The bushfire crisis is a wake-up call we can't afford to ignore

So far, the lives of more than a billion animals have been extinguished in the bushfires. A billion. Gone. Millions of hectares of native forests are burned, along with tens of thousands of dead livestock. Hundreds of family homes are now ash and dozens of families will forever mourn loved ones who died trying to protect either their homes or their communities.

The fires burning across Australia demand a whole-of-society response. 

The loss is almost unfathomable. And summer isn't over yet.

A British MP described the bushfire crisis as a "wake-up call for the world" on global warming, but the Australian government is still asleep at the wheel. 

The Prime Minister was desperately trying to convince everyone that the Coalition government has always acknowledged the link between the bushfires and climate change - while his backbencher Craig Kelly was on Good Morning Britain denying any link. It was only a few weeks ago that our Deputy Prime Minister dismissed anyone who linked climate change and bushfires as "inner-city raving lunatics". 

Read the opinion piece from The Canberra Times by Ebony Bennett - “The bushfire crisis is a wake-up call we can't afford to ignore.”

Land Clearing & Climate Change: Risks & Opportunities in the Sunshine State

Queensland has become the national hotspot for land clearing, accounting for up to 65% of the total loss of native forests in Australia over the last four decades.

The Climate Council’s latest report "Climate Change and Land Clearing: Risks and Opportunities in the Sunshine State’’, shows that more than one million hectares of woody vegetation, an area more than seven times larger than the size of Queensland’s capital of Brisbane, has been cleared between 2012-13 and 2015-16.

Read the report from the Climate Council - “Land Clearing & Climate Change: Risks & Opportunities in the Sunshine State.”

Forestry agreements extended in Victoria but big trees get protection

The Victorian government has made short-term extensions to three of its regional forest agreements (RFA) allowing logging of native forests, but also announced new limits on the trees that can be cut.

Native forestry is back in the spotlight with Regional
Forest Agreements coming up for renewal across the nation.

In a move likely to be watched closely by other states including NSW, the Andrews Labor government extended three agreements to bring them line with two others that expire in March 2020.

The state will also provide immediate protection to approximately 2,500 hectares of high environmental-value forest in and around East Gippsland's Kuark Forest, Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, said in a statement.

Similarly, the government will also protect all large, old trees greater than two-and-a-half metres in diameter across Victoria, securing key habitat for wildlife.

Read Peter Hannam’s story from today’s Age - “Forestry agreements extended in Victoria but big trees get protection.”

Push for lawmakers to consider biomass

As Australia hunts for solutions to its energy problems, biomass has not featured highly in the conversation so far. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is hoping to change that. 

It wants political leaders to actively consider biomass, such as wood waste, as an option to bolster Australia's baseload energy supply. Environmentalists warn that poses a risk to native forests.

Listen to the discussion on ABC News - “Push for lawmakers to consider biomass.”