THE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK

CLIMATE ACTION SHOWPRODUCED BY  Vivien LangfordSeptember 22nd 2025 THE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARKGuests:Mark Graham - Restoration Ecologist Virginia Young - Director at Wilderness Australia and global expert on carbon sequestration. https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/wilderness-australia-we-need-real-emissions-reductions-not-offsets The most joyful news after decades of civic action: logging banned in the forests dedicated to The Great Koala National Park.As NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said  “These amazing old-growth forests are among the world’s top biodiversity hotspots – home to more than 100 threatened species including greater gliders, the powerful owl and yellow-bellied gliders.”At long last we can praise the state government although there is still a lot to do before this is guaranteed in perpetuity.  The Gumbaynggirr and others will be soon weeding and protecting the land around their sacred sites. This park will offer water security for towns along the coast, a safe habitat for countless species and a natural treasure for us all to visit. However, the global Climate, deranged by the fossil fuels we continue to extract for export or burn here, will continue to dry out and threaten these forests. The old growth forest sequesters a lot of carbon but we must not be complacent and think we can use it to offset expanded coal and gas burning through ACCU schemes which are most likely to benefit the biggest carbon emitters in exhuiberant expansions., https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/great-koala-national-park  We speak to Mark Graham who, like so many others, has risked a lot to advocate for these Gondwanaland forests.  He pays tribute to many of the groups and individuals who have worked for this achgievement and firsat among them are the Gumbaynggirr People whose traditional lands are on the mid North Coast, stretching from the Nambucca River in the south to the Clarence River in the north, and inland to the Great Dividing Range. Their country is associated with the area around Coffs Harbour and includes beaches, rivers, estuaries, and mountains.  Then we have a song from Carmen Modjito inspired by Greta Thunberg "Our house is on fire" Virginia Young  says that Carbon Offsets are used to delay real action on Climate Change and Australia is one of the countries most relying on them instead of rapidly moving away from coal oil and gas.https://wilderness.org.au/forest-carbon-explainedShe speaks of her experience with the Mickisaw Cree People in Canada protecting a freshwater delta in Buffalo National Park and the Kaiapo people in  the Amazon who will be  present at the upcoming Climate Conference in Belem this November.She says “We also need more investment in energy infrastructure, so local councils, small businesses and other organisations can easily decarbonise. Everywhere, we need to be thinking, ‘What can we actually do to reduce our real emissions?’.”