From FriendsNET (29/7/24)…
The Wentworth Group’s Blueprint to repair Australia’s landscapes
The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists has published a plan to repair Australia’s landscapes that sets out a 30 year plan estimated to cost around $7billion a year. The report has been prepared by the group together with experts from academia, business and government. The report argues that “It is possible to restore nearly all of Australia’s degraded terrestrial ecosystems to 30% of their pre-1750s extent in healthy condition and maintain and even increase current agricultural production if we address environmental degradation and rebuild and prioritise productivity in agricultural landscapes.”
To put this investment of $7 billion a year in context, the Australian Government has committed to spend $58 billion over the next decade to arm Australia with nuclear powered submarines. See this Guardian article which compared various budget commitments over the next decade. A great deal of that expenditure will be spent overseas in the submarine shipyards in England and the US. Another way of comparing the proposed investment of $7 billion a year is to look at the cost to the budget of measures such as the capital gains discount on housing which costs $15.5 billion a year. See the analysis by Greg Jericho in the Guardian here.
Many commentators highlight how budgets are choices made by our governments. Money spent on environmental improvements and protection are usually characterised only in cost terms and not as an investment with long term benefits. The report by the Wentworth Group seeks to change perspectives and is well worth a read.
You can read about the report on their website and download the 23pp Synthesis Report here and the full report here.
