The appointment of a Threatened Species Commissioner should represent a move forward. However, it may be merely a distraction from the environmental crisis unfolding. GREG HUNT, the Federal Minister for the Environment, today announced what appears to be one of the only environmental promises kept from the Coalition’s election campaign in 2013: to appoint a …
A lethal bait called “curiosity”, designed to kill feral cats, will be a priorityof a new national commissioner to save threatened species. On Wednesday Environment Minister Greg Hunt announced the new commissioner would be Gregory Andrews – a former diplomat who currently works for the federal Environment Department – as part of a CSIRO-backed review …
The smell of smoke in the autumn and spring air is an increasingly familiar one to many Australians. It signifies that time of year when land management agencies in southern Australia feverishly try to meet their burning targets. But what are the consequences for biodiversity of setting such targets in Australia’s ecosystems? In recent research …
The tiny marsupials who spend their nights digging for truffles on the forest floor could be holding together ecosystems in ways scientists are only beginning to understand. TAKING AN EARLY MORNING walk through the scrubby forest in Tasmania’s south-east, Professor Chris Johnson from the University of Tasmania can tell if the local bandicoots and bettongs …
Management of native forests offers opportunities to store more carbon in the land sector through two main activities. Emissions to the atmosphere can be avoided by ceasing logging. Removals of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can be increased by allowing forests to continue growing. However, the relative benefits for carbon storage of managing native forests …
Study shows red meat dwarfs others for environmental impact, using 28 times more land and 11 times water for pork or chicken Beef’s environmental impact dwarfs that of other meat including chicken and pork, new research reveals, with one expert saying that eating less red meat would be a better way for people to cut …
Serious deficiencies have been found in the Department of Environment’s monitoring of major projects, according to a report from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO). The ANAO audited the department’s compliance with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, finding there was “limited awareness” of the progress of many developments. “The increasing workload on compliance …
The Abbott government’s plan to trust environmental protection to the states will put our country’s natural landmarks in danger. I am a big believer in states’ rights, but you’ve got to know where to stop. If there’s one thing the Abbott government’s Commission of Audit got right it’s that our system of eight separate states …
FIFTEEN years ago the Howard government introduced sweeping changes to national environmental laws, with the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Its objective was, and still is, to provide for the protection of the environment and promote the conservation of biodiversity. The act was built around an intergovernmental agreement allocating different responsibilities to the states …
A group of international researchers has for the first time calculated the value of the natural environment. And the value to human well-being, health and livelihoods fell by around $20 trillion a year between 1997 and 2011 due to loss of wetlands, coral reefs and tropical forests. The study, published in the journal Global Environmental …
