North Queensland Conservation Council

In Townsville, we marked World Wetlands Day by inviting organisations involved in wetland conservation to share their work with interested members of the community. We are so grateful for the contributions of NQ Dry Tropics, Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare, Wongaloo Conservation Park and the Townsville Dry Tropics Partnership for Healthy Waters, whose representatives volunteered their time to share valuable relevant information with us.

Click here for our list of local hands-on environmental conservation volunteer projects.

Townsville/NQ groups are listed first on this page, then broader state, national and international groups. We have added a few words of description where their aims are not obvious from their names.

Other internet resources for environmental information and engagement are endless, of course, but we are still keen to add links to relevant local (NQ) organisations - please contact us if you are one or know one.

• Australian Youth Climate Coalition - Townsville branch on Facebook or national home page.
• Kittens for the Reef, a project of NQCC in 2015. On Facebook.
• Dry Tropics Biodiversity Group, Inc. (conserving natural environments, Townsville and NQ) http://www.drytropics.org/
• MINCA Magnetic Island Nature Care Association http://www.minca.org
• Wildlife Qld Townsville branch of Wildlife Preservation Society of Qld http://www.wildlife.org.au/contact/branch/townsville.html (National: http://www.wildlife.org.au)
• Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare Inc. Landcare group running conservation and revegetation activities around Townsville http://www.cdtli.org.au
• Permaculture Townsville http://permaculturetownsville.org/ and their Facebook group.
• Ecoville http://www.ecoville.org.au information about the environment, sustainable living, organic and locally grown food, wildlife, volunteering, recycling, etc, in the Townsville area.
• Lower Burdekin Landcare Association http://www.lowerburdekinlandcare.org.au/ based in Ayr.
• CAFNEC (Cairns and Far North Environment Centre) http://cafnec.org.au, an umbrella group like NQCC covering the area to our north.
• MCG Mackay Conservation Group http://www.mackayconservationgroup.org.au, an umbrella group like NQCC covering the area to our south.
• EDO NQ (Environmental Defenders Office North Queensland) http://www.edonq.org.au/, a non-profit, non-government community legal centre specializing in public interest environmental law, providing free environmental law advice and advocacy to members of the public.
• Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council https://wbbec.wordpress.com
• Sunshine Coast Environment Council http://www.scec.org.au, another group like NQCC but further south again from Mackay and the MCG.
• Queensland Conservation aka QCC http://qldconservation.org.au/ the umbrella group for the whole state. There's a big list of member groups (pdf) at http://qldconservation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/V12QCCMembersProfiles-Dec-2013.pdf
• National Parks Association of Queensland Inc. http://www.npaq.org.au/ advocates for the protection, expansion and good management of the protected areas in Queensland; offers a bushwalking and outdoor recreation activity program; and provides opportunities to participate in community conservation and Citizen Science projects.
• Environment Centre NT http://www.ecnt.org our neighbour to the north-west.
• Northern Australia Environmental Resources Hub, https://www.facebook.com/NESPNorthern/, based at Charles Darwin University, Darwin. 

National and international

• Greenpeace Australia Pacific http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/
• The Wilderness Society http://www.wilderness.org.au
• Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) http://www.acfonline.org.au

Single-issue groups

Coal and Coal Seam Gas

• Bimblebox Nature Refuge, opposing Galilee Basin coal http://bimblebox.org
• Lock The Gate Alliance, national coalition of community groups opposing coal and CSG projects http://www.lockthegate.org.au

Marine Issues

• Sea Turtle Foundation http://seaturtlefoundation.org
• Ghost Nets, dealing with marine debris on Australia's northern coastline http://www.ghostnets.com.au
• Australian Marine Conservation Society http://www.marineconservation.org.au
• Fight for the Reef http://fightforthereef.org.au/
• Tangaroa Blue, https://www.tangaroablue.org/, focuses on beach clean-ups.

Renewable Energy

• Beyond Zero Emissions is a Melbourne-based not-for-profit research and education organisation working to design and implement a zero emissions economy for Australia.
• Solar Citizens is an off-shoot of 100% Renewable Energy; it's Australian, with a Sydney/Melbourne centre of gravity. Historical resources and information are still on the 100% Renewable Energy site but it is no longer being updated.
• The Transition Decade, an alliance of Victorian sustainability groups working on a ten year social and structural transition that enables the restoration of a safe climate.

Climate Change

• The ABC is probably the most reliable source of Australian news on climate change. This link will take you to the latest news stories they have tagged "Climate Change".
• The Climate Council After thousands of Australians chipped in to Australia's biggest crowd-funding campaign, the abolished Climate Commission was relaunched as the new, independent Climate Council. Tim Flannery is the most visible member of the management team.
• Climate Reality Project Australia (formerly The Climate Project) is the Australian branch of Al Gore’s climate change leadership program.
• Australian Youth Climate Coalition, 'inclusive and diverse', but particularly focused on young people, and 'political but non-partisan'.
• 350.org A global climate movement. Online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are coordinated by a global network active in over 188 countries.
• Desmogblog The DeSmogBlog project began in 2006 and quickly became one of the world’s primary sources for accurate factual information about global warming misinformation campaigns.
• Skeptical Science, explaining climate change science and rebutting global warming misinformation, examines the many standard climate (pseudo-) skeptic arguments and exposes their weaknesses.

Volunteering opportunities

• Volunteering NQ links volunteers with non-profit organisations http://www.volunteeringnthqld.org.au
• Conservation Volunteers recruits volunteers from Australia, New Zealand and around the world to join important environmental and wildlife conservation projects. http://www.conservationvolunteers.com.au
• GoVolunteer is a government-supported initiative aiming to match people interested in volunteering with appropriate opportunities. http://govolunteer.com.au

Government agencies

Listed here because we often need to contact them for one reason or another.

• Federal Department of Sustainable Environment, Water, Population and Community
• The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) was split up in 2012 and its functions allocated as follows:
  • Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to the Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing. https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/
  • Natural resources areas to the Department of Natural Resources and Mines. https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/
  • Forestry management to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/
  • Environment and Resource Sciences to the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. https://www.qld.gov.au/dsiti/
  • Queensland Climate Change Centre for Excellence to the Department of Science, Information Techonology, Innovation and the Arts. https://www.qld.gov.au/dsiti/
  • Indigenous Cultural Heritage Co-ordination to the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs. https://www.datsip.qld.gov.au/
  • Water supply policy areas to the Department of Energy and Water Supply. https://www.dews.qld.gov.au/
  • Water resource allocation areas to the Department of Natural Resources and Mines. https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/
  • Remaining areas renamed as Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/

(With thanks to Together Qld for the list!)

Welcome to the March edition of Paperbark. This month we are ramping up our #StopAdani campaign – read on to find out how you can be involved. We also have some great trainingopportunities coming up this month.

#StopAdani Roadshow – Monday 27 March

This is big. Our very own city is the FIRST stop for a week-long roadshow across Australia, building an unstoppable movement to stop Adani. Come along and learn about what action we can take to win this campaign. Inspiring speakers include:

Here is a directory of different groups providing volunteer opportunities with on-ground conservation or environmental projects in the local region:

Conservation Volunteers Australia projects in Townsville region – check this website to confirm correct dates, meeting location and contact details. Projects include Creekwatch (water quality testing and surveys), Friends of Cape Pallarenda Quarantine Station and native revegetation nursey.