Townsville & Region Outcomes
Participants develop:
Charter
From the Youth of Townsville and Regional Areas
Here is our message to you
Our shared beliefs
- Water is essential for life in our communities.
- Domestic, industrial, agricultural, and recreational uses of fresh and marine water environments need to be reduced and managed better.
- Good quality water in our catchments and marine areas is precious and can't be taken for granted.
- The Great Barrier Reef is under pressure, because of us, the people who use, overuse and ~ abuse it.
We the youth of today and the leaders of tomorrow believe that:
- Our water environments need to be conserved and preserved for generations to come.
- Everyone and everything has a right to enjoy, & live in, a clean and healthy environment.
- We need active involvement now to conserve water to ensure a sustainable future.
- When people work together we can achieve great results in improving the quality of our Water.
- We need to protect and conserve all of our water localities fresh, estuarine and marine for future generations.
- If we conserve and protect waterways and the Great Barrier Reef, we will all benefit.
- Everyone needs to be involved in the conservation and protection of water in our environment.
- We need to be mindful of the natural resources our environment provides.
- Our Reef will die out if we continue to pollute our waterways as they all end up on the Reef.
- Our water is our life.
- We all need to use and manage our water environments sustainably.
Our Commitment to Action
We will act to improve
- Our understanding of the water in the environment by learning about it and how we can help improve and conserve its quality before discharging it to the Great Barrier Reef.
- The state of our environment by our involvement with our local community in hands-on projects.
- Our lifestyle choices to make better use of our precious water resources.
- Our recycling abilities in our homes and schools.
- Our consumer habits and saying "No" to over packaging.
- Our fishing practices whilst on the waters of our rivers, creeks and Reef.
- Our recreational activities whilst on, in or under the waters of our waterways and the Great Barrier Reef.
- Our use of chemicals by choosing "environmentally friendly" detergents and products. .
The cleanliness of our environment.
Others understanding of waterways and the Great Barrier Reef and their need for our environmental practices to improve. - Our sustainable farming practices in and around the catchments that are connected to the Great Barrier Reef.
- Farm community's understandings about best practice in fertilizer and water usage.
- Our understanding of sustainable ground water use.
Our Vision for Future Action
We call upon -
- All youth and their communities, to work together to make our environment a better place.
- Businesses to understand that they too can make a difference.
- Businesses to play their part and educate others about conserving and protecting our waterways and their impact on the Great Barrier Reef.
- Businesses to act responsibly & ethically in the way they treat wastes.
- Businesses to support environmental projects and be aware of what pollution does to our water environments and how they can help reduce all forms of pollution entering them.
- The government at all levels to provide higher levels of funding for best practice natural resource management and stronger laws to protect all water environments.
- The government at all levels increase personnel and related resource levels to enforce the laws that are made.
- The government at all levels to lead by example and educate communities to do the same.
- The government at all levels to listen to public voice about water in our environment.
- The government at all levels to provide funds for education programs about waterways and the reef, highlighting what we can all do to protect and conserve them.
- The government at all levels to care about the environment, think about the future and work together.
- All people to be aware that prevention is better than a cure.
- All people to be aware of their actions and how they impact on water environments.
- All people to act responsibly and ethically in the way, they treat wastes that pollute our water environments.
- All people lead by example and encourage others to do the same.
- All people to loudly voice their concerns and take positive actions for the environment.
Vision
We want a future in which young people are:
- Educated about the environmental challenges concerning their local communities;
- Encouraged and supported in taking leadership to create an ecologically sustainable future.
Goals
- To share information about environmental projects occurring in schools and youth groups;
- To encourage schools and youth groups to use this information as inspiration and a guide to help them implement their own environmental strategies.
