The Coorong, at the end of the Murray in South Australia, is etched in the collective memories of Australians thanks to the heart-felt story of Storm Boy and his pelican. The Coorong is also the largest Ramsar-listed wetland in the Southern Hemisphere, and is one of 16 Ramsar sites in the Murray Darling Basin, as many as half of which are at risk of losing their status if the draft Basin Plan is implemented as is.This week, parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands are meeting in Romania, and we've sent them our report highlighting just how damaging only 2750GL of water will be to these precious ecosystems.

Following summer surveys of Nyah Vinifera Park, in partnership with the Wadi Wadi community and ecologists at Australian Ecosystems, an indepth report of the flora of Nyah Vinifera Park has shown a large number of threatened or previously unrecorded native flora in this new Red Gum Park.  Read the recently completed full ecological report here or read more for report highlights.

Fire and the Story of Burning Country is a new book, spoken through the timeless wisdom of Indigenous Elders who want to teach the community about how to care for country using cool burning techniques to prevent wildfires, reduce carbon emissions, cleanse the land of weeds and excessive fuel loads, build healthy soil and much more. It is high time this way of managing the land was recognised and respected by the broader community. You can buy the book via our online store, 

Where: Parliament of Victoria Steps, Spring St Melbourne

When: 1-1.45pm, Tuesday 10th December

The Victorian Government is set to allocate up to 13 billion tonnes of brown coal from the Latrobe Valley for companies to export overseas. And just to sweeten the deal, they want to hand over $90 million to help the companies develop the highly experimental technology needed to export it. But we say enough is enough.

Gelliondale Resources, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ignite Energy Resources Limited, is currently applying for a Retention Licence to facilitate the the development of the Gelliondale Coal Project. The proposed area for the Retention Licence (RL 2013) is in the South Gippsland region, near Gelliondale and Hedley.

Friends of the Earth was a founding member of this campaign which was launched in 2013. It brings together communities across Melbourne that are opposed to the East-West toll road.

These communities are opposed to the East-West toll road because they know that another inner city toll road will add to our traffic crisis rather than improve our quality of life and economy by enabling efficient mobility.

On Sunday July 28, the residents of Seaspray in Gippsland will declare themselves gas field free.

Come along and be part of this community event.