Target: Tanya Plibersek, Environment Minister for Australia
Goal: Stop delaying plan to protect Australia’s largest river system.
The latest phase of El Nino is expected to compound already-precarious weather and environmental patterns. For Australia, it could signal another devastating period of severe drought at a time when the nation can least afford it. The Murray-Darling Basin Plan is supposed to provide hope for restoring thirsty environments, but politicians keep kicking the can down the road on implementing this important initiative.
The water management plan would set strict limits on the amount of water that could be taken from Australia’s biggest river system. Each Australian state is supposed to submit plans for balancing the needs of agriculture, communities, and the aquatic systems themselves, but these states have either submitted nothing or turned over deficient proposals that are swiftly rejected. Therefore, they will not meet a deadline set for mid-2024 to fully deploy this conservation plan. In response, the government has given them an indefinite extension.
Sign the petition below to demand leaders act with more urgency on this environmental threat.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Minister Plibersek,
“When the temperature gets hotter again, when the rain stops falling and the river stops flowing, we will seriously regret it if we don’t act now.” You made this statement in regard to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. With record-setting temperatures by the day and the threat of El Nino delivering drought, wouldn’t you agree that the time to act is yesterday?
Why, then, have you given states yet another reprieve for a deadline that is already one year away? You are absolutely right that citizens can and should feel outraged if they “wake up one day to a dead river system and find out their governments could’ve stopped it.”
Please prevent this worst-case scenario by ending the excuses and the extensions and fully embracing this critical water conservation effort.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Scott Davis
