Plan to put Tweed on the world map
TWEED councillors have swung their initial support behind a plan to place the region in the same league as Uluru and the Amazon wilderness.
Councillors this week called for a report from staff following a request by the Murwillumbah-based Caldera Environment Centre to support the region being nominated as a Biosphere Reserve under criteria set down by the United Nations.
The report is seen as the first step in the council supporting the declaration of the Biosphere Reserve. The request for the report, put by Deputy Mayor Barry Longland and seconded by Cr Dot Holdom, was agreed to unanimously, although Mayor Kevin Skinner and Cr Warren Polglase were absent.
Under the proposal being pushed by the environment centre, Mt Warning and the surrounding Tweed and Gold Coast hinterlands would enjoy the same status as the Amazon, the Rocky Mountains and Uluru. Biosphere Reserve status is granted by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).
Environment centre co-ordinator Hop’e Hopkins said biosphere status would attract tourists and could lead to jobs at nearby universities.
