water – National Parks Association of NSW

Water Matters

Posted by NPA NSWon August 30, 2022September 1, 2022in Spring 2022, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Anne Reeves, OAM

“Inaction is not an option; nor is inadequate action.” (President, Australian Academy of Science, on release of the State of the Environment Report, 19/7/22)

Water is so much more than a resource and a commodity to be managed for human economic benefit; it is the lifeblood that shapes and sustains our world, our rivers and wetlands.

Tanya Plibersek, as Minister for Water and Environment, recognised this in her statements when releasing the previously withheld 2021 State of the Environment Report. Despite some sweeteners drawing on site specific positive outcomes, the overall picture is not good. Taken aback by the dismal progress to right water wrongs, the Minister highlighted how hard it would be to deliver on the Murray Darling Basin Plan as finally adopted. Not a surprise to those who have been tracking attempts to subvert achievement of the spirit of the forward-looking Commonwealth Water Act adopted under John Howard with bi-partisan support back in 2007.

NPA Campaigns – 2020 in Review

Posted by NPA NSWon November 30, 2020November 30, 2020in Summer 2020Leave a comment

Fire

Fire is a normal part of the Australian landscape, playing a major role in the dynamics of many ecosystems and habitats. From a conservation perspective, the most significant impact of fire is often the way that the impacts of, and fears about fire, shape community concerns about the living near bushland.

Further attacks on native vegetation in drought-stricken NSW

Posted by NPA NSWon September 11, 2019September 11, 2019in Media ReleasesLeave a comment

The National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) is alarmed at revelations that new local land clearing codes are being trialled near Walgett.

Adani Carmichael mine water impacts likely to be greater than predicted

Posted by NPA NSWon June 13, 2019June 13, 2019in Media ReleasesLeave a comment

The National Parks Association of NSW has serious concerns regarding the assessment of ground and surface water impacts by Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine.

World Wetlands Day a stark reminder of water failings

Posted by NPA NSWon February 2, 2019January 31, 2019in Media ReleasesLeave a comment

No wetlands, no water, no fish, no future: who’s going to sort out the mess?

World Wetlands Day is celebrated internationally each year on 2 February. It marks the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) in Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971. This year the theme is wetlands and climate change and in Australia it could be not timelier.

Protecting the environment’s water in the Murray-Darling Basin

Posted by NPA NSWon November 16, 2018November 28, 2018in Summer 2018Leave a comment

^{Bill Johnson, River Ecologist and former Water Manager with the Murray Darling Basin Commission}

For a few years in the 1990’s the NSW water agency had on display, in the foyer of its offices in Parramatta, a statue celebrating tampering with irrigation meters and, by association, water theft. Sculpted by the Department’s creative souls in Moree, this two metre high artwork was exhibited in Head Office. It was the agency’s celebration of the larrikin irrigator, his irreverence and defiance of authority, even while that agency was the authority being defied.