by Shane Sody

Despite the silence of mainstream media, tens of thousands of South Australians have nevertheless been alerted to the South Australian Government’s recent destruction of hundreds of century-old trees in your Adelaide Park Lands.

The 42-second video below, shared across all our social media platforms, shows urban forests with trees up to 160 years old, being flattened, and turned into building sites in your:

• Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2);

• Kate Cocks Park (Park 27); and

• Bonython Park / Tulya Wardli (Park 27)

If South Australia had a wiser State Government, a government that actually Loved Your Park Lands, then a new Aquatic Centre, a new hospital and a new eight-storey car park for the hospital could all have been constructed on near-city brownfield sites, without destroying any of the trees in your Adelaide Park Lands.

As these decisions were being made behind closed doors, back in 2022, perhaps no-one in the Premier’s Department thought about the value of the hundreds of trees that they were choosing to destroy.

It would appear that the State Government gave insufficient, if any consideration to the advice below, from United Nations “Habitat” - the United Nations Human Settlements Program.

As UN Habitat says: “Urban forestry is our unsung hero, turning grey to green, slashing stress, cleaning air and water, AND fighting off urban heat like an eco-shield. 🌳

“Let's champion our leafy warriors and transform our concrete jungles.”

“Public spaces are the hidden gems of our cities.

“Public spaces in cities play a crucial role in creating vibrant, healthy, and sustainable urban environments.

“Having sufficient open public space allows cities and towns to function efficiently and equitably. They improve quality of life, and offer plenty of opportunity for recreation, social, cultural and economic development for everyone.

“But on average, open public spaces account for a meagre 3.2% of urban land, about 4 times less than the share of land in streets.”

“Universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces must not left behind as our cities build for the future.”

In Adelaide, the never-ending demand to build over your Park Lands is so hard to comprehend, because Adelaideans have less Open, Green Public spaces than residents of most of Australia’s other capitals:

When urban forests and Open, Green, Public spaces are so valuable, it seems ridiculous that the Government keeps choosing your precious 0.2% for new building sites.

If you think Adelaide can do better than this, then TAKE ACTION!