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South Australian Beach-cast Seagrass and Marine Algae Fishery
IPCC report: the scientists have done their bit, now it is up to us | Leo Hickman
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.
Continue reading...Invitation to comment on two ecological community listing reviews
Environmental water gives Murrumbidgee wetlands a boost
Local jobs to help manage Commonwealth environmental water
Call for Green Army Project applications open
Southern New South Wales Water Purchase Tender - now open
Surat Gas Expansion project
Macquarie Island is declared officially pest-free
Department of the Environment - organisational change
Public consultation: draft assessment bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory
'Like a demon in a medieval book': is this how the marsupial lion killed prey?
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.
Continue reading...Fisherman must pay £50,000 after being caught fishing illegally off Wales
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.
Continue reading...Nominations closed for the 2014/2015 assessment period
Public consultation on the Minamata Convention on Mercury has now commenced
Jane Goodall blames 'chaotic note taking' for plagiarism controversy
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.
Continue reading...'We expect catastrophe' – Manila, the megacity on the climate frontline
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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