Convenor's Reports

Once again the Environment Centre has had a very busy and successful year in 2002 in a challenging political environment. We've attempted to run both strong campaigns and a healthy organisation.

Some of the campaign highlights and challenges have been:

Major Campaigns

Landclearing

Jann Crase led ECNT's landclearing campaign this year in her role as the Northern Woodlands and Wetlands campaigner. The year began with the good news that Wesfarmers Ord Stage 2 proposal (which involved the clearing of nearly 30,000 hectares for sugar production) was to be shelved. This is a major reprieve for the Ord, though the WA and Northern Territory Governments have signalled their intent to find new developers and try and keep the project alive. ECNT has concentrated its efforts on preventing broadscale landclearing in the Daly region and on the introduction of legislation to regulate landclearing throughout the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Government is set to introduce interim landclearing legislation in late 2002 or early 2003. The Daly remains under imminent threat with the proposed subdivision of Douglas station.

We've also worked on landclearing issues in the rural area, the Tiwi islands plantation project, and the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMO's) into Northern Australia. ECNT, along with other community groups and individuals, was instrumental in the the Gene Technology Regulator's September decision to refuse Monsanto's application to grow GM cotton on a commercial basis in the north of Australia. Jann finished working for ECNT and Environs Kimberley in mid-November. Her work since April 2001 greatly improved our effort on landclearing issues and we wish her all the best in the future.

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Marine & Coastal

» Darwin Harbour

The campaign to prevent the industrialisation of Darwin Harbour has been hard fought this year. In November the Northern Territory Government issued the final development approval for the Phillips LNG plant at Wickham Point which was very disappointing. Out of 1642 submissions from the public only one supported the development approval. The debate about LNG is not going away, particularly given that the Northern Territory Government is determined to bring gas onshore to Glyde Point as well as Wickham Point.

In more positive news ECNT continues to gather support for Heritage nomination for Darwin Harbour. The Northern Territory Government also announced its intention to develop a Plan of Management for the Harbour, something that ECNT has been calling for for many years. ECNT is now a member of the Darwin Harbour Advisory Board which is charged with developing a Plan of Management for Darwin Harbour. Additionally in March 2002 the Northern Territory Government rezoned the mangroves of Darwin Harbour to increase their level of protection.

» Other Coastal and Marine Issues

This year we have attempted to increase our work on coastal and marine issues. In particular we have been focussing on the development of a coastal policy for the Northern Territory, monitoring aquaculture developments, and lobbying the Northern Territory Government to introduce rehabilitation bonds for all aquaculture projects. A major focus over the next year or so will be inputting into the Commonwealth Regional Marine Plan for Northern waters. We hope to further increase our capacity to work on coastal and marine issues over the year.

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Mining

» Jabiluka

In 2002 ECNT continued to campaign with the Mirrar Traditional Owners to ensure that the Jabiluka uranium mine is never developed and the area is handed back to traditional owners. The issue stayed in the news with continuing water management problems at Jabiluka and Ranger mines and a Senate Inquiry into the regulation of uranium mining in Australia. The Senate Inquiry was a product of lobbying by ECNT and others. The Jabiluka campaign had another minor victory this year with Rio Tinto opening the door to the rehabilitation of the Jabiluka site in statements made by Rio's Chairman Sir Robert Wilson. ECNT Coordinator Mark Wakeham attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August representing ECNT and other groups in an effort to increase the pressure on Rio Tinto to abandon plans to develop Jabiluka.

» West Arnhem Land Uranium Exploration

ECNT released a substantial report at the beginning of the year looking at uranium exploration in the West Arnhem area. We hope that this report, and other resources we have been compiling on the issue raises awareness about the threats posed by exploration and potentially future uranium mines in the area.

ECNT continued its 'watchdog' role in relation to the mining industry, responding to leaks at Ranger and Jabiluka mines this year and to the dumping of cyanide in the Tanami desert. ECNT believes that the NT needs an independent Environment Protection Authority to respond to leaks and spills swiftly and strongly.

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Climate Change

» Cool Communities

ECNT's Cool Communities project has made great progress this year. Nearly 50 households in the Parap, Ludmilla, and The Narrows area have already signed up to the program. Energy audits have been or will be conducted for each of these households and then the householders will implement some of the recommendations of the audits and reduce their energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. ECNT would like to thank all those individuals and households that have been involved in this fantastic project to date.

» Other

In other climate change work, ECNT has initiated efforts by Australian environment groups to develop a consistent policy on Liquid Natural Gas exploitation. We've also continued to be an active member of the Climate Action Network Australia and campaigned for the Australian Government to change its deplorable position on the Kyoto Protocol. We are hopeful that a Northern Territory Greenhouse Strategy will be developed over the next year.

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Other Campaigns

Northern Australia Environment Alliance (NAEA)

ECNT hosted and helped organise the inaugural meeting of the NAEA in May. The alliance of state, regional and national environment groups has been established to coordinate our conservation efforts in northern Australia. While the NAEA is in its formative stages we're hopeful that it will be really important in achieving major conservation outcomes in northern Australia.

Weeds

Weeds of the Wet/Dry Tropics - A major achievement of this year was the publication of ECNT's weeds book 'Weeds of the Wet/Dry Tropics'. In a very short time period well over 3000 copies of the weeds book have been distributed all over Australia and internationally. As we go to press a total of 2000 copies of the book is about to be distributed to every pastoral property in northern Australia! As well as being a fantastic conservation tool, the book also makes an important contribution to ECNT's fundraising efforts.

NT Government Environment Policy

Over the past year ECNT has engaged with the Labor Government in an attempt to improve current environment policy. We've had many meetings with Ministers, advisers and public servants. To date the NT Government has been slow to deliver on many of its pre-election commitments, though there have been some important policy gains. For example ECNT welcomed the introduction of Freedom of Information legislation in October. Similarly approaches taken by the Labor Government on Aboriginal involvement in protected areas management and the commitment to develop landclearing legislation and a management plan for Darwin Harbour are all important gains.

Nevertheless we are hopeful that much greater progress will be made over the next couple of years and that the NT Government will implement all of the commitments that it made in response to the ECNT pre-election survey.

ECNT has also worked on a range of other issues this year including: holding a forum on wetlands management at NTU; advocating for the introduction of Container Deposit Legislation and other waste minimisation issues; organising a workshop on 'population and environment' issues; writing many submissions on a wide range of issues; and blowing the whistle on Adrail's destruction of Gouldian Finch habitat in construction of the railway.

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Achievements

Organisationally some of our achievements have been as follows:

Future Activities

Some of the things we are planning for 2003 include:

Finally we would like to thank all our members, supporters, volunteers, colleagues and Management Committee members for their hard work and continued support for our efforts this year.

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