More terrible news – not about COVID-19

The news from ‘Australia’s Environment in 2019’ is terrible. March 30.

This annual report by ANU looks at the changing condition of our natural resources and ecosystems.

National Environmental Indicators

‘The current coronavirus pandemic shows that as individuals, and collectively, we can take dramatic action once we acknowledge the urgency of a threat. By comparison, addressing environmental decline will cost less, whereas the long-term costs of not acting will be far greater.’ Albert Van Dijk et al. ‘A major scorecard gives the health of Australia’s environment less than 1 out of 10’, the Conversation, March 30, 2020.

Yesterday’s bad news was about the amount of land clearing that has gone on since this bloody awful state government relaxed the legislation. I am angry and sad.

And this morning I received an email from Council confirming that no dog owners had been fined for allowing their dogs to roam free in our estuary, an important habitat for the diminishing number of migratory waterbirds.

To reiterate: Our migratory birds don’t have much time. It is no exaggeration, they are heading towards extinction. 75% of the world’s Curlews summer in Australia, but our Eastern Curlew population has declined by 85% just in the past 30 years. They are now listed as Critically Endangered.