Management of natural resources that takes into account intergenerational equity, biodiversity, conservation, the principles of free, prior and informed consent, and respect for the rights of First Nations peoples.
Principles
The Australian Greens believe that:
- Australia's natural resources must be managed in accordance with the principles of intergenerational equity, the precautionary principle, biodiversity conservation.
- In accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Owners’ free, prior and informed consent must be obtained. This includes the right for Traditional Owners to withdraw their consent at any time.
- Native forest logging must end to ensure the immediate protection of forest ecosystems.
- Abolition of the Regional Forest Agreements and the same treatment of forestry operations as other activities under environmental law.
- Resource extraction should be managed to ensure the greatest environmental, social and economic benefit to current and future generations.
- Natural resource management should be informed by comprehensive natural resource mapping and strategic planning with a goal of protecting environmental values.
- Climate change must be a central consideration in the management of Australia’s natural resources, including forests and mining.
- Decisions about resource extraction projects must be guided by rigorous and independent assessments of their impacts on social and community values, First Nations cultural heritage, water, soils, climate, biodiversity, and detail post-extraction rehabilitation. This includes minerals necessary for the transition to a decarbonised economy.
- Native forests have immense natural, cultural and economic values which must be protected. Logging seriously damages or destroys these values.
- Just transition assistance should be provided to communities and workers affected by job transitions towards sustainable industries.
- Continued extraction of fossil fuels presents unacceptable risks to the world's climate and to Australia's land, water and people. New projects must not be started and existing projects must be urgently phased out.
- Soil is a valuable natural resource and, as such, must be managed in a manner which maintains and replenishes soil fertility and health.
- Australia's natural resources must be managed in accordance with the principles of intergenerational equity, the precautionary principle, biodiversity conservation.
- The vast majority of wealth that has been generated as a result of resource extraction is stolen wealth.
Aims
Aims — Forests, Plantations and Wood Products
The Australian Greens want:
- Recognition of the essential role played by mature forest ecosystems in wildlife habitat, carbon storage, water supply, soil quality and retention, recreation and tourism.
- The immediate protection of all old-growth and high conservation value forests.
- An end of native forest logging in Australia including the prohibition of use of native forests biomas for energy generation.
- Nomination of Australia's qualifying high conservation value forests for listing on the National or World Heritage registers.
- An end to the export of woodchips and whole logs from native forests.
- The transition from the native forest logging industry, including for workers, to plantations should include retraining and other assistance, and the development of sustainable alternative fibre industries.
- An ecologically sustainable wood products industry from well-managed, productive, plantations and farm forestry that creates long-term skilled jobs and social sustainability particularly in regional communities. .
- To prevent the use of tax arrangements to advantage forest plantations over other crops.
- World's best practice, certified, farm-scale plantation forestry.
- The tighter regulation of timber tree plantations, the wood production industry and their associated activities under planning and environmental law.
- Plantations with a diversity of species rather than monocultures.
- Plantations and farm forestry practices where the use of pesticides and fertilisers are minimised and controlled.
- Abolition of the Regional Forest Agreements and equal treatment of forests, plantations and the wood production industry with other activities under environmental law.
- An immediate end to broad-scale land clearing to protect biodiversity and to arrest soil loss, river degradation and salinity.
- The management and restoration of degraded forest to maximise biodiversity, carbon uptake, water yield and quality, First Nations cultural value, and for recreation and tourism.
- The revegetation of land, including salt affected land, with bio-diverse native vegetation which can provide carbon sinks, hydrological management and biodiversity restoration.
Aims — Mining and Mineral Exploration, including Coal Seam Gas
The Australian Greens want:
- A robust economy built on diverse sectors and not reliant on any one sector for its prosperity.
- A mining and mineral exploration sector that meets stringent environmental and social protection standards and delivers both long and short term benefits to the wider Australian community.
- A requirement that natural resource use be subject to the right of First Nations Peoples to determine priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands and sea territories.
- To give landholders, including the Traditional Owners, the right to say “no” to mining and resources companies seeking to explore or mine on their land and strengthen rights regarding access, negotiation, appeal and compensation rights in all their dealings with mining and resources companies. This includes respecting self-determination of traditional owners.
- Recognition that mining is incompatible with all other land uses and therefore needs to be evaluated based on comprehensive natural resource mapping and strategic planning.
- Accurate and independent environmental, health and social impact assessments addressing the true environmental, social and economic costs and benefits, rigorously applied and implemented on all mining proposals and projects.
- Rigorous independent ongoing monitoring and compliance with undertakings and legal obligations of all mining projects including during the rehabilitation phase.
- A ban on new thermal coal mines or thermal coal mine expansions and an orderly, planned phase out of thermal coal exports with a just transition for affected communities.
- The prohibition of mineral exploration and mining including the extraction of petroleum and gas in: residential areas; highly valued agricultural land; terrestrial and marine nature conservation reserves; national parks; designated wilderness areas, sacred or culturally significant sites; and other areas of nature conservation value.
- No new, and a planned, orderly, phase-out of existing fracking and unconventional gas developments including coal seam gas, shale and tight gas due to the short and long-term risks to our water, land, communities, the climate, food production and marine areas.
- The Australian Government to invest in and support the research and development of technological alternatives to metallurgical coal.
- 12.The cessation of all existing underground coal gasification projects.
- Mining rehabilitation bonds that are based on high-quality evidence, set at the full cost of rehabilitation and verified by open and transparent means.
- Prohibition on the exploration for, and mining and export of, uranium.
(Natural Resources: Forests and Mining Policy as amended by National Conference June 2024)