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Claxton, Norfolk Most of spring is here but hidden somewhere in all this quiescence

It is not dense enough to call mist, let alone fog, but February’s invisible damp gives milkiness to the air and weight to the morning’s mood. The ivy leaves in our hedge seem to droop as if they have all been licked downwards, and our garden robin hugs their shadow with its brown back to me. As I walk to the river I notice that the oak leaves by the track, which were frosted copper last month, are in mid journey from leaf mulch to soil.

Across the marsh there is no division between the grey of the sky and land, and no horizon, and the dark of the woods is burred with softness. The north-westerly is mild and lifts only the lightest vegetation – the reed tops by the sides of the path – and the moisture adds to each intake of breath the cold savour of bare earth and dead leaves.

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Climate science denial group the Heartland Institute helped inspire Cory Bernardi and Malcolm Roberts to push back against policies to cut emissions

If the dissident conservative senator Cory Bernardi’s new political party shares the views of its founder, then we can chalk up it up as another fringe party firmly in the climate science denial camp.

Ignoring mountains of evidence from multiple lines of inquiry carried out over many decades, Bernardi has for a long time chosen to listen instead to fake experts pushing talking points that walk like zombies through barbecue conversations across Australia.

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Article claims world leaders "duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data”. Proves nothing.

Australian battery maker Redflow shifts its attention back to commercial-scale applications, with a focus on Asian telco market.

Wholesale prices for so-called "cheap" coal and gas power in Queensland have average more than $220/MWh this year. It is insane. But you won't hear the Coalition complaining about this, because it does not fit the alternative facts being pushed to support their absurd energy policy.

A detailed review of Australia's National Electricity Market in 2016 - with focus on solar, large scale renewables, energy efficiency, fossil fuel generation, emissions, and prices.

Innovative solution integrates renewables and improves reliability of power supply to Anchorage.

Australian solar monitoring start-ups Solar Analytics and WattWatchers approved for installation in US and Canada.

A late 2016 recovery in Australia’s large-scale renewable market has been followed by yet another series of troubling events.

Solar thermal (CST) is a mature and available technology that possesses precisely the attributes that people are arguing need to be added or retained in our electricity system.

Weird. Strange. Extreme. Unprecedented. These are some of the words that describe what’s been happening in the Arctic over the past year.

The suburb of Tonsley has officially been created, including the 61 hectare former Mitsubishi Motors site which is now home to Australia’s leading innovation district.

The evidence suggests the push for government help is an attempt to squeeze money out of unwise investments made at the end of the mining boom

The recent coordinated push for new coal-powered electricity generators in Australia comes as the industry is on its last legs.

The intensified push for government handouts can be seen as a last-ditch attempt for the coal industry to squeeze some money out of the unwise investments it made at the end of the mining boom.

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We must shift away from a culture of politically motivated climate change denialism to an acceptance of the truly existential threat now facing humanity

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the world’s climate and environment. The inauguration of billionaire property developer and reality TV star Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States has presaged a new Dark Age of climate politics.

In an opening fortnight of controversial executive orders, President Trump has decreed the expansion of major fossil fuel developments including the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, and the neutering of long-standing environmental protections. In addition, he and his leadership team have made it plain they intend to dismantle many of the Obama administration’s climate initiatives and withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. All this runs in direct counterpoint to the rapid decarbonisation required to avoid dangerous climate change.

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DIY KILLERS: Carnivorous plants around the world all developed their killer habit in surprisingly similar fashion, according to a genetic study of distantly related pitcher plants from Australia, Asia and America.

Indonesian miners painstakingly sift through the waste for scraps from the largest gold mine in the world: the Grasberg mine in West Papua

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Their numbers vary enormously from year to year, but warmer weather will provide wasps with more favourable conditions

Several new species of wasp have arrived in Britain with our warming weather, and their larger relative the hornet, once confined to the extreme south, has spread across England.

But how is our common wasp fairing? Most queen wasps still do not survive the winter. However, it is not cold that will have killed them, but spiders or other predators.

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The staged reintroduction since the end of last month is going smoothly, officials say.

Last week a Scottish Power executive called for coal to be excluded from the UK’s capacity market scheme (Report, 31 January). Five days later UK coal plants were awarded taxpayer-funded subsidies worth up to £72.8m. With the government’s consultation on phasing out coal-fired power generation by 2025 closing on Wednesday, for coal plant operators it must be like being asked to leave the party while being bought a drink.

Likewise, while CO2 emissions are subject to a carbon price floor, its current level is too low to be effective. Meanwhile, the so-called Transitional National Plan grants UK plants permission to pollute above EU limits. TNP’s “pollution bubbles” are filled with toxic fumes that cause 2,800 premature deaths in the UK every year.

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Australia: there's a lot of it to look after. Thomas Schoch/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Extinction threatens iconic Australian birds and animals. The regent honeyeater, the orange-bellied parrot, and Leadbeater’s possum have all entered the list of critically endangered species.

It is too late for the more than 50 species that are already extinct, including bettongs, various wallabies, and many others. Despite international commitments, policies and projects, Australia’s biodiversity outcomes remain unsatisfactory.

A 2015 review of Australia’s 2010-2050 Biodiversity Conservation Strategy found that it has failed to “effectively guide the efforts of governments, other organisations or individuals”.

Insufficient resourcing is one cause of biodiversity loss. The challenge is impressive. Australia must tackle degradation and fragmentation of habitat, invasive species, unsustainable use of resources, the deterioration of the aquatic environment and water flows, increased fire events, and climate change.

This all requires money to support private landholders conducting conservation activities, to fund research, to manage public lands, and to support other conservation activities conducted by governments, industry, and individuals.

So where can we find the funds?

How much money is needed?

We have estimated that Australia’s biodiversity protection requires an equivalent investment to defence spending – roughly 2% of gross domestic product.

Of course, such estimates are up for debate given that how much money is required depends on what we want the environment to look like, which methods we use, and how well they work. Other studies (see also here and here point to a similar conclusion: far more money is needed to achieve significantly better outcomes.

Apart from government funding, private landholders, businesses, communities, Indigenous Australians, and non-government organisations contribute significantly to natural resource management. We were unable to quantify their collective cash and in-kind contributions, as the information is not available. But we do know that farmers spend around A$3 billion each year on natural resource management.

Nonetheless, the erosion of environmental values indicates that the level of spending required to sufficiently meet conservation targets far exceeds the amount currently being spent. The investment required is similar to value of agriculture in Australia.

Conservation doesn’t come cheap. JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Unfortunately, the concentration of wealth and labour sets a limit to what any given community can pay.

Despite a high GDP per person and very wealthy cities, Australia has fewer than 0.1 people per hectare and a wealth intensity (GDP per hectare) of less than US$2,000 due to the sparse population and income of rural Australia.

Australia’s rural population has declined sharply, from over 18% in 1960 to around 10% today. Other countries (for example in Europe) are not limited to the same degree. Even China has a greater rural resource intensity than Australia.

Rural incomes are often volatile, but environmental investments need to be sustained. The history of Landcare highlights that private landholders have struggled to secure a reliable investment basis for sustainably managing the environment.

Can government pay what is required?

If Australia is serious about the environment, we need to know who will pay for biodiversity protection (a public good). This is especially true given that it is not feasible for rural (particularly Indigenous) landholders and communities to invest the required amount.

Will government be the underpinning investor? The federal government’s current spending program on natural resource management was initiated in 2014 with an allocation of A$2 billion over four years.

This was split between the second National Landcare Program, the (now-defunded) Green Army, the Working on Country program, the Land Sector Package, the Reef 2050 plan, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, and the Whale and Dolphin Protection Plan.

As well as federal funding, the state, territory, and local governments invest in public lands, bushfire mitigation, waste management, water management, environmental research and development, biodiversity programs, and environmental policies. Local and state government departments together spend around A$4.9 billion each year on natural resource management.

The problem is that government spending on natural resource management can not be significantly increased in the near future due to fiscal pressures and the focus on reducing budget deficits.

Show us the money

At a time when Australia is reconsidering many aspects of its environmental policies, we should address the strategy for funding natural resource management.

It should be possible to leverage more private spending on the environment preferably as part of a coordinated strategy. Diverse, market-based approaches are being used around the world.

For example, we could use market instruments such as biodiversity banking to support landholders in protecting biodiversity.

Taxation incentives, such as a generous tax offset for landholders who spend money on improving the environment, can be a very powerful catalyst and could be crucial for meeting environmental investment needs.

Evidence suggests that integrating a variety of mechanisms into a coordinated business model for the environment is likely to be the most efficient and effective approach. But this will not happen unless Australia faces the fiscal challenge of sustainability head-on.

Australia needs an innovative investment plan for the environment. By combining known funding methods and investment innovation, Australia can reduce the gap between what we currently spend and what the environment needs.

Without a more sophisticated investment strategy, it is likely that Australia will continue on the trajectory of decline.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.