Wildlife Queensland is part of a group of environmental non-governmental bodies (NGOs) in Queensland that have banded together to take a strategic approach to determine the environmental stance of the major political parties.
Aims of the group
The environmental NGOs aim to:
- find out the positions of political parties on important environmental issues
- influence political parties in their development of environmental policies well in advance of any future election campaigns.
Environmentally conscious voters might also be able to use the information to check the environmental policies of political parties before any election.
Membership
Queensland Conservation Council has convened the group, which includes:
- Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF)
- Australian Marine Conservation Society
- Australian Rainforest Conservation Society
- Cairns and Far North Environment Council
- Friends of the Earth (FoE)
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- Geckos
- National Parks Association of Queensland
- The Wilderness Society
- Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)
- and Wildlife Queensland.
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Each group will contribute according to its areas of expertise.
Target issues
The group has already agreed a draft list of priority environmental issues. This list includes general issues and regions that are environmentally significant and/or under threat from degradation:
- Biodiversity
- Cape York
- Climate change
- Coastal development
- Forests
- Good governance
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- Gulf Country
- Indigenous input
- National Parks/Protected areas
- Sustainable Queensland
- Water conservation
- Wild rivers
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Plans
- A position paper will be researched and written for each issue to establish the group's position on that issue.
- The position papers will be put together into an election document.
- The group will then develop a strategic advocacy program to promote election priorities to the major political parties.
Wildlife Queensland's role
Wildlife Queensland had a preliminary role in suggesting the concept to QCC as part of their coordinating role and the first two meetings were held on Wildlife Queensland's CBD premises.
During the development of the election document, Wildlife Queensland have input into the position papers on Biodiversity, coastal development, National Parks, and forests.
For more information on Wildlife Queensland's activities, contact us by email or call +61 7 3221 0194.
Wildlife Queensland - February 2006 |
