The main policy-making and priority-setting event for the local government sector, the annual Local Government NSW conference, is being held mid-October in Sydney, and Bellingen Shire Council has decided to put motions forward on biodiversity, dealing with climate change and managing waste.
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Crs Dominic King, Steve Klipin, Jennie Fenton, Toni Wright-Turner and Steve Jenkins were at this morning's meeting and voted unanimously to submit the motions below.
Crs Garry Carter and Desmae Harrison were absent.
1. Biodiversity conservation
a. That Local Government NSW (LGNSW) recognise the crisis in biodiversity in NSW and the escalating economic, social and environmental impacts this will have on local government areas around the State, especially in rural and regional areas.
b. That this issue be included in the LGNSW Advocacy Priorities for 2020, and that LGNSW requests that the NSW State Government reviews the cumulative impacts of legislation governing land, water and natural resource management, and acts to ensure the protection of biodiversity, threatened iconic species, water security, native forests and food security throughout NSW.
2. Community resilience
That Local Government NSW call upon the State Government to develop a long term strategy for local councils to deal with the ongoing weather patterns associated with our changing climate with the strategy to address research and implementation funding relative to water security, catchment management, community resilience and support to local businesses.
3. Waste Crises
That Local Government NSW strongly advocates to the NSW government to ensure the Waste and Recycling Strategy currently under development recognises the imperative for significant investment in both research and development, and implementation of on ground infrastructure to enable Australia to respond to the waste crises and manage its waste in a sustainable manner and that there is no delay in significantly extending and increasing the Waste Less Recycle More funding.
4. Climate Emergency
That Local Government NSW declares that "we are in a state of climate emergency that requires urgent action by all levels of government and that Local Government NSW:
a. Notes the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius";
b. Notes the Federal Government's latest emissions data showing we are increasing, not reducing our carbon emissions;
c. Acknowledges that local government areas across the state are, and are likely to be further affected by climate impacts, particularly sea level rise, bushfires, severe storms, drought and floods,
d. Recognises we are in a state of emergency that requires urgent action by all levels of government, that human induced climate change represents one of the greatest threats to humanity, civilisation, and other species, and that it is still possible to prevent the most catastrophic outcomes if, and only if, societies take emergency action now.
e. Reviews its strategic priorities and corporate planning documents to identify how it can also respond to and address the Climate emergency, and develop an outline of options available to operationalise this emergency declaration.
Calls upon the State and Federal Governments to:
a. Declare a climate emergency, and
b. To back this up with legislated programs to drive emergency action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the lower of the Paris Agreements at 1.5 degrees celsius.
c. To support Local Government authorities (including financial support) to drive emergency action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the lower of the Paris Agreements at 1.5 degrees celsius.
5 Plastic Silage
That Local Government NSW undertake advocacy to both the NSW and Australian Governments to fund research and development, as well as investment in infrastructure to address silage waste in a timely way.
