT Container deposit scheme.
If you have an event we should all know about please contact the Environment Centre NT: The Environment Centre NT, GPO Box 2120, Darwin, 0801 Email us: admin@ecnt.org Call us: (08) 8981 1984
From Fukushima to Darwin
Facebook: Environment Centre NT
Also in March the Environment Centre NT welcomed guests from Japan effected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Mr and Mrs Hasegawa are farmers from the Iitate village in Fukushima who now live in temporary accommodation to escape high levels of radiation. Joined by Peaceboat representative Akira Kawasaki the 3 guests addressed 120 people at Charles Darwin University at a public meeting about life after Fukushima. This successful meeting was also addressed by some local Territory experts Prof Andrew Campbell (CDU), Donna Jackson (Larrakia Nation and ANFA), Dr Michael Fonda (Public Health Association of Australia NT branch) and Michael Haire (Electrical Trades Union). Following the public meeting our guest travelled to Kakadu National Park to view the Ranger Uranium mine and meet with Traditional Owners Yvonne Margarula and Jeffrey Lee. The relationship between the Environment Centre NT and networks in Japan continue to strengthen. A big thanks to those who came to the successful ‘Fukushima Fundraising Feast’ and who helped fundraise for the tour. A copy of the Face to Face with Fukushima tour report can be picked up from the Environment Centre. Yvonne Margarula with the Fukushima
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