The Prime Minister stated recently that the education sector needs to rapidly adapt to the capacity of online learning to build schools' ability to cope with climate change. This really hits it home to me. And two peas in a vulnerable pod are biodiversity loss and climate change. My belief is that we need to tackle native species loss and climate change together. In a two-way process, climate change is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. But, the destruction of ecosystems stops nature's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and protect against extreme weather, therefore accelerating climate change and increasing our vulnerability to it. This explains why the two crises must be tackled together with policies that address both issues simultaneously and not in silos. This includes the ocean as well as land and freshwater. It's very easy to rob Peter to pay Paul with these two crises. Halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services must be a top priority for our regional council, along with climate action.

K Macmillan, Welcome Bay.