The federal government should take advice from the agriculture sector when deciding on protections for threatened animals and plants, says an official report that recommends spending $1 billion encouraging farmers and others to protect the environment.
 |
| Farmers say national environment laws are too complicated and don't reflect the realities of farm life. |
Environment Minister Sussan Ley welcomed the findings on Thursday, saying it was "the right time to have a conversation" about how farming, business and environmental interests could be brought together.
Many in the agriculture sector say Australia's central piece of environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, is too complicated and unfairly restricts farming activities. However, conservationists say land clearing for agriculture is a key factor in the increasing number of threatened species and critical habitats must be protected.
The Department of the Environment and Energy commissioned veteran policy adviser Wendy Craik, a former executive director of the National Farmers Federation, to review how federal environment laws interact with agriculture.
Read the story from The Age by Nicole Hasham - “Threatened species panel should include agriculture sector: report.”
No comments:
Post a Comment