The Local Government elections in March will be a major focus for GBSAN in the first quarter of 2024. This is one of the big opportunities for GBSAN this year and our mission to support initiatives that create a more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable Granite Belt. If we are to achieve our goals we must develop a strong and positive working relationship with the next Mayor and councillors.

GBSAN has developed a Proposal to introduce a Household Chemical Hand-in Scheme which we have asked the Southern Downs Regional Council to implement. It will help keep toxic chemicals out of the environment and it would be an initiative that the SDRC could be justifiably proud of.

We have continued to focus on emerging technologies for the recycling of waste and for the production of energy from these resources. There is so much happening in Australia and around the world to assist in making the planet healthier and saving money for businesses, and local and national authorities at the same time.

The Granite Belt Sustainable Action Network is keen to connect with the community. To make that happen we’ll be holding weekly stalls at the Farmer’s Markets in the Stanthorpe Railway Station precinct on Saturday mornings and an occasional Saturday stall in the Piazza. This will create an opportunity to engage with one another about sustainability issues that impact our beautiful region.

The recent formation of the GBSAN Community Engagement Team emerged to focus on continuing to raise awareness, educate and communicate the need for a sustainable future for our community.

The Southern Downs has now had the experience of hosting the construction of two large renewable energy projects, the UQ solar farm near Warwick and Acciona’s MacIntyre Wind Farm near Karara. There has been a fair bit of debate regarding the benefits and impacts of these projects.

The global news is not good. The Antarctic ice registers a record retreat, the Mediterranean is ringed by fire caused by record temperatures, the Gulf Stream slows and the US and Canada experience devastating forest fires (the list is much, much longer but I won’t go on). There appears to be little concern locally with the possible exception that a few farmers who are nervous about what the summer may bring.

Several GBSAN members went along with about 50 people from local environmental groups to visit the new wind farm going up in our region last weekend, south west of Warwick Qld.

Domestic and feral cats are estimated to kill over 300 million native birds and animals in Australia every year.

As a 100% volunteer organisation we are only as strong and effective as our membership and support base.  All our teams rely on committed people volunteering their time to make our community more sustainable and maintain our region's phenomenal landscape.

Acciona Energia are hosting free community tours of the wind farm from September at the MacIntyre Wind Farm.

Relative to other high country regions particularly south of the border, the Granite Belt and Traprock remain in good ecological condition. Many of the species that are regionally extinct on the New England Tableland are still relatively common here.

One of GBSAN’s missions is to turn a spotlight on what happens to our rubbish and promote modern, sustainable solutions that convert waste into a resource and divert material away from landfill and create employment, protect the environment and save money.

All landholders, RFS members and those in the local community with an interest in learning more about how to use fire to protect biodiversity are invited to participate in this important workshop. With over 60 threatened species of flora and fauna on the Granite Belt and 7 threatened ecological communities, fire plays an important role in their long term sustainability.

Energy Southern Queensland (EnergySQ), an on-farm energy efficiency program being offered FREE to producers/growers in the Southern Downs and Goondiwindi Regional Council areas.

GBSAN is launching a new ambitious Species and Habitat Protection Campaign in 2023. The goal is to enhance the protection and resilience of biodiversity on the Granite Belt and Traprock. While our local landscape is in reasonable health, it faces continued and growing challenges from the onset of climate change, increased impacts from invasive species and increased land clearing.

We are forming four teams which will focus on each of the following priorities: Cat Management; Granite Belt Wildlife Corridors; Broadwater and Amiens State Forest Upgrades; Granite Belt Wildlife Warriors.

Water is a key socioeconomic driver of sustainable growth, livelihood, justice, food security and labour. Water availability is a global challenge and one that the Granite Belt community understand all too well.

Farmers for Climate Action has launched a new report outlining the driving need for a national plan for climate change and agriculture and key policies that can support farmers to cut their emissions and increase farm productivity.

After intensive community and stakeholder consultation and commissioning a detailed assessment by an engineering firm, the previous Council realised the significant community opposition to any engineering solutions (a petition in 2019 to keep the crossings natural attracted more than 1800 signatures) and instead agreed to trial a permit system.

However, the current council claims a permit system is not possible and within a few months of coming into power has undone all previous consultation to push ahead with its plans to install the cheapest version of engineered solutions.

Review of the documentary ‘The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil’ (2006).