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The Ord River was targeted for agricultural expansion in the 20th century. isthatdaves/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

In May, the Northern Territory government granted a major water licence for a cattle station near Pine Creek, west of Kakadu National Park, to use almost 14 million litres of water a year to irrigate crops.

In response, the Northern Land Council, which represents Aboriginal landholders, called for a moratorium on all further water allocations in the Territory, claiming the government had not fully consulted the community about the licence.

As we document in a new paper, this kind of debate has been happening ever since the colonisation of northern Australia, often on the premise that the north’s water resources are “wasted” without more economic development and subsequent increases in settler populations.

Since the early 20th century, huge amounts of public money have been invested in large-scale water infrastructure projects in northern Australia, such as the Ord River Scheme.

But the viability of this program has been widely critiqued on economic grounds since the mid-1950s. Prominent agricultural economist Bruce Davidson coined the phrase “the Northern Myth” to describe the widely held, but misplaced, belief in the north’s capacity to accommodate vastly expanded agriculture and irrigation because of its abundant water and land.

These developments also largely occurred without consulting Aboriginal people. Water was allocated to other users without taking account of traditional owners' longstanding cultural and economic practices with regard to land and water, stretching back thousands of years.

A colonial history of exclusion

After Britain acquired sovereignty of Australia, water use was regulated according to English riparian rights. Under this law, legal rights to use water, for example for farming, were given to whoever owned the land where rivers flowed. The link between water use and landholding remained in place, in one form or another, until the late 20th century.

This meant that Indigenous Australians, whose traditional ownership of land (native title) was only recognised by the Australian High Court in 1992, were largely denied legal rights to water.

Around the same time that native title was recognised, reforms (known as the National Water Initiative) were being pursued to increase the environmental sustainability of the Murray Darling Basin.

Unfortunately, however, these reforms largely failed to make substantive change in Indigenous water rights or to engage Indigenous people effectively. Today, Indigenous Australians have land rights and/or native title rights and interests over some 30% of the Australian continent, but own only 0.01% of water entitlements.

Problems continuing

In June last year the Commonwealth government released the latest version of its plans, the White Paper on Developing Northern Australia, which calls for yet more significant expansion of irrigation. Strong concerns have been expressed about the plan’s failure to incorporate environmental water reserves.

Aboriginal rights and interests still do not seem to be adequately catered for. In a speech at the Garma Festival, Northern Land Council chief executive Joe Morrison claimed Aboriginal people had again been largely absent from the process, saying:

Aboriginal people have an essential stake in the future of northern Australia … Aboriginal people must be front and centre in planning processes for the north. This is a fundamental gap in the national discourse about northern development … I’m not one to despair, but I do wonder when the day will come that we have a seat at the planning table.

Aboriginal people are a significant demographic group in northern Australia, with extensive landholdings. In the Northern Territory, for example, Aboriginal people represent more than 25% of the population and own more than 50% of the land. Any major reform proposal that does not adequately include Aboriginal people risks its own legitimacy.

To give Aboriginal people fair representation in northern water development, they must be accorded a fair share of the water. At the turn of the century, the Northern Territory government developed promising proposals to include “strategic indigenous reserves” in northern water resource plans. However, the policy was discontinued after a change of government in 2013.

Experience recovering environmental water in the Murray-Darling Basin has taught us that it is much easier to set aside a share of water while resources are still plentiful than embark on a process of buyback.

By and large, Aboriginal people recognise the case for economic development, not least because of the employment opportunities it creates for their own communities. But they also know the importance of protecting country, particularly sacred sites.

This is not to say that Indigenous water rights must be purely for cultural purposes. On the contrary, Indigenous people deserve commercial water rights too, especially given that they have been sidelined from agricultural expansion for so long.

Righting that historical wrong will mean giving Aboriginal people the same water rights that have been given to non-Indigenous users ever since colonisation.

Liz Macpherson has received funding from the University of Melbourne (including the Human Rights Scholarship) and International Bar Association Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law. All views expressed in this article, alongside those of her coauthors, are her own.

Lee Godden was the Australian Law Reform Commissioner in charge of the Inquiry into the Native Title Act 1993 between 2013 and 2015. She was also recently a Chief Investigator on the Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements (ATNS) Project, which was partnered by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, the Australian National University, Griffith University and the University of Melbourne. It received funding from the Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Rio Tinto, Santos and Woodside.

Lily O'Neill was previously a PhD student with the Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements (ATNS) Project. The ATNS Project is a project partnered by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, the Australian National University, Griffith University and the University of Melbourne. It receives funding from the Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Rio Tinto, Santos and Woodside.

Erin O'Donnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Women reclaiming the streets | Benefits of livestreaming arts performances | Bird identification | Donald Trump’s ‘sacrifice’

I was surprised that Lauren Elkin’s article (Reclaim the streets, Review, 30 July) about women walking and exploring city streets did not mention Rebecca Solnit. The article also prompted a memory of Michael Dibdin’s novel Vendetta, set in Italy, in which he wrote: “The men, old and young, massed in groups, using the public spaces as an extension of their living rooms, but the women Zen saw were always alone and on the move. They had right of passage only, and scurried along as though liable to be challenged at any moment, clutching their wicker shopping baskets like official permits.”
Janet Ruane
Leamington Spa

• Peter Bradshaw (A play of two halves, G2, 28 July) missed one of the major benefits of livestreaming of arts performances in cinemas for those of us not living in London. We can watch high-quality theatre, opera and concerts without the added costs of travelling to London.
Simon Dunning
Duddon, Cheshire

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Extension seen by some as further erosion of Red rose county by white, with fears larger protected area may create pitfalls for farmers and landowners

It is more than 500 years since the House of Lancaster won the ultimate battle of the Wars of the Roses, but the Yorkies have finally wrought their revenge. On Monday, despite protests by farmers in the red rose county, a lovely little corner of Lancashire found itself subsumed by the Yorkshire Dales, after the national park increased in size by 24%.

Under reforms unveiled by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), 1% of the newly enlarged Yorkshire Dales is now actually in Lancashire’s Upper Lune valley, with a much larger chunk snaffled from Cumbria. The park now includes Leck Fell, near Kirkby Lonsdale, which hitherto stood proudly as Lancashire’s highest point, providing extensive views towards Morecambe Bay, the Forest of Bowland – and the Lake District, which itself expanded by 3% on Monday under the Defra plans.

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One of the greats of 20th-century nature conservation who was a co-founder of the World Wildlife Fund

Luc Hoffmann, who has died aged 93, was one of the last surviving greats of 20th-century nature conservation. As co-founder of the World Wildlife Fund, along with men such as Julian Huxley, Peter Scott and Max Nicholson, he helped turn conservation from a parochial, insular pursuit into a truly international movement.

In the era following the end of the second world war, which saw an unprecedented loss of natural environments and their wildlife, Hoffmann fought to ensure that many unique and precious locations and species were saved from oblivion. These included the Camargue, between Arles in France and the Mediterranean sea, and the Coto Doñana, on the Atlantic coast of Andalucía, in Spain.

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Mongabay: Redonda’s invasive black rats and long-horned goats have transformed the once-forested island into a ‘moonscape’, conservationists say

The remote Caribbean island of Redonda, part of Antigua and Barbuda, is home to numerous species of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. It is also home to invasive black rats and non-native goats that are wiping out the island’s native, rare wildlife, conservationists say.

To help the island’s flora and fauna, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda is now initiating a plan to remove all goats and rats from the island. The Redonda Restoration Program program has been formed by the Antigua & Barbuda Government and the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) in collaboration with organizations like Fauna & Flora International, British Mountaineering Council, Island Conservation and Wildlife Management International Ltd.

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10-month investigation finds a large number of diesel cars emit much higher levels of pollution than their manufacturers claim

French investigators have found a large number of diesel cars emit much higher levels of pollution than their European manufacturers claim.

The claims were revealed by France’s environment ministry after a 10-month investigation ordered following the “Dieselgate” scandal over Volkswagen’s use of software to cheat emissions tests.

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Controlling human nerve cells with electricity could treat a range of disease including type-2 diabetes, a new company says.

A lynx that escaped from Dartmoor Zoo is back in his pen after more than three weeks on the run.

BusinessGreen: Public authority says it will no longer buy new diesel vehicles when older models need replacing

The City of London Corporation has banned the purchase or hire of diesel vehicles for its business.

The public authority, which has a fleet of more than 300 vehicles, announced on Friday it will now no longer lease or purchase diesel models when older models need replacing.

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The record-breaking heat of the first six months has turned to severe seasonal flooding across Asia in one of the strongest monsoon seasons in many years

The record-breaking worldwide heat of the first six months of 2016 has turned to abnormally severe seasonal flooding across Asia with hundreds of people dying in China, India, Nepal and Pakistan and millions forced from their homes.

In India, the Brahmaputra river, which is fed by Himalayan snowmelt and monsoon rains, has burst its banks in many places and has been at danger levels for weeks. Hundreds of villages have been flooded in Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and other northern states.

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A whirling column of air and water mist provides a stunning sight off the Suffolk coast.

Researchers and donors tell the story of how your brain tissue can help with medical research.

Dr Laura Palmer shows us what happens inside a brain bank and and explains why such donations are vital.

Chris Hope and James Annan took £2,000 from two GWPF advisors who were foolish enough to bet against global warming

Climate scientist James Annan and climate economist Chris Hope made a nice sum this year for a bet they made on global warming in 2008. As Hope tells the story:

The record warmth of 2015 just made me £1,334 richer. While the extra cash is a nice bonus, it sadly demonstrates that the atmospheric dice remain loaded towards increasing climate change.

So, how did I turn increasing temperatures into cash? About five years ago I was at a conference in Cambridge where most of the participants were sceptical about the influence of humans on the climate. I took the microphone and asked if any of them would care to make a £1,000 bet with me about whether 2015 would be hotter than 2008. Two brave souls, Ian Plimer and Sir Alan Rudge, agreed.

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Citizen science survey has received only 31 reports of first ripe blackberries around the country so far

Blackberry crumble is not on the menu yet as a cold spring has delayed the ripening of the traditional British fruit, wildlife experts said.

The Woodland Trust has only received 31 reports of ripe blackberries so far to its Nature’s Calendar survey, in which members of the public record the signs of the changing seasons.

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A mobile phone game that has caught the attention of the world also appears to have caused a breakthrough with autism sufferers, as the Victoria Derbyshire programme finds out.

CSG opponents handed legal setback as land and environment court decides plant does not need a separate approval

Opponents of coal seam gas in New South Wales have had a setback, as a court ruled Santos’s CSG wastewater treatment plant near the Pilliga state forest did not need to undergo a full environmental impact statement.

Justice Timothy Moore of the NSW land and environment court ruled the treatment plant was part of its wider coal seam gas exploration, and so did not require its own approval under broader state legislation.

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Lichen is made up of two types of fungus and an algae, that's one more species than previously thought. wikimedia

There is big news in the world of lichens. These slow growing organisms have long been known to be a collaboration between a fungus and a photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. A recent publication in Science may have changed all that.

Researchers have discovered another fungus living in the tissues of lichens. Unlike the dominant fungal type, also known as Ascomycetes, the new fungus is a Basidiomycete that exists as single cells, more closely related to yeast. A survey has found these new fungal cells in 52 genera of lichens, raising the prospect of a previously undetected third partner in the ancient symbiosis.

Interestingly, despite many attempts, it has never been possible to synthesise lichen in the laboratory by combining the two known partners, and now we might know why. Lichenologists have always recognised a mycobiont (fungal partner) and a photobiont (the photosynthetic organism that makes food) and now we may have to find a word for the new fungal component.

Toby Spribille of the University of Graz in Austria and his colleagues were trying to understand why two species of lichen that were made up of the same species of mycobiont and photobiont were differently coloured and contained varying levels of a toxin known as vulpinic acid.

Using an approach that examined the messenger RNAs produced by the organism, they tried to find the genes that produced the toxin, but neither the mycobiont or the photobiont had genes that matched the transcript. By broadening their search to include other types of fungi, they found genes belonging to a rare fungus called a Cystobasidiomycete.

Unable to see the cells responsible for this unusual finding, they used fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) to light up cells containing genes for the algae, the ascomycete and the cystobasidiomycete. By linking different colours to each organism, they produced videos showing the distribution of each cell type. The new fungus existed as single cells inside the cortex, where it may play a structural role as well as providing chemical defence.

It is hard to overstate the importance of this discovery. Spribille was quoted in the New York Times as saying that lichens are as diverse as vertebrates. And yet we did not know until now that the symbiosis that allows lichens to exist has more than two partners.

The authors have described a new order of fungi called the Cyphobasidiales. It is not everyday that scientists are able to add new taxa at such a high level. It is like discovering the Primates. By creating a phylogenomic tree and applying a molecular clock, they found that this group has been around for 200 million years, probably since the beginning of lichens.

The 52 genera that have been examined thus far are widespread (on six continents) but are still a small portion of lichens, so there may be more to discover. Interestingly, the continent that is not included is Australia. Perhaps we do not have enough lichenologists to provide samples to the international community. It is possible that some lichens do not contain this new order of fungi. What is not in doubt is that now scientists will be looking at lichens more closely.

Lichens grow very slowly. Individuals can be hundreds or even thousands of years old. Now it seems that our knowledge of this ancient symbiosis has also grown slowly, as it has taken 150 years to find the third partner.

Given the sophisticated techniques required to untangle this conundrum, I suppose it was not possible to know about the silent partner, the yeast in the mix, until now. But it certainly gives rise to some exciting science.

How some crashes are caused by idiocy, and why it’s the family cycling event which is the most important one.

Ride London, the capital’s weekend of cycle events – now expanded to three days – is in its fourth year. And for another time, I’ve taken part in what is officially called the Ride London Surrey 100, a vast, 100-mile closed-roads sportive, which this year saw up to 27,000 people take part.

As is also traditional for the Bike Blog, below are my instant (I’m writing this in the event press tent, still clad in my clammy bike clothes) thoughts on what is the UK’s biggest cycling extravaganza.

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One of the world's leading air crash investigators tells Australian TV he believes Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was deliberately flown into the sea.