Mining is digging the heart out of conservation covenants
Across Australia, landholders are signing conservation agreements or covenants to protect biodiversity on their property. These agreements, offered by state governments, create private protected areas that commonly bind future landholders to protect the property’s biodiversity, ensuring the long-term survival of plant and animal communities.It seems like a good deal: a private protected area comes at little to no cost to the government and offers protection to biodiversity that might not otherwise have been protected.
Unfortunately there’s a catch. The government does not exempt these private protected areas from mining activities. Rather, in all states of Australia, the government can still give miners permits to explore and extract in these private protected areas.
https://theconversation.edu.au/mining-is-digging-the-heart-out-of-conservation-covenants-6588
Lost in the clouds
ABOUT 220 species of animals, reptiles and amphibians live in the lush
rainforests of far north Queensland — with 90 or so found nowhere else
in the world. But, because of the effects of a warming climate, the
situation for 83 of these species is bleak, with many facing extinction
over this century, says Professor Steve Williams.
Our fragile ocean under scrutiny
AUSTRALIA could be on the brink of making marine history.In the near future, the Federal Government will decide on the creation of a marine park system around Australia, including whether to establish the world's largest highly protected marine national park in the Coral Sea.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/our-fragile-ocean-under-scrutiny/story-fn6ck620-1226370372917
It's not just private covenants either - In WA alone, 55% of conservation reserves and 20% of national parks are currently subject to active mining tenements.
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