Publication (Media): Australia is Losing its Hidden Treasures

Publication Type:	Media Release
Publication Name:	Australia is Losing its Hidden Treasures

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Georges, Arthur (2001) Australia is Losing its Hidden Treasures - Jul 06 2001, CRCFE, Canberra - Media Release.

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PRESS RELEASE - 6th July 2001. For immediate use

Australia is Losing its Hidden Treasures

Biodiversity is critical for healthy rivers, yet many of the animals and plants living in our rivers are under increasing threat from the impact of dams, invasive pests, increasing salinity, pollution and poor land and water management.

“Freshwater biodiversity needs to be valued as highly as on-land biodiversity,” according to Associate Professor Arthur Georges, one of the organisers of the Fenner 2001 Conference, “We need a seachange in people’s thinking to look beneath the water’s surface and see the hidden treasures living and growing underwater, many of them uniquely Australian.”

Associate Professor Georges thinks that “people may not realise we are fast losing the biodiversity from some rivers because it all happens under the surface, out of sight and out of mind…How many people know that 50% of our wetlands have already been lost?”

Associate Professor Georges from the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology is speaking at the Fenner 2001 Conference, “Biodiversity in Freshwaters: Same Landscape, Different Perspective”, held in Canberra 5-7th July. The conference focusses on maintaining freshwater biodiversity.

Professor Peter Cullen, Chief Executive of the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology and recently awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Environmentalist of the Year, is one of the keynote speakers at the Conference. He commented that “Preserving our rivers’ biodiversity will only happen if government, scientists and the community act together: communities must be involved in planning for actions to succeed.”

Professor Cullen and others are proposing the establishment of a network of River Reserves, similar to National Parks, to protect some of our most undamaged rivers.

“The States have identified some rivers that are currently relatively undamaged, but the current protection is limited,” Professor Cullen said, “I believe we need a system of Heritage River Reserves that allows present levels of human usage to continue, but protects these rivers from further development.“

Vision and interviews available

Digital still images of rivers, fish, turtles and other animals and plants are available.

For interviews contact Professor Peter Cullen on 0418 278 811; or Professor Georges on 0418 866 741.

For media assistance, call Lynne Sealie on 02 6201 5168; email: lsealie@enterprise.canberra.edu.au

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