Drive for biodiversity
THE North Coast Environment Council is one of more than 40 groups nationwide who have signed on to the Boobook Declaration.
The Boobook Declaration arose from an informal meeting of those concerned at the catalogue of bad news about collapsing ecosystems and recognising the impetus for action represented by the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.
“It’s time to put biodiversity back on the public action agenda because we depend on it, because we are part of it, and because we have the power and the responsibility to protect it,” the declaration says.
In little more than a month the declaration has gone from an idea to an action statement supported by hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
The Boobook Declaration calls on the Australian Government to:
1: Acknowledge the importance of safeguarding biodiversity as part of our climate change response and commit to urgent action.
2: Increase investment in biodiversity and ecosystem protection, restoration and management to at least $9 billion over the three years to 2012, and establish an independent consultative process into future funding and stewardship of Australia’s biodiversity.
3: Restore and increase publicly funded research.
4: Develop education and training programs for all sectors of the community.