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Destroying the world's natural heritage: 'Komodo is reaching a tipping point'
The Indonesian national park boasts some of the world’s best dive sites and spectacular marine life, but illegal fishing and unsustainable tourism is threatening its Unesco status
It was the unusual thrashing on the water that caught their attention. As those onboard the dive boat in Indonesia’s Komodo national park drew closer, it became clear it was a green turtle entangled in rubbish and thick fishing net.
The divers managed to lift it out of the water, cut the blue bind from its shell and then set the turtle free, but dive operator Ed Statham says it is just one of the increasing and alarming signs the Unesco heritage site is fast being destroyed.
Continue reading...Great Australian Bight deserves world heritage protection – Greens
Party announces it will campaign for application to be made to Unesco in bid to stop drilling
The Greens have launched a campaign to give the Great Australian Bight world heritage protection – but such a move would need the government’s support.
The party announced on Wednesday it would campaign for an application to be made to the Unesco to place the bight on the world heritage list.
Continue reading...Chris Uhlmann’s windy “truthiness” adds to policy fog
Elon Musk’s ‘Westworld for cars’ has gone horribly wrong
National Energy Guarantee ready for detailed design and stronger ambition
Deep-sea mining possibly as damaging as land mining, lawyers say
Environmental and legal groups warn of potential huge effects on Indigenous people and the environment
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The “new global gold rush” over deep-sea mining holds the same potential pitfalls as previous resource scrambles, with environmental and social impacts ignored and the rights of Indigenous people marginalised, a paper in the Harvard Law Review has warned.
A framework for deep-sea mining – where polymetallic nodules or hydrothermal vents are mined by machine – was first articulated in the 1960s, on an idea that the seabed floor beyond national jurisdiction was a “common heritage of mankind”.
Continue reading...Scientists explain how plastic-eating enzyme can help fight pollution – video
Scientists in Britain and the US say they have engineered an enzyme that eats plastic, a breakthrough that could help in the fight against pollution. The enzyme is able to digest polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. The team from the University of Portsmouth and the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory hope to one day produce the enzyme on an industrial scale
Continue reading...Will China beat the world to nuclear fusion and clean energy?
Plankton named after Attenborough series
CP Daily: Tuesday April 17, 2018
Costa Coffee vows to boost cup recycling
Northern Territory lifts ban on fracking
Space diamonds 'came from lost planet'
Australia’s slow march towards a National Energy Guarantee is gathering pace
Curious Kids: Why do sea otters clap?
The great Australian garbage map: 75% of beach rubbish made of plastic
Data compiled from rubbish collected by volunteers aims to encourage industry to control plastic pollution at the source
Australians are battling against a tide of millions of pieces of discarded plastic debris at beach clean-up events all across the continent, according to two years of data analysed by Guardian Australia.
Some 2,651,613 pieces of debris were collected from beaches and recorded in a database during 2016 and 2017, with about three-quarters of items made from plastics.
Continue reading...Amazon coral reef would be ruined by planned oil drilling, scientists say
The 56,000 sq km reef is thought to contain dozens of undiscovered species, in an area where a French company intents to drill for oil
Scientists aboard a Greenpeace ship have discovered a massive and unique coral reef near the mouth of the Amazon, in an area where the French company Total intends to drill for oil.
The 1,000km long and 56,000 sq km Amazon coral reef is a biome thought to contain dozens of undiscovered species that environmentalists say would be irreparably damaged if drilling for oil began – a vision at odds with the wish of oil companies hoping to explore the area’s vast estimated reserves.
Continue reading...EU Market: EUAs sink back below €14 as energy prices drop
Could eating rare-breed animals save them from extinction?
Tucking in to less popular meats could help preserve those breeds, according to a farming charity. Here are six varieties it thinks might benefit
When you think about Britain’s endangered animals, hedgehogs, small tortoiseshell butterflies and puffins may spring to mind. But rare breeds of farm animals and horses face extinction, too.
The Rare Breed Survival Trust (RBST) published a list of endangered breeds this week. At a critical point are vaynol cattle, with only 12 breeding females remaining. The suffolk horse is similarly threatened, with 80 breeding females left. Many breeds of cow, sheep and pig make the list. The solution? According to the RBST, we should eat them.
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