On
May 15th a group of 30 met at the Bellingen showground to share ideas and work
out strategies to further help our iconic koala. Goals and resolutions coming
out of this day were then presented at the Nature Conservation Council's (NCC) annual
conference, held at the same venue that weekend.
Facilitator for the day was National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) and NCC Executive John
Turnbull.llA line-up of our State's most
knowledgeable koala champions spoke on their different fields of interest and
expertise - Dailan Pugh and Susie Russell (North East Forests Alliance - NEFA) on forestry and the state of
our northern forests; Keith Kendall on koala mapping methodology; Ashley Love
on the Koala National Park campaign, Susie and Ashley jointly on the
troublesome SEPP44; Lorraine Vass (Friends of Koala) on the expected negative
impacts on koalas by the new Pacific Motorway;
Jim Morrison of the NCEC (North Coast Environment Council) and NCC on Private Native Forestry, and SERCA's (South East Region Conservation Alliance) Mike
Thompson on southern koala populations and the role of translocation
The conservation of koalas, to ensure thriving,
free-living populations across their natural range so they no longer need to be
listed as a threatened species, was the main goal agreed on by the meeting, and
to achieve this end some realistic regional and state campaigns were developed.
These included the already in-principle supported koala national park, ending
logging of native forests, and encouraging local councils to develop and
enforce koala plans of management, even on private lands.
It was agreed that
the most important enabler to this end is people themselves- globally by the
high profile and attraction of koalas, and locally by community 'ownership' and
desire to protect their own population of koalas, all of which collectively can
bring pressure to bear on governments at all levels to do something more to
help them.
However, to trigger
the full support of this potential massive human power, there first needs to be
a profound increase in public awareness of koalas and their current plight. And
the main barrier against this is today's general disconnect of people from
their natural world.
Anyone
aware of koalas in their local area can now join in a growing push for public
engagement, by alerting their neighbours to the fact that koalas are in fact in
trouble and in need of help, by attending relevant meetings, joining local
groups, learning more about koalas' habitat and needs, and maybe helping with
any information distribution and lobbying of decision-makers, in full
recognition that all environmental issues are, in the end, political decisions.
-
Patricia
Edwards
