Friends of the Earth Kuranda’s Submission to the DRAFT Tablelands Community Plan
Human association with the hills around Kuranda is ancient, yet ‘modern’ settlement is very recent.
Although it’s likely this area has been inhabited continuously for tens of thousands of years – longer than anywhere in North or South America, for example – the modern township of Kuranda is less than six generations old.
That makes Kuranda, in its modern manifestation, a very young village. Each decade that goes by adds nearly a tenth to its age. Even a year is a significant fraction of its lifespan to date.
As a consequence, planning of this area can make a very real difference. Like a sketchpad with lots of blank pages, there’s plenty of scope to make for changing this area for good or for ill. Choices made at this time are likely to have long-term consequences for how this area develops long into the future.
FoE Kuranda congratulates the new Tablelands Regional Council for undertaking a community planning revue . We are grateful for the opportunity to make input into the revue process.
We are, however, concerned about the draft document that’s been made available for comment, for a few weeks only during the holiday season, with a view to the final plan being approved prior to the forthcoming March elections.
We’re concerned this community plan, at least for the Kuranda area, lacks coherence. To some extent its eclectic nature is a function of its identity as a community plan, with input from many sources. More seriously, we’re concerned that some of the key proposals that are articulated in this document amount to the WRONG plan for this area.
Having said that, we’re aware that the forthcoming new Planning Scheme, due for completion in 2013, may be the document that contains what we consider missing from the current plan – and that the Draft of that new document is not yet available. (see http://www.trc.qld.gov.au/
In any event, we hope these comments will be constructive input into the planning process on the Tablelands.
Due to shortage of time, we have not attempted a comprehensive review of the entire document. This region is an integrated whole but the focus of FoE Kuranda is mainly on our local area identified in the document as Speewah, Koah, Kuranda (and Myola). Our comments reflect that.
What the Kuranda area needs
In our view, there’s much that truly wonderful about this area that should be conserved, treasured and nurtured. But there are also significant problems in Kuranda and its environs. These need to be addressed, over time. Good planning and appropriate investment are crucial.
The following is a list of these positives and negatives as we see them, followed by some suggestions and a specific comments on points in the Draft:
Positives
The township of Kuranda and the inhabited outlying areas has stunning, highly biodiverse and largely forested surroundings
The surviving Aboriginal community in this area is a link with its unique and ancient pre-historic culture.
The climate of Kuranda is (we think) as close to perfect as anywhere on the planet.
Kuranda is near the small but internationally significant city of Cairns, with its many attractions and an airport that connects this region to the rest of Australia and overseas.
The village of Kuranda still has great charm and continues to serve as a magnet for visitors, who bring wealth and employment to the area
Kuranda has good basic services for a small community: schools, medical clinic, library
The community in Kuranda has experience, knowledge and skills – as evidenced by many fine suggestions documented in this plan, too numerous to repeat here.
Negatives
The Kuranda area still lacks a plan for long-term conservation of the biodiversity of the area. Really comprehensive identification and mapping of our biota has never happened. Even species unique to the area don’t seem to have survival/recovery plans. Wildlife remains threatened by exotic species – both plant and animal – and human activities such as pesticide/herbicide use, road kills and vegetation clearance). Loss of native vegetation continues mainly though new housing development in areas such as Kuranda, Speewah, the Myola Valley and Koah.
The surviving Aboriginal people of the Kuranda area still lack a place they can truly call their own – a refuge and centre for kindling Aboriginal culture. Aboriginal communities such as Korowa and Mantuka remain in need of significant new investment.
The Kuranda area is chronically car-dependent. The only form of pubic transport are buses, and bus services are infrequent, connect only some parts of the area and operate only in daytime. Rail easements are so under-utilised they would be more useful to the community as cycle tracks; if we are to have a rail network that makes appropriate use of them, a major rethink and very significant new investment are required.
The Barron River, source of drinking water supply for the Kuranda township, serves as a sewer for agricultural run-off from the Tablelands. It contains a plethora of pesticides which have a measurable negative effect on adjacent areas of the Coral Sea. These artificial compounds, while they may not be as lethal ad DDT, have an unmonitored impact on the health of Kuranda residents who drink water from the Barron that’s not tested for pesticides; there’s no attempt to remove them from the town water supply.
The Kuranda village, while it attracts some million visitors per year, does not have the vitality or general prosperity that many in the community feel it could and should have. A frequent comment is that the “village is dead”, meaning it lacks people and vibrancy, especially out of daytime trading hours. Reasons for this are various. (We have some suggestions for remedies).
Telecommunications in the area are second rate
We are still overly dependent on an occasionally-unreliable national electricity grid – and net importers of energy from outside
The region that includes Kuranda (FNQ) has no effective system for minimisation and/or recycling of solid waste; we suffer from this even more than necessary, because waste is currently transported between Cairns and Mareeba via the Kuranda Range Road, putting extra unecessary strain on this thoroughfare
The earlier Myola Plan has been superseded by the State Government’s 2031 regional plan, yet that plan was inappropriately amended, at the last moment and without public comment, to facilitate the development of Welcome Pocket. We believe that was a major mistake for the area
Suggested Solutions
We need a comprehensive survey of the area’s biodiversity. This should be assisted and facilitated by agencies such as the Wet Tropics Management Authority and James Cook University, but there should also be community ownership of and involvement in the survey, with the local school playing a pivotal role. The internet/web can be used to store and display data collected from the community as well as wildlife specialists – and updated progressively so it become an ongoing monitoring operation. Better data and higher community awareness about the area’s natural riches will facilitate improved conservation and planning
Many suggestions proposed by the local Aboriginal community should be embraced, but we wish to emphasise two things: the historic need and justification for higher investment in infrastructure and support for our Aboriginal communities in general – and in particular the desirability of providing significant new assistance to the local indigenous people to redevelop Mona Mona as a distinctively Aboriginal settlement with an appropriate amount of autonomy.
Transport in the area needs significant new investment. There’s a need to upgrade of roads, but in our view the balance of transport investment is quite wrong at present. We believe the rail service should be upgraded into the 21st century, and used not only for freight but for human transport, providing a real alternative to car transport for people travelling between Mareeba and Cairns and points between including the Myola Valley and Kuranda. It’s easy for this to be dismissed as too expensive. We believe there’s a need to review state of the art rail as a genuine transport alternative at least between Mareeba, Kuranda and Cairns and as soon as an appropriate solution is found, to actually built it. In addition, we’d like to see much more effective road based public transport – perhaps with frequent mini-bus services connecting people within the Kuranda area so the need for individual car ownership/usage is significantly reduced.
Until it’s regularly tested for the plethora of pesticides that are currently unmonitored in the Barron River (and/or a sophisticated filtering system is utilised capable of entirely removing these contaminants from the water supply), we believe the town water system may be unsafe for human consumption. If a suitable location can be found for small local catchment-replenished dam/s (not entailing clearance of native vegetation), that would be more satisfactory than drinking unmonitored river water. Alternatively, the entire drinking water supply could be shifted from a mains system to localised rooftop catchment and household storage. Long-term, and somewhat separate from the issue of drinking water supply, we seek a significant reduction in the usage of pesticides and herbicides in the Barron Catchment; it drains, after all, into the Coral Sea.
Rail could revitalise Kuranda – making it an attractive evening destination on the many hot evenings in Cairns and ensuring that more tourists visit and spend time in the village, arriving and leaving when they please. The “dead” feeling in Kuranda village, despite high aggregate visitor numbers, is partly the result of high proportion of visitors arriving via organised tours that take them, with limited time, to specific venues such as Rainforestation, the Market and Skyrail. Our vision is that Kuranda is more easily visited by people travelling under their own steam – and a regular, fast rail-link to Cairns is the best way to make this happen. Such visitors would be able to spend time and money visiting the smaller shops and attractions, ensuring that revenue from tourism is more evenly distributed. In addition, a better public transport network of the type we propose, entailing bus and a rail backbone, would help transform Kuranda into a more attractive place to live for people easily able to commute to Cairns or Mareeba. This would benefit our local economy without putting extra strain on our roads and without creating the demand for yet more unsustainable road transport. Improved rail should also become a real alternative for transport of freight, building materials etc.
Telecommunications should be upgraded without delay. The Tablelands Regional Council should be proactive in demanding that the area is wired ASAP with fibre-optic to the door for the vast majority of households in this area, supplemented by wireless in outlying extremities. Cable should be under-grounded.
Our area should become a much more significant producer of sustainable energy via solar and wind. Taking into account also the Barron HEP scheme at the Falls, the Kuranda area should aim to for a locally generated energy supply that’s carbon-neutral.
FNQ’s waste minimisation & recycling system need a complete overhaul following the abysmal (and predictable) failure of the Bedminster recycling plant. In the interim, solid waste should be moved between Cairns & Mareeba by rail – not on the road!
Crucially, we believe the Welcome Pocket development is a major planning mistake. We support the provision of aged care facilities in this area (and more public housing for low income earners). However, the location should be in the village – probably on the old school site and adjacent playing field or in another suitable near-village location. The scale of the Welcome Pocket development is very significant, and ancillary facilities are required such as shops, cafes and medical facilities. However, those facilities already exist in they village, which would benefit from higher usage. Kuranda should be consolidated – not have another node added on the Myola Valley, increasing car-dependency and forcing unnecessary duplication of facilities.
Additional specific comments
Any bio-mass production MUST be done in a genuinely sustainable way. Establishment and expansion of this industry without meeting this precondition would be a retrograde step.
The planning Scheme biodiversity overlay seems promising as long as it protects all native life forms and the natural environment that sustains these species. It would be insufficient to just favour certain iconic or endangered species.
FoE Kuranda believes there should be no more development including residential subdivisions on forested land whether rainforest or schlerophyll and other areas of significant regional biodiversity
Increasing population should be accommodated by higher density development in urban areas and capping growth if necessary if it cannot be done without damaging the natural environment
Suggestions that herbicides should be used on hill slopes in the Kuranda area are controversial and we do not support this. The impact of herbicides such as Roundup (and surfactants used with them) on wildlife remains a topic of international controversy. Given this uncertainty, the option we should treat it as a safe product to be encouraged via a plan such as this is not acceptable.
kuranda range road safety
During 2010 the issue of the Kuranda range road and its upgrade was featured and promoted a number of times in the cairns post. Conversely there are many in the community whobelieve that a new super-fast expressway would prove to be a real death trap considering the incline, the intent to use it for very heavy vehicles, the climatic conditions in the far north and the mindset of a percentage of drivers
Many regular users believe that the present Kuranda range road is superb considering that it follows the original surveyed route, climbs to 420 meters over a relatively short distance, is well signed, well maintained, surfaced with the very best stone mastic asphalt, and has good safety features: warning signs,guard rails, and crash barriers.
One drawback it has is it is difficult to police so a percentage of drivers who use the road see it as their own personal mount panorama
The road itself if driven to conditions is safe; what makes it a nightmare is the tailgating, overtaking over double centre lines, and speeding by would- be race car drivers.
The police must be given the resources they need to protect the majority of the Kuranda road users. The technology is available at far less the cost of building a new road, what we lack is the political will. The government has done a good job upgrading the current road but must now finish the job and make it safe.
Protected: Coordinator’s Report 2010
AGM Sat 17 Dec 10.30am
Dear everyone
It’s not just Christmas time – it’s time for an end of year Friends of the Earth Kuranda AGM!
Pat and Donna have kindly agreed to host this gathering at their place.
It will take place on Saturday 17th December from 10.30am. Feel free to bring a plate if you expect to be hungry. The meeting will probably take an hour or so.
Thanks to everyone who’s put in time and effort over the year – especially to retiring committee members Sarah, Nadine and Di.
There’s plenty of opportunity for new blood in FoE Kuranda to make a difference, so if you know anyone who’d like to come to the meeting, please invite them too and/or ask them to call Pat or myself.
Best wishes to all
Syd Walker
4093 8384
___________________________________
Pat Daley’s address where the meeting will be held is
37 Scrub St., Myola (ph 4093 8509)
Stop Wongai Coal Mine near Charlotte Bay, Cape York
Please contact Minister Burke, Federal Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, PO Box 6022,House of Representatives,Parliament House,Canberra ACT 2600, ph (02) 6277 7640, fax: (02) 6273 6101, email: Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au and tell him you oppose the underground coal mine proposed for Wongai, 150km NW of Cooktown on Cape York. 
(Quote Reference:Aust-Pac Capital/Mining/150 km NW of Cooktown, QLD/QLD/Wongai Underground Coal Mine Project, Qld, EPBC Reference Number 2011/6092.)
Feel free to use the following points:
It is highly likely that if the mining project proceeds, it will
- cause grave damage to the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef Marine Park,
- impact negatively on both endangered and migratory species listed under the EPBC act,
- carve up Kalpower Nature Refuge
- have a detrimental socio-economic effect on the local population.
Given the multiplicity of current threats to the Great Barrier Reef, which collectively have become so grave they are now attracting international concern including the attention of UNESCO itself,we believe this proposal must not be approved.
The northern areas of the Reef represent the last relatively undisturbed parts of this World Heritage ecosystem. Approval of such a risky project north of Cooktown would be tantamount to banging the final nail in the coffin.
Threat to Great Barrier Reef 
The concept plan shows this proposal to be within Kalpowar Nature Refuge and to require the building of a conveyor and loading facility that would be visible from the Great Barrier Reef.
The proposed barge route would then run through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) / World Heritage Area. Any shipping accidents, with the potential for toxic spillage, would pollute currently pristine waters and damage the Great Barrier Reef.
We also consider the development highly likely to impact on water quality as it involves changes to flow and hydrology of wetlands and associated waterways. This is likely to impact negatively on the fishing industry as well as non-commerical wildlife values.
Negative Impact on Marine Life
Loggerhead turtle
Development is likely to impact on a variety of highly significant biota, including but not limited to:
- the endangered Loggerhead Turtle,
- the Vulnerable Green Turtle,
- five additional threatened species of turtle,
- two threatened species of whale
- the dugong,( a listed Marine and Migratory species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999)
We have already noted potential damage to the existing fishing industry in the northern Coral Sea, which is already under considerable stress. We note in addition that ports and shipping impacts on dugongs are listed as HIGH in the GBRMP Outlook Report 2009.
Socio-economic impacts
We have concerns that, as has been the case in other areas of the world where fossil fuels have been mined, both short and long term socio economic impacts on the local populations may actually prove to be negative. Pollution and industrial accidents can impact negatively on local health. Few well paid mining jobs are likely to be filled by the local population, with most of the mining staff flown in. We note that there are already reports of opposition from some of the traditional owners such as Muundhiwarra clan elder Bernie Hart.
Crucially, we believe that it is time for the Labor government to demonstrate the political courage to facilitate renewable energy projects and, in the interests of mitigating the worst impacts of climate change, to halt all new fossil fuel mining projects. In areas such as this of exceptionally high biodiversity, coal mining projects such as these should not even be contemplated.
Thank you for your help!
BatReach Working Bee
September BatReach Working Bee
Come and help us at BatReach and learn more about flying foxes and other Australian wildlife. Place and time to be arranged but will be in September.
Places are limited so to register your interest and get further details, please email info@foekuranda.org , post a comment or phone Syd Walker on 4093 8384
Planning for a Future
Section from article submitted for August Kuranda Paper:
Planning for a Future
How many people can Kuranda carry?
The FoE Kuranda group is very disappointed about the contents of a letter sent out recently by Brian Millard of Tablelands Regional Council. This stated, that despite assurances made by local MP Steve Wettenhall and the State government, council considers “the Myola zone to be an area intended for future urban purposes”
In regional NSW and Victoria many communities over the recent past have been faced with similar plans being imposed on them for the greater good and have spoken with a collective voice, NO .
NO to the destruction of their unique lifestyle, to the environmental degradation that urbanisation brings, to being disregarded by their elected representatives and to dramatically changing their communities,and YES to a sustainable future.
It’s only by speaking with a collective voice that their views have prevailed and the plans to change their communities into growth hotspots have in many cases been shelved.
The people who choose to live in Kuranda do so for a variety of reasons, including the region’s beauty, rainforest environment, tranquillity and wildife. Whatever the reason we live in Kuranda, we can collectively become active and involved, to prevent the growth lobby prevailing and what we value most being destroyed.
Friends of the Earth Kuranda identifies sustainable population as one of the major issues in Far North Queensland. We believe that simply adding to environmental pressures by increasing human numbers before a sustainable way of life has been developed would only accelerate environmental damage.
Better ways of living
It is important to locate infrastructure and housing in appropriate places where it impacts minimally on the biodiversity of our region- and to work creatively together as a community so that our buildings are energy and water efficient, attractive and made of renewable materials.
What can be done?
ACTION:
- We are proud to support the recently launched, positive initiative Recharge Kuranda, part of the global Transition towns (and rainforest villages!) movement. All Kuranda invididuals and groups are invited to join- email Sjoerd at rechargekuranda@gmail.com
- Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) are currently devising a community plan and new planning scheme so make sure you have your input. See-http://www.trc.qld.gov.au/tablelands-community-plan and say NO to developing Kuranda as a dormitory suburb of Cairns and YES to improving the environmental impact and quality of life of our village.
Overcoming Fukushima’s Nuclear Crisis – Creating Nuclear Power Free Asia Pacific region
The following statement was made by Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific at the FoE Asia Pacific meeting held in Seoul, Korea.
Several months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, we are beginning to get a sense of the likely long-term impacts.
Radiation has spread across much of the northern hemisphere and parts of the southern hemisphere. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimates the radioactive release at 770,000 terabecquerels in the first week of the crisis. Total radiation releases will probably fall somewhere between 10?40% of those from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Radiation releases have not been stopped and will continue for some months.
The long-term cancer death toll will probably be somewhere between several hundred and several thousand. For comparison, a reasonable estimate of the Chernobyl death toll is 30,000.
Allowable radiation dose limits in Japan have been thrown out the window, both for emergency workers and for the general public.
Estimates of the economic costs of the disaster range from $50 billion to $130 billion ? but it wouldn’t be surprising if the true costs are considerably greater.
Between 100,000 and 150,000 people cannot return to their homes because of radioactive contamination. Some may be able to return before the end of this year but permanent relocation is a likely outcome for those who lived in the most contaminated regions. Legal and political battles will take decades to play out.
Globally, the nuclear power ‘renaissance’ has taken a big hit. Germany, Italy and Switzerland have decided to abandon nuclear power in favour of renewable energy sources. Plans to introduce or expand nuclear power in many other countries have taken a big backwards step.
Nuclear power has no part in building a climate-friendly and sustainable future.
A large and growing number of scientific studies have detailed the wide range of energy supply and energy efficiency options that can be deployed to meet energy demand while sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The claim that nuclear power is a necessary or desirable part of the fight against climate change must be rejected. Nuclear power is at most a very partial and problematic response and presents unresolved and unacceptable problems.
Uranium is the first link in the toxic nuclear fuel chain, and is the primary source of radioactive materials used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Many uranium mines have had serious adverse impacts on the environment and the communities that live near them.
Nuclear power plants around the world have already experienced many problems caused by phenomena which are likely to become more frequent and more severe as a result of climate change ? as seen in Japan. The nuclear industry has been very slow to address these problems. Meanwhile the nuclear power industry continues to survive because of huge taxpayer subsidies.
Hazardous radioactive wastes are generated at every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. There is not a single permanent repository for spent fuel or high-level nuclear waste anywhere in the world.
In addition to the risk of accidents, nuclear power reactors are vulnerable to disasters from sabotage, terrorism, or the use of conventional forces to attack nuclear facilities during war.
Nuclear power is the one and only energy source with a direct and repeatedly-demonstrated connection to the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Doubling nuclear output by the middle of the century would require the construction of 800-900 reactors to replace most of the existing cohort of reactors and to build as many again. These reactors would produce over one million tonnes of nuclear waste (in the form of spent fuel) containing enough plutonium to build over one million nuclear weapons.
These are some of the very clear reasons why we MUST reject the nuclear industry.
A clean energy future, based primarily on renewable energy and energy efficiency and conservation measures, is viable, safe and affordable.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific is calling for Government’s in our region like Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Australia to transition into nuclear free societies.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific region will pursue a nuclear free world as a region and in our individual countries.
We urge the citizens of Asian Pacific region to join us in taking action to build a nuclear free world.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific
Thursday 30 June 2011
Seoul, Korea
Radioactive by-products of Australian uranium spew out from Fukushima
“Radioactive by-products of Australian uranium have been spewing into the atmosphere from Fukushima” reported Natalie Lowrey of FoE Australia at the recent FoE Asia Pacific meeting in Seoul, Korea.
“BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto export uranium from Australia to TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear power plant from the Olympic Dam and Ranger mines in Australia, respectively. Heathgate Resources, operator of the Beverley uranium mine in South Australia, has probably also supplied TEPCO.
“Approximately 70% of uranium used in nuclear reactors are sourced from the homelands of Indigenous minorities worldwide, this is no different in Australia. Aboriginal communities in Australia have publicly announced their sadness at the uranium that has be taken from their lands without their consent and resulted in the nuclear disaster in Japan. These Aboriginal communities know too well that the nuclear industry has lead to sickness, divided communities and contaminated land.
“On 6th April in a letter to Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the UN, Yvonne Margarula of the Mirrar people, Traditional Owners of the land that the Ranger uranium mine is located on in Australia, expressed solidarity with the people of Japan and much sorrow that uranium from the land of the Mirrar was used in the Fukushima plant.
“Yvonne like many people around the world believe that the Fukushima disaster is a dire warning of the risks posed by the nuclear industry. Production and exports from Australian uranium mines have averaged 9600 tonnes of uranium oxide (8140 tU) per year since 2004.
“Australia exports uranium to both Korea and Japan. As a major uranium supplier, Australia could have played a role in breaking the vicious cycle of nuclear safety breaches, data falsification and cover-ups in Japan over the past decade by making uranium exports conditional on improved management of nuclear plants and tighter regulation.
“But the mining companies and state/territory governments did nothing. And they continue to do nothing.
“The Fukushima disaster has not changed the situation for uranium mining in Australia, but it has had some effect. Public opposition to uranium mining has strengthened in Australia. A recent poll found 50% opposition to uranium exports compared to 44% support.
“This heightened opposition has had flow-on effects such as the Western Australia Labor Party’s reaffirmation of its no-uranium-mining policy at its state conference last week. Uranium is the first link in the toxic nuclear fuel chain, and is the primary source of radioactive materials used in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors. Uranium mining adversely affects Indigenous peoples, our global environment and health, and when enriched for use in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors, threatens our security and survival.
“The nuclear-free world envisioned by Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific will require an end to uranium mining. The nuclear option does not make sense on any level: economically, environmentally, politically or socially. It is too costly, too dangerous, too slow and has too small an impact on global warming.
“We MUST turn off the toxic tap with an end to uranium mining. We MUST challenge the green washing of governments and the nuclear industry that nuclear power is a solution to climate change. We MUST bring an end to the deadly and toxic nuclear cycle that results in poisoned lands, sickness and the potential for nuclear weapon proliferation.
“Friends of the Earth Australia joins our colleagues in South Korea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Japan, and all our brothers and sisters in the Asia Pacific region to build a nuclear free Asia Pacific and create a clean energy future for the next generations.”
Natalie Lowrey Friends of the Earth Australia Thursday 30 June 2011 Seoul, Korea
Happy 40th Birthday to FoE
An Inspiring Message from the Chair of FoE International
Dear friends,
Today marks 40 years since our Federation came into being. it is asignificant date and we can rightly say that we are part of a necessary change…and change process.
It is our week of celebration and the crises around us should not stop our sharing moments to look back at the years gone by and to encourage each other. Just ask the simple question: what would the environment of the world have been like if there was no FoEI…if you were not an environmental activist?
FoE
As I salute your courage and fights today, I urge us to share and use the materials that our communications folks shared to help in the marking of this epochal date. Let’s keep the drums sounding all this week and all this year. If you don’t blow your vuvuzela or trumpet perhaps no one may help you blow it.
Today, I will be addressing a press conference in Lagos, Nigeria, and also making some TV appearances. we are also having a mobilization tomorrow at Badagary, near Lagos, against the West African gas pipeline and the gender injustices associated with the project. other events are taking place inthe Niger delta. We will share reports… I’m sure you will also share
what you are doing …
Let me state here how proud I am of you all in this great Federation. the battles may be tough, the roads may be rugged and long, but we have our sights firmly set on a just world where the dignity of peoples and the rights of nature are respected.
In whatever way you celebrate the day, let joy and determination to press on shine through. there is no better federation to be a part of!
Congratulations! Solidarity! Hasta la victoria siempre!
Nnimmo Bassey
Chair
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