I attended the 'no Quarry in Kin Kin' public meeting in Pomona last Thursday. One audience member was referring yet again to the Biosphere as a 'toothless tiger'. I'd like to clarify: The UNESCO MAB program has never been designed to be a TIGER - with or without teeth.

A biosphere reserve is an accreditation by the UNESCO - which stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation - a learning laboratory - not really a roaring fighting tiger kind of thing... an owl perhaps (symbol for wisdom, truth and patience) or a termite (for collaborative learning and community building)? The tiger metaphor indicates a whole set of false expectations...

However the Kin Kin Quarry extension is a good test case of how the Noosa Biosphere as a learning laboratory can act in the face of serious threats to it's well-being. And since there is a big impact on the social well-being of the community I went to the meeting - in the first instance to observe.

Meeting of Hinterland Residents in Pomona Town Hall - 18.Jan.2010 - some notes

The panel left to right: Gary Martin (fund raising), Michael Donovan (Independent Chair, Noosa Biosphere ltd), David Gibson, Warren Truss, Seonaid Melville (Chair of the Environment Board, Noosa Biosphere ltd), ? Kin Kin community spokes person, the meeting was chaired by Steve Hilditch (please let me know the gaps - or if I've got something wrong)

An overview over the quarry history (as on display at the meeting)

some points that were raised:

• The hinterland community representatives made very clear, what negative impact they fear and also what action they are considering.
• Various voices emphasised, how the beginnings of the fight already has made them stronger as a community.
• Some good points were raised about how mediation and looking at the bigger picture for outcomes might be more effective then a dogged path through the courts.
• Seonaid Melville talked about the Quarry extension in context of the Noosa Biosphere conservastion and also about opportunities and best practice approaches. 
• Michael Donovan explained how altough the Biosphere has no legislative power Noosa Biosphere ltd could potentially help in other ways - for example as an advisor and mediator. He highlighted how the worldwide network of Biosphere's could be used to find out how other Biosphere's have resolved conflicts like this.

some other sticky, open and interesting points:

Why does Queensland NOT permit the use of recycled road base?

David Gibson, Queensland Parliament representative for Gympie, told us about his dismay over Queensland's legislation prohibiting the use of recycled materials in road construction. A recycling plant for road base might make a quarry less commercially viable. wikipedia on concrete recycling  Other states certainly many other countries are using recycled road base and also recycled building materials in concrete production.

Traveston Dam was prevented on the base of EPBC (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act)

Apparently the only reason the Mary River Dam could successfully be prevented was on the grounds of the EPBC (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act) - Read all about the process.
Could the UNESCO biosphere submission documents be a helpful starting point? They hold plenty of useful information including flora and fauna lists and their protection status. They are all listed here.

Learning from other Biospheres?

How do other Biosphere's deal with issues like this? Are there successful strategies we could learn from?

Playing the devils advocate - 'Not in my back yard...'

• In the meeting we heard a few community members demanding 'road upgrades' - which ironically require gravel! Although I appreciate how hinterland life depends greatly on car use I can see a selfish 'not in my backyard' component here. Do we want to advocate shipping gravel in? Wouldn't we not just push our problem to another community?
• Are there any ways to create jobs in open mining in a sustainable way? Could a community be compensated or even enriched? (am I being naive?)
• Isn't it time to to reduce the demand for key resources? Time to work on  truly usable and enjoyable public transport solutions or car sharing options?
• Would Nielson really create 20 work places for Kin Kin as this article indicates? Are there any members of the community who would welcome this and are less vocal? - I don't want to be inflammatory, but isn't it worth getting to the bottom of all issues however controversial and possibly inconvenient they may be? One could argue, it could potentially improve the chances for a good outcome for the community and make the communities case overall stronger.

'down Tiger!' - Enough of my half baked amateur journo job - here is a professional write-up of the event by Peter Gardiner for Noosa News

It is a complex issue - I'm confused and I'm humbly signing off - leaving you with a photo from our Sunday family walk along the (currently still) stunning Kin Kin stretch of the Noosa Trial Network - it really is awesome out there!

And as always: feel free to comment below.