Welcome to our newsletter. It certainly has been a busy few weeks since our last edition with plenty of activity locally and nationally to report on. In this edition read on about:
High Level Meetings on Forestry and Climate New Global System to Monitor Forests Australia joins the World Bank to reduce deforestation National Water Plan Wildlife Sanctuary in honour of Steve Irwin Convict sites protected for future generations Scouts sets new standard for water in Centenary Year Wentworth's Most Loved Tree Wentworth Student Prize Ceremony Federal Funding for Wairoa School Burger Centre and B'nai B'rith Retirement Village Openings
High Level Meetings on Forestry and Climate
From 23 - 25 July, Alexander Downer and I hosted a first-of-its-kind High Level Meeting on Forests and Climate. The three day meeting brought together about 200 government representatives from more than 60 countries, along with several hundred delegates from international environmental organisations and businesses around the world..
Deforestation has been largely neglected by international efforts to combat climate change, but thanks to the efforts of a small number of countries, including Australia, forest issues are moving to the top of the climate change agenda. Deforestation is the second-greatest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions after energy use, accounting for 20 per cent of all emissions and it deserves greater attention as we work to deliver the massive cuts which will have to be made to C02 emissions by the middle of this century.
If we are to achieve these cuts in global emissions, by 2050 the world will need to get all or almost all of its electricity and most of its transportation energy from zero- or near-zero emissions technologies.
Future technologies will help us reach this goal. But right here and right now, we can make a big difference to global emissions if we slow and then reverse the rate of deforestation. The High Level Meeting is helping us build a common vision in this area ahead of the climate change focussed APEC leaders meeting in September and the next round of UN climate negotiations to be held in Bali in December.
Australia is lending new energy and a $200 million Global Initiative on Forests and Climate to an international movement to reverse deforestation, to breathe new life into the lungs of the earth and by doing so, give the world the breathing space it needs until the technologies of the future are able to deliver us abundant, zero or near zero emissions energy.
This action to reduce deforestation is just one part of a much bigger strategy developed by the Australian Government to help us reduce greenhouse emissions, both in Australia and around the world.
Video from the meetings can be seen here
New Global System to Monitor Forests
Australia will lead action to establish a new global system to monitor changes in forest cover and forest carbon levels as part of its $200 million Global Initiative on Forests and Climate.
The ability to measure and monitor changes in forest cover is critical to international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing global deforestation and supporting sustainable forest management.
Australia is inviting partner countries to work with us to link national, regional, and international systems to create a truly global system to monitor forest cover and carbon levels. This new Global Carbon Monitoring System will be supported by remote sensing satellite monitoring technology and on-the-ground carbon accounting activities.
In 1990, greenhouse gas emissions in Australia from deforestation were 129 million tonnes. These are projected to fall by 65 percent by 2010. We have also planted more than 1.1 million hectares of new forests, which by 2010 will remove 21 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.
Through the Global Initiative on Forests and Climate, Australia will be building satellite receiving stations to help countries in the Asia Pacific region better monitor their forest cover and carbon.
This global network, which now has widespread support, will enable us to connect the vast resources in the carbon markets available for CO2 abatement to sustainable forestry projects. Just as audited accounts and financial regulation make investment in public companies possible so too will accountability drive carbon related investment into projects which promote reforestation and avoid deforestation.
Read on here
Australia joins the World Bank to reduce deforestation.
As part of the High Level Meetings Australia has committed $11.7 million to the World Bank’s new Global Forest Alliance to help protect the world’s remaining great forests from deforestation and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This $11.7 million is funded under the $200 million Global Initiative on Forests and Climate and represents a practical response to climate change that will substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by tackling deforestation.
Our contribution will assist the World Bank to help developing countries establish credible estimates of national forest carbon stocks, identify sources of forest emissions and develop incentives for conserving forests and investing in sustainable forest management.
Importantly, the World Bank has extensive experience in managing carbon funds and developing innovative approaches to carbon financing. Australia shares a similar objective in working with developing countries to conserve forests and promote reforestation.
Sound management of our forests is critical for the more than 1.6 billion people worldwide who depend on forests for their livelihoods, including for fuels, medicines and food. About 60 million indigenous people are almost wholly dependent on forests and about 13 million people worldwide are employed in the forestry sector. These generate forest products with a value of more than US$350 billion.
Read more here.
National Water Plan
Next week, when Parliament resumes, I will present legislation using the Commonwealth's own constitutional powers to implement the National Plan for Water Security.
Since January, the Government has sought a referral of powers from the states of the Murray Darling Basin that would allow the water resources of the Basin to be managed as one interconnected system. This is a key element in the National Plan for Water Security which will put $10 billion to work to ensure, over a decade, that our irrigated agriculture is able to make every drop count and that we ensure that the right, sustainable, balance is struck between the environment and human uses of water.
NSW, South Australia, Queensland and the ACT have agreed to refer their powers, but Victoria has refused to do so, seeking instead a special deal. Victoria's proposal would perpetuate a fragmented management system for the Murray-Darling and undermine the co-operative basin-wide approach the plan seeks to achieve.
For five months we hvae worked collaboratively with three States and the ACT to develop a Commonwealth Water Bill that represents a genuinely collaborative piece of legislation. We have consulted widely with key stakeholders including the National Farmers' Federation.
Victoria's refusal to support this water reform plan means that the legislation we present to Parliament will be somewhat narrower in its scope than that which we could effect with the support of all four States, but it will, nonetheless, implement the fundamental aspects of the plan. It will represent the biggest reform of water management in Australia's history, and it will set the Murray-Darling Basin on the path of a sustainable and secure water future.
There will be one body setting and enforcing a sustainable diversion limit across the basin that recognises the interaction between surface water and groundwater. There will be a basin-wide approach to establishing a water market and water pricing.
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority will set salinity and water quality objectives and develop and implement a Basin Environmental Watering Plan. There will be much-needed investment in the measuring and monitoring of our water resources with the Bureau of Meteorology to establish national water accounts.
For a longer discussion see my opinion piece in The Weekly Times here.
Wildlife Sanctuary in honour of Steve Irwin
The conservation legacy of Steve Irwin, affectionately known as the Croc Hunter, will live on for generations with the establishment by the Australian Government of a wildlife reserve in his honour on Queensland’s Cape York.
Lucy and I recently joined the Irwin family at Australia Zoo to announce the $6 million Australian Government funded purchase of what will become the 135,000 hectare Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve north-east of Weipa, under the National Reserve System Programme.
The reserve protects a stunning array of wildlife, from orange-footed scrub fowl to the endangered northern quoll – and of course Steve’s beloved crocodiles.
Controlling feral animals and protecting wetlands and forest will be a big part of our work on the reserve. We’re also building a scientific research centre and will work with the University of Queensland and other research organisations to help people learn more about this bit of country.
The Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve will be the 301st property the Australian Government has added to the National Reserve System (NRS), a network of protected areas preserving Australia’s distinctive landscapes for future generations.
See pictures and media release here.
Convict sites protected for future generations
Eight convict sites across New South Wales, Tasmania and Norfolk Island will now be legally protected under commonwealth law, following their inclusion on the National Heritage List. The nation's highest heritage honour had been awarded to:
• New South Wales - Old Government House and the Government Domain; Hyde Park Barracks; Cockatoo Island; the Old Great North Road Precinct;
• Tasmania - The Cascades Female Factory; Darlington Probation Station; the Coal Mines Historic Site;
• Norfolk Island - Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area (KAVHA).
The legal protection of these sites guarantees that future generations will be able to appreciate first-hand where the lives of many forebears began in Australia.
Over 160,000 convicts were sent to Australia between 1788 and 1868 - they became both the backbone of our economy and future prosperity, and the heart and soul of our collective egalitarian character.
The eight places announced today join other important convict sites including Port Arthur Historic Site in Tasmania, Fremantle Prison in Western Australia, First Government House Site in New South Wales which are already in the National Heritage List. Read more here.
Scouts set new standard for water in Centenary Year
Australia’s scout movement is setting new benchmarks for community organisations in water savings.
To mark the centenary of scouting at a ceremony at the newly World Heritage Listed Sydney Opera House it was with great delight that I congratulated Scouts Australia on its commitment to the Scout law of caring for the environment.
Scout halls will be installing rainwater tanks across the nation with the help of the $17.7 million grant announced recently by the Prime Minister to mark 100 years of Scouting in Australia.
This will not only help Scouts generate significant water savings, it will also provide another positive example on how we can all help conserve our precious water resources. The funding builds upon the encouraging environmental work already undertaken by the more than 60,000 Australian Scouts. Read more here.
Wentworth's Most Loved Tree
We also announced two further winners . One finalist nominated by Erin Flaherty is an avenue of paper bark trees in Centennial Park, which I judged was able to be enjoyed by and accessible to so many, set in the greenbelt which would have to be one of Sydney’s greatest environmental treasures. The trees’ singular beauty is made more dramatic by their placement in an avenue which was planted over 100 years ago by Joseph Maiden.
The next winning finalist was chosen for it’s heritage significance, sheer size and the special relationship it enjoys with its nominee – the huge Moreton Bay fig in William Street Double Bay. This heritage tree was nominated by Vera Karlikoff who drew my attention to the tree earlier in the year when she was worried about it’s safety. I was able to assist in making representations to Woollahra Council and after approval by the council it was sensitively and safely pruned.
All three winners received a Wollemi pine.
For full details of the winner and photos can be found here
Wentworth Student Prize Ceremony
I presented the Lord Florey Students Prize to five Wentworth students in national recognition of their outstanding academic achievement in the HSC in 2006.
The students were Stephanie Essey, Gidon Jones, Greg Shein, Anne Selikowitz and. Marc Mierowsky
For the full release and photos click here
Federal Funding for Wairoa School
I was delighted to open a sensory garden and the installation of security fencing at Wairoa School in Bondi.
Wairoa School is a special school for students with intellectual and multiple disabilities and has received $150,000 under the Federal Government’s Investing in Our Schools Programme.
The Government funding has provided most of the funds needed to turn this project into reality but I especially want to congratulate the Friends of Wairoa and acknowledge their efforts over the past 4 years in raising $100,000 to contribute to the project to improve the environment for the children.
To read on about the annoucement and to see the accompanying photos click here
Burger Centre and B'nai B'rith Retirement Village Openings
Last weeken I was delighted to attend the openings of Jewish Care's Burger Aged Day Care Centre at the Sir Moses Montefiore Home in Randwick and the new units at the B'nai Brith Retirement Village in Rose Bay.
The Burger Centre helps older members of the Jewish community to remain living in their own homes as long as possible and to avoid premature entry into residential aged care institutions. The new self care units at B'nai B' rith provide a secure environment for independent Jewish retirees.
The Burger Centre is named in honour of one of Jewish Care's most generous benefactors, David Burger.
Yours Sincerely
Malcolm Turnbull