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A sheriff's helicopter crew warns paddle-boarders they are swimming with sharks off the California coast.

A coolabah forest in Western Australia – one of the world's previously unrecognised dryland forests. TERN Ausplots, Author provided

A new global analysis of the distribution of forests and woodlands has “found” 467 million hectares of previously unreported forest – an area equivalent to 60% of the size of Australia.

The discovery increases the known amount of global forest cover by around 9%, and will significantly boost estimates of how much carbon is stored in plants worldwide.

The new forests were found by surveying “drylands” – so called because they receive much less water in precipitation than they lose through evaporation and plant transpiration. As we and our colleagues report today in the journal Science, these drylands contain 45% more forest than has been found in previous surveys.

We found new dryland forest on all inhabited continents, but mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, around the Mediterranean, central India, coastal Australia, western South America, northeastern Brazil, northern Colombia and Venezuela, and northern parts of the boreal forests in Canada and Russia. In Africa, our study has doubled the amount of known dryland forest.

The world’s drylands: forested areas shown in green; non-forested areas in yellow. Bastin et al., Science (2017)

With current satellite imagery and mapping techniques, it might seem amazing that these forests have stayed hidden in plain sight for so long. But this type of forest was previously difficult to measure globally, because of the relatively low density of trees.

What’s more, previous surveys were based on older, low-resolution satellite images that did not include ground validation. In contrast, our study used higher-resolution satellite imagery available through Google Earth Engine – including images of more than 210,000 dryland sites – and used a simple visual interpretation of tree number and density. A sample of these sites were compared with field information to assess accuracy.

Unique opportunity

Given that drylands – which make up about 40% of Earth’s land surface – have more capacity to support trees and forest than we previously realised, we have a unique chance to combat climate change by conserving these previously unappreciated forests.

Drylands contain some of the most threatened, yet disregarded, ecosystems, many of which face pressure from climate change and human activity. Climate change will cause many of these regions to become hotter and even drier, while human expansion could degrade these landscapes yet further. Climate models suggest that dryland biomes could expand by 11-23% by the end of the this century, meaning they could cover more than half of Earth’s land surface.

Considering the potential of dryland forests to stave off desertification and to fight climate change by storing carbon, it will be crucial to keep monitoring the health of these forests, now that we know they are there.

Ground-based observations were a crucial part of the survey. TERN AusPlots, Author provided Climate policy boost

The discovery will dramatically improve the accuracy of models used to calculate how much carbon is stored in Earth’s landscapes. This in turn will help calculate the carbon budgets by which countries can measure their progress towards the targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol and its successor, the Paris Agreement.

Our study increases the estimates of total global forest carbon stocks by anywhere between 15 gigatonnes and 158 gigatonnes of carbon – an increase of between 2% and 20%.

This study provides more accurate baseline information on the current status of carbon sinks, on which future carbon and climate modelling can be based. This will reduce errors for modelling of dryland regions worldwide. Our discovery also highlights the importance of conservation and forest growth in these areas.

The authors acknowledge the input of Jean-François Bastin and Mark Grant in the writing of this article. The research was carried out by researchers from 14 organisations around the world, as part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Survey.

Andrew Lowe receives funding from the Australian Government, and has previously received funding through the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). He has served as Associate Science Director for TERN (2009-2016), and is currently the University of Adelaide representative on its Board.

Ben Sparrow receives funding from the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) where he directs the AusPlots and Eco-informatics programs.

Two big cats including the African lion are most at risk from extinction due to loss of prey, say scientists.

Customers are being asked to save water, but more than 20% of water is lost before it reaches homes and leakage levels are not declining, Guardian analysis shows

Fears of a drought are rising after an exceptionally dry spell and water companies are asking customers to save water, but the vast amount of water that leaks from company pipes every day has not fallen for at least four years, according to a Guardian analysis.

Furthermore, many companies in the parched south and east of England have been set leak reduction targets for 2020 of zero or even targets that could allow leakages to increase. Critics blame a system where it is “cheaper to drain a river dry than fix a leak” and say it is unfair to place the water saving burden on customers while 20% of all water leaks out before it even reaches homes.

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Leaked draft says Labour will protect bees by banning all neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been linked to species decline

If you were wondering why bees popped up in the Labour party’s leaked manifesto this week, then here’s the answer.

Since 1900 about 20 bee species have become extinct in the UK and 35 more are now at risk.

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Senate committee fails to make official recommendations after South Australia Labor senator, Alex Gallacher, votes with Liberals

A Labor senator has broken ranks with his party to vote with Liberals in support of oil and gas drilling in the Great Australian Bight, deadlocking a Senate committee investigating the proposal.

The Greens have accused the Labor party of being directly influenced by donations from oil giant Chevron. A long-awaited Senate report into the consequences of opening up the Great Australian Bight Marine National Park for oil or gas production was published on Thursday.

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A new study suggests there are remaining biases in the oft-corrected University of Alabama at Huntsville atmospheric temperature estimates

Human emission of heat-trapping gases is causing the Earth to warm. We’ve known that for many decades. In fact, there are no reputable scientists that dispute this fact. There are, however, a few scientists who don’t think the warming will be very much or that we should worry about it. These contrarians have been shown to be wrong over and over again, like in the movie Groundhog Day. And, a new study just out shows they may have another error. But, despite being wrong, they continue to claim Earth’s warming isn’t something to be concerned about.

Perhaps the darlings of the denialist community are two researchers out of Alabama (John Christy and Roy Spencer). They rose to public attention in the mid-1990s when they reportedly showed that the atmosphere was not warming and was actually cooling. It turns out they had made some pretty significant errors and when other researchers identified those errors, the new results showed a warming.

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Australian artists and scientists have been inspired by the amazing travels of migratory shorebirds.

Warming climate makes it ‘inevitable’ that contiguous US will lose all of its glaciers within decades, according to scientists

It’s now “inevitable” that the contiguous United States will lose all of its glaciers within a matter of decades, according to scientists who have revealed the precipitous shrinkage of dozens of glaciers in Montana.

Warming temperatures have rapidly reduced the size of 39 named glaciers in Montana since 1966, according to comparisons released by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and Portland State University. Some have lost as much as 85% of their expanse over the past 50 years, with Glacier national park, site of 37 of the surveyed glaciers, set to lose all of its eponymous ice formations within the next few decades. Of the 150 glaciers that existed in the park in the late 19th century, only 26 remain.

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Australia's population is not far from 24 and a half million. It's growing at a shade under 350 thousand a year, of which almost 190 thousand is immigration. At this rate, by mid century we'll be at least 40 million.

‘Whale cams’ and digital tags attached to minkes and humpbacks allow scientists to go below the surface of the Antarctic ocean and experience a day in a life of these ocean giants. The data will help them to understand the animals’ behaviour and the impacts of climate change

• ‘Whale cams’ reveal humpbacks’ habitats – video

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Greens MP responds to damning report, warning taxpayers are left exposed to footing the bill ‘for the huge damage the mining industry is doing to the environment’

Mining companies should be forced to set aside more money for the rehabilitation of mine sites, according to a damning report by the New South Wales auditor general.

While security deposits provided by mining companies have increased from $500m in 2005 to around $2.2bn in 2016 for about 450 mine sites in NSW, the report found the money was still not likely to cover the full costs of each mine’s rehabilitation if the company went out of business or the mine suddenly stopped operating.

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Consumers are needlessly buying bottled water in restaurants and pubs because they feel awkward asking for free tap water, says environmental charity

UK consumers who are too embarrassed to ask a pub or restaurant for a glass of tap water or a refill of their empty bottle are helping to fuel the rising tide of discarded single-use plastic drinks bottles, according to a new survey.

Only a quarter of people admitted to knowing their legal rights when it comes to asking for a glass of tap water, while a third admit to feeling awkward when asking for water for a reusable bottle even if they are buying something else, according to research commissioned by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy and Brita UK, a manufacturer of filter jugs.

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Infigen today announced several key changes to the Infigen management team to support the company’s growth strategy.

South Australia rules out "synthetic inertia" - and therefor battery storage - in its energy security target, in a move that could have huge implications for the owners and developers of current and upcoming wind and solar projects in the state.

Executive General Manager, Energy Markets, Stephen Mikkelsen, would be leaving his role at AGL after 11 years of service both in his current role and, formerly, as Chief Financial Officer.

South Korea is Australia's second biggest customer for thermal coal, but election of Moon Jae-In as president raises doubts about future of coal generation in that country.

The Living Future Institute of Australia (LFIA) Forum is designed to inspire, engage and dare everyone to believe every act of development must be positive and regenerative.

The theme this year is Building Nutrition: Bringing health, happiness and well-being back to the centre of the design discussion, with the topics being BIOPHILIC DESIGN & CITIES, PERMACULTURE & URBAN AGRICULTURE, PROMOTING HEALTH & WELLBEING & DELIVERING THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE.

/SPEAKERS
BIOPHILIC DESIGN & CITIES
Darren Bilsborough - Studio Leader, Hames Sharley

PERMACULTURE & URBAN AGRICULTURE
Keri Chiveralls - Senior Lecturer/Permaculture Design and Sustainability, CQUniversity

PROMOTING HEALTH & WELLBEING
Deborah Davidson - Director, Dsquared Consulting
Sally Modystach - Director, Healthy Environs Pty Ltd

DELIVERING THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE
Stephen Choi - Executive Director of Living Future Institute of Australia

All talks can be viewed here: LFIA Forum ADL 2017

/ EVENT SPONSORS
Adelaide City Council | City Switch

/ MEDIA PARTNER
Environmental Science Media

/ ORGANISING GROUPS
Living Future Institute of Australia - living-future.org.au
Adelaide Sustainable Building Network - adelaidesbn.com.au

Cast: AdelaideSBN

Eight homes successfully separated from main electricity grid and operated as stand-alone solar and battery storage powered mini-grid, in Melbourne trial.

California's high solar penetration means the stakes are high with this summer’s eclipse. Fortunately, Europe has already been down this road.