Post of the Day
G20 stimulus potential triple win for climate, biodiversity and pandemic prevention
A new report is calling on the G20 to fund ‘Nature-based Solutions’ that address three main risks to humankind: biodiversity loss, climate change and global pandemics.
On This Day
St. Andrew Day – Christianity
Guru Nanak Jayanti – India
Advent (until Dec 24) – Christianity
Climate Change
Satellite images confirm uneven impact of climate change
Researchers have been following vegetation trends across the planet’s driest areas using satellite imagery from recent decades. They have identified a troubling trend: Too little vegetation is sprouting up from rainwater in developing nations, whereas things are headed in the opposite direction in wealthier ones. As a result, the future could see food shortages and growing numbers of climate refugees.
Irreversible hotter and drier climate over inner East Asia
Researchers warn that heatwaves and concurrent droughts of Mongolia’s semi-arid plateau have increased significantly during the past two decades, with troubling implications for the future. The change also has ramifications for atmospheric conditions across the Northern Hemisphere.
National
‘Trying to invert reality’: Mathias Cormann’s climate credentials will be a hard sell at the OECD
Australia’s ex-finance minister is jetting across Europe on his leadership push, but will his government’s record fly?
China increases coal import quotas but Australia likely to be excluded
China’s foreign ministry says Australia needs to show ‘mutual respect’
States fume as Federal Government ‘scuttles’ will of Murray-Darling Basin Plan ministers
Victoria has accused the Commonwealth of riding roughshod over the states, as New South Wales pleads for a rethink on the future of the plan.
Scott Morrison’s climate language has shifted – but actions speak louder than words
Katharine Murphy and Adam Morton
Analysis: The PM changed tone as soon as Joe Biden was projected likely next US president. Will a policy pivot follow?
New South Wales
‘We’ve got to be bullish’: NSW ministers at odds over electric car tax
Senior ministers have warned that NSW should not follow other states in imposing a tax on electric cars, arguing it would discourage people from buying them just when the government needed to provide incentives to get more low-emissions vehicles on the road.
Coal baron rules out suing over NSW energy plan as opposition wanes
Energy magnate Trevor St Baker has dismissed media reports he planned to sue the government over NSW’s new energy plan as some of biggest companies prepare to rejig their investment plans.
Queensland
Facing bushfire lessons from Australia’s ancient Gondwana forests
Queensland’s rainforests from Gondwana – the name of the Great Southern land that broke apart near Antarctica and drifted north to form Australia, Africa, India and South America – are now telling new truths about Australia’s drying, warming climate.
Tasmania
The Tamar Action Group want to show the government more needs to be done to fix the Tamar Estuary
A group backed by more than 40 businessmen, including high profile developer Errol Stewart, has launched a campaign aimed at starting a conversation about the health of kanamaluka/ Tamar Estuary.
Midtown traders welcome streetscape plan [$]
A proposal to alter the streetscape on the CBD fringe has been attacked for creating “a toxic environment” that “will cause massive downturns”. But local business owners have defended the plan.
Sustainability
Offshore submarine freshwater discovery raises hopes for islands worldwide
Twice as much freshwater is stored offshore of Hawai’i Island than previously thought, revealed a new study with important implications for volcanic islands around the world.
Rein in advertising to help tackle climate crisis, report urges
Industry promotes materialism and lifts sales of climate-harming products, study says
Study of threatened desert tortoises offers new conservation strategy
Animals with more genetic variation are more likely to survive relocation
Community conservation reserves protect fish diversity in tropical rivers
Small, community-based reserves in Thailand’s Salween River Basin are serving as critical refuges for fish diversity in a region whose subsistence fisheries have suffered from decades of over-harvesting.
German researchers compile world’s largest inventory of known plant species
Researchers at Leipzig University and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) have compiled the world’s most comprehensive list of known plant species. It contains 1,315,562 names of vascular plants, thus extending the number by some 70,000 – equivalent to about 20%. The researchers have also succeeded in clarifying 181,000 hitherto unclear species names.
The invasive species that Europe needs to eradicate most urgently are identified
An international research team analysed the risk impact and the effectiveness of possible eradication strategies for invasive species already in the region as well as those that have yet to arrive
G20 stimulus potential triple win for climate, biodiversity and pandemic prevention
A new report is calling on the G20 to fund ‘Nature-based Solutions’ that address three main risks to humankind: biodiversity loss, climate change and global pandemics.
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