Nature’s Voice
Victorian National Parks Association newsletter
Number 19 | February 2014
Even the values of iconic Bells Beach and surrounds are being eroded.
Photo: Noyes–Brown Photo Gallery
The coast is unclear W
e are going to need strong and comprehensive policies from all political parties ahead of this year’s state election to avoid the impacts of a new wave of development washing over Victoria’s 2000km coastline. The VNPA has released a new report highlighting the fact that climate change as well as coastal, urban, port and industrial development driven by rapid population growth are eroding our coasts. The rate of coastal urban sprawl over the past 20 years has been alarming, but our coasts now face new pressures such as a major port expansion at Westernport, a breakwater at Bastion Point (Mallacoota), and the spread of coastal towns. Our report, ‘The Coast is Unclear’, is the first of its kind to document coastal planning and management issues along the entire length of Victoria’s coastline. It finds that successive Victorian
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Clearance laws risk habitat loss
Simon Branigan Marine & Coastal Project Officer
governments have contributed to the creation of a complex, disintegrated and ineffective coastal planning and management framework that has been unable to stop the squeeze on coastal nature. Its findings include: • Of the 95 habitats found within 500m of the shoreline more than 70% are either endangered or vulnerable, including Coast Banksia Woodland and Estuarine Wetland. • Threatened coastal habitats have become fragmented and vulnerable to pressures such as invasive plants and animals, grazing, intensification of land use in adjacent rural areas and altered coastal processes.
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New push for cattle in the alps
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The report also recommends the establishment of a number of new protected areas – a Discovery Bay-Three Capes State Park, Twelve Apostles-Bay of Islands National Park and Geelong and Bellarine Wetlands State Park. Rapidly diminishing coastal areas are pushing many animals to the brink such as the Eastern Bristlebird, Fairy Tern and the Southern Bentwing Bat, as well as plant species including Bellarine Yellow-gum, Coast Dandelion, and Metallic Sun-orchid. The VNPA commissioned this report to generate public discussion on improving the conservation of coastal nature and reform of Victoria’s coastal planning, protection and management framework, and to provide input into the new Victorian Coastal Strategy.
Download the full report from reports.vnpa.org.au
EDO funding cuts will hurt