OPTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

Human nature often drives people to get everything they want in life, deny what others want or what is important to them and in the worst cases, to purposefully lie or misrepresent reality for their own gain or profit.

These people are masters of creating Win/Lose solutions.

A) Win/Lose Scenario

Residents of the Daintree Rainforest who will experience:

• Extension of power lines across the Daintree River into subdivisions at an estimated public cost of $30,000,000.
• Expenditure of some $500,000,000 for urban infrastructure (water, sewerage, bridge, schools, roads, etc.).
• Settlement of the Daintree Rainforest by people who will destroy what nature has taken millions of years to create and replace it with man-made facilities and structures.
• Excisions of World Heritage listed land to provide grid power.
• Extinctions of up to 85 of 120 known endangered or near extinct plants.
• Major loss for those who bought uninhabitable land.
• Loss of opportunity to show that Australia cares for its unique environment.

Residents of the Far-North Queensland Community who will lose an estimated $500,000,000 environment-based tourism industry which depends on the iconic value of the Daintree - "Where the Rainforest meets the Reef".

B) Win/Win Scenario

• Use of Renewable Energy Power System (RAPS systems), which would be a personal expense to those choosing to settle in this remote area (even providing rebates for renewable energy systems would cost the public significantly less than provision of grid power).
• Buy-back of land purchased from the developer - hundreds of people who have bought land here are desperate to get out, almost at any cost.
• Encouragement of people to conserve land (tax/rate concessions as part of cooperative management agreements).
• Discouragement of people clearing land - this could include the need for an environmental impact study on every plot in the Daintree Rainforest, and severe fines including forfeiture of land if a person chooses to proceed without completing the impact study - this is typically done in any endangered area where there is a concern by local/national population.
• A world class scenic hiking trail, which would include spectacular forests, secluded beaches and some of the rarest and most endangered plants in the world.

The best solution will be a Win/Win for the groups concerned.

This is a time for people and elected representatives of the population of Australia to make responsible choices that they will be proud to be associated with. The irony is that the most sensible (Win/Win) choice seems to be exactly that dictated by the tenets of "Economic Rationalism". This will allow the various groups to come out OK, although each will not have all of its needs met.

Developers are not a separate group - they will not permanently reside in the area and they only seek a profit.

Politicians are not a separate group - it is their responsibility to represent the general populace and determine what is best for the concerned groups, without personal ego.

Win for Developers/Losers: The population of Australia, the population of Earth, the Daintree Rainforest.

A common sight in the Cow Bay lowland. Settlers come in the dry winter full of enthusiasm, cleared the forest and set up camp. Then the wet came and the reality of living in a lowland wet tropical rainforest hit them, and they abandoned the site. Next to this is a sign "Mortgagee Sale".

Ghost from the past - this sticker was distributed by the Wilderness Society during the 1984 blockade protest. Its message is even more pertinent now.

If you want to contribute to discussion on the Daintree (or other environmental matters), join OZ-ENVIROLINK. A list server, set up primarily for Australian conservation activities (not that we'd discourage input from elsewhere!).