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Agency application on ecological sustainability - comments close 23 May 2014

The world must seize this remaining opportunity and act upon the timely roadmap that climate scientists have provided for us

So, there we have it. The seven-year task undertaken by hundreds of the world's leading scientists, who sifted through thousands of the latest peer-reviewed studies examining the causes, impacts and mitigation options of climate change, is over.

The last of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change's (IPCC) three "working group" reports was published yesterday in Berlin and the take-home message was crystal clear: "The high-speed mitigation train needs to leave the station very soon and all of global society needs to get on board," said the chair, Rajendra Pachauri.

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The TSSC is seeking comments on the review of the Natural Temperate Grasslands of the Southern Tablelands of NSW and the ACT ecological community; and the Hunter Valley Weeping Myall (Acacia pendula) Woodland of the Sydney Basin bioregion.

40,000 megalitres of water has been allocated in the lower Murrumbidgee, New South Wales, to help protect the area’s wetlands.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is now recruiting local engagement officers to work directly with Murray-Darling Basin communities.

The Australian Government is seeking applications from community organisations for potential Green Army Projects.

Applications close 5.00pm AEST Monday 28 April 2014

The Minister has approved the Surat Gas Expansion project subject to 34 rigorous conditions taking into account potential impacts to ground and surface water resources.

The Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Programme has been completed - and after two years of extensive monitoring the island can now officially be declared pest free.

The Department of the Environment today announced that it will streamline its structure in July 2014 and that it will open a new voluntary redundancy round for 250 staff.

The Department is seeking public comment on a draft assessment bilateral agreement with the Northern Territory.

We knew this powerful carnivorous mammal ate kangaroos, but I now think we can speculate on how it caught them too

I've been thinking – as one does – about marsupial lions. Of all the species that became extinct after people first arrived in Australia, between 40 and 50,000 years ago, this is the one that intrigues me most.

Even more, that is, than the spiny anteater the size of a pig; a relative of the wombat the size of a rhinoceros; a marsupial tapir as big as a horse; a ten-foot kangaroo; a horned tortoise eight feet long and a monitor lizard bigger than the Nile crocodile. The lost Australian megafauna looks like a science fiction film directed by an acid casualty.

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Mark Powell was spotted by Royal Navy patrol dredging for scallops in a special area of conservation in Cardigan Bay

A fisherman has been ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £50,000 after he was caught dredging for scallops in a conservation area protected because it is a precious habitat for marine animals including dolphins.

Mark Powell, the skipper of The Golden Fleece II, was spotted by a Royal Navy patrol dredging for scallops in a special area of conservation off the coast of Wales.

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Nominations are now closed for the assessment period starting 1 October 2014, for any species, ecological communities or key threatening processes to be considered for listing under national environment law.

The Department is seeking public comment on the proposal for Australia to ratify the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Comments close 30 June 2014.

Scientist revises her book Seeds of Hope after allegations 12 sections were lifted from other websites

Leading primatologist Jane Goodall has blamed a "hectic work schedule" and her "chaotic method of note taking" for a plagarism controversy surrounding her reissued book.

Speaking ahead of the publication of a revised edition of Seeds of Hope, first published in August 2013, Goodall, said she had learned lessons following reports in the Washington Post last year that at least 12 sections of the book were lifted from other websites including Wikipedia.

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IPCC report warns life in the Filipino capital and other coastal cities will get much worse in many ways as temperatures rise

Joshua Alvarez and his family fear for their lives when the monsoon rains come. Last August their two-bedroom flat in Manila was flooded when severe tropical storm Trami dumped 15 inches of rain (380mm) in a few hours and the local reservoir overflowed. They fled to a flyover with thousands of others as five large areas of the capital were inundated with muddy waters up to three metres deep and a state of calamity was declared in three Philippine provinces.

In 2012, typhoon Haikui battered the megacity of 12 million people for eight days, but when tropical storm Ondoy hit Manila in 2009 and a month's worth of rain fell in a few hours, the city came close to catastrophe. Nearly 80% was flooded, 246 people died and hundreds of thousands had to be evacuated.

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The Department is inviting tenders from Service Providers interested in being involved in the Green Army Programme.

Public consultation 31 March – 18 April 2014

Scientist behind the Gaia hypothesis says environment movement does not pay enough attention to facts and he was too certain in the past about rising temperatures

Environmentalism has "become a religion" and does not pay enough attention to facts, according to James Lovelock.

The 94 year-old scientist, famous for his Gaia hypothesis that Earth is a self-regulating, single organism, also said that he had been too certain about the rate of global warming in his past book, that "it’s just as silly to be a [climate] denier as it is to be a believer” and that fracking and nuclear power should power the UK, not renewable sources such as windfarms.

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