Winter 2019 – National Parks Association of NSW

Celebrating Kosciuszko’s 75th anniversary

Posted by NPA NSWon May 31, 2019in Winter 2019Leave a comment

^{Graeme Worboys, (Honorary) Associate Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University}

The 75^th Anniversary of the establishment of Kosciuszko State Park falls on the 19^th April 2019. The Park was famously established by Premier William McKell to protect the nationally important mountain water catchments; restore soil erosion caused by burning off and over-grazing by stock and to provide opportunities for visitor use and enjoyment. Kosciuszko is one of the Australia’s greatest national parks; it is a National Heritage Property protecting priceless Australian heritage and receives more than 1 million visits a year. The Park enjoyed 74 years of bipartisan support for conservation until regressive 2018 legislation was passed to retain thousands of feral horses within the Park.

Citizen Science projects wrap up

Posted by NPA NSWon May 31, 2019in Winter 2019Leave a comment

‘Wild Wild Inner West’

The Wild Wild Inner West (WWIW) project aims to engage young adults (18-35 years old), a group which is under-represented in council environmental activities, with the local urban environment.

Murray Darling Fish Kills – an environmental catastrophe

Posted by NPA NSWon May 31, 2019in Winter 2019Leave a comment

^{Dr Frank Gleason}

The recent and massive death of fish in the Murray-Darling Basin caused by harmful algal blooms is an environmental catastrophe.

Climate Change: Emissions for Export

Posted by NPA NSWon May 27, 2019May 14, 2019in Winter 2019Leave a comment

David Teather
Emeritus Professor and long-standing NPA member

The Paris agreement on climate change, of 2015, has been adopted by 196 countries. It aims to limit global warming to 2 degrees C by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. Researchers at University College London (McGlade and Elkins, 2015) calculated that in order to limit warming to 2 degrees, a third of the world’s oil reserves, half the gas reserves and over 80 per cent of current coal reserves must remain unused during the next 40 years. Meanwhile, in Australia (as if on another planet) coal barons and corporations were jockeying for position to begin mining the Galilee Basin – one of the world’s largest untouched coal deposits.

Pilliga Field Trip

Posted by NPA NSWon May 27, 2019May 31, 2019in Winter 2019Leave a comment

Rachel Fitzhardinge
State Councillor, National Parks Association of NSW

Pat Schultz has been very active in the campaign against Coal Seam Gas (CSG) exploration in the Pilliga. She has written a book titled “The Plundering of Pilliga and Leard Forests and the Surrounding Farmlands”. She has also led many tours like this one to show people what is happening in the Pilliga as a result of CSG exploration. In 2014, Pat “locked-on” to a truck carrying a drill rig in Pilliga Forest for a number of hours. She was arrested and fined $1,800.

Climate Change: A second-tier irritation or a global emergency?

Posted by NPA NSWon May 27, 2019May 14, 2019in Winter 2019Leave a comment

David Teather
Emeritus Professor and long-standing NPA member

Between now and 2052 “an ever-greater proportion of GDP will be needed to solve problems caused by resource depletion, pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss and social/economic inequity”. So wrote Professor Jorgen Randers in his brilliant book “2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years”.