Publications

Friends of the Earth Adelaide > Publications

Barngarla have their say in court

March 16, 2023

Monday March 6th: People gather at the Federal Court hearing to support Barngarla people
3 Angas St, right next to Victoria Square / Tarntanyangga (south-east cnr of Victoria Square / Tarntanyangga)

 

Here are some things that you can do to support:

 

FoE, Old_Notes

Will we follow Belize? The UN just confirmed the Great Barrier Reef is in Danger

December 4, 2022

What just happened?

The Great Barrier Reef has been World Heritage listed since 1981. This means it’s considered an area of outstanding value to humanity. Covering an area the size of Italy, this iconic area includes some 3,000 separate reefs, over 1,000 islands and a variety of other significant habitats.

The latest UN mission has just reported back, finding the reef’s condition is worsening and recommending it be listed as “in danger”. It also offered practical solutions.

Previous governments have fought to ensure the reef is not listed as in-danger despite their own five-yearly reviews demonstrating an obvious decline. In 2009, the reef’s condition was rated poor and declining. In 2014 it was poor and declining and in 2019, very poor and declining.

So the government knows the reef is in danger. We know, and the tourism industry knows. While some tourism operators worry about their business, the opposite appears to be true: more people go, thinking it might be their last chance to see it. And already, operators are adapting by taking tourists to areas still in good condition.

Federal governments just don’t want the reef on the list because of the hit to their international reputation – and to their domestic standing.

If the reef is officially listed as “in danger” next year, it will draw a much greater focus to the reef’s plight. And that may help galvanise effective national and global action.
Take the case of the famous coral reefs of Belize in Central America. When these reefs were listed, the government banned nearby oil exploration and protected mangroves. Belize’s reefs have now been taken off the in-danger list.

— Jon C Day, the Conversation, “We all know the Great Barrier Reef is in danger – the UN has just confirmed it. Again“

Clean Futures, Climate, Old_Notes

“Galilee Basin should not go ahead”

December 4, 2022

Professor Justine Bell-James, Uni of Queensland, comments on an important court ruling

In a historic ruling [on Friday Nov 25th], a Queensland court has said the massive Clive Palmer-owned Galilee Basin coal project should not go ahead because of its contribution to climate change, its environmental impacts, and because it would erode human rights.

The case was mounted in 2020 by a First Nations-led group of young people aged 13 to 30 called Youth Verdict. It was the first time human rights arguments were used in a climate change case in Australia.

The link between human rights and climate change is being increasingly recognised overseas. In September this year, for example, a United Nations committee decided that by failing to adequately address the climate crisis, Australia’s Coalition government violated the human rights of Torres Strait Islanders.

Youth Verdict’s success  builds on this momentum. It heralds a new era for climate change cases in Australia by youth activists, who have been frustrated with the absence of meaningful federal government policy.

1.58 billion tonnes of emissions

The Waratah Coal mine operation proposes to extract up to 40 million tonnes of coal from the Galilee Basin each year, over the next 25 years. This would produce 1.58 billion tonnes of carbon emissions, and is four times more coal extraction than Adani’s operation.

While the project has already received approval at the federal government level, it also needs a state government mining lease and environmental authority to go ahead. Today, Queensland land court President Fleur Kingham has recommended to the state government that both entitlements be refused.

In making this recommendation, Kingham reflected on how the global landscape has changed since the Paris Agreement in 2015, and since the last major challenge to a mine in Queensland in 2016: Adani’s Carmichael mine.

She drew a clear link between the mining of this coal, its ultimate burning by a third party overseas, and the project’s material contribution to global emissions.

… Read more >>

Old_Notes

SNAP ADL RALLY: Free climate activist Violet CoCo. Repeal anti-protest laws.

December 4, 2022

Uni Students for Climate Justice has called a snap rally on Parliament House steps next Friday evening at 5:30pm against the 15 month prison sentence just handed down to climate activist Violet Coco.
“We’re outraged about the criminalisation of activism, including new laws by Labor and Liberal state governments, and think it sets a dangerous precedent for the whole movement. We’re hoping for a decent show of opposition to the normalisation of anti-protest laws.”

More details at their website: https://www.facebook.com/events/654579432831295

Adelaide FoE Notes

NOT ZERO: How ‘net zero’ targets disguise climate inaction

November 2, 2022

from the Joint technical briefing by climate justice organisations Action Aid, Corporate Accountability, Friends of the Earth International, the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, Third World Network and What Next?

Far from signifying climate ambition, the phrase “net zero” is being used by a majority of polluting governments and corporations to evade responsibility, shift burdens, disguise climate inaction, and in some cases even to scale up fossil fuel extraction, burning and emissions. The term is used to greenwash business-as-usual or even business-more-than-usual. At the core of these pledges are small and distant targets that require no action for decades, and promises of technologies that are unlikely ever to work at scale, and which are likely to cause huge harm if they come to pass.

Key takeaways:

  • The term “net zero” is used by the world’s biggest polluters and governments as a façade to evade responsibility and disguise their inaction or harmful action on climate change.

  • “Net zero emissions” does not mean “zero emissions”, and should not be accepted at face value.

  • There is simply not enough available land on the planet to accommodate all of the combined corporate and government “net zero” plans for offsets and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) tree plantations.

  • Collectively, “net zero” climate targets allow for continued rising levels of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, while hoping that technologies or tree plantations will be able to suck carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air in the future.

  • By putting the burden for carbon sequestration onto land and tree plantations in global South countries – which have done little to cause the climate crisis – most “net zero” climate targets are effectively driving a form of carbon colonialism.

  • Many governments and corporations have pledged to achieve “net zero” by a distant date, further compounding the harm caused.

… Read more >>

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Climate