TED Talk: Christine Milne on Pedder Restoration

Lake Pedder, prior to inundation.

“You should never give up hope when it comes to protecting and restoring our damaged planet,” says lifelong environmental activist Christine Milne AO.

The campaign to restore the heart of Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area attracted significant attention in the new TEDx talk when it was released this week.

Having been on the front lines of several major wins for the planet, Milne reminds all of us, and particularly young people, that there are reasons to be optimistic about the environment.

“With ecosystems and species in decline and global heating overwhelming the capacity of nature to continue to sustain life, the restoration of Lake Pedder and the Serpentine Valley will be a gift to Tasmanians and the planet at the same time,” said Milne.

“It will be a beacon of hope. Young people, who have to deal with the consequences of global heating and to date have only ever experienced environmental loss, will have, in the restoration of Lake Pedder, a reason for optimism, an opportunity to repair and re-wild an endangered ecosystem and restore an international icon.”

The former Tasmanian and Australian Greens leader views Pedder as an opportunity to elevate Tasmania to global leadership in rewilding, regeneration and ecosystem restoration.

“The science is in, it can be done, and in March 2022 it will be 50 years since this natural wonder of the world was flooded.”

Not only is it the fiftieth anniversary of the inundation but it is also the beginning of the United Nations Decade of  Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).

Milne said that restoration of the lake to its original state would give expression to “the burgeoning global shift in mindset from sustainability to one of regeneration, healing and nurturing.”

The Restore Pedder campaign claim to be garnering increasing support.

Distinguished Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick of the University of Tasmania stated: “Lake Pedder before being drowned was recognised as a globally exceptional landform. Its restoration as a functioning system would add significant natural value to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.”

The Restore Pedder campaign will be scaled up on 5 June 2021, World Environment Day, when  the United Nations will officially launch the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.