Sharks are in deep trouble.

They have called the planet’s oceans home for millions of years but humans are pushing these marine icons to the very brink of extinction. Already 90% of the world’s sharks have disappeared, with no let up in the numbers caught for their flesh and fins worldwide.

Threatened and endangered sharks are killed for their fins in Australia in huge numbers every year.

Use your passion and creativity to spread the word about the pressures faced by sharks while raising much needed funds for shark conservation.

A push for further development in Western Sydney is rapidly threatening the area's natural environment. Nature Conservation Council member group, the Western Sydney Conservation Alliance (WSCA), has been lobbying all levels of Government over several years to assist in the creation of the Cumberland Conservation Corridor across large areas of Western Sydney. The WSCA believes the Corridor gives native flora and fauna the best chance at survival by providing essential connections between bushland areas.

Penrith Council's draft stage one Local Environmental Plan(LEP) proposes a 504ha RU4 rural subdivision zoning across high conservation value bushland that the NSW Government has identified as Western Sydney Priority Conservation Lands.

Tony Kelly is the new NSW Planning Minister and he may make the decision to approve and gazette the Council's LEP at any time. Urge him to reject Penrith Council's LEP and protect all the Western Sydney Priority Conservation Lands within the Penrith LGA with an E2 Environmental Conservation zoning by sending the WSCA's cyberaction .

You can watch a short Youtube clip explaining the issue here . 

Australia’s largest ever community protest for action on climate change was held on Saturday 12 November, with more than 90,000 people taking part in Walk Against Warming in every major city and dozens of regional centres across the country.

More than 15,000 people marched through Sydney’s CBD for Walk Against Warming behind the banner - Australia says the Climate Can't Wait - sending a message to leaders in Copenhagen that they, their children and the planet cannot wait any longer for strong action on climate change. More than 40,000 people marched in Melbourne and up to 15,000 people participated in Brisbane.

A big thank you to all those who joined us in Sydney! You made a powerful statement that the Australian Government must be a leader not a straggler for a strong, fair and binding global agreement on climate action.

You can view television news coverage of Sydney's Walk Against Warming here .

Check out the colour and spectacle of the Sydney Walk at our Flickr photostream .
If you have any footage or photos you'd like to share, email them here (maximum file size: 5MB) or send on disk to Nature Conservation Council, Level 2, 301 Kent Street NSW 2000.

Last week the NSW Government announced the creation of new Red Gum National Parks along the Murray and other south-western rivers.

This is a fantastic environmental outcome. It protects globally significant wetlands and threatened species that are facing severe long-term threats to their survival.

However, the new Premier Kristina Keneally is being heavily pressured to reverse the decision.  It is important we demonstrate the level of support for her to deliver in full on the decision announced last week.

This is a crucial moment in the Red Gum campaign.
Please click here to send Ms Keneally an email now.

Although coal is a major cause of climate change, the rush of applications to expand coal facilities and infrastructure in NSW continues.

Hot on the heels of the proposal to refurbish a mothballed coal-fired power station at Munmorah on Lake Macquarie, comes Ulan Coal Mine's application for an increase in coal production to 20MT per year with a 21-year lease.

The State Government should not allow the expansion of coal production or grant long-term leases if NSW is to address its growing rate of greenhouse gas emissions and transition towards a clean, green future.

The Nature Conservation Council urges groups and individual's to make a submission against the proposal by Friday 4th December.  You can use our submission guideline available here .  Email submissions to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Macquarie Generation and Delta Electricity have both submitted development applications for new power stations in NSW.  Coal fired power is a likely option for both developments. This would increase carbon pollution emissions in NSW from stationary energy by a massive 34 per cent. That is the equivalent of four million extra cars on our roads.

To build new coal-fired power stations in the face of dire predictions about the potential impact of climate change on the environment is extremely irresponsible, if not negligent. 

You can act – send a submission in by Monday 26th October:
Click here for Bayswater power station
Click here for Mt Piper power station