What is the EPBC ACT?
The EPBC Act, or Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, is a key piece of Australian legislation aimed at protecting the environment, particularly Australia's unique biodiversity and heritage. Here are its main features:
-
Protection of Biodiversity: The Act safeguards threatened species, ecological communities, and migratory species, establishing a framework for their conservation.
-
Environmental Impact Assessments: It requires assessments for proposed actions that may significantly impact matters of national environmental significance, such as listed threatened species, world heritage sites, and Ramsar wetlands.
-
National Heritage Listings: The Act provides for the protection of places of national heritage value, ensuring that significant cultural and natural sites are preserved.
-
Conservation Programs: It mandates the development of recovery plans and conservation programs for threatened species and ecological communities, guiding actions to enhance their survival.
-
Community Engagement: The Act encourages public participation and consultation in environmental decision-making processes.
-
Compliance and Enforcement: It includes provisions for compliance monitoring and enforcement to ensure adherence to environmental protections.
The EPBC Act plays a crucial role in Australian conservation efforts, balancing development needs with environmental protection to safeguard the country's rich biodiversity for future generations.
Endangered Species
Crucial Wildlife Habitat
Pristine Region of Queensland
Proposed Deforestation: Windfarms
Solar Farms,
Eungella Dam &
Hydro Pump Project
Deforestation for Green Energy?
As discussed extensively, the issue of environmental protection is a very serious and urgent matter, which all citizens should be focused on addressing and ensuring.
Those people unfamiliar with the Whitsunday Region would likely be unaware of its close proximity to the Great Dividing Mountain Range. You might also be unaware of the high number of threatened and endangered species of wildlife and flora that call these areas of rainforest home.
These densely wooded, relatively untouched natural mountain ranges feature richly in the area: seen from a plane - they are awe inspiring natural wonders and such a special part of the world to observe from the air. From the ground, they are a beautiful backdrop of mother nature set behind urban highways, cane fields and rural residences, leading their way into regional urban settlements that live in relative symbiosis with the natural backdrop of the area.
The impressive nature of these National Great Dividing Range Landscapes is not lost on anyone who loves Australia and its wilderness areas. It forms part of the reason that the Whitsunday and Central Queensland Region truly are one of the most spectacular wonders in the world.
It may strike you as odd, and alarming then - to hear of the infrastructure planned both Federally, at a State and Local level - which is set to damage & extensively clear these pristine forest habitats for thousands of acres and to truck in hundreds of tonnes of concrete, steel, non recyclable plastics, oils and turbines for an enormous Windfarm, Solar Farm, Hydro Pump Facility and Dam.
Why, you may ask would any Australian regulatory Environmental Agency even consider approving such a drastically damaging course of action?
Answer: "Green Energy Schemes are good for the environment..."
Analyse for yourself: Where is the forest area of the Whitsunday Region?
Why would any authority choose to clear it?
Are there better alternatives?
It is difficult to grasp the true magnitude and true devastation of the proposed implementation of Green Energy System Projects in such a crucially important region of our Queensland Coastline.
There are many seemingly desolate, windy, arid areas of Queensland that have been previously cleared which would serve as more practical and logical placements for proposed Green Energy Projects than the delicate natural region of the Clarke Ranges.
Alternative areas and sites with low population densities and with less overall impact certainly exist. So why is the region of the Whitsundays, Eungella and the Clarke Ranges the focus of such large and destructive Green Energy Projects?
The Clarke-Proserpine and Clarke-Connor Ranges are proven to contain a high number of critically endangered species of flora and fauna. These habitats perform an important role in both environmental protection and tourism.
Why would the area not be a prime contender for extensive Kyoto Protocol objectives and promises to prevent habitat clearing and deforestation?
The Clarke-Connors Ranges
The Clarke Ranges in Queensland are home to several threatened and endangered species that are at risk due to habitat loss and other environmental pressures.
-
Proserpine Rock Wallaby (Petrogale persephone): This species is particularly vulnerable due to habitat loss from land clearing and fragmentation.
-
Greater Glider (Petauroides volans): A large, nocturnal marsupial that is affected by habitat degradation and loss of mature forests.
-
Yellow-bellied Glider (Petaurus australis): This glider depends on old-growth forests and is threatened by logging and habitat fragmentation.
-
Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis): This migratory shorebird is threatened by habitat loss in its breeding and feeding grounds.
-
Spotted-Tail Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus): This carnivorous marsupial faces threats from habitat destruction and competition with invasive species.
-
The eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) (Felis catus; wild populations): While not officially classified as endangered, feral cats can impact native species through predation, particularly in fragmented habitats.
-
Various Threatened Plant Species: The Clarke Ranges also host several plant species that are considered threatened due to habitat loss, including certain orchids and other flora that rely on specific ecosystems.
-
These species are part of a broader ecological network, and their decline can have significant consequences for the health of the ecosystem. Conservation efforts in the Clarke Ranges are essential to protect these species and their habitats from further degradation.
-
Clarke Ranges Focused Species:
Fauna Under Threat
THREATENED NATIVE SPECIES: WALL OF SHAME
eastern curlew
common greenshank
terek sandpiper
greater sand plover
lesser sand plover
grey plover
beach stone-curlew
grey falcon
red goshawk
white-throated needletail
squatter pigeon (southern subspecies)
orange-speckled forest-skink
Connors' Range broad-tailed gecko
Mount Jukes broad-tailed gecko
white-throated snapping turtle
Fitzroy River turtle
estuarine crocodile
northern gastric brooding frog
Eungella dayfrog
Eungella tinkerfrog
tusked frog
pale imperial hairstreak
Australian snubfin dolphin
water mouse
ghost bat
grey-headed flying-fox
Proserpine rock-wallaby
southern greater glider
yellow-bellied glider (southern subspecies)
koala
northern quoll
Eungella honeyeater
powerful owl
glossy black-cockatoo
glossy black-cockatoo (northern)
ruddy turnstone
sharp-tailed sandpiper
red knot
curlew sandpiper
great knot
Latham's snipe
Western Alaskan bar-tailed godwit
black-tailed godwit
Clarke Ranges Focused Species:
Flora Under Threat
The Whitsunday Clarke-Connor Range area is home to several threatened native plant species at risk of extinction:
These plants are part of the unique ecosystems in the Clarke Connor Range, and their conservation is critical for maintaining biodiversity in the region. Protecting their habitats from development, invasive species, and climate change is essential for their survival.
View Gallery
Our Water Resources are irreplaceable and deserve our primary focus and protection. Endangered animals and flora located in this delicate ecosystem are in dire need of our help.
