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Luka’s fundraiser – the good news
Biobanking – what do the Hans Lovejoy With plans continuing to unfold over the Byron bypass project, one of the main components that will allow it to occur is called biobanking, whereby native flora and fauna earmarked for removal/destruction are compensated for with likefor-like elsewhere. Does it ensure environmental safeguards against biodiversity loss – and is the process with the bypass transparent so far?
Josh Holland, Kate Lee-Winton, Elliot Farrell, Jasmin Sezer, and Luka’s sister Larita with Caitlin Feldman from the Cancer Council and dad Ben Munroe. Photo Jeff Dawson Aslan Shand Five-year-old local boy Luka Monroe is undergoing treatment for a massive tumour (the size of a small orange) that was found growing in his kidney in February and his school is right behind him. As chemotherapy treatments impact on the immune system and increase the risk of infection, Luka is living at a special apartment near the QLD Children’s Hospital in Brisbane with his mother Usa for the nine months of treatment.
A silent disco was the way his school decided to raise money to support Luka and his family. Though according to those listening, it was anything but silent, as the kids in headphones sang and called out to each other loudly. The $2,000 raised was split between the school and Luka’s family 50/50. ‘The school is going to buy musical instruments, which is great because Luka loves music,’ said dad Ben happily. Ben and Usa decided to split the $1,000 raised for Luka 60/40, donating $600 to
the Cancer Council office in Byron Bay. ‘They provided us with support and I didn’t understand just how many families and individuals are affected by cancer. My heart goes out to people and that’s why we gave the money to the Cancer Council,’ Ben explained. ‘Luka is doing really well. He is an inspiration to his mother and me. The tumour is now one third of the size it was when diagnosed’. A GoFundMe page can be found at www.gofundme. com/j9u4x-ride-4-luka.
Ecologist’s concern Local ecologist David Milledge has raised concerns with Byron’s bypass project with regard to the biobanking component, yet makes the point he has not been able to access all the relevant information, ‘as it’s not available on the Council website’. Within his assessment, he says an area of indirect impact of the proposal, ‘calculated as a 5m-wide strip either side of the bypass footprint appears manifestly inadequate’. ‘This is because the adverse effects of noise, dust, light spill, sedimentation, pollution including eutrophication, and invasive plants and animals, both
during and after the construction phase are likely to extend to a distance of at least 30m or more from the bypass footprint. This additional area should have been considered in the generation of biodiversity credits. ‘The bypass construction footprint appears to contain a number of hollow-bearing trees that will be removed for construction but there appears to be no explanation of how their loss will be offset. ‘There are also a number of threatened species in addition to Mitchell’s Rainforest Snail, Black Bittern, Pale-vented Bush-hen and Common Planigale which will lose habitat as a result of the bypass construction but that do not appear to have been considered in the generation of biodiversity credits. These comprise the White-eared Monarch, Grey-headed Flying-fox, Eastern Blossom-bat, Eastern Long-eared Bat, and Greater Broad-nosed Bat’. ‘This additional loss compounds the impact of the destruction of habitat already permitted of four other threatened species going under the bulldozer. ‘Although the BioBanking principle of following the “avoid, minimise, and mitigate” hierarchy is claimed
to have been followed, it is not clear why the alignment of the southern section of the bypass was not moved to the east (to border existing development) to avoid fragmenting and isolating an apparently high-value stand of Paperbark forest in the northeastern corner of the SEPP wetlands. Milledge added, ‘The destruction of the habitat of these threatened fauna species should not have been allowed to be compensated for by “protecting” areas of habitat already protected under State legislation (SEPP 14 Wetlands). ‘This makes a mockery of the underlying premise of biobanking, the “improve and maintain standard”.’
L&E Court judge Additionally, NSW Land and Environment Court chief judge Brian J Preston SC appears somewhat sceptical of ripping into native bushland and plonking it elsewhere. He penned Biodiversity Offsets: Adequacy and Efficacy in Theory and Practice for an Indonesian conference in 2015. In it he says, ‘It is important to remember that compensation through
RenewFest grieves for the Earth Thomas Keily
Dust & Dog Hair by Hilary Herrmann 16–30 April 10am–5pm 7 days 19a Byron Street, Bangalow • 02 6687 1936 • www.ninbella.com 10 The Byron Shire Echo żſĶō ǨǮǽ ǩǧǨǰ
I sat down to write a letter to the Earth. I was at The Blue House on Argyle Street, Mullumbimby, the Australian venue for Letters to the Earth – a Cultural Response to the Climate and Ecological Emergency. On April 12, venues across the world, including Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, invited people to creatively respond to the ecological challenges facing humanity. I wanted to offer something beautiful and inspiring. But all I can feel is grief – a bewildering and despairing grief. It suffocates the voice in my throat, and with it the feeling that I can do anything at all. Everything I love is dying. Entire species are being written out of our history books. I’m shepherding my children into a future of famine, misery, and war. How else do I respond to that? For three years now, I’ve been part of Renewfest,
Thomas Keily and Ella Rose Goninan from Renew Fest gather for Letters To the Earth, at Society Beta’s Sculpted exhibition, beside an installation by Jess Poulsen. Photo Luke Jaaniste a festival dedicated to ecological, economic, and social renewal. It has been a wonderful showcase of positive, life-affirming action in the face of a climate catastrophe. We have always wanted Renew Fest’s message to be inspiring and uplifting. But more and more, we are wishing to explore and harness the dimension of grief (last year we began posing questions of our grief response in our festival ‘round panels’). But this isn’t a downer. It’s
the path to unlocking stronger and deeper inspiration. This year, we have invited Canadian author Stephen Jenkinson, a grief-walker and expert on elderhood, to precede a special 36-hour Vigil For Grief. There are two sessions set to stimulate and challenge us all. The entire Mothers Day weekend series of events aims to create a space where our individual and collective grief can be integrated with our desire to fight and defend the things we love.
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