Skip to main content

A Problem-Solving Pathway to Resolve the Controversy Over Fuel Load, Hazard Reduction Burns, Risk Analysis and Bushfires: A Royal Commission or a Scientific Round-Table?

TAGS: Bushfires; Australia; climate change; hazard reduction; fuel load; window of opportunity; ecology; habitat; threatened species; resilience; scientific round-table; royal commission; conflict resolution
1.0   The 2019-2020 bush fire season in Australia has been one of the worst fire seasons on record. The total area of land burned during the current bushfire season now exceeds 10.7 million hectares (26.4 million acres).
2.0   All Australian mainland States have been impacted. Thousands of homes have been destroyed; 27 people have been killed. There have been significant impacts on native fauna and their habitat.
The following issues are reviewed: -
(a)   Preparedness: Drought Management and Bushfire Hazard Reduction
(b)  Issues That Contribute to Fuel Load And Hazard Reduction
(c)   The Wider Application for Resilience in the Australian Environment
(d)   Climate Change, Fuel Build-up and Bushfires
(e)   Where to Now: A Royal Commission to Review the Bushfires?
(f)   An Alternative Review Process: The Scientific Round-Table
(g)   Scientific Round-Table Outcomes
(h)   Scientific Evidence and Commissions of Inquiry
(i)    Conflict Resolution

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Resolving Cultural Heritage Protection and Development Conflicts on Indigenous Lands

“ P rotecting cultural heritage and development are not mutually exclusive; we can have both, but projects have to be well-designed.” Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek (2024).   The recent decision by the Federal Environment Minister to shut down a tailings dam for a gold mine development, to protect Indigenous cultural heritage, has ignited controversy and conflict.   The controversy is not only over the decision’s impact on the viability of the Regis Resources’ Gold Mine Project at Orange, Central-Western NSW.  It has also highlighted the complexity of the problem when cultural heritage protection (with its focus on Traditional knowledge) and  development (with its focus on Western science) collide over future land use. There is now  community concern that history may repeat in Australia for development projects proposed on Indigenous owned and controlled lands. However, there would be little dispute that the above statement by ...

What is the Status of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Process: The Decision End Point or a Decision-Making Aid? A Conflict Management Perspective

            Divergent public opinion and controversy has arisen in Australia over a referendum the Federal Government intends to hold later this year. Specifically, that an advisory body known as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice (“ the Voice ”) may make representations to Parliament and the Executive on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. However, the available information to facilitate voting  about the “ the Voice process ”  at the referendum has been an issue.     A conflict management framework  was applied to address this issue. The focus was on the  “interests”  (or  needs and concerns ) about the Voice process that the public have in relation to the referendum question –  rather than the voting   “position”  they may hold . The features of “ the Voice process ” were compared with public participation processes for resolving public int...

National Plans for Energy Security Under the Paris Agreement Are Not Only About Emissions Reduction: Must the Kyoto Protocol History Repeat?

  KEY WORDS: Paris Agreement; emission reduction targets; energy security; affordable energy; renewables;  equity; sustainable development; SDG13; scientific-round-table; ETS 1.0    To achieve the Paris Agreement goals, effective integration between energy security and action for climate change to reduce GHG emissions is crucial - but remains problematic. 2.0      The UN’s 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goal 13 for “ Climate Action ” requires climate change measures to be integrated into national plans, policies, and strategies. 3.0      A national plan for energy security and sustainable development should not only represent a power system that is affordable, reliable, and secure - but also have the optimum balance between renewables and other feasible and viable climate action options to achieve emission  reduction targets, sustainably. 4.0   A pathway for a national plan that integrates energy securi...