Environmentality 30 April 2014, Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth Melbourne

45 minutes is definitely not long enough to cover all the issues and campaigns that Friends of the Earth Melbourne are working on, let alone what is going on in the rest of the country and world.

The Barmah-Millewah redgum forest is one of FOEs current campaigns.

The Barmah-Millewah forest forms part of the great Murray Darling Basin.  An amazing array of great rivers and tributaries that cover over 1 million square kms.  This huge area is also known as Australia's food bowl and apart from feeding us it also supports 30,000 wetlands, 30 different species of fish and 98 species of waterbirds. If you are interested in reading more about the wetlands of the Murray Darling have a look at The Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group.

The Barmah Millewah Regum forest lays either side of the Murray River and are the largest remaining redgum forests in the world.  Since European settlement the redgum forests have been under threat from logging, cattle grazing, wild horses and a huge decrease in the amount of water that flows through them due to the amount of water we take out of our rivers for irrigation; the Goulburn and Ovens and Murray to name a few.

The Barmah-Millewah forests is now national park which may go some way to preserving this important area. The traditional owners, Yorta Yorta, Barapa Barapa and Wamba Wamba, whose traditional lands stretch along the this section of the Murray River are also having a say in how it is managed. There are many more traditional land owners along the 2,500 km of the Murray River, where you can still see remains of their sustainable, nomadic lives.  If you get the chance head up to the Murray it is definitely worth it.

We covered lots of other topics on the show this week, East-West link, climate change and coal to name a few.  Make sure you listen to the show!

Music played on the show today

Casey Chambers, Poppa Bill & the Little Hillbillies, Lost Music
Philip Phillips, Gone, Gone, Gone
Psy, Gangnam Style

Next week on the show, Robyn Deed, Editor of ReNew Magazine