24/12/2019

(AU) Australia Fires: PM Rejects 'Reckless' Calls To Limit Coal Industry

BBC News

The fires razed scores of homes across two states on the weekend. EPA
Australian PM Scott Morrison says he will not make "reckless" cuts to the nation's coal industry, despite criticism of his response to climate change and a deadly bushfire crisis.
Australia is being ravaged by bushfires which have killed nine people and razed hundreds of homes since September.
As the crisis escalated last week, Mr Morrison faced a backlash for deciding to take a family holiday to Hawaii.
On Monday, he reiterated he would not adjust his policies through "panic".
The nation has steadfastly backed coal-fired power for its economic value, despite the recommendations of a major report on climate change.
"What we won't do is engage in reckless and job-destroying and economy-crunching targets which are being sought," Mr Morrison told local broadcaster Nine on Monday.
Many Australians have accused his government of inaction on global warming, with criticism growing as a heatwave broke records across the country and worsened the fires.
One town was largely destroyed and scores of homes were razed amid catastrophic conditions on the weekend.

What did Mr Morrison say?
Mr Morrison said tackling climate changes was "as important now" as it was earlier this year, before the fire emergency.
Mr Morrison has conducted a media blitz since returning from holiday. EPA
He said his nation was on track to meet its emissions reduction commitments - an assertion previously disputed by the UN.
"I don't accept the suggestion that Australia is not carrying its weight," he said on Sunday.
And he further tried to explain his Hawaii holiday - for which he has apologised - by comparing it to a decision made by a working parent.
"Whether it's on a Friday afternoon and you are deciding to take that extra plumbing contract and you said you would pick up the kids - or something at my level - these are things you juggle as parents," he said.

What's the latest with the fires?
Firefighters are struggling to contain bushfires burning across several states amid dry and hot conditions.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there was "not much left" of the small town of Balmoral, south-west of Sydney, after fires at the weekend.


The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil says "the destruction is absolute" in Balmoral 

 Residents are currently not allowed to return to the town, and an unknown number of homes have been destroyed.
No fatalities were reported in the town, but several firefighters were reportedly injured. More than 800 homes have been destroyed in NSW since the fire season began.
Elsewhere, at least 86 houses were destroyed in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia - where a 69-year-old man was found dead at his property on Saturday.
Officials said they were hoping to exploit cooler conditions over the coming days to try to contain the fires.

At the scene - Simon Atkinson, BBC News in Balmoral
Burned forest. Scorched patches of ground with the twisted remains of homes. And equally remarkably - properties untouched by the flames. Balmoral is an eerie and desperately sad sight.
We met volunteer firefighter Russell Scholes whose house burned down as he battled to help others.
"I loved my house. But my family are safe. My animals are safe and we helped protect the community and that's more important than the house," he says. "We'll move on and rebuild."
Balmoral Fire Station is awash with that spirit of kindness. As exhausted firefighters continue to tackle spot fires, volunteers busily process donations of food, clothes, toiletries and bedding.
And perhaps more important, emotional support. Even among the stoicism of rural Australia you get a sense that's what is needed here in the days and weeks ahead.
One family of three whose home was destroyed sat in the station's kitchen, struggling to process their loss. Tears of shock and grief came in waves.
But there were also tears of gratitude, as the community rallied round them with hugs and warm words - even when there are none.

What is driving the fires?
A combination of record temperatures, low humidity and strong winds have worsened the struggle to deal with the bushfires.
Scientists have long warned that a hotter, drier climate would contribute to Australia's fires becoming more frequent and intense.
"We are in a period of unbelievable drought and some areas haven't seen rain for more than 12 months," NSW Rural Fire Service Inspector Ben Shepherd told the BBC.


Australia fire evacuees in Mittagong used a car park as a shelter.

"These fires are likely to continue to spread well past Christmas."
Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters: "We will not get on top of these fires until we get some decent rain - we have said that for weeks and months."
Rain is forecast in some fire-struck parts of NSW on Tuesday and Wednesday - but another period of dangerously hot weather is expected next week.
Weather officials say no major rainfall is expected in the next two months.

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Landmark Ruling That Holland Must Cut Emissions To Protect Citizens From Climate Change Upheld By Supreme Court

The Independent - Andy Gregory

Decision ‘provides a clear path forward for concerned individuals to undertake climate litigation’
Marjan Minnesma (second on right), director of environment NGO Urgenda, holds a banner outside the Supreme Court prior its ruling in the Urgenda case on 20 December in The Hague. (AFP/Getty)
The highest court in the Netherlands has upheld a landmark ruling that defines protection from the devastation of climate change as a human right and requires the government to set more ambitious targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions as a result.
Hailed as an “immense victory for climate justice”, the supreme court rejected the government’s appeal against earlier rulings, handing environmental activists a final victory in a gruelling six-year legal battle.
The Dutch government will now have to cut emissions by at least 25 per cent by the end of 2020 from benchmark 1990 levels.
“This is the most important climate change court decision in the world so far, confirming that human rights are jeopardised by the climate emergency and that wealthy nations are legally obligated to achieve rapid and substantial emission reductions,” said the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, Dr David Boyd.
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said he guaranteed his government would do everything it could to reach 2020 target, without elaborating on possible measures.
Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures
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Athens, GreeceIn this decade, humans have become ever more aware of climate change. Calls for leaders to act echo around the globe as the signs of a changing climate become ever more difficult to ignore. AFP/Getty
“It’s complicated,” said Mr Rutte. “We have to close the remaining gap in a very short time.”
It is now more than four years since a court in The Hague first ordered emissions to be cut in a case brought by Dutch organisation Urgenda, which spawned similar legal challenges in courts around the world.
The government appealed that verdict, saying that courts should not be able to order the government to take action. The government lost the appeal in October 2018, but appealed again, this time to the supreme court.
Friday’s ruling rejected that appeal, saying the Dutch government must act “on account of the risk of dangerous climate change that could also have a serious impact on the rights to life and well-being of residents of the Netherlands.”
“Those consequences are happening already,” Justice Kees Streefkerk, the chief justice, said in the decision.
The court found that, based on the European Convention on Human Rights, the government had a legal duty to protect its citizens from climate breakdown, and should shape policy accordingly.
Experts said this paved the way for activists in all 47 member states on the Council of Europe to use the courts to ensure their governments took appropriate measures to prevent climate breakdown.
“This landmark ruling provides a clear path forward for concerned individuals in Europe — and around the world — to undertake climate litigation in order to protect human rights, and I pay tribute to the civil society groups which initiated this action,” said the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet.
The 2015 ruling was the first anywhere in the world ordering a government to curb emissions, and of 1,442 climate lawsuits around the world, Friday’s “was the strongest decision ever”, Michael Gerrard, director Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law told the New York Times.
There have since been lawsuits in countries ranging from South Africa to Germany, with mixed results.
Earlier this month, three German farming families said they won’t appeal a court’s decision to dismiss their climate change lawsuit against Angela Merkel’s government.

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'How Is This Possible?': Greta Thunberg Weighs In On Australia's Bushfire Crisis

SBS - AAP - | SBS

Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg has hit out at a lack of political action in the wake of Australia's bushfire 'catastrophe'.
Ms Thunberg has questioned the political response to Australia's bushfire crisis. Getty/AAP
Teenage climate warrior Greta Thunberg has accused Australia's politicians of "failing to make the connection" between rising temperatures and extreme weather events.
The 16-year-old Swedish environmentalist is spending Christmas with her family but weighed in on the bushfire emergencies still gripping Australia in a social media post on Sunday.
"Not even catastrophes like these seem to bring any political action. How is this possible?" she tweeted to her 3.7 million followers.
The tweet has already garnered thousands of likes and retweets.
Scott Morrison has defended his government's response to the bushfire crisis and stressed the need for climate change action, but claims "reckless" moves like ending coal exports and setting a stricter emissions target will have no "meaningful impact" on the global climate.
In an op-ed in The Daily Telegraph, the prime minister lauded the efforts of the various authorities at the state and federal levels, from the various fire services to the Emergency Management Agency and defence forces, in fighting the bushfires.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian are briefed during a visit to the Wollondilly Emergency Control Centre in Sydney. AAP
He also listed current policies around preventing bushfires, such as hazard reduction and land clearing laws as well as " how we can best sustain our extensive volunteer fire fighting effort", saying they will be reviewed after the present emergency ends.
Mr Morrison conceded there was need for "real action on climate change" across all levels.
"There is no disagreement and there has not been any denial of this critical factor, either by the federal government or any state or territory government.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison greets firefighters from Canada at the NSW Rural Fire Service control room in Sydney. AAP
"But to suggest that increasing Australia's climate targets would have prevented these fires or extreme weather events, in Australia or anywhere else, is simply false."
The prime minister pushed back against more stringent action, including calls to end coal exports and set an emissions target.
"We won't embrace reckless targets and abandon our traditional industries that would risk Australian jobs while having no meaningful impact on the global climate," Mr Morrison said.

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