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‘Disaster alley’: Australia could be set to receive new wave of climate refugees
US defence expert warns people fleeing low-lying Pacific islands a precursor to ‘climate-exacerbated water insecurities’ that could trigger wider conflict
Australia could be on the frontline of a new wave of “climate refugees” displaced by extreme weather events, droughts and rising seas, a US expert on the national security impacts of climate change has warned.
Sherri Goodman, a former US deputy undersecretary of defence, argues the impact of climate change – rising seas, extreme weather, prolonged droughts – will be a “threat multiplier” for sepacurity challenges, and could be the spark that ignites conflict and drives new waves of mass forced migration.
Continue reading...Tropical Cyclone Debbie has blown a hole in the winter vegetable supply
Cyclone Debbie, which lashed the Queensland coast a week ago, has hit farmers hard in the area around Bowen – a crucial supplier of vegetables to Sydney, Melbourne and much of eastern Australia.
With the Queensland Farmers’ Federation estimating the damage at more than A$100 million and winter crop losses at 20%, the event looks set to affect the cost and availability of fresh food for millions of Australians. Growers are reportedly forecasting a price spike in May, when the damaged crops were scheduled to have arrived on shelves.
The incident also raises broader questions about the resilience of Australia’s fresh vegetable supply, much of which comes from a relatively small number of areas that are under pressure from climate and land use change.
In 2011 the Bowen area produced 33% of Australia’s fresh beans, 46% of capsicum and 23% of fresh tomatoes, making it the country’s largest producer of beans and capsicums, and number two in fresh tomatoes.
The region also produces a significant amount of chillies, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, pumpkin, zucchini and squash, and is a key production area for mangoes and melons.
Coastal Queensland’s vegetable regions are among the highest-producing in the country, especially for perishable vegetables. The Whitsunday region around Bowen, and the area around Bundaberg further south are each responsible for around 13% of the national perishable vegetable supply.
As the chart below shows, vegetable production is highly concentrated in particular regions, typically on the fringes of large cities. These “peri-urban” regions, when added to the two major growing areas in coastal Queensland, account for about 75% of Australia’s perishable vegetables.
Proportion of State Perishable Vegetable Production by weight.
ABS 7121.0 Agricultural Commodities Australia, 2010-11
Australia’s climate variability means that most fresh produce can be grown domestically. The seasonable variability allows production to move from the south to the north in the winter, when the Bundaberg and Bowen areas produce most of the winter vegetables consumed in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The Bowen Gumlu Growers Association estimates that during the spring growing season in September—October, the region produces 90% of Australia’s fresh tomatoes and 95% of capsicums.
Besides damaging crops, Cyclone Debbie has also destroyed many growers’ packing and cool storage sheds. The cost of rebuilding this infrastructure may be too much for many farmers, and the waterlogged soils are also set to make planting the next crop more difficult.
The recovery of production in these areas is crucial for the supply. Growers who have lost their May crop will first have to wait until the paddocks dry out, then source new seedlings and plant them. It could be weeks until crops can be replanted, and storage and processing facilities replaced.
The Queensland government has announced natural disaster relief funding, including concessional loans of up to A$250,000 and essential working capital loans of up to A$100,000, to help farmers replant and rebuild.
Meanwhile, consumers of fresh vegetables in Sydney and Melbourne and many other places are likely to find themselves paying more until the shortfall can be replaced.
Fresh food for growing citiesAustralia’s cities are growing rapidly, along with those of many other countries. The United Nations has predicted that by 2050 about 87% of the world’s population will live in cities. This urban expansion is putting ever more pressure on peri-urban food bowls.
Food production is also under pressure from climate change, raising the risk of future food shocks and price spikes in the wake of disasters such as cyclones. Meanwhile, the desire for semi-rural lifestyles is also conflicting with the use of land for farming (see Sydney’s Food Futures and Foodprint Melbourne for more).
These pressures mean that Australia’s cities need to make their food systems more resilient, so that they can withstand food shocks more easily, and recover more quickly.
Key features of a resilient food system are likely to include:
geographic diversity in production, which spreads the risk of crop damage from extreme weather events across a number of different production areas;
more local food production, to reduce transportation and storage costs and avoid over-reliance on particular regions;
a diverse, healthy and innovative farming community;
greater consumer awareness of the importance of seasonal and locally produced food;
recycling of urban waste and water for use on farms, to reduce the use of fresh water and fertilisers;
the capacity to import food from overseas to meet shortfalls in domestic supply;
increased use of protected cropping systems such as greenhouses, which are better able to withstand adverse weather.
Two recent studies of food production around Sydney and Melbourne provide examples of a range of mechanisms and policies for increasing the resilience of the food systems of Australian cities.
Our food system has served us well until now, but land use pressures and climate change will make it harder in future. When a cyclone can knock out a major production region overnight, with knock-on effects for Australian consumers, this points to a lack of resilience in Australia’s fresh vegetable supply.
Ian Sinclair is a PhD Candidate and Rural Planning Consultant and has consulted to and received funding from Whitsunday Regional Council as well as Sydney peri-urban Councils and the Department of Planning and Environment.
Brent Jacobs receives funding from NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and the NSW Environmental Trust. He has conducted research on peri-urban food production for the Sydney's Food Future project. Partners in this project included Wollondilly Shire Council.
Laura Wynne managed a research project on peri-urban food production for the Sydney's Food Futures project, which received funding from the Office and Environment and Heritage and the NSW Environmental Trust. The project involved Wollondilly Shire Council, the Sydney Peri-Urban Network of Councils and other partners.
Rachel Carey led the Foodprint Melbourne project, which was funded by the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation. Project partners included the City of Melbourne and the peak bodies representing the local government areas in Melbourne's city fringe foodbowl. She is also a Research Fellow on the project 'Regulating Food Labels: The case of free range food products in Australia', which is funded by the Australian Research Council.
Visit a village that’s verging on greatness | Brief letters
I agree with Jill Bennett (Letters, 4 April) that daffodils may not look great on urban verges, but here in Old Buckenham we persuaded the parish council to fund the purchase of sacks of varied narcissi for us in 1999. These were planted in bulk by volunteers around the base of all of the seven 30mph speed signs at the various entrances to the village as a Millennium project. They first bloomed in 2000 and are still providing a welcome sight, some 18 seasons later. Perhaps Patrick Barkham should come and have a look before the blooms die off.
Ron Brewer
Old Buckenham, Norfolk
• Re David Shariatmadari’s article “Here’s one title we need” (3 April), using the word “actress” to describe a female actor is frowned upon. Might the Academy Awards help “remove gender from our calculations” by abolishing this anachronism and awarding one Oscar for the best actor, regardless of gender. Apart from anything else, it would make life easier for PwC.
John Lowery
London
Evidence of ancient 'geological Brexit' revealed
Check whether your child's school is exposed to illegal levels of air pollution
More than 2,000 schools around England and Wales are located near roads with illegal and dangerous levels of emissions from diesel cars. Use this tool to see whether your school is on the list
Type a school name, postcode or town name into the box to see the schools affected by dangerous levels of NO2 pollution.
Continue reading...Thousands of British children exposed to illegal levels of air pollution
Exclusive: More than 2,000 schools and nurseries close to roads with damaging levels of diesel fumes, joint investigation by Guardian and Greenpeace reveals
Hundreds of thousands of children are being exposed to illegal levels of damaging air pollution from diesel vehicles at schools and nurseries across England and Wales, a joint investigation by the Guardian and Greenpeace’s investigations unit has revealed.
Related: Check whether your child's school is exposed to illegal levels of air pollution
Continue reading...'The car is ingrained into people here': West Midlands faces air pollution crisis
Region contains five of top 10 hotspots outside London for dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution
The West Midlands is one of the worst hit areas outside the capital for illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution but many don’t seem to realise they and their children are breathing some of the UK’s most polluted air.
The region is criss-crossed with motorways and dual carriageways churning out NO2 from hundreds of thousands of diesel vehicles. The government’s own figures show air pollution is responsible for almost 3,000 deaths a year in the West Midlands and in 2015 Birmingham was one of five cities – alongside Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton – ordered to introduce a clean air zone by 2020.
Continue reading...Diesel vehicles will disappear sooner than expected, says EU industry chief
European parliament backs tougher rules and €30,000 per vehicle fine for carmakers to prevent repeat of VW emissions scandal
Diesel vehicles will disappear from roads much faster than expected, according to the European Union’s industry commissioner.
Elżbieta Bieńkowska spoke after the European parliament backed tougher rules to prevent manufacturers selling cars that produce far more toxic pollution when driven than in official tests.
Continue reading...Piglets 'prefer blackcurrant to water', student says
Mirco-recycling
Fuel duty cut for diesel cars was wrong, says ex-chief science adviser
David King, who served Labour and Tory governments, says he was misled by car industry over levels of diesel pollution
The former chief scientific adviser has admitted it was wrong to cut fuel duty on diesel vehicles after being hoodwinked by the car industry, as the mayor of London launched a crackdown on vehicle pollution.
David King, who until last week served Labour and Tory governments as special representative for climate change, said he was misled by carmakers over the amount of poisonous nitrogen oxides (NOx) diesel cars would emit on the road.
Continue reading...From time travel to micro-recycling
Inconceivable! The latest theatrical House 'Science' committee hearing | Dana Nuccitelli
Republican Party leaders keep putting fossil fuel industry profits over the well-being of Americans
Last week, the House “Science” committee held one of its regular hearings to dispute the validity of climate science research. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) articulated the purpose of the hearing when speaking at a recent Heartland Institute climate science denial conference:
Next week we’re going to have a hearing on our favorite subject of climate change and also on the scientific method, which has been repeatedly ignored by the so-called self-professed climate scientists
Continue reading...'Surprise' discovery of Europe's first cave-dwelling fish
Frydenberg: what the deal with Xenophon means for energy policy
Dolphins 'shake and toss' octopus prey, research finds
Diesel cars: 'It turns out we were wrong'
Flood defence plans heavily favour London and south-east
Exclusive: new analysis indicates south will get significantly more funding per capita than elsewhere, in part because of higher property prices
The government’s planned spending on flood defences heavily favours London and the south-east of England, according to a new analysis, with spending per person up to 13 times higher than in other regions.
The recently published plans set out spending to 2021 and, for major projects, beyond that date. By far the largest projects are those for the Thames estuary, leading to 60% of the planned spending going to London and south-east, home to 32% of England’s population.
Continue reading...Green groups condemn UN plan to use $136m from climate fund for large dams
Activists warn of serious environmental consequences for UN-backed hydro projects in Nepal, Tajikistan and the Solomon Islands
Plans to earmark more than $136m (£109m) of UN money for large dam projects in Nepal, Tajikistan and the Solomon Islands have been angrily condemned by activists, who have warned the projects could have serious environmental consequences.
The UN’s green climate fund was set up during the Paris climate agreement to mobilise $100bn a year by 2020 for poor countries looking for innovative and transformational projects.
Continue reading...Five things we learned from the Big Solar conference
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