RSVP

Location: Cairns Institute, JCU, Smithfield , 29th February, 530pm for a 6pm sharp start.

This forum is a unique opportunity for you to engage with the mayoral candidates for Cairns Regional Council who are vying to lead the Cairns Region.

We know that climate change impacts are increasingly affecting our communities; fire, floods, coastal erosion and heatwaves are something we have all experienced or seen impact our communities. CAFNEC is hosting this event to provide a platform for the candidates to share their visions, strategies, and plans to uplift and empower those most impacted by climate change, and how to look after the environment in the meantime.  

RSVP

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Please join us to pay tribute to the 23,000 spectacled flying foxes that lost their lives in the unprecedented heatwave in November. In a peaceful vigil we will solemnly thank those lost for the work that they did in pollinating our plants and seeding the Wet Tropics World Heritage rainforest. We will promise those remaining that we will do everything we can to protect them from extinction.

Sadly, this heatwave wasn’t the start of the plight of this species. In a shocking, rapid and well-documented decline it is expected only 15-20% of the Australian population of Spectacled Flying Foxes remains. They have recently been uplisted to Endangered but in reality now meet the criteria for Critically Endangered.

On top of this, in a simply unbelievable move our local government, the Cairns Regional Council has put in a submission to the State and Federal Governments to carry out the forced removal – ‘dispersal’ of the nationally significant Cairns Library camp.

The Library camp is the only permanent camp in the region that often contains upwards of 10% of the population. The council are intending to commence with this dispersal against the advice of experts on their own Flying Fox Advisory Committee.

We cannot let this happen.

**Change the date**

So Friday 26th April, we, as a community, will stand together in peaceful assembly to show our solidarity for the great loss of bats that died during the heatwave, and for the few that remain who continue to struggle in their survival. We will stand together enmasse to show our local government that we disagree with the implementation of disruptive and costly management actions that have no evidence to support them.

We ask you to join us for a peaceful vigil, please wear WHITE as a sign of hope that we can rapidly work together to do what is best for this species.

When: Friday 26th April, 6.00pm
Where: Lake Street, Cairns Library Lawn
What: A peaceful vigil with speakers and massive group photo – please wear white!

Want to help? Volunteers have already made over 700 popsicle stick crosses to represent the flying foxes that were lost. We want to make 2,300 so each cross will represent 10 flying foxes who died in the heatwave. These crosses can be held up in the vigil for a powerful photo opportunity that will reach national media and decision makers at all levels of government.

More info:
– Background on the issue in Cairns and link to Wildlife Biologist Martin Cohen on ABC Radio on why he doesn’t support dispersal: https://cafnec.org.au/get-involved/take-action/spectacled-flying-foxes-extinction-in-action/

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The federal election is fast approaching. The future of our climate hangs in the balance.

In May, Australians will head to the polls and determine our future: it is time for Australia get real and take strong action to mitigate Climate Change. There is so much at stake.

In Far North Queensland we are already reeling from the impacts of living in a changed climate: unprecedented coral bleaching and mangrove dieback, record breaking temperatures, mass die offs of endangered mammals like flying foxes and islands being inundated with seawater in the Torres Strait.

Elsewhere in the country, World Heritage Areas burn, communities suffer through unfathomable droughts and other areas are inundated with unparalleled floods. Collectively we have just experienced Australia’s angriest summer yet with record breaking temperatures consistently recorded across the country.

It’s real. It’s here. We know you’re all feeling it too. 

The next few years will determine the degree of the suffering caused by Climate Change. Most importantly the next Federal Government will determine Australia’s part in this suffering. To exacerbate it or lessen it.

We simply cannot wait another term of Government: this election is make or break for Climate action. We have to be all in for this election. There is no other choice. And that’s where you come in..

We need our Far North community to turn up, turn out and get LOUD. We want feet on the ground: door knocking, talking, writing, walking, acting for a safer climate.

Our conservation movement is strong in Far North Queensland and we need you to activate like we’ve never activated before.

CAFNEC is teaming up with Fight For Our Reef and Stop Adani to present a united front of consolidated action in FNQ this election. To put Climate Change front and centre on the agenda. To cause so much noise politicians and aspiring politicians cannot ignore tackling climate change a second longer.

So what’s the plan? Join us for our Climate Election Launch on Monday 18th March 7pm at the Cairns Choral Society hall to find out how you can be involved. This is not another boring town hall meeting. This is an action-orientated night that will be interactive, fun and have you walking out the door with a purpose.

The post Climate Election Launch appeared first on CAFNEC.

Hello CAFNEC members,

CAFNEC would like to extend an invitation to you to join the 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) next Thursday 25th October which will be coupled with October Green Drinks for an enjoyable evening.

We’ll be running the usual Green Drinks agenda (free yummy food, drinks by donation, music and interesting folk) but afterwards please join us for our AGM, where we will be looking back at efforts and successes over the 2017/18 year as well as focusing on the work ahead of us in the coming year.

When: Thursday 25th October 2016 – Green Drinks 5.30 pm, AGM 6.30 pm
Where: Cominos House, 27-29 Greenslopes St, North Cairns.

As a CAFNEC member your presence is greatly valued to participate and vote for the change you wish to see. If you are unable to attend but would still like to vote you can fill out a proxy form to nominate a proxy and send to Marie at admin@nullcafnec.org.au by 12 pm on 25th October.

Is your CAFNEC membership up to date? Only financial members are eligible to vote on the election of members of the Management Committee and other matters necessitating approval of the majority of the members. If you’d like to renew online click here. If you’d like to check on your membership please call 4032 1746 and ask for Marie.

AGM Agenda:

1. Introduction and apologies
2. Minutes of the 2017 AGM tabled for adoption
3. Presentation of Annual Report by President
4. Finance Report – including

• Receiving of the Auditor’s Report and Audited Statement
• Presentation of the Audited Statement to the meeting for adoption
• Appointment of an Auditor for 2018/2019
• Report on public liability insurance & sponsorships over $500

5. Staff presentations
6. Election of members of the Management Committee
7. Any other business
8. Close of meeting

We’ll also be cracking out the screen printing gear and printing a retro CAFNEC graphic onto t-shirts for members so bring along a plain t-shirt on the night if you’d like one (scroll down to see the design). 

Your participation as a member or supporter is greatly valued by CAFNEC and we look forward to your company next week.

Kind regards
Denis Walls
President

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Come and join us for Green Drinks in August! 

Come and join us for a special Green Drinks in August where one of CAFNEC’s volunteers will be showing you the documentary ‘Water is Life’.

We’ll be running the usual Green Drinks agenda (free yummy food, drinks by donation, tunes and interesting folk) but towards the end of the night join us out on the grass for an outdoor cinema screening experience. Bring along your rugs, pillows and friends, and come learn about the Aboriginal communities fighting against fracking plans in the NT.

What is Green Drinks?
Cairns Green Drinks is an informal, monthly social event for people who care about conservation, sustainability and all things environment. The aim of Cairns Green Drinks is to encourage networking, creativity and thought on environmental issues and projects. Green Drinks are agenda-free, non-politically aligned and everyone is welcome.

Nibbles provided. Drinks by donation.

Friday 31st August
5.30 pm – 7.30 pm
At CAFNEC 27-29 Green Slopes St, North Cairns. 

We hope to see you there 🙂

Check out the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2066926910026399/

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This month we’re shaking up Cairns Green Drinks into a Plastic Free July special event not to be missed!

We’ll be running the usual Green Drinks agenda (free yummy food, drinks by donation, tunes and interesting folk) but with an added Plastic Free July flair:
– Plastic Free made food
– Demonstration of how you can run events plastic free
– Find out how you can join our Plastic Free network and keep the momentum going!

What is Green Drinks?
Cairns Green Drinks is an informal, monthly social event for people who care about conservation, sustainability and all things environment ran at the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC). Hosted on the last Friday of every month the idea is for anyone interested to come along, relax and enjoy some good company. The aim of Cairns Green Drinks is to encourage networking, creativity and thought on environmental issues and projects. Green Drinks are agenda-free, non-politically aligned and everyone is welcome.

Free yummy nibbles are provided and drinks are available by donation.

Friday 27th July
5.30 pm – 7.00 pm
At CAFNEC 27-29 Greenslopes St, North Cairns.

Check out the FB Event : https://www.facebook.com/events/219764722168339/

We hope to see you there 🙂

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Come and join us for Green Drinks in June! 

Cairns Green Drinks is an informal, monthly social event for people who care about conservation, sustainability and all things environment.

The aim of Cairns Green Drinks is to encourage networking, creativity and thought on environmental issues and projects. Green Drinks are agenda-free, non-politically aligned and everyone is welcome.

Nibbles provided. Drinks by donation.

Friday 29th June
5.30 pm – 7.00 pm
At CAFNEC 27-29 Green Slopes St, North Cairns. 

We hope to see you there 🙂

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This year CAFNEC is holding a Plastic Free Evening to bring to you a night of workshops, discussion and support for your plastic free journey.

Plastic Free July went off with a bang the last two years as scores of Far North Queenslanders pledged to break old habits by choosing to refuse single-use plastic, and we are doing it again.

The evening will be divided into three hours.
1. Our first Workshop we will be introducing Carmel from No Waste, No Worries. Carmel is a Cairns local who has transitioned to a plastic free life. Carmel has a wealth of knowledge to share and will give you an insight into her journey and tips and tricks on what you can do.
2. The second workshop we will be taking out our beeswax, ironing boards and graters, and get hands-on making Beeswax Wraps with you. You will each get to take your own beeswax wrap home with you!
3. The last part our evening is designed to bring us all together to share stories, discuss ways we can continue to reduce our plastic consumption, and how we can keep fighting against the problem. Bring along any plastic dilemmas you have and as a group we can share solutions!

Plastic Free food, tea and coffee will be provided throughout the evening.
Thanks to the support and generosity of The Source Bulk Foods for providing delicious snacks.

FREE event, places are limited! Head to Eventbrite to register your name.

We look forward to seeing you for this wonderful evening planned!

An event supported by:
Cairns Regional Council
Cairns and Far North Environment Centre
The Source Bulk Foods
Cafnec Marine Response Team
ECOevents Cairns
Plastic Free FNQ
No Waste, No Worries
Plastic Free July

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Come and join us for Green Drinks May! 

Cairns Regional Council’s Cairns ECOfiesta 2018, is fast approaching and this year CAFNEC is a community partner. We will be starting the party earlier by hosting Green Drinks May as an EcoFiesta satellite event.

Cairns Green Drinks is an informal, monthly social event for people who care about conservation, sustainability and all things environment.

The aim of Cairns Green Drinks is to encourage networking, creativity and thought on environmental issues and projects. Green Drinks are agenda-free, non-politically aligned and everyone is welcome.

Nibbles provided. Drinks by donation.

Friday 25th May
5.30 pm – 7.00 pm
At CAFNEC 27-29 Green Slopes St, North Cairns. 

We hope to see you there 🙂

Want to know more about ECOFiesta?

http://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/community-environment/sustainability/ecofiesta

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About the training:

Join the Cairns MangroveWatch crew. Come along to the volunteer training day to get skilled up on the videographic method so you can record data on our local estuaries and shorelines. In this training session we will spend a few hours in the morning at CAFNEC to learn about what to do and the equipment, and half a day cruising Trinity Inlet getting the hands on low-down on how to be a MangroveWatcher. No prior skills needed.

When: Sunday 13th May 9 am – 4.30 pm

Who: Jock Mackenzie, Mangrove Specialist from TropWater Centre at James Cook University (JCU)

Where: 

• Morning classroom session 9 – 11.30 at Cairns and Far North Environment Centre 27-29 Greenslopes St North Cairns
• Afternoon hands on boat session location TBC ~12 – 4.30 pm

Cost: Free but spaces strictly limited due to boat capacity so please register via form below ASAP.

Details: Simple lunch provided, BYO snacks, water bottle hat and sunscreen.

Contact Bess Murphy community@nullcafnec.org.au or 0409696939

Register via this form: Please note due to boat capacity we may not be able to take everyone on the water in the afternoon. Bess will be in touch with you via email to confirm your place.

[ninja_forms id=65]

The Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) are grateful to have received funding from the Cairns Local Marine Advisory Committee (LMAC), The State of Queenlsland and Cairns Regional Council to get this project going. We’d also like to thank project supporters Reef Blitz, Great Barrier Reef Foundation and Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre for their assistance.

About MangroveWatch: 

If a mangrove falls into the sea, and nobody is watching, does anybody care? The question is what if someone was watching?! MangroveWatch is a citizen-science partnership between communities, scientists and resource-managers to document changes in local mangrove habitats and inform better management of estuaries (see: www.mangrovewatch.org.au). Information about the health of shoreline ecosystems is urgently needed to inform better mangrove management and help protect North Queensland’s estuaries and tidal wetlands from unintended development pressures coupled with the impacts of global climate change.

Mangroves are indicators of environmental impact and the health of waterways: by collecting baseline data on the health of mangroves in the Cairns Region we can monitor the ecosystem over time. The MangroveWatch program is designed to be run by members of the community, who actively collect the data via. video shoreline assessment, as well as visual assessment. MangroveWatchers record mangrove habitat condition by filming mangrove shorelines using the Shoreline Video Assessment Method (S-VAM). The S-VAM imagery is a geotagged visual record of shoreline habitat condition that can be directly compared over time. Using the S-VAM data, the JCU MangroveWatch partners map mangrove condition and identify hot-spots of change and priorities for on-ground investment in rehabilitation and management. All MangroveWatch imagery will be uploaded to TropWater JCU’s ‘ShoreView’ platform that will allow anyone to drop down, take a cruise along an estuary and check out the mangroves (like Google street view, but for estuaries).

There are 12 established MangroveWatch citizen science groups across Australia, including the one in Moreton Bay. Developed by TropWater at JCU Townsville these community groups are recording long-term data by conducting assessments in estuaries annually or bi-annually. Currently, no groups are monitoring between Rockhampton in south east Queensland and Princess Charlotte Bay in Cape York leaving a huge gap on the east coast of Australia. The part of the coast that the Cairns region is nestled within support some of the most diverse mangroves in the country. And who knows, there maybe another new mangrove species out there waiting to be found!

Want more general information on MangroveWatch? Click here to head to the landing page. 

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