Over its 40 year history SCEC has been involved in many campaigns to preserve the beautiful natural environment of the Sunshine Coast region

 

Most of these campaigns were in response to development pressures stemming from rapid population growth. SCEC continues to play an active role in advocating for environmental protection with local and state government and increasingly with the development industry.

SCEC is also involved in broader environmental issues such as climate change and resource depletion. We recognise that these issues cannot be solved by SCEC alone, but believe that they will not be resolved unless organisations such as SCEC drive change within their own community.

The threat posed by such issues to the natural environment in our region may not be as obvious as that posed by urban development, but they are no less real. For example a global average temperature increase of 2 degrees will translate into a local increase of 4-6 degrees. Much of our local flora and fauna will not be able to deal with such a dramatic change in our climate. SCEC acknowledges that we are in a state of climate emergency that requires urgent action by all levels of government. On the 4th June 2021, the SCEC Management Committee passed the following motion; SCEC acknowledges that there is an ongoing climate emergency and call on local, state and federal governments to act swiftly and decisively to reduce carbon emissions in the hope that we can avert dangerous climate change. SCEC is currently reviewing it's annual plan and operational activities and developing a climate emergency plan that will outline the actions SCEC is taking to reduce emissions as an organisation and the ways in which SCEC is advocating for the reduction of emissions on a local, state and federal level. 

SCEC is working with the local community and the broader conservation sector to come up with solutions to environmental problems while working to promote and protect the natural values we hold so dear.

See our latest media mentions here. 

Vision & Mission

Our vision: An ecologically sustainable world achieved through individual and community stewardship of the natural environment at local, regional and global level.

Our mission: Through leadership, education and environmental activism, to encourage Sunshine Coast individuals and communities to support and participate in working towards the goal of environmental sustainability.

Where We Are

We are located in Nambour. Before visiting us please call us on 07 5441 5747

Where We Are

SCEC and Our Member Groups

SCEC has a long history working alongside passionate groups and individuals across the region to promote and protect our natural environment. For the last 40 years, SCEC has worked on numerous campaigns alongside countless numbers of members, many of which have shaped the history of the Sunshine Coast.  SCEC now work with over 50 groups to empower campaign efforts, and be a voice for matters of environmental significance across all levels of government. Together, SCEC represent a combined membership of over 15,000 individuals. 

A couple of times throughout the year SCEC will hold member group roundtable meetings to gather information on important issues for referring to the State Environment Minister. These roundtable events also provide a platform for groups to network, share concerns and pool resources. 

If you'd like to have a browse through our wonderful member groups, click on the button below. Here you will be able to see where each group is located on the map, and learn a bit more about each groups mission, objectives, events and more! Be sure to pop on over to our events page also to see the latest member group events on offer!

View Member Groups

Constitution & Annual Reports

SCEC Constitution

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Annual Report 2018

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Annual Report 2017

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Annual Report 2016

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Annual Report 2015

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Annual Report 2019

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Annual Report 2020

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Annual Report 2022

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Annual Report 2021

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Strategic Overview

To effectively preserve the natural beauty of this region SCEC works across four broad strategic areas:

Preserving nature

Remaining natural areas need to be preserved and protected. A network of connected conservation areas needs to be established which covers suitable habitat for all plants and animals and allows for movement of species across the landscape. Ecosystems that are currently threatened should be expanded in area to the point where they are no longer threatened.

Good government

Governments at all levels need to develop policies and laws that support environmental restoration and avoid environmental harm. Planning for environmental protection needs to occur across all areas of government including energy and water, town planning, transport and waste management.

Sustainable communities

People are the final consumers of all the things our society produces. We must all understand how the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the energy we use and everything else that we do impacts on the environment. We need to become critical consumers and actors and choose those products and activities that do not harm the environment.

Green Economy

The global economy is running into the limits of what the earth can supply. Within a generation we will run out of key materials such as oil, phosphorous and a number of minerals. We are rapidly clearing forests and exhausting fish stocks while our carbon emissions are warming the planet. We need to transform the economic system to be powered by renewable energy, to create a cyclic flow of materials and to avoid putting even more polluting substances in our land, waterways and atmosphere.

History

The Sunshine Coast would have looked very different to how it does today if SCEC, its member groups and a critical mass of people had not joined together to oppose unsustainable development across the Sunshine Coast. From a gondola chairlift stretching up Mt Coolum, to a main road and residential estates joining Noosa National Park to Sunshine Beach, to a rock lined harbour in the Caloundra estuary - the coast we know and love today would have been a very different place were it not for the local conservation movement.

Click the button below to read more about what the Sunshine Coast might have looked like without the ‘wins’ for the environment achieved by conservationists, including many SCEC members, over more than three decades. You can also learn about the evolution of our World Environment Day Festival since it's inception in 1979, and more about our Green Legends book should you fancy a good read! 

Read More

Media

SCEC Volunteers

SCEC was founded by a group of passionate and committed volunteers, without whom SCEC would cease to exist. Volunteers are literally the backbone of SCEC. They play valuable roles on our management committee, looking after our finances, and in our administration and event departments.  SCEC places great value on the generous contribution our volunteers make to the organisation and would like to express our sincere gratitude for their time and effort. 

 

Apply to become a volunteer