It All Starts With Active Communities

Across New South Wales, farmers, landholders, families, and volunteers are increasingly finding themselves forced to organise, gather evidence, and form alliances to protect the regions where they live.

Communities say they are undertaking the difficult work of monitoring impacts, documenting environmental risks, and advocating for safeguards; roles many believe should be adequately addressed through legislation, regulation, and government oversight.

As governments place growing strategic emphasis on so-called “critical minerals”, many regional communities feel they are being left to defend the fundamental things that sustain life and local economies, clean air, safe water, productive land, and cultural landscapes.

The Cadia Community Sustainability Network (CCSN) legal case is therefore being watched closely not only for its local significance, but for what it may reveal about how mining is regulated and how communities across NSW are protected.

For legal cases such as the CCSN case, communities have spent years doggedly sponsoring research, collecting evidence and advocating for better outcomes. These cases are the culmination of community activism. It all starts with active communities.

CCSN Trivia Night in Carcoar NSW