Peter Valentine | Conservation Officer
The change of leadership in the USA will make little difference to many victims of oppression around the world: the global poor have long ceased viewing the USA as a country that cares, clearly borne out by the USA internal policies and actions.
But one area in which global leadership fears will be affected is in action on climate change.
In the light of the disappointing outcomes from COP29, just completed in Azerbaijan, the appointment of climate sceptics and fossil fuel lovers to senior positions in the Trump administration raises concern for the future.
Much is made of the COP29 agreement about a $300 billion fund (about a trillion dollars short of the request) by the various global rich leaders, but those who will bear the brunt of climate change impacts feel let down yet again. The global wealthy once again are falling short of reasonable expectations. The two big losers are social equity and nature.
BirdLife International had this to say:
The final deal is far from addressing the scale, urgency and inequity of the climate emergency, especially for the most vulnerable communities, peoples and wildlife ... Reference to the crucial role of nature was deleted and disappointingly the deal doesn’t bridge the critical finance gap, nor safeguard those most impacted by the crises.
Unfortunately the Conference of the Parties was once more dominated by fossil fuel lobbyists: over 1,700 registered at Baku. The host country, yet again, was a fossil fuel glutton and perhaps the flavour of the meeting might be judged by the Azerbaijan President’s opening remarks extolling fossil fuels as “gifts from God”.
In contrast the sober assessment and inspiring address by the UN Secretary-General urged the wealthy countries to take the essential action.
And I urge you to focus on three priorities. First, emergency emissions reductions. To limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we must cut global emissions nine per cent every year – by 2030 they must be down 43 per cent on 2019 levels. Unfortunately, they are still growing at the present moment. Now at this COP, you must agree to rules for fair, effective carbon markets that support that fight; Second, you must do more to protect your people from the ravages of the climate crisis. The most vulnerable are being abandoned to climate extremes. The third priority is finance. Developing countries eager to act are facing many obstacles: scant public finance; raging cost of capital; crushing climate disasters; and debt servicing that soaks up funds. Climate finance is not charity, it’s an investment. Climate action is not optional, it’s an imperative.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
Unfortunately the outcomes left much to be desired. All of us need to ensure local actions exceed the inadequate aspirations of COP29 and work towards a much greater result in Brazil next year. With our National and State Governments in thrall of the fossil fuel corporations this will not be easy. And with the USA (the World’s biggest fossil fuel producer) to be led by a climate sceptic and fossil fuel minion, global concerns are warranted.
One irony for Australia is that, as the USA bows out of leadership roles in climate action, it seems likely that China will step up as global lead. It has already achieved its 2030 renewable targets, and is already the lead player in renewables despite its population-led high levels of total carbon emissions. Future outcomes need China to be a key player, rather than isolated.
At home we can see significant climate action already in place, in particular roof-top solar where we have one in three houses with solar, saving $billions and avoiding carbon emissions. The Climate Council has identified a 10-year plan to double that investment in roof-top solar. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is confident in our national ability to meet targets and is already well experienced in managing the mixture. Potential reduction in carbon emissions in the near future is what we need and an affordable, reliable, and feasible solution is at hand, as long as we do not let the fossil fuel lobby destroy the momentum.
Meanwhile, how is our biodiversity faring? Disappointing is about as good as we could conclude when we examine the Government roles. Nature Law reform is still struggling to get attention: investment by Government in biodiversity conservation remains inadequate and at times tokenistic. The two-party system seems to have exceeded its use-by date as we watch the general reduction to a lowest common denominator, in everything, by the two big parties. Like many, I applaud the good work of independents and smaller groups, but their numbers remain low and unable to make sufficient impact. As I wrote last time, it is not a lack of knowledge about what is required, it is simply lack of political will and poor choice of priorities.
However we might also take heart that there are ongoing excellent programs and actions from the non-government and not-for-profit sectors. And there’s much more to be done. The Biodiversity Council found that “….the Australian Government spends around 4% of the federal budget subsidising activities that are likely to harm the environment – a total of $26.3 billion per year, which is 50x more than the budget allocated to address biodiversity matters. Assigning just 1% of the federal budget to nature would make a huge difference.”
It is also clear that continued land-clearing remains a serious issue for biodiversity conservation. The way this is done is a matter of concern also (mostly unsupervised). A lot of concern exists about ongoing urban subdivision, an issue in our region as well as nationally. As a practical step the Nature Pledge for Developers is something that can be applied everywhere. It seeks to change the practices to protect and preserve remnant vegetation, to support higher density living spaces, and free up more land for nature within our communities. Members may like to recommend that each Council in our region commit to the Nature Pledge and ask their developers to sign on to the Pledge.
Something like this would have made a big difference in the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) that has attracted a lot of criticism for open-slather developments recently, at Davies Road near Malanda, where the developer has produced much damage to the environment by poor design and activity, with limited site supervision by TRC. There are so many ways this could be done better for wildlife (The Express Newspaper, 6 November 2024, page 3).
There are three far northern Queensland bird species listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999 National List as Critically Endangered (Curlew Sandpiper, Eastern Curlew, and Buff-breasted Button-quail), and 11 listed as Endangered (Carpentarian Grasswren, Southern Cassowary, Lesser Sand Plover, Red Goshawk, Gouldian Finch, Black-tailed Godwit, Star Finch (ssp), Southern Black-throated Finch (ssp), Golden-shouldered Parrot, Australian Painted-snipe, Common Greenshank), as at November 2024.
On the Queensland List the following birds in our region appear as Critically Endangered (Curlew Sandpiper, Eastern Curlew, Buff-breasted Button-quail), and Endangered (Carpentarian Grasswren, Southern Cassowary, Lesser Sand Plover, Red Goshawk, Gouldian Finch, Black-tailed Godwit, Star Finch (ssp), Black-throated Finch (ssp), Palm Cockatoo, Golden-shouldered Parrot, Australian Painted-snipe, Common Greenshank), as at November 2024.
There are many other species currently listed as Vulnerable, but which should perhaps already be listed as Endangered. Over time our threatened species migrate from lower risk categories up through the table to higher risk categories, mostly without any funded Action Plan. Of the 15 or so species I have listed above, few have any Action Plan associated with their survival. In the National Priority list only three bird species in our region feature: Eastern Curlew, Golden-shouldered Parrot and Red Goshawk.
In the Queensland State priority work, the White-bellied Crimson Finch and the northern subspecies of the Star Finch (both on Lakefield National Park and elsewhere on Cape York Peninsular) do have a combined recovery plan, mainly linked to weed infestations, grazing and fire management. Limited funds seem to be available for recovery work.
It is in this context that we are asked to continue to make submissions on BirdLife campaigns and to try in every way to raise the profile of conservation in the forthcoming Federal Election.