Environment News: February 2025

February 1 - 28, 2025: Issue 639

Week One March 2025 (February 24 - March 2)

Measuring the true value of Australia’s natural environment: National Ecosystem Accounts

Thursday February 27, 2025

The Australian Government has today released the first set of National Ecosystem Accounts which the government states  will help Australians better understand the value of nature to our economy and our wellbeing.

The accounts will inform the Government’s policies and decision-making processes to better measure the impacts of our actions to the environment.

The estimates measured the contribution of some of Australia’s land, freshwater and marine ecosystems to the economy in 2020-21. It shows us:

  • the storage of 34.5 million kilotonnes of carbon in grasslands, native forests, savannas and mangroves, worth over $43 billion
  • the delivery of 955 gigalitres of self-extracted surface water for agricultural use in production, worth over $125 million
  • saving more than 4,000 coastal properties from damage worth over $57 million through natural protection by mangrove ecosystems

The accounts track changes in Australia’s diverse ecosystems, across almost 1.4 billion hectares. Close to half of our land area is made up of desert or semi desert landscapes.

The estimates found that between 2011 and 2020 feral animal and weed species continued to spread. Feral species such as cats, foxes and goats are a key threat to threatened species, industry and nature.

''That’s why Labor has invested more than $550 million to better protect our threatened species, such as koalas, northern quoll and Australian sea lions, and crack down on feral animals and weeds including yellow crazy ants and crown-of-thorns starfish.'' the government stated in a release

''The accounts will underpin the world’s first Nature Repair Market, which will make it easier for business, philanthropists and others to invest into activities that protect and repair nature across Australia.''

''Today, Environment Information Australia has also published their first dashboard, drawing on this ABS data to show how nature is changing. This is part of Government’s commitment to be open and transparent about our progress towards global nature protection goals. The Albanese Labor Government has protected an extra 95 million hectares of land and sea, an area almost four times the size of the United Kingdom.''

Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek stated:

“We know Australians love spending time in nature, but this shows us its economic value too.

“After a decade of denial and decline under the Liberals and Nationals, we’ve worked overtime to protect and restore our precious environment.  The more data we have, the better we understand how nature is changing and how to best look after it. That’s why our government is releasing this information today.

“We're committed to transparency, unlike the Liberals and Nationals who sat on the State of the Environment Report because they didn’t care.

“We want to leave nature better off for our kids and grandkids. We’re investing more than $550 million to better protect threatened species and stamp out invasive species, more than $1.2 billion to protect the Great Barrier Reef, have doubled funding to our national parks, and more.”

Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Assistant Minister for Employment the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh stated:

“Australia’s natural environment isn’t just scenery - it’s a workhorse, underpinning industries, livelihoods, and entire ecosystems. Our forests bank billions in carbon, our mangroves stand between coastal homes and disaster, and our landscapes sustain communities in ways we’re only beginning to quantify.

“This new platform centralises environmental data - because making sense of nature shouldn’t be harder than assembling flat-pack furniture without the instructions. Thanks to the combined efforts of the CSIRO, ABS, and the Department of Climate Change, we’re mapping our natural assets with real precision. When we recognise nature’s value, we can make smarter choices about how to protect and invest in it for the long haul.”

National Ecosystem Accounts, experimental estimates: ABS

Estimates of the extent, condition and services provided by Australia's ecosystems, including terrestrial, coastal, freshwater and marine realms

Reference period: 2020-21 financial year

February 27, 2025

Key statistics

  • Desert ecosystems make up 50% of Australia’s terrestrial landscape, or 383.8 million hectares. 
  • In 2020–21, half of Australia’s mangroves had at least 80% canopy cover.
  • Between 2015–16 and 2020–21, 4% of natural environments adjacent to perennial rivers were converted to higher intensity land uses.

Feral animal and weed species continued to spread.

The estimates in this publication represent Australia’s first National Ecosystem Account. They include estimates for the extent and condition of Australia’s ecosystems, as well as measures of selected services and the values these services contribute to the economy. They are experimental in nature, showing what can be achieved with existing data sources and methods.

There is substantial debate in the scientific, economic and accounting community about the appropriate metrics for ecological condition and methods to measure and value ecosystem services. While the ABS has consulted widely to develop the current methodology and metrics, ongoing consultation and research will continue to inform development of the accounts and, as such, estimates and methods are likely to change in future releases.

More information about the National Ecosystem Accounts can be found in the information paper Measuring and Valuing Australia's Ecosystems.

National overview

Extent

The ecosystems in the accounts are classified hierarchically. Realms are the highest classification, which are divided into biomes, which are further divided into ecosystem functional groups. The main realms are terrestrial, marine and freshwater, with transitional realms being those that cross between terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, for example the coastal realm.

In 2020–21, Australia’s:

  • Terrestrial realm covered 711.6 million hectares, or 49% of Australia’s extent.
  • Marine realm covered 681.3 million hectares, or 47% of Australia’s extent.
  • Rivers and streams totalled 4.3 million km in length.

Ecosystem services

A selection of ecosystem services has been estimated for this publication. This does not represent an exhaustive list of the services provided by Australia’s ecosystems. In 2020–21, services provided by Australia’s ecosystems included:

Grazed biomass - 111.2 million tonnes of forage was provided, worth $40.4 billion.

Coastal protection - Mangroves protected 4,006 dwellings worth $57 million, while saltmarsh protected 566 dwellings valued at $8 million.

Climate regulation - 34.5 million kilotonnes of carbon was stored by selected ecosystems, with a value of $43.2 billion.

Water supply - 10.4 million megalitres of surface water was provided for drinking and use as a material at a value of $1.4 billion. A further 48.4 million megalitres of surface water was used as an energy source.

Wild fish provisioning - 56.3 million kilograms of fish were caught by Commonwealth fisheries, worth $39.2 million.

Terrestrial realm

The terrestrial realm represents all dry land ecosystems in Australia and includes both natural and anthropogenic ecosystems. Transitional ecosystems refer to ecosystems that cross between terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, such as estuaries and wetlands, and are reported under this section.

Terrestrial extent

The deserts and semi-deserts biome had the highest coverage of Australia’s terrestrial landscape (50%) followed by Savannas and grasslands as the next most prevalent biome (23%). The Intensive land-use biome extends over 15% of Australia’s landscape. 

Extent of terrestrial ecosystems over time, by biome

In 2020–21:

  • Sclerophyll hot deserts and semi-deserts were the most common ecosystem. Of all the states and territories, WA had the greatest area (157.5 million hectares).
  • Pyric tussock savannas were the second most common terrestrial ecosystem. Queensland had the greatest extent (38.3 million hectares).
  • Sown pastures and fields were the third most common ecosystem, with Queensland having the greatest area of Sown pastures and fields (30.3 million hectares).

Top 10 terrestrial ecosystem functional groups by extent, 2020–21

From 2015–16 to 2020–21, the greatest flows of change were within or to the Intensive land-use biome, which increased by 0.5% or 592 thousand hectares:

  • Urban and industrial ecosystems increased 281 thousand hectares (5.1% increase). Much of this was converted from farmland including 191 thousand hectares of Sown pastures and fields and 65 thousand hectares of Annual croplands. 
  • Sown pastures and fields had a net increase of 1.1 million hectares (1.7% increase), including 665 thousand hectares converted from Annual croplands and 138 thousand hectares from Plantations.
  • Semi-desert steppe (Deserts and semi-deserts biome) was the natural ecosystem with the highest conversion rate, with 169 thousand hectares replaced by Sown pastures and fields.

In 2020–21, there were 52.8 million hectares of Semi-desert steppe:

  • 25.7 million hectares (48.6%) were found in South Australia.
  • 10.0 million hectares (19.0%) were found in Western Australia.
  • 9.7 million hectares (18.3%) were found in Queensland.

New South Wales has lost 215 thousand hectares of Semi-desert steppe since 2015–16.

Terrestrial condition

Five condition variable indexes are included in the accounts:

  1. Bare ground cover (BSI Bare Soil Index) estimates the proportion of bare ground. 
  2. Vegetation productivity (kNDVI kernel Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) is used as a proxy for canopy cover. 
  3. Burnt area ratio (NBR Normalised Burn Ratio) highlights recently burned areas. 
  4. Canopy moisture (NDMI Normalised Difference Moisture Index) represents moisture content in vegetation. 
  5. Surface water availability (NDWI Normalised Difference Water Index) represents water availability (presence of water bodies).

Summaries of two of the variables are presented below. Estimates for all the condition variables can be found in the data downloads.

Bare ground cover

Bare ground cover (measured as Bare Soil Index BSI) is a measure of the amount of bare ground and is an index ranging from -1 (minimum bare ground cover) to +1 (maximum bare ground cover). 

  • The highest BSI is associated with sparsely vegetated ecosystems such as deserts, grasslands, savannas and floodplains. BSI in these drier ecosystems has increased, indicating an increased proportion of bare ground.
  • Negative BSI occurs in ecosystems with more ground cover, such as shrublands and forests.
  • The lowest BSI corresponds to densely vegetated ecosystems, such as rainforests. BSI in these vegetated ecosystems has decreased, indicating a decreased proportion of bare ground.
  • Ecosystems from the Terrestrial-Freshwater transitional realm such as marshes and wetlands tend to fluctuate over time. 

Average bare ground cover (BSI) by ecosystem

Vegetation productivity

The kernel Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (kNDVI) measures the light reflected from leaf pigments to estimate photosynthetic activity. High values indicate dense and highly productive vegetation. Low values indicate sparser vegetation and lower productivity.

Forest ecosystems have the highest kNDVI, with rainforests showing the greatest productivity. These values have increased since 2015–16, with the largest increases occurring in: 

  • Tropical flooded forests and peat forests, rising from 0.13 in 2015–16 to 0.44 in 2020–21
  • Tropical/Subtropical lowland rainforests, increasing from 0.35 in 2015–16 to 0.60 in 2020–21
  • Tropical/Subtropical montane rainforests, increasing from 0.43 to 0.63 in 2020–21.

Desert ecosystems have the lowest kNDVI, and these values have decreased:

  • Semi-desert steppe reduced from 0.05 in 2015–16 to 0.03 in 2020–21.
  • Sclerophyll hot deserts and semi-deserts fell from 0.06 in 2015–16 to 0.04 in 2020–21.

Average vegetation productivity (kNDVI) by ecosystem

Terrestrial ecosystem services

Terrestrial ecosystems provide many ecosystem services. This account estimates grazed biomass provisioning and global climate regulation for select ecosystems. 

Grazed biomass provisioning

In Australia, livestock are grazed on improved pastures, including Sown pastures and fields from the Intensive land-use biome, and other grazed lands, such as natural pastures/grasslands, rangelands, woodland/shrubland, forested areas and swamps/wetlands. 

During 2020–21, these ecosystems provided 111.2 million tonnes of forage for grazed sheep and beef cattle with a value of $40.4 billion.

  • Improved pastures provided 52.4 million tonnes while other grazed lands provided 58.8 million tonnes.
  • Queensland had the highest contribution to grazed biomass (46.0 million tonnes/year, worth $17.0 billion).
  • Beef cattle and calves consumed 91.5 million tonnes/year of forage worth $33.1 billion. Beef cattle and calves were more commonly grazed on Other grazed lands (54.1 million tonnes/year, 59%) than Improved pastures. 
  • Sheep and lambs consumed 19.8 million tonnes/year of forage, worth $7.3 billion. Sheep and lambs mainly foraged on Improved pastures (15.0 million tonnes/year, 76%).

Grazed biomass provisioning services by State/Territory, 2020–21

Global climate regulation

Carbon retention services for a select group of ecosystems were estimated at 34.5 million kilotonnes of stored carbon (ktC) nationally in 2020–21.

  • Grasslands contained the most carbon (14.4 million ktC), driven by Western Australia (5.4 million ktC) and South Australia (2.9 million ktC).
  • Native forests contained over 14 million ktC, dominated by Queensland (5.4 million ktC), then New South Wales (3.4 million ktC) and Western Australia (2.5 million ktC).
  • Savannas, located in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia, contained 5.7 million ktC.
  • Western Australia (9.5 million ktC) and Queensland (9.1 million ktC) stored the most carbon, followed by the Northern Territory (5.4 million ktC) and New South Wales (4.8 million ktC).

Note that carbon retention totals were only produced for a select number of ecosystems including mangroves, savannas, native forests and grasslands. All other ecosystems were excluded due to limitations in input data.

Carbon retention by State/Territory, 2020–21

Native forests and Grasslands comprise over 80% of the value of carbon retention, reflecting their physical share in terms of the stock of carbon.

  • In 2020–21, the carbon retention value was estimated at $43.2 billion.
  • In 2015–16, the carbon retention value was estimated at $19.4 billion.

The increase in the value between 2015–16 and 2020–21 reflects the impact of a higher Australian Carbon Unit Auction price (by nearly 43% between 2015–16 and 2020–21) and a higher inflation rate that affects the return in estimating the annuity. 

Coastal realm

Mangroves and saltmarsh are coastal wetlands that are regularly inundated with tidal sea water.

Coastal extent

In 2020–21, mangroves covered 1.1 million hectares of Australia’s coastal areas. 

  • Most mangroves were located in Queensland (39.0%), the Northern Territory (37.7%) and Western Australia (20.2%). 
  • There were no mangroves in Tasmania or the ACT.

In 2020–21, saltmarsh covered 493.7 thousand hectares of Australia’s coastal areas.

  • Most saltmarsh were located in the Northern Territory (53.5%), Queensland (22.0%) and Western Australia (11.0%).
  • The Australian Capital Territory had no saltmarsh.

Mangrove and saltmarsh extent by State/Territory, 2020–21

Coastal condition

Mangrove canopy cover reflects canopy density and is used as a measure of condition to indicate the overall health and productivity of mangrove forests. Monitoring changes to mangrove canopy cover can help describe how mangrove forests are responding to environmental changes as reduction in canopy cover is typical when mangroves experience ecosystem disturbance. The classifications of canopy cover are:

  • Woodland – 20–50% canopy cover
  • Open forest – 50–80% canopy cover
  • Closed forest – 80–100% canopy cover
  • Unclassified – Data on canopy cover not available

In 2020–21, half of Australian mangroves consisted of closed forest, the most dense canopy cover.

  • Closed forest was the most prevalent type in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, where 97% of mangroves are located.
  • Open forest was more prevalent across the small extent of mangroves in SA and Vic at the southern end of the distribution of mangrove species.
  • Closed forests increased between 2010–11 and 2020–21, from 43%, to 50%. 
  • Both open forest and woodland mangroves decreased in this time, down to 23% and 6% respectively. 
  • Canopy cover for the remaining extent of mangroves (21%) in 2020–21 was unknown. 

Mangrove condition over time, by canopy cover class

Coastal ecosystem services

Coastal protection

This method builds upon the first attempt used in the experimental National Ocean Account. The new estimates of coastal protection are significantly less than the previously published numbers due to improved methodology. They are conservative values, but are expected to be more accurate.

Mangrove and saltmarsh ecosystems reduce damage to dwellings during a storm or tidal surge by attenuating and dissipating wave and wind energy. In 2020–21:

  • Mangroves protected 4,006 dwellings and 7,653 people in the highest risk zone (up to 1 m above the Highest Astronomical Tide (HAT)).
  • Saltmarsh provided protection to 566 dwellings and 1,045 people in the high-risk zone.
  • The estimated value of avoided damages for dwellings located up to 1 m above HAT was $57 million/year for mangroves and $8 million/year for saltmarsh.

Mangroves and saltmarsh can provide protection to the same dwellings or people, so the total combined protection would be less than the sum of the two.

Dwellings protected by Mangroves and Saltmarsh by State/Territory, 2020–21

Freshwater realm

The freshwater realm includes all permanent and temporary freshwater bodies as well as saline waterbodies that are not directly connected to the ocean. The focus of this section will be the rivers and streams biome.

Freshwater extent

In Australia, the length of non-perennial (intermittent) rivers is roughly 25 times that of perennial (permanent) rivers. There are 161.2 thousand km of perennial rivers and streams across Australia:

  • New South Wales contains almost 60% of Australia’s perennial rivers.
  • Permanent upland streams account for 82.3 thousand km.
  • Permanent lowland rivers have a total length of 78.9 thousand km.

In full at: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/environment/environmental-management/national-ecosystem-accounts-experimental-estimates/2020-21

New report slaps an official price tag on Australia’s precious natural assets

Roadwarrior Photography/Shutterstock
John HawkinsUniversity of Canberra

Climate regulation through carbon storage was worth A$43.2 billion to Australia in 2020-21, according to a report released today which seeks to put a monetary value on the benefits flowing from our natural assets.

Australia’s first national ecosystem accounts were released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today. Together, they reveal the key ways our environment contributes to Australia’s economic and social wellbeing in dollar terms.

Ecosystems covered by the accounts include desert, grasslands, native forests, rivers, streams, coastal areas and oceans.

The accounts provide a holistic view of Australia’s land, freshwater and marine environments. They intend to help policymakers look beyond GDP to a broader measurement of how ecosystems contribute to society and the economy.

Valuing our ecosystems

The accounts cover services provided by Australia’s ecosystems in 2020–21.

Australian ecosystems stored more than 34.5 billion tonnes of carbon – the most valuable service by ecosystems examined in the accounts, according to the ABS.

It brought a $43.2 billion benefit to Australia in the form of climate regulation. Plants and other organisms reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by removing and storing them. This helps stabilise the climate, avoiding damage caused by climate change.

Grasslands made the biggest contribution to carbon storage, followed by native forests and savannas.

The accounts show grazed biomass, or grasslands, provide $40.4 billion in benefits, through the forage provided to cattle and sheep. The dollar figure represents what farmers would otherwise have spent on feeding their livestock.

The accounts also examined the provision of surface water taken from ecosystems, and used for drinking, energy production, cooling, irrigation and manufacturing. This was valued at $1.4 billion.

The provision of wild fish, sold to consumers to eat, was put at $39.2 million.

The accounts also reveal how coral reefs, sandbanks, dunes and mangroves protect our coastlines against tides and storm surges.

The ABS estimates mangroves protected 4,006 dwellings around Australian coastlines. This prevented more than $57 million worth of building damage.

The accounts also track changes in Australia’s ecosystems.

Some 281,000 hectares of mostly farmland were converted to urban and industrial uses between 2015–16 and 2020–21. And 169,000 hectares of “steppe” land – flat, unforested grassland – was converted to sown pastures and fields.

Feral animal and weed species continue to spread. Meanwhile, the number of threatened native species is increasing.





Why do we need ecosystem accounting?

Think of a logged forest. The value of the timber produced counts towards Australia’s gross domestic product. But cutting trees down also produces a loss. For example, the forest is no longer there for the community to enjoy. And it no longer provides “services” such as filtering water and preventing soil erosion.

There are many reasons to measure the value of those services. For example, governments might then be able to charge a logging company a licence fee which reflects the community value of the forest. A government may decide the forest is too valuable to allow logging at all, or the fee may just be set too high for any company to find it profitable to log it.

To date, the value lost when trees are cut down, or other ecosystems are damaged, has not been included in the national accounts. The new environmental accounts seek to change this.

Obviously, ecosystems are complex and difficult to measure. The ABS has been guided by an international framework developed by the United Nations.

The ecosystem accounts are a collaboration between several federal agencies: the ABS, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and the CSIRO.

Boundless plains and golden soil, girt by sea

The accounts distinguish between environmental “realms”.

About half of Australia’s terrestrial (dry land) realm is desert. About a quarter is savanna and grassland. Intensively used land, such as pastures, is a smaller proportion.

There are contrasts between the states. Western Australia has 158 million hectares of desert while Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have none. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory host 97% of Australia’s mangroves.

About half of Australia is the marine realm, covering 681 million hectares. Some 30% of this is the marine shelf and 70% deep sea. About 14 million hectares comprise coral reefs. The darker areas in the map below show where most fish are caught.



The coastal realm comprises mangroves and saltmarsh. In 2021, mangroves covered an estimated 1.1 million hectares of Australia’s coastal areas.

A small but important proportion of Australia is our freshwater realm, comprising rivers and streams. The accounts show between 2015–16 and 2020–21, 4% of natural environments along perennial rivers were converted to higher intensity land uses.

Where to now?

These accounts are just the first step in estimating the value of Australia’s natural assets.

The ABS will update Australia’s ecosystem accounts annually. It describes the inaugural accounts as “experimental” and says the government agencies involved will run a consultation process to improve them.

We can expect the accounts to become more useful over time as data accrues and trends can be identified.

According to the ABS, policy uses for the accounts include managing healthy and resilient ecosystems, and integrating biodiversity into planning.

Poet and playwright Oscar Wilde defined a cynic as someone who “knows the price of everything but the value of nothing”. In today’s society we often underrate things that do not have a dollar value attached.

So this compilation of Australia’s ecosystems, and their value to us, is a welcome development. It should lead to more informed, holistic decisions about whether natural assets should be protected, or damaged for economic benefit.The Conversation

John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Just Two Trees

From award winning film maker Bruce Walters (Avalon Now), Just Two Trees is a powerful expository that follows the ongoing fight of impassioned Pittwater locals to save two majestic gum trees from contractor's chainsaws.

In May 2024 Northern Beaches Council informed residents of Ruskin Rowe, in Avalon NSW, of its intention to remove four Flooded gums which form part of the street's historic avenue of trees. A large branch had fallen from one of the trees earlier in the year, causing damage to a resident's car that had been parked on public land in the quiet cul-de-sac.

This sparked a chain of events that ultimately lead to the removal of two of the four trees, and a month-long blockade of the remaining two by local residents and community groups. At the very core of the dispute is the notion of the risk versus the benefits of a community's unique tree canopy.

Watch the film below.

Background in 2024 reports:

Council's Draft Tree Management Policy Opens for Feedback

The Northern Beaches Council is inviting feedback on its new draft Tree Management Policy which the council states ‘aims to strengthen tree assessment and protection requirements and expand the local green links between natural areas’.

‘The draft harmonises the former council's policies and provides a consistent and strategic approach to tree management across the area.’ a release by the council says

Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins encouraged the community to have their say on the draft Policy  

“This initiative underscores our commitment to maintaining and enhancing the region's exceptional tree canopy coverage, which with an estimated 12 million trees is among the highest for an urban council in Australia.  

"Our tree canopy is a vital part of our local environment, helping to keep temperatures down, providing important habitat, and is highly valued by our local community.

The council states the new draft policy provides: 

  • a framework that supports the sustainable management and retention of safe and healthy trees 
  • supports the management of public trees through succession and new tree planting, along with proactive and reactive maintenance programs
  • preferences locally occurring native species for new plantings
  • prioritises alternative options before pursuing the removal of trees

For more information and to provide feedback, the community can visit the Your Say project page. 

The policy will be on exhibition from Monday 24 February 2025 to Sunday 30 March 2025.

Visit; https://yoursay.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/ 

Clean Up Australia Day

Sunday, 2 March 2025 - 07:00 am to 08:00 pm

Community, schools and businesses can volunteer for Clean Up Australia Day to help keep our area pristine.  Now is the time to register for this year’s community event, happening on Sunday 2nd of March 2025.

Businesses are also encouraged to join the Business Clean Up Day on Tuesday 25 February 2025 and young people can get involved in the School Clean Up Day on Friday 28 February 2025.  

To register to volunteer, visit Clean Up Australia Day.

Local Sites for 2025

Careel Bay Wetlands Clean Up
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 8:00am - 2:00am
Location: 16 WILLIAM ST, AVALON BEACH NSW 2107
Landmark: Careel Creek Wetlands Cul-de-sac
Site Supervisor: Màira Widholzer
If you a local of Avalon, a wishful future neighbor or a returning visitor come help Campos Tree Services clean up the Careel Bay Wetlands on Sunday 2nd March.
Meeting Point: At the cul-de-sac end of William Street in Avalon there is an entry to the wetlands and enough space and parking around for everyone to meet.

Scotland Island
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 10:00am - 1:00pm
Location; 1 RICHARD RD, SCOTLAND ISLAND NSW 2105
Landmark: All Scotland Island Wharves
Site Supervisor: Ian Holley

Elvina Bay Cleanup
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 9:00am - 10:00am
Meet at Elvina South Wharf @ 9am, Pickup Gloves & Bags etc.
Site Type: Public Bushland
Site Supervisor: Andy Derijk

GEM Mona Vale Clean Up
Date and time; Tuesday 25th February 2025, 9:30am
Location; 32-36 VINEYARD ST, MONA VALE NSW 2103
Site Supervisor: Hannah Antill
Site Type: Mona Vale Beach
Friday 28th February 2025; 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Meeting Point: We will meet beside the bathrooms at Mona Vale Beach from 17:00 to 19:00.
Site Supervisor: Claudinne Berta Booth
We from far north Northern Beaches are calling our children, families, and community to help us keep our beaches clean. We are joining hands-on: 
When: Friday 28th February
Time: 5:00-7:00 PM
Where: Mona Vale Beach, meeting next to the bathroom block
Please bring: gloves, containers and a picnic rug etc. 
There will be a small prize for whichever child collects the most rubbish! Looking forward to seeing you there!

Golden Seeds Clean Up Australia
Friday 28th February 2025; 10:00am - 11:00am
Location; 168 GARDEN ST, NORTH NARRABEEN NSW 2101
Site Type: Parks
Meeting Point: Meet at the centre to receive your gloves and biodegradable rubbish bag, we will then make our way through the wetlands and waterfall and collect any rubbish we find along the way.
Site Supervisor: Vicky Hayes
Golden Seeds Early Learning is proudly taking part in Clean Up Australia Day to help maintain a clean and healthy environment. Through this initiative, children are engaged in hands-on activities that teach sustainability, encouraging them to take care of their surroundings while actively contributing to their community.

Northern Beaches Rotoract
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 11:00am - 1:00pm
Location; 1359 PITTWATER RD, NARRABEEN NSW 2101
Landmark: Berry Reserve
Site Type: Parks
Meeting Point: Near the B-line bus stop
Site Supervisor: Laura Cree

Clean up Australia Day Wimbledon Reserve
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 9:00am - 12:00pm
Meeting Point: Wimbledon Reserve Wimbledon Avenue North Narrabeen
Site Supervisor: Ricki Shires
Meet at Wimbledon Reserve from 9am on Sunday 2nd March help clean up a designated Area under Adult supervision Finish at 12 noon Wear suitable clothing clothing (Scouts group shirt) and hat bring gloves if you want, some provided.Bring along your own snacks and drink bottle.

Adopt North Narrabeen Beach
Clean Up Aust Day event: Sunday 2 March
Time: 4 - 5pm
Meet: North Narrabeen - Carpark Cnr Ocean St & Malcolm St, Grass reserve next to North Narrabeen SLSC
BYO – buckets, reusable gloves, reusable water bottle, hat, sunscreen.
Lookout for the blue Surfrider teardrop banner. 
Rally your friends and see you there!
Our Oceans Needs more friends like you!
Adopt a Beach on Clean Up Australia Day. Join our ocean loving community in Manly to keep our beach free of pollution.
The Adopt A Beach program is a Surfrider Foundation ocean conservation Initiative to tackle ocean plastics and pollution on Sydney's Northern beaches.
When: 1st Sunday of every month www.surfrider.org.au/impact/adoptabeach

Clean Up Australia - Narrabeen Pittwater Branch ALP
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: 3 WAKEHURST PKWY, NORTH NARRABEEN NSW 2101
Site Type: River/Creek
Meeting Point: The Community Hall Narrabeen
Site Supervisor: Pam Ward OAM

Collaroy Beach & Park Clean Up
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 10:30am - 11:30am
Landmark: The Collaroy
Site Type: Beach/Coastal
Meeting Point: Next to the beach on the Sloppy Tee's side of The Collaroy
Site Supervisor: Jane Wessling

Long Reef Beach
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 8:00am - 9:00am
Location; 933 PITTWATER RD, COLLAROY NSW 2097
Landmark: Long Reef Beach (lagoon entrance) at the far right end of the carpark
Site Type: Beach/Coastal
Meeting Point: We will be cleaning the beach and lagoon area at Long Reef. If you drive into the car park at Long Reef you will see the Long Reef Surf Life Saving Club straight ahead if you follow the car park to the right as far as it goes you will find us on the beach by the lagoon. I will be wearing a hi-vis vest!
Site Supervisor: Sara Bowtell
Come and join us to celebrate Clean Up Australia Day 2025 and 35 years of Clean Up Australia Day! This has been a great event over the last few years with helpers ranging in age from under 5's to 90 year olds! Everyone is welcome to join, all equipment is provided gloves, bags etc, so if you can spare some time we would love to see you to help clean up the Lagoon and Beach area.

Dee Why Lagoon clean up
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 9:30am
Location: 35-39 RICHMOND AVE, DEE WHY NSW 2099
Site Type: Beach/Coastal
Meeting Point: Little rectangular park opposite 35-39 Richmond Avenue, Dee Why
Site Supervisor: Philippe Finance
Cleaning up Dee Why lagoon, focusing on Dee Why side (rather than Collaroy), 

Many Hands Lightens The Load - Dee Why Beach
Sunday 9th March 2025; 8:00am
Location: 1 THE STRAND, DEE WHY NSW 2099
Site Type: Beach/Coastal
Meeting Point: Dee why surf club
Site Supervisor: Mary Cornelius
Dee Why Beach is my favourite place and draws crowds to enjoy our beautiful suburb of Sydney. Litter is an eyesore but our ocean creatures have to contend with rubbish left behind such as plastic bags, fishermen lines, little bits of plastic and I’d love to see our wildlife flourish in a litter free surround. 

Bush Kindy Clean UP - Manly Dam Area
Dear Families and Friends,

We are excited to announce that on 4th March, the Possums and Kookaburras will be participating in Clean Up Australia Day! Our goal is to contribute to cleaning the Manly Dam area in the beautiful surroundings of Allambie Heights. This will be a wonderful opportunity for the children to engage in environmental stewardship and show their love for the bush, a special part of our community.

We would love for you to join us in making a positive impact on our local environment. By participating, you can demonstrate to your child/children the importance of caring for the places they love.

We will be leaving ABK at 10:00 AM on the day of the event. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me, and I will add you to the volunteer list.

We look forward to a meaningful and fun-filled day as we work together to make a difference!

Kind regards,

Natalia Melo, 
Assistant Director and Diploma Educator.

Clean Up Manly Lagoon
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 8:00am - 10:00am
Location: 1 CAMERON AVE, MANLY NSW 2095
Landmark: Manly Lagoon Park, Tents will be set up next to the kids playground
Site Type: Parks
Site Supervisor: Melanie Koeman
Join Manly Lagoon Friends for the biggest ever Clean Up Australia Day!

AUSMAP - Microplastic Survey with the Cove Collective - Manly
Date and time: Sunday 2nd March 2025; 9:00am - 11:00am
Occurs: Monthly
Location: 1a West Esplanade, Manly NSW 2095
Landmark: The grass patch outside the Manly Art Gallery and Museum
Site Type: Beach/Coastal
Meeting Point: Meet at the grass patch outside the Manly Art Gallery and Museum. Look for the AUSMAP flag! This event occurs the first Sunday of every month!
Site Supervisor: Natasha Franklin

AUSMAP (Australian Microplastic Assessment Project) is excited to announce several national Clean Up Australia day events across the country in 2025!
Join AUSMAP for a unique experience and sample your local beach for microplastics using THE AUSMAP microplastic citizen science method. Contribute real scientific data to the largest microplastic data set in the country and possibly the world!
This event is suitable for all ages, bring your family along to learn about microplastics and be a scientist for the day!
Be a part of the change and HELP put microplastics on the map! 
The day will be in collaboration with the cove collective:
  • Beach clean with @eco.adventure.crew
  • Become a Citizen Scientist for the day with @ausmap_au
  • Strawkle with @operationstraw
Gloves and bags provided, but please wear sun-smart clothing, enclosed shoes, and a hat.
Look forward to seeing you all there! Any questions, please email events@ausmap.org

Adopt Manly Beach - Clean Up Australia Day
Date and time: Sunday 2nd March 2025, 4:00pm - 1:00am
Occurs: Monthly
Location: Manly Beach front - opp Ben & Jerry's Icecream
Landmark: https://maps.app.goo.gl/yPK3fs9rUrR6Liwh8
Site Type: Beach/Coastal
Meeting Point: Meet: Manly beachfront - South Steyne grass reserve opposite Ben & Jerry’s & Manly Grill Restaurant. Map location - https://maps.app.goo.gl/yPK3fs9rUrR6Liwh8
Site Supervisor: Jude Furniss
BYO – buckets, reusable gloves, reusable water bottle, hat, sunscreen.
Lookout for the blue Surfrider teardrop banner.
Rally your friends and see you there!
Our Oceans Needs more friends like you!

Adopt a Beach 
Join our ocean loving community in Manly to keep our beach free of pollution.
The Adopt A Beach program is a Surfrider Foundation ocean conservation Initiative to tackle ocean plastics and pollution on Sydney's Northern beaches.
When: 1st Sunday of every month https://www.surfrider.org.au/impact/adoptabeach/

Adopt Manly Cove Harbour
Clean Up Aust Day event: Sunday 2 March, 4 - 5pm
Meet: Manly Cove - Manly Wharf West Esplanade harbour beach (opp Hugo's restaurant)
BYO – buckets, reusable gloves, reusable water bottle, hat, sunscreen.
Lookout for the blue Surfrider teardrop banner. Rally your friends and see you there!
Meeting Point: Manly Cove - Manly Wharf West Esplanade side harbour beach (opp Hugos Restaurant) https://maps.app.goo.gl/jpJfCN6obQtsjwV26
Site Supervisor: Jude Furniss

Our Oceans Needs more friends like you!
Adopt a Beach on Clean Up Australia Day
Join our ocean loving community in Manly to keep our beach free of pollution.
The Adopt A Beach program is a Surfrider Foundation ocean conservation Initiative to tackle ocean plastics and pollution on Sydney's Northern beaches.
When: 1st Sunday of every month https://www.surfrider.org.au/impact/adoptabeach/

Little Manly Beach and Little Manly Point park
Sunday 2nd March 2025; 8:00am - 12:30pm
Meeting Point: Little Manly Beach
Site Supervisor: Catherine Griffin
Little Manly beach was one of the first locations for a Clean up Australia. Whilst we are still going strong sadly so is the litter in the surrounding area. We will be up early starting at 8 and finishing at 12.30 so come with friend and family to grab some gloves and a bag and give the place a thorough clean. Council racks the beach every day, but it is those awkward hard to get nooks and crannies under the trees and on the rocky shoreline that gets missed. The beach and park always looks amazing after its Clean Up Australia Day spring clean. TIA

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo Feeding time

'' The chicks remain with the parents all year round and family groups will stay together indefinitely.'' - Australian Museum

Pictures taken Thursday February 27, 2025 at 5.30pm, Careel Bay

Australia’s Eucalypt of the Year 2025: The Travel Edition voting opens 

Australia’s much-loved Eucalypt of the Year 2025 voting is now open. This year, in a departure from previous years, voters won’t be asked to pick their favourite gumtree, but their favourite eucalypt-filled destination.

“In our eighth consecutive Eucalypt of the Year, we want to celebrate the sheer diversity of our eucalypts by showcasing ten iconic eucalypt destinations around Australia,” says Linda Baird, CEO of Eucalypt Australia.

“This much-loved day aims to raise awareness of eucalypts and celebrate the important place they hold in the hearts and lives of Australians. This year, we want Australians to get behind their favourite destination and vote for their favourite ‘holiday amongst the gumtrees’ to really put it on the map as a unique eucalypt location.

“From the Snow Gums in the High Country, to the eucalypt diversity of the Blue Mountains and destinations in every state and territory across the country, there is a personal favourite for everyone!” says Linda.

People can vote for their favourite eucalypt destination until Thursday 20th March at www.eucalyptaustralia.org.au

The winning eucalypt holiday spot will be announced on National Eucalypt Day, Sunday March 23. National Eucalypt Day is Australia’s biggest annual celebration of eucalypts held every year to celebrate and promote Australia’s eucalypts and what they mean to our lives and hearts.

You can tell us how you voted on social media by tagging @EucalyptAus using the hashtag #EucalyptoftheYear2025.

The ten contenders for 2025 Eucalypt of the Year are:

  • Alpine Rainbows: Snow Gums in the High Country - ACT/NSW/Vic
  • Ghosts of Central Australia - NT
  • Shades of Splendour: Eucalypt Diversity in the Blue Mountains - NSW
  • Regents of the Otways: Mountain Ash - Vic
  • Bronzed Beauties of the Great Western Woodlands - WA
  • Kakadu’s Secrets of the Savanna - NT
  • Epic Elders of the Styx and Huon Valleys - Tas
  • Resilient River Reds of Ikara-Flinders Ranges - SA
  • Wondrous Forests of the Walpole Wilderness - WA
  • Tropical Treasures of Magnetic Island - Qld

Shades of Splendour: Eucalypt diversity in the Blue Mountains NSW

On Sydney’s doorstep, a blue haze hangs above a scenic playground cloaked in eucalypts of every description. Locals and tourists alike flock to hike, climb, kayak and fly amongst the greatest diversity of eucalypts in the world, with more than 100 eucalypt species calling the Greater Blue Mountains home.

Notable Species:

Sydney Blue Gum, Eucalyptus saligna

Scribbly Gums, E. sclerophylla, racemosa and rossii

Narrow-leaved Apple, Angophora bakeri

Red Bloodwood, Corymbia gummifera

Blue Mountains Mallee, Eucalyptus stricta

Faulconbridge Mallee Ash, Eucalyptus burgessiana

Image: © Lovleah via Canva.com

MAG&M stages Signs in the Sand

Manly Art Gallery & Museum’s (MAG&M) is partnering with contemporary artist Anna Madeleine Raupach to create an innovative approach to raising awareness for environmental issues in its latest exhibition Signs in the Sand: Anna Madaleine Raupach’s Climate Sign Archiveopening on 11 March 2025.

Signs in the Sand, an immersive augmented reality (AR) installation, is a continuation of respected artist, Anna Madeleine Raupach’s Climate Sign Project. The exhibition will form part of MAG&M’s program for Climate Action Week (10-16 March).

In mid-February the Collective for Environmental Art & Design (CEAD) Forum is being held, where participants will be asked to create climate action signs for Signs in the Sand. Raupach will digitise these signs, add them to her growing archive and place them virtually in the sand along Manly Cove.  

During the Signs in the Sand exhibition, 11 March to 11 May 2025, visitors can engage with these artworks via a QR code downloaded to their electronic device.

Northern Beaches Mayor, Sue Heins expressed enthusiasm for the premise and personal engagement of the exhibition.

“Signs in the Sand is a powerful example of how art and technology can come together to address urgent environmental issues.

“This exhibition not only highlights the creativity and innovation of our community but also encourages them to reflect on the role we all play in fostering environmental and sustainability awareness and action,” Mayor Heins said.

The exhibition will feature digitised signs from Raupach’s archive, as well as the new signs created during the CEAD (Collective for Environmental Art & Design) Forum in February. These AR installations will be displayed along Manly Cove’s beachfront and within MAG&M, providing an immersive interactive experience for visitors. QR codes placed at MAG&M will link visitors to the project’s AR platform, allowing them to engage with the artwork in a unique and meaningful way.

Signs in the Sand is part of MAG&M’s commitment to presenting art and ideas that drive real-world environmental change through the CEAD program. The exhibition aligns with MAG&M’s mission to inspire interdisciplinary creativity and meaningful dialogue about sustainability.

The exhibition is free and open to the public, making it accessible for everyone to enjoy and participate in this important conversation about the environment.

See first-hand how art and technology can work together towards environmental change.

Weekly curator’s walk-through

Thursday mornings at 11am. Please meet in the foyer of Manly Art Gallery & Museum.

FREE - No booking required 

Location: Manly Art Gallery & Museum, 1a West Esplanade, Manly 

Image courtesy Anna Madeleine Raupach

‘1080 pest management’

Applies until Friday August 1st 2025. 

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service will be conducting a baiting program using manufactured baits, fresh baits and Canid Pest Ejectors (CPEs) containing 1080 poison (sodium fluroacetate) for the control of foxes. The program is continuous and ongoing between 1 February 2025 and 31 July 2025 in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Don’t touch baits or ejector devices. Penalties apply for non-compliance.

All baiting locations are identifiable by signs.

Domestic pets are not permitted in NSW national parks and reserves. Pets and working dogs may be affected (1080 is lethal to cats and dogs). In the event of accidental poisoning seek immediate veterinary assistance.

Fox baiting in these reserves is aimed at reducing their impact on threatened species.

For more information, contact the local park office on:

Forestville 9451 3479 or Lane Cove 8448 0400 (business hours)

NPWS after-hours call centre: 1300 056 294 (after hours)

Closed areas: Major works in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

Applies from Wed 05 Feb 2025, 8.59am to Fri 28 Mar 2025, 5.00pm. 

Major works are currently being undertaken to upgrade the sewerage system in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. As a result, there may be small delays experienced on Ku-ring-gai Chase Road on weekdays.

There will also be a partial closure of the Apple Tree Bay picnic area, with the back section being inaccessible to the public during these works. Penalties apply for non-compliance. For more information, contact the local park office on (02) 8448 0400.

 

Please Remember to leave water out for wildlife on hot days

With the BOM forecasting heatwave conditions to return over the weekend and into next week please remember to put out bowls of water in shady positions for wildlife. For lizards and smaller birds a shallow dish with some sticks or twigs via which to get out again are best. If you have a birdbath, these too are best placed out of the sun so the water doesn't overheat.

Photo: Bush Turkey dug itself a cooling dirt pit under the hedge in the PON yard on Tuesday January 28 2025 when Sydney temperatures hit 40+ degrees. The baby Bush Turkey seen a in December has grown and it too was spending time in the shade.

Reporting Dogs Offleash - Dog Attacks to Council


If the attack happened outside local council hours, you may call your local police station. Police officers are also authorised officers under the Companion Animals Act 1998. Authorised officers have a wide range of powers to deal with owners of attacking dogs, including seizing dogs that have attacked.

You can report dog attacks, along with dogs offleash where they should not be, to the NBC anonymously and via your own name, to get a response, at: https://help.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/s/submit-request?topic=Pets_Animals

If the matter is urgent or dangerous call Council on 1300 434 434 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

If you find injured wildlife please contact:
  • Sydney Wildlife Rescue (24/7): 9413 4300 
  • WIRES: 1300 094 737

NSW’s State Fish, the Eastern Blue Groper, will continue being protected

Friday February 28, 2025

The NSW Government today announced that the State’s Fish, the Eastern Blue groper, will continue to be protected following scientific advice and community feedback.

Consequently, the no-line fishing prohibition, implemented 12 months ago, will continue for a further three years from 1 March 2025 to enable further research and monitoring on the species.

This decision combines with the long-term existing prohibition on spearfishing and commercial fishing of the Eastern Blue Groper to continue the temporary prohibition of line fishing.

This decision has been taken after the Government considered a range of important factors including recently published scientific information that raised concerns about the potential impacts of climate change and that caution should be taken in managing the species due to their unique biological traits.

The State’s Fish holds a special place for many people and communities, and this has also contributed to the decision to continue the fishing prohibition of the iconic Eastern Blue Groper.

This decision aligns with the situation in Victoria where for a long period of time there has been a prohibition of line fishing, spear fishing and commercial fishing for the Blue Groper.

The Government is committed to the sound management of our fisheries resources while also enabling the important activity of recreational fishing to be undertaken along the coast and inland waters of NSW.

Steps were taken early last year by the Government to ensure the protection of the State’s Fish, by placing a 12 month prohibition on line fishing for the fish, so research could be done to ascertain the best way to manage the Blue Groper and to enable community consultation.

The protection afforded by a prohibition on fishing was required following a community outcry on the behaviour of persons found illegally spearing the fish along the NSW coast and a concern for the sustainability of the species.

During the 12-month period of the ban, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development undertook both community engagement, comprehensive research and stock assessment of the Blue Groper.

The stock assessment concluded that the Eastern Blue Groper is in a sustainable position, however there is a risk the species is being impacted by climate change and warming waters.

The decision to continue a ban of line fishing will afford protection for the State Fish while the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development continue scientific monitoring and research of this important species, including looking at how the community can get involved through citizen science programs.

NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said:

“NSW’s State Fish, the Eastern Blue Groper, will continue being protected after the Government considered a range of advice, community feedback and scientific research.

“There is a strong community interest in the State’s iconic Eastern Blue Groper, and there is a community expectation that we take every step possible to understand any potential impacts that climate change may be having on the species.

“Three further years of scientific monitoring will deliver a deeper level of understanding of how this wonderful fish is coping with warming conditions and what impact those conditions are having on the population, particularly in our inshore waters where people interact with the Eastern Blue Groper.

“I know some fishers will be disappointed, but I also know there are many in the NSW community, including fishers, who want this State Fish protected and that is what the Government is doing.”

Background: Remember Gus the Groper?

Cate Faehrmann MLC, Greens NSW spokesperson, commenced circulating a petition in February 2025 calling for a permanent ban on on blue groper fishing and for marine sanctuaries across NSW to be restored.


In October 2021 a man was fined $10,000 in Manly Court for exceeding the possession limit of abalone at Mona Vale. He also had speared a Blue Groper, one of the aquatic residents of that place.

Another large Blue Groper who once inhabited the rock shelfs off Palm Beach rock pool for years has also disappeared.

Ms Faehrmann's petition reads:

''Just over a year ago, our collective hearts broke when beloved blue groper, Gus, was tragically killed by a spearfisher off the coast of Cronulla. Then, just a few weeks later, another three blue gropers met the same fate in Jervis Bay.

Spearfishing gropers has been illegal for some time in NSW, but a loophole exists for anglers to legally catch and kill up to two gropers a day. 

The killing of Gus really touched a nerve and as a result of a huge public outcry the government imposed a 12 month fishing ban on blue gropers. But that protection is set to expire in a little over a week on 28 February, meaning these friendly and iconic creatures may soon be legally hooked and killed again. 

The blue groper isn’t just any fish. 

It’s the state fish of NSW, plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems, and holds deep cultural significance for many First Nations peoples.

Unfortunately though, their slow growth, unique social structures, and friendly nature make them especially vulnerable to fishing. Research also shows that with climate change warming our oceans, the NSW blue groper population has halved since 2008.

The last thing they need for their survival is for this fishing ban to be lifted. And while the Minister is at it we’re calling on her to restore the marine sanctuaries that were opened to fishing under the outrageous decision of the former Government’s National Party minister.

Please help us honour Gus’ memory and protect blue gropers for future generations: Add your voice to urge the Minister to permanently ban blue groper fishing and restore marine sanctuaries across NSW.

It was people power that won us the initial ban Eric, and we can do it again now. 

We know marine sanctuaries are critical to provide protected spaces for fish like the Blue Groper and other marine animals to thrive, allowing species and habitat to recover.

Let’s make sure these incredible creatures remain safe in our waters. Click here to take action now.''

Sydney's koala population- a Catch-22

by University of Sydney

February 27, 2025

New research from the University of Sydney highlights the unique existential dilemma faced by Sydney’s koala population. 

These populations in south-western Sydney are among the very few in New South Wales (NSW) still free of chlamydia, a highly contagious disease causing infertility that has severely diminished populations elsewhere in the continent’s eastern states.  

However, analysis of these koalas led by Dr Elspeth McLennan and Professor Carolyn Hogg at the University’s School of Environmental and Life Sciences shows how vulnerable they are to environmental threats and outbreaks of disease. Highly inbred and with low genetic diversity, they are less likely to adapt to the disease should it arrive on their doorstep.  

The findings have been published in Conservation Genetics.  

Tissue samples from 111 koalas were collected by NSW Government staff from seven sites in the south-western Sydney suburbs of Liverpool, Campbelltown, Heathcote and Wollondilly, and from Wingecarribee in the Southern Highlands.  

Genetic analysis showed a high level of interrelatedness, inbreeding and worryingly low genetic diversity across Sydney koalas.  

Low genetic diversity means populations cannot always adapt to change, making them highly susceptible to environmental threats and disease outbreaks.  

“On average, koalas in the Sydney populations have cousin or half-sibling relationships,” said Dr McLennan.  

Living in highly urbanised areas limits opportunities for Sydney’s koalas to move around and breed with populations further afield and increase the diversity needed to build resilience. However, there is a chance that koalas from the neighbouring Wollondilly Shire, where chlamydia is present, may find their way to the Sydney populations. Gene flow analysis showed koalas are moving between Wollondilly and Campbelltown, the southern-most chlamydia-free site.

“We need to ensure ongoing connectivity between all koala populations to maintain their health and resilience to threats.” - Dr Elspeth McLennan, Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science

“It’s a classic Catch-22 situation,” said Dr McLennan. “If the Wollondilly koalas breed with those elsewhere in Sydney they could increase genetic diversity. But they may bring chlamydia with them. If the latter happens, individual koalas are unlikely to have enough genetic variation to adapt to the threat.

“Instead of some individuals being able to naturally clear chlamydia without it progressing to blindness and infertility, it is possible all individuals will contract the infection whereby it progresses to the later stages of the disease.”

Dr McLennan says there is no ready solution to addressing the threats, including anthropogenic threats from climate change and ongoing urbanisation, to koalas in south-west Sydney. Simply improving habitat connectivity to increase genetic diversity may promote chlamydia spread, she said.  

“Beyond south-west Sydney, the results show the importance of managing koala populations and their surrounding landscapes. We need to ensure ongoing connectivity between all koala populations to maintain their health and resilience to threats.”

Koalas in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory were listed as endangered in 2022. Their populations have decreased 24 percent in the last 20 years. 

The research highlights an issue faced by conservationists worldwide too.  

“Without diversity, endangered species risk succumbing to disease outbreaks and environmental threats.”

More information: E. A. McLennan et al. Low genetic diversity and high inbreeding in one of the last chlamydia-free strongholds for New South Wales koalas. Conservation Genetics (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s10592-025-01682-6

Declaration: Funding for this study was provided by the New South Wales (NSW) Government Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer for the Koala Genome Survey. The research was co-authored by researchers at the the NSW Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

World Heritage values threatened by delays to the Great Koala National Park

A new report from environmental groups has found the Great Koala National Park would be eligible for World Heritage status, but says those values are under threat every day logging continues.

The Nature Conservation Council NSW (NCC), Bellingen Environment Centre and Forest Alliance of NSW co-authored the report, which also found ongoing industrial logging was a threat to existing World Heritage areas that share borders with the State Forests.

The new report, Great Koala National Park World Heritage Values, highlights that the proposed GKNP contains some of the most precious forest habitats in the world. The rainforests of north-east NSW cover only 0.3% of Australia but house half of all Australian plant families and a third of its mammal and bird species. 

The proposed GKNP contains significant areas already recognised as globally significant, having been granted World Heritage listing and listing as Interim World Heritage Areas. There are even more areas of globally significant forests that are currently open to logging and can only receive World Heritage listing if these forests are transferred to national parks. 

Ashley Love, life member of the Bellingen Environment Centre said:

“The Great Koala National Park proposal was based on protecting two of the most significant wild coastal koala meta-populations in Australia, which would most likely qualify for World Heritage listing once their habitat was adequately protected.

“These forests are already recognised as being globally significant for their diversity of Eucalypt species and unique associations with ancient rainforests. 

“World Heritage status is the pinnacle of international recognition and Australia has an obligation to protect these values.

“These values are under threat, with intensive logging continuing right up the borders of these globally significant forests and within forests that have potential to receive this globally significant recognition.”

Steve Ryan, Forests Campaigner for Nature Conservation Council NSW said:

“There has been recent logging right up the Interim World Heritage border in Hyland Nature Reserve. This is no way to treat globally significant forests.

“Increases in weeds, fire, feral animals and loss of connectivity all result from logging.

“The full protection of the proposed GKNP would connect three World Heritage Areas and create a buffer to guard their long-term survival.”

Dailan Pugh, Spokesperson for North East Forest Alliance said:

“The NSW and Commonwealth Governments committed to a review and renomination of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area back in 1996. It took them until 2010 to put forward a tentative list to the World Heritage Centre including 459,739 ha of NSW’s National Parks as additions, though there has been no progress since.

“The creation of the Great Koala National Park provides them with an opportunity to include additional areas, though they must act on their long overdue commitment to prepare a renomination for these globally significant forests.”

In 2015 the NSW Labor had already recognised these values and promised to “ensure Australia takes the NSW areas within the (interim) listing to the World Heritage Committee and gives these rainforests the international recognition and protection they so richly deserve”.

Cover of the new report, Great Koala National Park World Heritage Values

Join the flock: help protect threatened birds by becoming a citizen scientist

video by NSW Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, November 2024

The #SavingOurSpecies program, supported by citizen scientists, works on conservation projects to protect these threatened birds.

Find out how you can get involved: https://www2.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/join-flock-help-protect-threatened-birds-becoming-citizen-scientist

Plastic Bread Ties For Wheelchairs

The Berry Collective at 1691 Pittwater Rd, Mona Vale collects them for Oz Bread Tags for Wheelchairs, who recycle the plastic.

Berry Collective is the practice on the left side of the road as you head north, a few blocks before Mona Vale shops . They have parking. Enter the foyer and there's a small bin on a table where you drop your bread ties - very easy.

A full list of Aussie bread tags for wheelchairs is available at: HERE 


Volunteers for Barrenjoey Lighthouse Tours needed

Details:

Stay Safe From Mosquitoes 

NSW Health is reminding people to protect themselves from mosquitoes when they are out and about this summer.

NSW Health’s Acting Director of Environmental Health, Paul Byleveld, said with more people spending time outdoors, it was important to take steps to reduce mosquito bite risk.

“Mosquitoes thrive in wet, warm conditions like those that much of NSW is experiencing,” Byleveld said.

“Mosquitoes in NSW can carry viruses such as Japanese encephalitis (JE), Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE), Kunjin, Ross River and Barmah Forest. The viruses may cause serious diseases with symptoms ranging from tiredness, rash, headache and sore and swollen joints to rare but severe symptoms of seizures and loss of consciousness.

“People should take extra care to protect themselves against mosquito bites and mosquito-borne disease, particularly after the detection of JE in a sentinel chicken in Far Western NSW.

The NSW Health sentinel chicken program provides early warning about the presence of serious mosquito borne diseases, like JE. Routine testing in late December revealed a positive result for JE in a sample from Menindee. 

A free vaccine to protect against JE infection is available to those at highest risk in NSW and people can check their eligibility at NSW Health.

People are encouraged to take actions to prevent mosquito bites and reduce the risk of acquiring a mosquito-borne virus by:
  • Applying repellent to exposed skin. Use repellents that contain DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Check the label for reapplication times.
  • Re-applying repellent regularly, particularly after swimming. Be sure to apply sunscreen first and then apply repellent.
  • Wearing light, loose-fitting long-sleeve shirts, long pants and covered footwear and socks.
  • Avoiding going outdoors during peak mosquito times, especially at dawn and dusk.
  • Using insecticide sprays, vapour dispensing units and mosquito coils to repel mosquitoes (mosquito coils should only be used outdoors in well-ventilated areas)
  • Covering windows and doors with insect screens and checking there are no gaps.
  • Removing items that may collect water such as old tyres and empty pots from around your home to reduce the places where mosquitoes can breed.
  • Using repellents that are safe for children. Most skin repellents are safe for use on children aged three months and older. Always check the label for instructions. Protecting infants aged less than three months by using an infant carrier draped with mosquito netting, secured along the edges.
  • While camping, use a tent that has fly screens to prevent mosquitoes entering or sleep under a mosquito net.
Remember, Spray Up – Cover Up – Screen Up to protect from mosquito bite. For more information go to NSW Health.

Mountain Bike Incidents On Public Land: Survey

This survey aims to document mountain bike related incidents on public land, available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K88PSNP

Sent in by Pittwater resident Academic for future report- study. The survey will run for 12 months and close in February 2025.

Report fox sightings

Fox sightings, signs of fox activity, den locations and attacks on native or domestic animals can be reported into FoxScan. FoxScan is a free resource for residents, community groups, local Councils, and other land managers to record and report fox sightings and control activities. 

Our Council's Invasive species Team receives an alert when an entry is made into FoxScan.  The information in FoxScan will assist with planning fox control activities and to notify the community when and where foxes are active.



marine wildlife rescue group on the Central Coast

A new wildlife group was launched on the Central Coast on Saturday, December 10, 2022.

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast (MWRCC) had its official launch at The Entrance Boat Shed at 10am.

The group comprises current and former members of ASTR, ORRCA, Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace, WIRES and Wildlife ARC, as well as vets, academics, and people from all walks of life.

Well known marine wildlife advocate and activist Cathy Gilmore is spearheading the organisation.

“We believe that it is time the Central Coast looked after its own marine wildlife, and not be under the control or directed by groups that aren’t based locally,” Gilmore said.

“We have the local knowledge and are set up to respond and help injured animals more quickly.

“This also means that donations and money fundraised will go directly into helping our local marine creatures, and not get tied up elsewhere in the state.”

The organisation plans to have rehabilitation facilities and rescue kits placed in strategic locations around the region.

MWRCC will also be in touch with Indigenous groups to learn the traditional importance of the local marine environment and its inhabitants.

“We want to work with these groups and share knowledge between us,” Gilmore said.

“This is an opportunity to help save and protect our local marine wildlife, so if you have passion and commitment, then you are more than welcome to join us.”

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast has a Facebook page where you may contact members. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076317431064


Watch out - shorebirds about

Summer is here so watch your step because beach-nesting and estuary-nesting birds have started setting up home on our shores.
Did you know that Careel Bay and other spots throughout our area are part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP)?

This flyway, and all of the stopping points along its way, are vital to ensure the survival of these Spring and Summer visitors. This is where they rest and feed on their journeys.  For example, did you know that the bar-tailed godwit flies for 239 hours for 8,108 miles from Alaska to Australia?

Not only that, Shorebirds such as endangered oystercatchers and little terns lay their eggs in shallow scraped-out nests in the sand, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Threatened Species officer Ms Katherine Howard has said.
Even our regular residents such as seagulls are currently nesting to bear young.

What can you do to help them?
Known nest sites may be indicated by fencing or signs. The whole community can help protect shorebirds by keeping out of nesting areas marked by signs or fences and only taking your dog to designated dog offleash area. 

Just remember WE are visitors to these areas. These birds LIVE there. This is their home.

Four simple steps to help keep beach-nesting birds safe:
1. Look out for bird nesting signs or fenced-off nesting areas on the beach, stay well clear of these areas and give the parent birds plenty of space.
2. Walk your dogs in designated dog-friendly areas only and always keep them on a leash over summer.
3. Stay out of nesting areas and follow all local rules.
4. Chicks are mobile and don't necessarily stay within fenced nesting areas. When you're near a nesting area, stick to the wet sand to avoid accidentally stepping on a chick.


Possums In Your Roof?: do the right thing

Possums in your roof? Please do the right thing 
On the weekend, one of our volunteers noticed a driver pull up, get out of their vehicle, open the boot, remove a trap and attempt to dump a possum on a bush track. Fortunately, our member intervened and saved the beautiful female brushtail and the baby in her pouch from certain death. 

It is illegal to relocate a trapped possum more than 150 metres from the point of capture and substantial penalties apply.  Urbanised possums are highly territorial and do not fare well in unfamiliar bushland. In fact, they may starve to death or be taken by predators.

While Sydney Wildlife Rescue does not provide a service to remove possums from your roof, we do offer this advice:

✅ Call us on (02) 9413 4300 and we will refer you to a reliable and trusted licenced contractor in the Sydney metropolitan area. For a small fee they will remove the possum, seal the entry to your roof and provide a suitable home for the possum - a box for a brushtail or drey for a ringtail.
✅ Do-it-yourself by following this advice from the Department of Planning and Environment: 

❌ Do not under any circumstances relocate a possum more than 150 metres from the capture site.
Thank you for caring and doing the right thing.



Sydney Wildlife photos

Aviaries + Possum Release Sites Needed

Pittwater Online News has interviewed Lynette Millett OAM (WIRES Northern Beaches Branch) needs more bird cages of all sizes for keeping the current huge amount of baby wildlife in care safe or 'homed' while they are healed/allowed to grow bigger to the point where they may be released back into their own home. 

If you have an aviary or large bird cage you are getting rid of or don't need anymore, please email via the link provided above. There is also a pressing need for release sites for brushtail possums - a species that is very territorial and where release into a site already lived in by one possum can result in serious problems and injury. 

If you have a decent backyard and can help out, Lyn and husband Dave can supply you with a simple drey for a nest and food for their first weeks of adjustment.

Bushcare in Pittwater: where + when

For further information or to confirm the meeting details for below groups, please contact Council's Bushcare Officer on 9970 1367 or visit Council's bushcare webpage to find out how you can get involved.

BUSHCARE SCHEDULES 
Where we work                      Which day                              What time 

Avalon     
Angophora Reserve             3rd Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Dunes                        1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Golf Course              2nd Wednesday                 3 - 5:30pm 
Careel Creek                         4th Saturday                      8:30 - 11:30am 
Toongari Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon (8 - 11am in summer) 
Bangalley Headland            2nd Sunday                         9 to 12noon 
Catalpa Reserve              4th Sunday of the month        8.30 – 11.30
Palmgrove Park              1st Saturday of the month        9.00 – 12 

Bayview     
Winnererremy Bay                 4th Sunday                        9 to 12noon 

Bilgola     
North Bilgola Beach              3rd Monday                        9 - 12noon 
Algona Reserve                     1st Saturday                       9 - 12noon 
Plateau Park                          1st Friday                            8:30 - 11:30am 

Church Point     
Browns Bay Reserve             1st Tuesday                        9 - 12noon 
McCarrs Creek Reserve       Contact Bushcare Officer     To be confirmed 

Clareville     
Old Wharf Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      8 - 11am 

Elanora     
Kundibah Reserve                   4th Sunday                       8:30 - 11:30am 

Mona Vale     
Mona Vale Beach Basin          1st Saturday                    8 - 11am 
Mona Vale Dunes                     2nd Saturday +3rd Thursday     8:30 - 11:30am 

Newport     
Bungan Beach                          4th Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
Crescent Reserve                    3rd Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
North Newport Beach              4th Saturday                    8:30 - 11:30am 
Porter Reserve                          2nd Saturday                  8 - 11am 

North Narrabeen     
Irrawong Reserve                     2nd Saturday                   2 - 5pm 

Palm Beach     
North Palm Beach Dunes      3rd Saturday                    9 - 12noon 

Scotland Island     
Catherine Park                          2nd Sunday                     10 - 12:30pm 
Elizabeth Park                           1st Saturday                      9 - 12noon 
Pathilda Reserve                      3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon 

Warriewood     
Warriewood Wetlands             1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 

Whale Beach     
Norma Park                               1st Friday                            9 - 12noon 

Western Foreshores     
Coopers Point, Elvina Bay      2nd Sunday                        10 - 1pm 
Rocky Point, Elvina Bay           1st Monday                          9 - 12noon

Friends Of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment Activities

Bush Regeneration - Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment  
This is a wonderful way to become connected to nature and contribute to the health of the environment.  Over the weeks and months you can see positive changes as you give native species a better chance to thrive.  Wildlife appreciate the improvement in their habitat.

Belrose area - Thursday mornings 
Belrose area - Weekend mornings by arrangement
Contact: Phone or text Conny Harris on 0432 643 295

Wheeler Creek - Wednesday mornings 9-11am
Contact: Phone or text Judith Bennett on 0402 974 105
Or email: Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment : email@narrabeenlagoon.org.au

Gardens and Environment Groups and Organisations in Pittwater


Ringtail Posses 2023

Whales sing when they’ve had a good meal – new research

Stock Photos Studios/Shutterstock
Ted CheesemanSouthern Cross University and Jarrod SantoraUniversity of California, Santa Cruz

Spanning more octaves than a piano, humpback whales sing powerfully into the vast ocean. These songs are beautifully complex, weaving phrases and themes into masterful compositions. Blue and fin whales richly fill out a bass section with their own unique versions of song.

Together, these three species can create a marvellous symphony in the sea.

Published today in PLOS One, our new research reveals these baleen whale species’ response to major changes in their ecosystem can be heard in their songs.

Food for long-distance travel

The six-year study took place in whale foraging habitat in the eastern North Pacific, off the coast of California in the United States. From this biologically rich foraging habitat, the whales migrate long distances each year to breeding habitats at lower latitudes.

They eat little to nothing during their migration and winter breeding season. So they need to build up their energy stores during their annual residence in foraging habitat.

This energy, stored in their gigantic bodies, powers the animals through months of long-distance travel, mating, calving, and nursing before they return to waters off California in the spring and summer to resume foraging.

The whales eat krill and fish that can aggregate in massive schools. However, their diets are distinct.

While blue whales only eat krill, humpback whales eat krill and small schooling fish such as anchovy. If the prey species are more abundant and more densely concentrated, whales can forage more efficiently. Foraging conditions and prey availability change dramatically from year to year.

We wanted to know if these changes in the ecosystem were reflected in the whales’ acoustic behaviour.

Piecing together a complex puzzle

To track the occurrence of singing, we examined audio recordings acquired through the Monterey Accelerated Research System. This is a deep-sea observatory operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and funded by the US National Science Foundation.

Analysis of sound recordings is a highly effective way to study whales because we can hear them from quite far away. If a whale sings anywhere within thousands of square kilometres around the hydrophone, we will hear it.

Yet, piecing together the complex puzzle of whale behavioural ecology requires diverse research methods.

Our study used observations of the whales, including sound recordings, photo identification and diet analysis. It also used measurements of forage species abundance, characterisation of ecosystem conditions and theoretical modelling of sound propagation.

Our ability to probe the complex lives of these giants was enhanced for humpback whales because we had a unique data resource available for this species: extensive photo identification.

The Happywhale community science project combines photos supplied by researchers and ecotourists, and identification enabled by artificial intelligence, to recognise individual whales by the shape and coloration of their flukes.

This unique resource enabled us to examine the local abundance of humpback whales. We could also study the timing of their annual migration and how persistently individual whales occupied the study region.

A small microphone on the seafloor, with two fish swimming around it.
Scientists used a deep-sea hydrophone to keep a nearly continuous record of the ocean soundscape. MBARI

An increase in food – and in song

The study began in 2015, during a prolonged marine heatwave that caused major disruption in the foraging habitat of whales and other animals throughout the eastern North Pacific.

All three whale species sang the least during the heatwave, and sang more as foraging conditions improved over the next two years.

These patterns provided the first indications that the singing behaviour by whales may be closely related to the food available. Remarkably, whale song is an indicator of forage availability.

Further evidence was found in the striking differences between humpback and blue whales during the later years of the study.

Continued increases in detection of humpback whale song could not be explained by changes in the local abundance of whales, the timing of their annual migration, or the persistence of individuals in the study region.

However, humpback song occurrence closely tracked tremendous increases in the abundances of northern anchovy — the largest increase in 50 years. And when we analysed the skin of the humpback whales, we saw a clear shift to a fish-dominated diet.

In contrast, blue whales only eat krill, and detection of their songs plummeted with large decreases in krill abundance. Our analysis of blue whale skin revealed they were foraging over a larger geographic area to find the food they needed during these hard times in the food web.

School of small, silver fish swimming in the water.
Humpback song occurrence closely tracked tremendous increases in the abundances of northern anchovy. evantravels/Shutterstock

Predicting long-term changes

This research shows listening to whales is much more than a rich sensory experience. It’s a window into their lives, their vulnerability, and their resilience.

Humpback whales emerge from this study as a particularly resilient species. They are more able to readily adapt to changes in the ecology of the foraging habitats that sustain them. These findings can help scientists and resource managers predict how marine ecosystems and species will respond to long-term changes driven by both natural cycles and human impacts.

At a time of unprecedented change for marine life and ecosystems, collaboration across disciplines and institutions will be crucial for understanding our changing ocean.

This work was enabled by private research centres, universities and federal agencies working together. This consortium’s past work has revealed a rich new understanding of the ocean soundscape, answering fundamental questions about the ecology of ocean giants.

Who knows what more we will learn as we listen to the ocean’s underwater symphony?

Side view of a large whale swimming down from the ocean's surface.
The study’s findings can help scientists better understand how blue whales and other baleen whales respond to long-term changes in the ocean. Ajit S N/Shutterstock

This work was led by John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), with an interdisciplinary team of researchers from MBARI, Southern Cross University, Happywhale.comCascadia Research Collective, University of Wisconsin, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Centre, University of California, Santa Cruz, Naval Postgraduate School, and Stanford University.The Conversation

Ted Cheeseman, PhD Candidate, Marine Ecological Research Centre, Southern Cross University and Jarrod Santora, Research Associate, Institute of Marine Sciences and NOAA-NMFS Fisheries Ecology Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, University of California, Santa Cruz

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Presumed extinct, this desert rat-kangaroo may still be alive in hiding. New analysis reveals its delicate diet

Hedley Herbert Finlayson, The Red Centre, 1935
Rex MitchellFlinders UniversityKarl VernesUniversity of New England, and Vera WeisbeckerFlinders University

When it comes to how hard an animal can bite, size always matters.

There may be no truer a case of this than the desert rat-kangaroo (Caloprymnus campestris), known as the ngudlukanta to the traditional custodians of its Country of origin, the Wangkangurru Yarluyandi people.

This small, possibly extinct marsupial from the inhospitable Sturt Stony Desert may have had a solid skull built for hard biting. But not enough to bite through the kinds of foods biologists used to think it ate.

We discovered the lack of chomping power in the skull of this rat-kangaroo while testing new approaches for analysing skull biomechanics.

Our results, published today in the Journal of Experimental Biology, may help with ongoing searches for the elusive species.

Declared extinct 30 years ago, there remains hope the critter might still emerge in some parts of its original home range.

A difficult desert

The Sturt Stony Desert in the far north-east of South Australia is one of the world’s most inhospitable places. Few animals can make it their home.

However, one small marsupial species was known to brave the heat, drought, and scarcity of food: the ngudlukanta.

Black and white photo of desert rat-kangaroo.
The desert rat-kangaroo, known as ngudlukanta to the Wangkangurru Yarluyandi people. Hedley Herbert Finlayson, The Red Centre, 1935

The species was previously thought to be long extinct, until mammal researcher Hedley Herbert Finlayson led the rediscovery of the animal in the 1930s.

But soon after, it vanished again.

Sadly, the tiny desert dweller was officially declared extinct in 1994. Weighing just under 1kg, it would have been a perfect snack for introduced predators like foxes and cats. It was further pushed towards extinction by competition with rabbits, overstocking with cattle and sheep, and poor fire management.

Yet, exciting reports of possible sightings of the ngudlukanta still emerge sporadically. Descriptions of its distinctive compact size, combined with its short face and the hopping gait of a kangaroo, have sparked renewed interest in rediscovering this animal.

In the quest to find this elusive little battler, information about its diet is key. It can help people to keep a closer eye on areas where its favourite foods would be found.

From a bite to a diet

To better understand its diet and feeding behaviour, we turned to the animal’s skull.

The ngudlukanta had a solidly built skull, with a short and wide face. This led researchers to suggest that it could eat harder desert foods like roots, nuts and seeds.

But in our latest analysis, we showed that these assessments were probably incorrect. Instead, the animal’s diet was more likely restricted to softer materials, rather than the tougher foods eaten by some of its harder-headed relatives like the burrowing bettong.

The reason for this? It all comes down to its size.

Previous interpretations of its biting ability had drawn conclusions from comparisons of skull shape between species, but without considering size differences between them.

Our results form part of a paper that addresses this issue in the methods that researchers use. We used a method called finite element analysis, which helps to predict how a structure – in this case, a skull – would handle the forces it experiences in the real world.

But what we did differently to other researchers was to keep information about size differences between the skulls in the models.

What did we find?

The skull of the ngudlukanta is definitely efficient at biting, but it is also about one quarter smaller than the skull of the next smallest species in our sample, the northern bettong.

When we included its smaller size in the analysis, the results suggested its relatively short face and robust jaw were unlikely to help it eat harder foods.

Instead, its solid skull features mostly compensated for its small size, but would only allow it to support bites about as hard as those of the long-nosed potoroo – a larger species with a much less efficient skull at biting.

Finite element models of skull stress in three species of potoroids.
Finite element models simulating the stress of each skull during biting with the front teeth. The stress in the desert rat-kangaroo is more similar to the hard food-eating burrowing bettong when not including its small size in the models. But its stress levels are more like the long-nosed potoroo when including its small size. Authors

Early investigations of stomach contents from the 1930s tell us the ngudlukanta fed mostly on leaves and small amounts of insects. But little further detail exists. A more restricted range of softer, fresher plant materials, as suggested by our analysis, would narrow its range of preferred foods in the deserts it lived in.

Our results therefore paint a picture of a species occupying a delicate position within the desert ecosystem.

An unsolved mystery in a vast desert

In recent years, one of us (Karl Vernes) has mounted several expeditions into the ngudlukanta‘s habitat, hoping to find evidence of its continued existence.

However, finding this tiny marsupial in a vast desert is a challenge – not just because it was probably always rare and elusive, but also because we still know precious little about its ecology.

Eyewitness accounts, remote camera traps, analysis of predator scat (poo) for mammal remains, genetic testing of scats, and the expert ecological knowledge of Traditional Owners have all been used to investigate the possibility of the survival of the ngudlukanta. No definitive evidence has yet emerged.

Whether the ngudlukanta is extinct or not, therefore, remains an unsolved mystery.

But history is replete with examples of rediscovered species believed to be extinct, known as “Lazarus species”. The desert’s vast, inhospitable terrain means it is plausible for a small nocturnal species to be evading detection.

Desert rat-kangaroo side profile.
The distinctive short face of the ngudlukanta, alongside its small size and hopping gait, have led eyewitnesses to argue for its persistence. Hedley Herbert Finlayson, The Red Centre, 1935

In fact, the desert rat-kangaroo was already a Lazarus species after its rediscovery in the 1930s. The story of the ngudlukanta therefore serves as a reminder that extinction declarations are not always the end of the story.

If the species is still roaming the most inhospitable regions of the continent, the new knowledge gained from our analysis could help pinpoint areas where the ngudlukanta might persist.

Who knows? The next chapter in the story of this desert-dweller may yet surprise us.The Conversation

Rex Mitchell, Postdoctoral Fellow, Flinders UniversityKarl Vernes, Associate Professor, School of Environmental & Rural Science, University of New England, and Vera Weisbecker, Associate Professor, Flinders University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Minns Government must act to fix our rivers: NCC

February 24, 2025  

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, has welcomed the review of the water rules for Menindee Lakes and the Lower Darling/Baaka River by the Natural Resources Commission, which was released on Monday February 24, 2025.  

The review of the Water Sharing Plan for the New South Wales Murray and Lower Darling Regulated Rivers Water Sources 2016 highlights the urgent need to change water-sharing rules in northern NSW to ensure enough water stays in our rivers, allowing them to flow and connect as they must. 

The Natural Resorces Commission stated;

'We recommended that the water sharing plan be replaced to improve social, environmental, cultural and economic outcomes taking into consideration recommendations from our plan review. The Minister has responded to our review report. The Plan is currently in force and is due to be replaced or extended by 1 July 2026..'

“For years, communities have been calling for action while report after report confirms the same truth – too much water is being taken upstream by cotton irrigation,” said NCC’s Water Campaigner Mel Gray. 

This review confirms that water rules introduced by the former government to regulate floodwater extraction are ineffective. 

“It’s still the wild west of water take out here. The unlimited take of floodwaters will continue even after licencing – all that has happened is billions of dollars of water entitlements have been transferred from public to corporate control. 

“Our rivers must have enough water to survive, as required by the Water Management Act. 

“The Minns Government must deliver on its promise to restore the Darling/Baaka River and end mass fish kills for good.” 

The Commission's Overall findings were:

• Plan provisions are inadequate to support the Plan’s objectives.

• The Plan – which expires 30 June 2026 – should be replaced with significant revisions to plan provisions. Some urgent changes should be made prior to Plan expiry.

• There are several instances in which the Plan does not reflect the priorities of the Act, particularly the protection of the water source and dependent ecosystems.

• Key changes are needed to ensure flows are available to address social and environmental risks around water quality and fish deaths, supported by clear governance arrangements

• Environmental provisions could be made more flexible and optimised to improve environmental and community benefits.

• The construction of the Wentworth to Broken Hill Pipeline in 2019 has strengthened water security for Broken Hill, however remote townships like Pooncarie and Menindee have experienced a range of water quality issues over the life of the Plan that need to be addressed.

• The Plan has not delivered meaningful outcomes and benefits to Aboriginal communities. Despite the development of the NSW Aboriginal Water Strategy, more work is required to meet the needs and aspiration of Aboriginal People

• Despite projections that long-term water availability in the Plan area will decrease due to climate change, the Plan’s provisions and objectives for climate change adaptation is limited, impacting all water users and the environment.

• Interjurisdictional agreements require review to ensure clarity and equity and support environmental outcomes.

Ensuring sustainable extraction

Key issues:

• The Plan’s long-term average annual extraction limit (LTAAEL) is not based on an assessment of sustainability.

• While LTAAEL compliance has recently commenced, it is not transparent or based on actual extraction data.

• Extraction limit compliance actions can be applied to held environmental water, reducing environmental outcomes.

Key recommendations for the Water Group:

• Adopt an LTAAEL that protects the water source and dependent ecosystems, supports social and cultural objectives, and considers climate change.

• Leverage available metering data to inform compliance.

• Improve transparency around modelling assumptions, design, inputs and calibration – including independent review.

• Specify that held environmental water will not be reduced by extraction limit compliance actions

Developing a sustainable and robust allocation policy

Key issues:

• The allocations process poses a risk to essential services and inverts the principles of the Act.

• Discretionary decision making around available water determinations (AWDs) does not align with the priorities of the Act, with limited oversight and transparency.

• Requirements for the river operator to manage the water system to supply water to meet priority needs during a repeat of the period of lowest accumulated inflows does not reference environmental needs.

• The allocations process does not specifically address the impact of climate change.

• Limited clarity around decision making on the timing and volumes of water reserved for future priority needs.

Key recommendations for the Water Group:

• Reconcile the Plan’s lowest accumulated inflows against actual inflows and address shortfalls.

• Require review of lowest accumulated inflows to protect critical environmental needs.

• Clarify decision making around the Plan’s second year reserve.

• Seek Basin Officials Committee agreement to address inequities in NSW and Victoria state-based allocation policies.

Strengthening environmental protections in the Lower Darling-Baaka

Key issues

• The Lower Darling-Baaka experienced several water quality and fish death events – indicating the Plan’s provisions are not adequately protecting water quality or ecosystems.

• Flows from and to other water sharing plan areas are not adequately protected, including environmental water from the northern Basin.

• Flows to the Great Darling Anabranch are not adequately supported by the Plan.

Key recommendations for the Water Group:

•  The Commission provided advice on the Lower Darling-Baaka to the Connectivity Expert Panel – including revising minimum daily flows, strengthening the Lower Darling Environmental Water Allowance and clarifying the implementation of the Lower Darling Restart Allowance.

• Improve governance around water quality, blue-green algae and fish death events.

• Improve management of flood recession flows and provide greater flexibility in rates of rise and recession to support water quality outcomes.

• Formalise protections of flows from the northern Basin.

• Establish provisions for flows to the Great Darling Anabranch.

• Codify replenishment flow requirements for Three Mile Creek.

• Include amendment provisions to adjust rules based on planned infrastructure projects.

NSW Minister for Water, the Hon. Rose Jackson MLC, Minister's Response, initially acknowledges the NRC review report for Murray and Lower Darling Regulated water sharing plan recommends the plan is replaced, supported by the completion of the  recommendations of this review.

The Minister ''notes the opportunities for improvement identified in the review include:

  • Stronger evidence that extraction limits are sustainable
  • Improved consideration of climate change
  • The plan's outcomes for Aboriginal water users and communities.''

''In addition, the review recommended immediate actions to address water quality issues and avoid fish deaths leading into the high-risk period for these events, via amendments to the plan.

Other key concerns included:

  • The plan should adequately reflect the priorities of the Act, particularly the protection of fundamental ecosystem health
  • Improving the flexibility and optimising environmental water provisions to maximise environmental benefits
  • Reviewing interjurisdictional agreements to ensure clarity and equity.

The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (NSW-DCCEEW) will further consider these recommendations in terms of any immediate amendments that may be required, as well as through the replacement of this plan.

The NRC will be engaged as agreed at an officer level throughout this process.'' the response states

__________________________________________________________

$10.5 million for water use monitors across NSW Murray-Darling

February 6, 2025 - Statement issued by: The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water and The Hon Rose Jackson MLC, Minister for Water

More than 2,500 groundwater and surface water sites across the Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales will receive state-of-the-art telemetry devices and installation, boosting water monitoring and management, easing costs for users, and helping the state fast-track its metering reforms.

Telemetry supports sustainable water use by sending real-time data to water management agencies, helping to ensure licensed water taken from inland regional water sources is extracted fairly, equitably and according to the rules.

A significant investment of $10.5 million from the Albanese Government will see these devices fully funded and installed in eligible sites in NSW over the next two and a half years.

Accurate monitoring is crucial for water resource planning and compliance, and the use of telemetry reduces the need for licence holders to report manually, saving them time and money.

Eligible sites include those extracting from groundwater sources in the Murray-Darling Basin with an annual entitlement of 100 megalitres (ML) or greater. Sites drawing from surface water systems within the Basin may also be considered as a secondary priority.

The NSW Government is now calling on telemetry equipment suppliers and installers to attend an online tender briefing on 12 February 2025 and to participate in a request for tender via the e-tendering website: NSW Telemetry Uplift Program – buy.nsw

Contracts are expected to be awarded and installations to begin in the first half of 2025.

More information for water users, including eligibility and how to apply, will be available in the coming months via the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW).

The funding comes as NSW gets on with the job of streamlining its metering roll-out and implementing a suite of recommendations to ease water users’ barriers to compliance.

These include simplifying metering requirements for smaller and low-risk water users, extending compliance deadlines for coastal water users, addressing the shortage of meter installers and improving their training opportunities and resources, among many others.

NSW is on track to have 95 per cent of all licensed water entitlement metered by the end of next year.

For more information on NSW’s non-urban metering work, visit: https://water.dpie.nsw.gov.au/our-work/nsw-non-urban-water-metering/review-of-the-non-urban-metering-rules  

Minister for the Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, said:

“Accurate metering benefits us all – gives us better information and saves time. That’s why our Government is investing $10.5 million to install 2,515 telemetry devices across NSW Murray-Darling Basin communities.

“This is just one part of our commitment to improve transparency of water use across the Basin, to ensure water is used fairly and sustainably to support communities, industry and our environment.

NSW Minister for Water, Rose Jackson, said:

“This program is fantastic news for thousands of water users across the NSW Basin, saving significant out-of-pocket costs and helping them comply with metering rules.

“We’re incredibly pleased to be working with the Australian Government as it injects $10.5 million to roll-out these devices in the coming months, boosting our state’s robust metering network and ensuring we can accurately measure each and every drop.

"We're primarily targeting groundwater sites across the Basin, recognising that the state’s aquifers are under increasing pressure due to a changing climate, population growth and heightened demand.

“Groundwater-dependent ecosystems are crucial for maintaining the Basin’s biodiversity and ecology, particularly where groundwater may be the only reliable source of water.”

______________________________________________


Background - Previous reports; a few examples


Investigations Into Fish Kill At Menindee

January 7th, 2019: Media release ran in Issue 389
The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and WaterNSW are investigating a large fish kill at Menindee in Western NSW.

In recent weeks fish kills have occurred in the Namoi River below Keepit Dam, the Lachlan River at Wyangala Dam and also in the the Darling River at Menindee in a separate event in December.

DPI Senior Fisheries Manager, Anthony Townsend, said fisheries officers have visited the affected area downstream of Menindee today and are investigating the incident.

“The ongoing drought conditions across western NSW have resulted in fish kills in a number of waterways recently and today our fisheries officers have confirmed a major fish kill event in the Darling River at Menindee affecting hundreds of thousands of fish, including Golden Perch, Murray Cod and Bony Herring,” Mr Townsend said.

“After a very hot period, a sharp cool change hit the Menindee region over the weekend, with large temperature drops experienced.

“This sudden drop in temperature may have disrupted an existing algal bloom at Menindee, killing the algae and resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen.”

The incident follows an earlier fish kill in December, after intense rainfall events following hot weather, which disrupted algal blooms resulting in low dissolved oxygen levels conditions that exacerbated water quality for already stressed fish.

During the December event investigations by District Fisheries Officers from DPI revealed over 10,000 fish mortalities along a 40km stretch of the Darling River, including numerous Murray Cod, Golden Perch and Silver Perch, and native Bony Herring.

Mr Townsend said preliminary investigations by DPI into the current fish kill event suggest that hundreds of thousands of native fish have been impacted in the same stretch of waterway and further downstream.

“As a result of this incident, DPI will take this opportunity to learn more about our native fish to help improve their future management,” Mr Townsend said.

“Our fisheries experts are extracting otoliths (or the ear bone) from some of the Murray Cod killed during the event to improve our knowledge of the species.

“Otoliths allow us to work out how old a fish is and can be used to help establish age and length/weight relationships, as well as potentially unearth other secrets including where the fish was born and spent its life through microchemistry work.

“All of this new knowledge will help improve how we manage waterways and the fishery across the entire Murray-Darling Basin to help protect and improve native fish populations when conditions improve.

“Fisheries staff would like to thank local anglers and residents who have provided information.

“The current low flows and warming temperatures are likely to pose an ongoing threat to native fish throughout the summer.”

WaterNSW is continuing to monitor water quality throughout the dams and river systems.

Adrian Langdon, WaterNSW executive manager of systems operations said regional NSW is experiencing intense drought conditions, with the state’s Central West, Far West and North West regions the worst affected.

“Algal alerts have been in place for several weeks in the Menindee region and linked to this, low dissolved oxygen levels are likely to occur within slow flowing or no flow sections of the river,” Mr Langdon said.

“It is almost certain these impacts will persist and possibly increase further as summer proceeds if we don’t receive significant rainfall to generate replenishment flows.”

Community members are encouraged not to be alarmed and to report any similar incidents or observations through the Fishers Watch hotline on 1800 043 536.
Locals say Murray Cod weighing up for 40kg have been killed.  Photo from Facebook: by Rod Mackenzie
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Australia’s 2018 Environmental Scorecard: A Dreadful Year That Demands Action

April 4th 2019
by Albert Van Dijk
Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University

Environmental news is rarely good. But even by those low standards, 2018 was especially bad. That is the main conclusion from Australia’s Environment in 2018, the latest in an annual series of environmental condition reports, released today.

Every year, we analyse vast amounts of measurements from satellites and on-ground stations using algorithms and prediction models on a supercomputer. These volumes of data are turned into regional summary accounts that can be explored on our Australian Environment Explorer website. We interpret these data, along with other information from national and international reports, to assess how our environment is tracking.

A bad year
Whereas 2017 was already quite bad, 2018 saw many indicators dip even further into the red.
Temperatures went up again, rainfall declined further, and the destruction of vegetation and ecosystems by drought, fire and land clearing continued. Soil moisture, rivers and wetlands all declined, and vegetation growth was poor.

In short, our environment took a beating in 2018, and that was even before the oppressive heatwaves, bushfires and Darling River fish kills of January 2019.


Indicators of Australia’s environment in 2018 compared with the previous year. Similar to national economic indicators, they provide a summary but also hide regional variations, complex interactions and long-term context. source: http://www.ausenv.online/2018

The combined pressures from habitat destruction, climate change, and invasive pests and diseases are taking their toll on our unique plants and animals. Another 54 species were added to the official list of threatened species, which now stands at 1,775. That is 47% more than 18 years ago and puts Australia among the world’s worst performers in biodiversity protection. On the upside, the number of predator-proof islands or fenced-off reserves in Australia reached 188 in 2018, covering close to 2,500 square kilometres. They offer good prospects of saving at least 13 mammal species from extinction.

Globally, the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere accelerated again after slowing down in 2017. Global air and ocean temperatures remained high, sea levels increased further, and even the ozone hole grew again, after shrinking during the previous two years.

Sea surface temperatures around Australia did not increase in 2018, but they nevertheless were well above long-term averages. Surveys of the Great Barrier Reef showed further declining health across the entire reef. An exceptional heatwave in late 2018 in Far North Queensland raised fears for yet another bout of coral bleaching, but this was averted when sudden massive downpours cooled surface waters.

The hot conditions did cause much damage to wildlife and vegetation, however, with spectacled flying foxes dropping dead from trees and fire ravaging what was once a tropical rainforest.

While previous environmental scorecards showed a mixed bag of regional impacts, 2018 was a poor year in all states and territories. Particularly badly hit was New South Wales, where after a second year of very poor rainfall, ecosystems and communities reached crisis point. Least affected was southern Western Australia, which enjoyed relatively cool and wet conditions.


Environmental Condition Score in 2018 by state and territory, based on a combination of seven indicators. The large number is the score for 2017, the smaller number the change from the previous year. source: http://www.ausenv.online/2018

It was a poor year for nature and farmers alike, with growing conditions in grazing, irrigated agriculture and dryland cropping each declining by 17-20% at a national scale. The only upside was improved cropping conditions in WA, which mitigated the 34% decline elsewhere.

A bad start to 2019
Although it is too early for a full picture, the first months of 2019 continued as badly as 2018 ended. The 2018-19 summer broke heat records across the country by large margins, bushfires raged through Tasmania’s forests, and a sudden turn in the hot weather killed scores of fish in the Darling River. The monsoon in northern Australia did not come until late January, the latest in decades, but then dumped a huge amount of rain on northern Queensland, flooding vast swathes of land.


It would be comforting to believe that our environment merely waxes and wanes with rainfall, and is resilient to yearly variations. To some extent, this is true. The current year may still turn wet and improve conditions, although a developing El Niño makes this less likely.

However, while we are good at acknowledging rapid changes, we are terrible at recognising slow, long-term ones. Underlying the yearly variations in weather is an unmistakable pattern of environmental decline that threatens our future.

What can we do about it?
Global warming is already with us, and strong action is required to avoid an even more dire future of rolling heatwaves and year-round bushfires. But while global climate change requires global action, there is a lot we can and have to do ourselves.


Australia is one of the world’s most wasteful societies, and there are many opportunities to clean up our act. Achieving progress is not hard, and despite shrill protests from vested interests and the ideologically blind, taking action will not take away our prosperity. Home solar systems and more efficient transport can in fact save money. Our country has huge opportunities for renewable energy, which can potentially create thousands of jobs. Together, we can indeed reduce emissions “in a canter” – all it takes is some clear national leadership.

The ongoing destruction of natural vegetation is as damaging as it is unnecessary, and stopping it will bring a raft of benefits. Our rivers and wetlands are more than just a source of cheap irrigation for big businesses. With more effort, we can save many species from extinction. Our farmers play a vital role in caring for our country, and we need to support them better in doing so.


Our environment is our life support. It provides us our place to live, our food, health, livelihoods, culture and identity. To protect it is to protect ourselves.

This article was coauthored by Shoshana Rapley, an ANU honours student and research assistant in the Fenner School of Environment and Society.

This article was published in The Conversation first, visit this Link to read the original. Republished under Creative Commons licence.
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NSW Government Opens The Floodgates For Irrigators To Profit From The Barwon-Darling River System

February 12, 2020 - Ran in Issue 438

Conservation groups are outraged at the NSW Government’s decision to allow big irrigators to take millions of litres of flood water from the Barwon-Darling river system. The government on Monday (February 10) temporarily overturned a restriction it placed on the capture of floodwaters just three days before on Friday (February 7).

The move could divert millions of litres of water from towns and the environment into the storages of large irrigators in the north of the basin.

“After such a prolonged drought, the priority for these vital first flows through the Barwon-Darling system must be to replenish town water supplies and revive fish stock and river ecosystems,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Chris Gambian said.

“Over-extraction by big irrigators, aided and abetted by the NSW Government, has made the impact of this drought much worse than it should have been. The drought is not yet over, and the government is at it again.

“The NSW Government’s management of the recent flows has been chaotic and poorly communicated, with three contradictory directions issued over the past week.

“On Friday, it simultaneously imposed a restriction on floodplain harvesting in the northern basin while also authorising landholders use of illegal levies and dams to capture and store overland flows. Then on Monday it announced a three-day free-for-all allowing irrigators to take as much water from the floodplain as they can pump.

“Once again the government appears to be pandering to the interests of big irrigators ahead of communities and the environment.”

Inland Rivers Network spokesperson Bev Smiles said: “These flows are the first ray of hope for the Darling River for years and should be allowed to flow through the system to Menindee Lakes and the Lower Darling.

“They are an important opportunity to reverse the extreme stress suffered by the Darling River and its dependent communities and wildlife.

“Now the government has authorised irrigators to harvest the best part of the flows in Namoi, Gwydir and Barwon rivers. The ad hoc approach to water management in western NSW has caused significant trauma to people, native fish and the riverine environment along the Darling River.

“This opportunity to revive the river system has been squandered at the behest of the powerful upstream irrigation lobby.”

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New Floodplain Harvesting Regulations Are A ‘Death Warrant’ For The Darling River

April 29, 2021 - Ran in Issue 493
New floodplain harvesting regulations gazetted today by the NSW Government will mean the end of the Darling-Baaka river and must be disallowed by the NSW Upper House next week, says Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and water spokesperson.

“These regulations legalise the historic take of millions of litres of water that should have been sent downstream for communities and the environment and now will never get there,” said Cate Faehrmann.

“The Water Minister has just wilfully signed the Darling-Baaka river’s death warrant, it will be the final nail in the coffin for the Darling-Baaka river if it is not disallowed. 

“Despite the ICAC finding that many government decisions over the past decade have been inconsistent with the Water Management Act and the priorities of water sharing plans, the Water Minister continues to act in the interests of her big irrigator mates.

“The massive volumes of water these regulations will permanently give to a handful of big irrigators in the northern basin while the Darling-Baaka faces ecological collapse is an absolute disgrace. 

“The regulations also allow irrigators to take an unlimited amount of rainfall runoff which will be devastating for the Darling-Baaka river which relies on these flows.

“After a record flood event, dams in the north are near overflowing, while the Menindee lakes remain less than one third full. These new laws will legitimise and make permanent this massive over extraction,” said Ms Faehrmann.

The Nature Conservation Council is urging members of parliament to disallow new regulations legalising the practice of floodplain harvesting that were released, saying that allowing irrigators to divert floodwaters under the regulations will starve rivers, wetlands, and downstream communities and ecologies of huge volumes of water. 

“Many of our rivers and wetlands are already in a perilous state and this new regulation that will deprive them on a huge volume of precious water will have drastic consequences,” said Chris Gambian, Chief Executive of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW. 

“The environment movement urges all parliamentarians to vote to disallow this dreadful regulation and protect our rivers, wetlands and downstream communities. 

“Floodplain harvesting diverts a huge volume of water away from our rivers into private dams, and handing out new licences without proper safeguards, sustainable limits and guaranteed downstream targets will be repeating the mistake of overallocation of water that has already damaged the Murray-Darling Basin.  

“Many of our wetlands, floodplain environments, and lakes, and all the animals and plants they support, rely on regular flood events.  To allow irrigators to take up to 500% of a licence allocation in a single year is a recipe for disaster and will see important floodwaters stolen from the environment and downstream communities.  

“We’ve seen how hard and expensive it is to undo the mistakes of over allocating water resources in the past. 
  
"The regulations introduced by the government do not have the safeguards, limits and downstream targets to ensure that any diversion of floodwaters is sustainable. It is a death sentence for our rivers and wetlands.” 

Five Projects Set To Accelerate Murray Darling Basin Plan

May 6, 2021 -Ran in Issue 493
Implementation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan has shifted up a gear, following agreement between the Commonwealth and Basin states. Minister for Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey has announced details of the five accelerated key Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) projects agreed to at last week’s Murray Darling Ministerial Council meeting.

The projects being proposed for acceleration include the:
  • Sustainable Diversion Limit offsets in the Lower Murray: Locks 8 & 9 Project
  • Yanco Creek Modernisation Project (Modernising Supply Systems for Effluent Creeks Project)
  • Murrumbidgee & Murray National Park Project
  • Koondrook-Perricoota Flow Enabling Works (part of the Constraints Measures Program)
  • Mid-Murray Anabranches Constraints Demonstration Reach (part of the Constraints Measures Program)
Minister for Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey said the five projects will help NSW get on with the job of delivering the economic, social, environmental and cultural outcomes sought by the Basin Plan.

“These five projects, together with those projects already complete or on track for completion, will deliver approximately 75 per cent of the 605 GL water recovery target by 30 June 2024,” Mrs Pavey said.

“It is estimated these projects alone will deliver up to 45GL in NSW previously identified as being unrecoverable by the 2024 timeframe.

“The Locks 8 and 9 Project includes the installation of waterway structures allowing for flow regulation and fish passage within the Capitts and Bunberoo Creek system which will increase fish growth and promote bird breeding.

“The Yanco Creek Modernisation Project will keep the Yanco, Billabong, Colombo and Forest Creeks flowing and improve fish passage and habitats.

“These proposed projects will also help boost jobs in regional areas by creating an estimated 450 direct and 850 indirect regional jobs.

In addition to agreement being reached last week to accelerate a suite of projects to enable delivery by 2024, Ministers have recognised the unique sensitives around Menindee and Yanco and have agreed that NSW will spend the next two months re-working these projects.

"We have heard loud and clear from locals that they have felt they have been sidelined in previous attempts to get these projects off the ground.

“I have made it clear to both our NSW agencies and the Commonwealth that if these projects are to become a reality, communities will need to drive these projects with local knowledge the key to success.

“Community is at the heart of the success of these projects and locals have repeatedly said they have projects which can deliver good environmental, social and economic outcomes. Now is the time to make those ideas a reality.”

For details on the SDLAM Acceleration Program including full details of the five accelerated projects, please visit NSW Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism projects.

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NSW Government Shows Contempt For Democratic Process With 5th Introduction Of Floodplain Harvesting Regulations  


Friday February 3, 2023 - ran in Issue 570
The NSW Water Minister’s introduction of floodplain harvesting regulations for a fifth time shortly before an election shows complete and utter contempt for the voters of NSW, says Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and water spokesperson. 


The NSW Government gazetted regulations to license floodplain harvesting on Friday afternoon after previous regulations were voted down for the 4th time by the NSW Legislative Council in September 2022. The NSW Parliament will not have an opportunity to consider the regulations until after the NSW state election on 25 March.


“This just shows complete contempt for the voters of NSW and for the traditional owners, downstream communities and farmers who have raised the alarm about these regulations for the entire last term of parliament,” says Ms Faehrmann. 

“The National Party has effectively hamstrung the will of the parliament by introducing these regulations now knowing that we will have no opportunity to vote on them until well after the election. 

“After each disallowance, I've called on the Water Minister to sit down and negotiate with the community instead of trying to shove the same laws down their throats again, but each time he’s done exactly that.  

“These regulations are just about ensuring the National Party’s big irrigator mates in the north get handed $1 billion in water rights for free. 

“We all want to see floodplain harvesting licensed, metered and measured, but it needs to be ecologically sustainable and within existing legal limits,” says Cate Faehrmann 

The Water Management (General) Amendment (Floodplain Harvesting Access Licences) Regulation 2023 is a death warrant for inland rivers according to the NSW Nature Conservation Council.

Thousands of kilometres of levee banks, or water barricades, choke the floodplains of NSW Murray-Darling Basin, diverting environmentally critical flood waters and rainfall runoff into private dams.

Nature Conservation Council (NCC) Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford says these levees starve rivers and wetlands of the critically important medium sized floods that keep the system going in between the big flood years.

“It’s clear that the Perrottet Government is under the spell of big corporate irrigators. Why else would it ignore the fact that this disastrous regulation has been disallowed in the Upper House more than any other piece of legislation?

“Licencing such huge volumes of floodplain harvesting water, and legislating obscenely generous rules is locking in the rapid downward spiral of the iconic Darling-Baaka River and our internationally recognised wetlands. These rules allow accounts to accrue to 500% of the licence volumes. The approach is completely unsustainable.” Ms Mumford said.

NCC supports the licencing and regulation of floodplain harvesting, however the volumes and rules proposed by the current Liberal/National Coalition are not aligned with the laws of the state.

Ms Mumford said “The Government’s own Environment and Heritage Department has said that the proposed in-catchment targets are probably too low to protect key environmental assets in extreme dry periods, and do not support the water management principles of the Water Management Act 2000.

“The environmental, cultural, social and economic future of inland NSW depends completely on the health of our rivers and wetlands. Licencing flood waters at these volumes won’t allow river ecosystems to survive. They also ignore a very clear message provided to the Perrottet Coalition Government a record four times already; the community expects more than a death sentence for the rivers.

“The Coalition is ignoring the repeated decisions of the Upper House, disregarding the democratic process. The Perrottet Government has just doomed the inland rivers. It’s extremely disappointing.”

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office Monitoring, Evaluation and Research program’s 2022 survey found not one single Murray Cod between Bourke and Louth.

Before the development of inland rivers with thousands of weirs, huge public dams and industrial scale corporate irrigation, the Darling-Baaka River teemed with an amazing array of aquatic life. The territorial Murray Cod could grow to 1.8 metres in length and weigh over 10 kilograms.

Ms Mumford says the fate of the Murray Cod is an alarming taste of what’s to come for the Basin unless more water is bought back to stay in rivers.

“The NSW Government can try all it likes to convince us that the Darling-Baaka used to regularly dry up like it did in 2019, but the disappearance of an entire species doesn’t lie. The collapse of the Darling-Baaka is happening before our eyes as a result of the politics of greed.”

The NSW Minister for Lands and Water, Nationals MP Kevin Anderson, has made no statement regarding the gazettal.

Currently the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council have adjourned until Tuesday 28 February 2023. However, this is a nominal date only, as the Parliament is not expected to sit again prior to the State Election in March 2023. 

Following the election, the first meeting date of the new Parliament will be announced by the Governor and is likely to be in early May 2023.

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Further Fish Deaths At Menindee

February 12, 2024 - ran in Issue 614
NSW Fisheries is investigating reports of fish deaths in the Menindee Weir pool in the Darling River. Around 30 golden perch were found dead by locals on the weekend of February 10 to 11.

The NSW Government says it’s been advised oxygen levels are at a good level, and a lack of oxygen is not believed to be a contributing factor.
There have been several mass fish deaths in the river over the last few years.

Water NSW says flows from Lake Menindee will remain at fifty megalitres a day.




Photos: Menindee NSW Outback Photography by Geoff Looney
Geoff says:
''It's sad to see dead fish (Golden Perch) in the Darling again at Menindee. From what I observed today at Crick Park there were several dead  Golden Perch and they look like they have been dead for a while.  

The river itself does not look to bad so I don't know why they have died.  There was not a lot of activity on the surface like when they were short of oxygen in the past. ''
Photos taken 12.2.2024.

Golden perch or ‘yellowbelly’ are one of the main large-bodied native fish that are of high cultural importance for many First Nations.

In 2016, natural floods in Queensland and northern NSW, along with water for the environment triggered a large spawning of golden perch. The fish larvae drifted down the Darling River and ended up in the Menindee Lakes. Some larvae kept traveling down into the Lower Darling.

Menindee Lakes are a known nursery for yellowbelly, where baby fish get fattened up in the highly productive water. These lake fish are bigger and fatter than their river counterparts.

Golden perch that spawn in the Darling are really important to the whole of the southern Basin. Science—measuring fish ear bones—has shown that golden perch which spawn in the Darling often make up a large percentage of the total golden perch population in the River Murray. In fact, golden perch from the Darling also migrate upstream to the Edward-Wakool (NSW) and Goulburn Rivers (Vic).

The story is not so good further downstream. Over the past nine years, CEWO’s monitoring program has found very little evidence of golden perch recruitment—fish spawning that results in new individuals in the population—in the South Australian Lower Murray. This highlights the importance of using environmental water to support golden perch spawning events in the Darling River.

New Recreational Fishing Trust Advisory Council to oversee expenditure on recreational fishing funds

February 24, 2025

The Minns Labor Government states it has delivered on its election commitment to improve oversight of how NSW fishing licence fees are spent, with new regulation now in place to establish a Recreational Fishing Trusts Advisory Council to oversee the spending of the funds.

The new Recreational Fishing Trusts Advisory Council will be responsible for providing advice to the NSW Minister for Agriculture on all expenditure from the Recreational Fishing Freshwater and Saltwater Trusts.

Revenue raised from recreational fishing license fees, around $16 million annually, is placed into the Recreational Fishing Trusts and spent on improving recreational fishing experiences, opportunities and habitats in NSW.

Since 2001, the Recreational Fishing Trusts have supported funding for more than 3,300 large and small projects, with almost 3,000 projects completed.

By providing advice directly to the Minister, the Recreational Fishing Trusts Advisory Council will increase the confidence of recreational fishers in the way trust funds are spent, by improving the decision-making transparency.

In addition to members with expertise in recreational fishing, the new Recreational Fishing Trusts Advisory Council will look to have members with expertise in other important areas, including fisheries science and infrastructure construction, to assist with the review of the many diverse types of funding applications that are received each year.

The existing advisory council on recreational fishing will continue to provide a key role with its focus on advising the Minister on recreational fishing issues, while the new council will focus on how expenditure is allocated to projects and ensuring they benefit recreational fishers.

Appointment to the Recreational Fishing Trusts Advisory Council will be made following an open and transparent recruitment process that can now get underway following the change to the regulation.

Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW, Tara Moriarty said:

“In 2023-24, over 400,000 NSW recreational fishing licences were issued, and the NSW Government is committed to ensuring that recreational fishers fishing fees are used transparently and deliver the greatest benefit to saltwater and freshwater fishers.

“Projects funded through the Recreational Fishing Trusts—ranging from improvements to fishing access and facilities, to the annual stocking of millions of fish into waterways—play a crucial role in enhancing fishing opportunities for both current and future fishers in NSW.

“The new Recreational Fishing Trusts Advisory Council will bring specific expertise to decision making processes and ensure that recreational fishers can have confidence in the way funds from the Recreational Fishing Trusts are used and invested.

“I look forward to welcoming applications and appointing members to the Recreational Fishing Trusts Advisory Council following an open and transparent recruitment process this year.”

Threatened native Trout Cod recovery underway with innovative fish breeding & stocking

February 26, 2025

The NSW Government has announced the 10-year Trout Cod Action Plan to recover the threatened native Trout Cod fish and delivering on its election commitment to boost the recovery of the fish and ensure its availability for recreational fishers.

The Government stated it is working to deliver better environmental outcomes for regional NSW and to deliver on its election commitments for recreational fishers who consider the Trout Cod a popular fish for angling.

''This commitment is demonstrated by the recent Government announcements delivering a review on the recreational fishing trust funds and establishing a $2 million fund for small infrastructure for recreational fishing.'' the government said

While there are a few small self-sustaining Trout Cod populations left in the wild in NSW the population has been in significant decline.

To bring about the recovery of the threatened Trout Cod populations more than $1 million of allocated funding is already being utilised with early actions of breeding and stocking underway while the broader action plan was being finalised.

The final Trout Cod Action Plan was developed after public consultation took place online and community information sessions in Wagga Wagga, Barooga, Bathurst and Queanbeyan.

Integral to the NSW Government’s commitment to the recovery of the Trout Cod, is increasing the production of fingerlings at Narrandera Fisheries Centre.

Early work to boost populations has seen a significant number of Trout Cod fingerlings bred at Narrandera in 2024 with 47,000 fingerlings released into waterways in the Snowy region, covering the Goodradigbee River and Talbingo Dam.

The Government is well on the way to achieving the Trout Cod Action Plan production target of 100,000 Trout Cod fingerlings per year and is confident of reaching 250,000 in the next 5-10 years.''

Trout Cod can be a difficult fish to breed and Narrandera has been trialling innovative ways to achieve better success including using pond spawning techniques rather than hormone induction. Pond based spawning is is potentially more productive and much gentler and kinder on the fish.''

The Government’s achievements under the Trout Cod Action Plan over the last 12 months include:

  • Moving to 100% pond-based spawning approach
  • Doubled the number of broodfish ponds at Narrandera Fisheries Centre
  • Developed a stocking and re-introduction strategy
  • Increased engagement with recreational fishers
  • Developing broodstock management strategy

Goodradigbee River has been a focus for conservation stocking efforts as it’s within the historical range of Trout Cod, has pristine and intact habitat including rocks, fast-flowing water, and is an unregulated part of the system with natural inflows to support recovery.

For more information about NSW DPIRD’s threatened species projects, visit: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/threatened-species

NSW Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW, Tara Moriarty said:

“The Minns Government is rapidly progressing its commitment to ensure the recovery of the native Trout Cod in our regional waterways with significant work underway to breed fingerlings while we engaged with the community on feedback for finalising the Action Plan.

“I’m pleased to say many of the participants of the community information sessions are very excited by the prospect of improved Trout Cod recovery.

“The Trout Cod Action Plan provides a 10-year blueprint to guide recovery actions, and while there is a long road ahead, I am confident there is a light at the end of the tunnel for this threatened species.

“There was a lot of interest from recreational anglers who are supporting the recovery of Trout Cod and I am pleased to say that those hoping to go fishing for Trout Cod can do so at Talbingo Dam where a catch and release fishery has been developed.

“We are hopeful that the Trout Cod Action Plan will fast track the recovery of Trout Cod populations in NSW back to appoint that they can once again become a genuine target for recreational fishers beyond the current Talbingo fishery.”

“With close to 50,000 fingerlings bred at Narrandera Fisheries Centre in 2024, triple the number produced in 2023, we are well on the way to achieving the goal of 250,000 bred annually.”

ACCC authorises major supermarkets to continue cooperation on soft plastics recycling

February 27, 2025

The ACCC has granted authorisation with conditions to the major supermarkets Coles Group, Woolworths Group and ALDI Stores, to continue their collaboration to recycle stockpiled soft plastics and implement the pilot in-store collection program until 31 July 2026.

The ACCC first authorised this collaboration granting interim authorisation in November 2022, following the collapse of REDcycle, which operated a nationwide soft plastics collection and recycling program.

“Our decision today allows the supermarkets to continue working together to process the remaining REDcycle legacy stockpiles,” ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.

“Whilst it is encouraging to see that some progress is now being made as processing capacity improves, the ACCC expects that the supermarkets will continue to prioritise stockpile remediation efforts to prevent further delays.”

The ACCC has decided to impose the same reporting conditions as the previous authorisation, requiring the major supermarkets to provide the ACCC with quarterly progress reports and minutes of each meeting of the Soft Plastics Taskforce. These reports and minutes will be published on the ACCC’s public register.

It is also a condition that all arrangements must immediately stop when the authorisation expires or is revoked.

“This is a significant issue for many consumers, so continued transparency about what progress the supermarkets are making in their processing of the soft plastic stockpiles is important,” Mr Keogh said.

Authorisation will also allow the soft plastics instore collection pilot program to continue operating in Victoria and New South Wales and expand to other areas.

“It has been encouraging to see the pilot program expand under the current interim authorisation,” Mr Keogh said.

“Whilst we recognise that further expansion needs to be in line with available processing capacity, the ACCC expects that the supermarkets will continue with some urgency to expand these operations so that more consumers have the option of recycling their soft plastics.”

The ACCC’s authorisation is also subject to a new condition to prevent the major supermarkets from restricting recycling or logistic providers from supplying services to another customer.

Following the ACCC’s draft determination proposing to grant authorisation in December 2024, the ACCC received a small number of submissions, some of which were supportive while others called for broader involvement of the supermarkets in developing industry solutions to soft plastics.

The ACCC understands that any long-term soft plastics solution, whether in the form of an industry-led stewardship scheme or otherwise, is likely to be the subject of a separate, future application for authorisation and considers that the proposed conditions by interested parties are outside the scope of this authorisation.

Today’s authorisation does not include authorisation for any conduct of the supermarkets and their program partners with respect to any proposed stewardship scheme.

More information about the application including a copy of the decision is available here on the ACCC’s website.

ACCC authorisation provides statutory protection from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act (CCA).

Section 91 of the CCA allows the ACCC to grant interim authorisation when it considers it is appropriate and in the public benefit. This allows the parties to engage in proposed conduct while the ACCC is considering the merits of the substantive CCA authorisation application.

Broadly, the ACCC may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment.

Background

REDcycle was an industry-led return-to-store soft plastics collection and recycling program developed and operated by RG Programs and Services Pty Ltd. The major supermarkets partnered with REDcycle to provide collection points for consumers to return their soft plastics instore for collection by REDcycle for processing into durable recycled plastic products.

On 8 November 2022, REDcycle announced the indefinite suspension of its soft plastics collection program as its recycling partners had temporarily stopped accepting and processing soft plastics. Following REDcycle’s announcement, Coles and Woolworths each announced the suspension of soft plastic collections from their stores until further notice.

The supermarkets sought authorisation from the ACCC in November 2022 to enable them to collaborate to consider and develop solutions for the recycling of soft plastics. The ACCC’s interim authorisation on 25 November 2022 led to the establishment of the Soft Plastics Taskforce, chaired by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

On 26 February 2023, the supermarkets assumed responsibility for the REDcycle stockpiles. It was later reported that approximately 11,000 tonnes of soft plastics had been stockpiled in over 44 locations. REDcycle’s parent company was declared insolvent on 27 February 2023 with a liquidator appointed.

The ACCC granted authorisation on 30 June 2023 for a period of 12 months to allow the supermarkets to collaborate with the Soft Plastics Task force to process the soft plastic stockpiles.

On 18 July 2024, the ACCC granted interim authorisation for substantially the same conduct authorised on 30 June 2023 while the ACCC considered the merits of the substantive application.

As part of the authorisation the supermarkets must submit a quarterly progress report to the ACCC.

The 22 January 2025 Progress Report provided by the supermarkets details the level of stockpiles remaining in each state and territory:

  • Victoria current stockpiles are approximately 2,200 tonnes
  • NSW current stockpiles are approximately 1,700 tonnes
  • South Australia current stockpiles are approximately 3,500 tonnes

Processing of stockpiles in Queensland and Western Australia has been completed.

The supermarkets report that as at end of December 2024, 45 tonnes of soft plastics have been collected through the instore collection pilot program, which is now operating in 107 stores across New South Wales and Victoria.

NSW supports new long-duration storage projects to boost reliability of the energy system

February 27, 2025

The NSW Government has stated it is taking further action to build a reliable, affordable energy system by supporting 3 new long-duration storage projects. The latest tender round – the largest of its kind in Australia – has for the first time selected a pumped hydro project, as well as two large-scale batteries.

''Long-duration storage serves an important role in the electricity system, allowing renewable energy such as solar and wind to be stored and then released on demand when needed.

This helps smooth the supply of renewable energy around the clock, reducing price spikes and placing downward pressure on electricity prices over time.'' the government said in a release

The projects, under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, include:

  • Two large-scale batteries, Stoney Creek Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Narrabri and Griffith BESS in Yoogali.
  • ACEN Phoenix Pumped Hydro Energy Storage, the first pumped hydro project to be successful in the Roadmap tender program, located near Lake Burrendong.

''The projects will create around 900 construction jobs and 60 ongoing positions. They will also help to secure at least $3.5 billion in investment in NSW’s energy system, bringing new investment to regional NSW and underscoring NSW’s place as a leading destination for energy industry investment.'' the government said

''Combined, the awarded projects represent 1.03 gigawatts or 13.79 gigawatt hours of energy storage capacity – exceeding the tender’s indicative target of 1 GW.

When fully charged, the one gigawatt of long duration storage will contain enough energy to power more than half a million households for a day, ensuring a reliable supply of electricity is available during periods when the sun isn’t shining, and the wind isn’t blowing.

The successful projects can each continuously dispatch electricity for at least 8 hours. The Lake Burrendong project offers a storage capacity equivalent to around 15 hours duration.

With the addition of these projects, NSW has now locked in 40% of its long-duration storage by 2030 target, and more than 65% of the recently legislated 2034 target.

The tender is the fifth conducted by AEMO Services as Consumer Trustee under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.

Other projects that will support the stability and reliability of the grid that are due to come online in NSW soon include the Waratah Super Battery, the Smithfield Battery Energy Storage System and Stage 1 of the Eraring Big Battery.''

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Penny Sharpe stated:

'The Minns Labor government is delivering a reliable, affordable energy system that benefits communities and the economy.

'NSW is already powered by around 35% renewable energy. These projects will help ensure NSW households and businesses have access to affordable and reliable electricity as we continue to transform our grid.

'These new projects will drive local and regional economies with jobs and investment, while also delivering a reliable energy system for the whole of NSW.'

Emergency action to save native fish at risk of extinction

February 22, 2025

The Australian Government is investing $700,000 to save five species of galaxias fish which are at imminent risk of extinction

Urgent action is needed to protect these small native fish from the threat of introduced trout in the Gippsland region of Victoria.

Shaw, Tapered, West Gippsland, McDowell’s and Yalmy galaxias grow to less than 10 cm long, making them an ideal prey size for trout.

The project will identify at least three sites for each species where introduced trout are not present due to natural barriers like waterfalls.

Galaxiid fish bred by the Victorian Snobbs Creek Conservation Hatchery will be released at these sites in future. 

This will reduce their vulnerability to trout incursions and extreme events like droughts and bushfires, securing their survival in the wild and reducing the risk of extinction.

This funding is just one part of the Australian Government’s $224.5 million Saving Native Species program to better protect our precious native plants, animals and ecological communities.

Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek stated:

“We need to keep fighting to save all our threatened species, big and small. We know that invasive species like trout, cats and horses are one of the biggest threats to the survival of native species and without urgent action some of these fish will go extinct. 

"This is a great example of how our government is investing in projects that make a difference on the ground.”

Government funded Antarctic voyage to depart: Denman Glacier Research

The Federal Government’s icebreaking research vessel, the RSV Nuyina, will depart next week with 60 scientists on board heading to conduct globally important science in Antarctica’s Denman Glacier region.

In last year’s federal budget, the Albanese Government expanded the Antarctic science program.

This included an additional $17.6 million to enable the Nuyina to undertake more expeditions for scientific research, including its first dedicated marine science voyage to the Denman Glacier.

Research suggests the Denman Glacier retreated five kilometres between 1996 and 2017/2018 but compared to the glaciers of West Antarctica, it is little understood. 

The Australian Antarctic Program is coordinating an extensive study into the Denman Glacier’s history and stability, drawing together scientists from across universities and disciplines. 

The Denman Terrestrial Campaign runs from 2022 to 2025 and examines the glacier and the Shackleton Ice Shelf from the land.

The Denman Marine Voyage will be staged from RSV Nuyina  will allow scientists to study the system from the sea.

The Denman campaigns will inform national and global decision-making about climate change responses and deliver on priorities in the Australian Antarctic Science Strategic Plan.

If this glacier melts, sea levels could rise by 1.5 metres – making this research trip more important than ever.

The research will help understand factors affecting the melt rate of this critically important glacier. Scientists will also conduct projects like sea floor mapping, tagging seals with ocean monitoring devices, and sampling of trace animal DNA in the water to find out what lives in the area.

The voyage brings together scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division, Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future, The Australian Antarctic Program Partnership and the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science.

The voyage left Burnie on February 27 and returns to Hobart in early May.

Minister for Environment and water, Tanya Plibersek MP said:

“The Denman Glacier is globally significant, but sadly it’s under threat from climate change.

“We know the decline of this glacier doesn’t just impact Antarctic region – it could affect the Southern Ocean and even the world’s ecosystems.  

“That’s why the Albanese Labor Government is investing $17.6 million to enable the Nuyina to undertake more expeditions for scientific research - including the first dedicated marine science voyage to the Denman Glacier.  

“This is one of Australia’s most ambitious scientific endeavours in decades, sending an elite group of researchers to one of the world’s most remote places.

“They’ll be chasing answers to the big questions surrounding the future of the Denman Glacier.

“This is part of the Government’s $1.5 billion investment in Antarctic science. Antarctic and Southern Ocean science has never been more important, and I’m proud of Australia’s contribution as a leader in this field.

“We know funding Antarctic and Southern Ocean research is great for the economy too. The sector employs 1,000 Tasmanians and generates $183 million for the Tasmanian economy every year.”

Senator Carol Brown stated:

"Tasmania has a long and proud history as Australia's Antarctic gateway, and the Australian Antarctic Division and RSV Nuyina are a big part of that. They’re uniquely Tasmanian and strong employers of Tasmanians. I’m proud to back jobs right here in our state.

"The Albanese Government believes in making decisions based on science. That’s why we’re investing in critical Antarctic research—to better understand climate change and its impact on our planet.

"This voyage is another example of our government’s commitment to Antarctic research. We’re investing $188 million in Macquarie Wharf 6 to secure Tasmania’s role as Australia’s Antarctic gateway and ensure RSV Nuyina has the infrastructure it needs to support world-leading science."

Senator Catryna Bilyk said:

“Antarctic and Southern Ocean research makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the global impacts of climate change. When it comes to understanding the way climate change affects our world, Antarctica is the canary in the coal mine.

“As a Tasmanian, I am proud of Hobart’s role as the gateway to Antarctica. I am also proud of the important investments the Albanese Labor Government is making in securing Hobart’s place as the centre of Antarctic science and backing this world-leading research and the talented scientists who are undertaking it.”

Denman Glacier Photo: Greg Barras

Statement: Bureau of Meteorology CEO and Director of Meteorology

20 February 2025: The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water

The CEO of the Bureau of Meteorology and Director of Meteorology, Dr Andrew Johnson PSM, has advised me of his intention to conclude his term in early September 2025, after nine years at the helm.

During Dr Johnson's tenure, the Bureau has delivered new and upgraded fire, flood, bushfire, heatwave, cyclone, marine, climate and space weather services; expanded the fleet of weather radars, automatic weather stations and flood warning infrastructure; and made the Bureau’s technology capabilities secure, stable and resilient. The BoM Weather app is now used by over 15 million people. These are all significant achievements.

Australians should be proud that the Bureau is considered one of the world's most respected meteorological agencies. This is a credit to Dr Johnson and his hardworking team.

Under Dr Johnson’s leadership, when our nation has most needed the Bureau, it has delivered trusted and reliable services during successive fire, flood and cyclone emergencies, many of which occurred during COVID-19 pandemic. It has also continued to play a strong role in our region, especially helping build the capacity of Pacific Islands nations to prepare for and respond to the impacts of severe weather in a changing climate.

On behalf of the Federal Government, I sincerely thank Dr Johnson for his many years of dedicated service to the Bureau, and the Australian community. I wish him all the very best in his future endeavours.

A powerful force is stopping the Indian Ocean from cooling itself – spelling more danger for Ningaloo

Violeta Brosig/Blue Media Exmouth
Kelly Boden-HawesThe University of Western Australia and Nicole L. JonesThe University of Western Australia

Widespread coral bleaching at Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia’s coast has deeply alarmed scientists and conservationists.

Photos captured by divers, published by The Guardian last week, show severe bleaching at several sites along the reef, which runs for 260 kilometres off the state’s northwest.

A severe marine heatwave in the Indian Ocean off WA has caused the coral bleaching. In some places, surface temperatures up to 4°C warmer than usual have been recorded.

Hotter temperatures aren’t only happening at the ocean’s surface – data indicates they also extend several hundred metres deep. Warm, deeper water can shut down the ocean’s natural cooling process, putting corals at even greater risk of bleaching.

Counting the cost

The full extent of damage to Ningaloo won’t be known until scientists conduct field surveys in coming months.

So far, bleaching has been documented at several sites, including Turquoise Bay, Coral Bay, Tantabiddi, and Bundegi (Exmouth Gulf).

Other sites such as Scott Reef, Ashmore Reef, the Rowley Shoals and Rottnest Island are also at risk.

Damage wrought by the heatwave extends beyond coral. More than 30,000 fish have died since the September onset.

The below images show the heatwave’s progression. Temperatures from February last year are included for comparison.

The white circle shows the location of Ningaloo. Cooler temperatures are in blue and purple. Warmer temperatures are in yellow and orange.

The images show the heatwave reached Ningaloo in December last year and moved south in January. Temperatures fell slightly in February due to strong southerly winds. From March, temperatures are forecast to increase again.

A complex warming picture

According to recent data and modelled forecasts, hotter ocean temperatures off northern WA run several hundred metres deep.

This has been caused by developing La Nina conditionsLa Nina and its opposite, El Nino, influence ocean temperatures and weather patterns across the Pacific.

During La Nina, trade winds strengthen and push warm water westward. This intensifies two important ocean currents.

The first is the Indonesian Throughflow – which carries warm Pacific waters through the Indonesian seas and into the eastern Indian Ocean. The second is the Leeuwin Current, which picks up this warm water and takes it further south towards Perth.

This has led to a build-up of hotter water along the WA coastline.

La Nina is also affecting WA’s reefs in other ways.

Some coral reefs are naturally cooled by local tides which pull deep, colder water towards the surface. This process, which has been likened to an ocean’s “air conditioner”, can temporarily relieve heat stress for reefs.

The process relies on “stratification” – that is, layers of seawater that differ in temperature, salinity and density (or weight). Warmer, less dense water collects at the surface and colder, denser water falls to deeper levels.

La Nina conditions can suppress, or even shut down, this cooling effect in two ways.

First, it reduces the difference in density between ocean layers. This causes water to draw upwards from shallower depths. Second, it increases water temperatures at depth.

All this means the water pumped to the surface isn’t much cooler than temperatures at the surface.

For many reefs along the coast of WA, the suppression of this tidal cooling is probably contributing to worsening conditions, and more coral bleaching.

Most bleaching forecasts rely on sea surface temperatures. This means scientists may be underestimating the vulnerability of deeper reefs.

What’s in store for Ningaloo and surrounds?

Looking ahead, the situation at Ningaloo and surrounding reefs remains critical.

Bleached reefs are able to recover if temperatures cool quickly. This means theoretically, Ningaloo and other affected reefs may survive the summer.

But unfortunately, temperatures are rising again and the marine heatwave is expected to continue until April, as the below image shows.

Sea surface temperature anomaly forecast for March to May. Ningaloo denoted with black ‘X’. Bureau of Meteorology

Climate change is making marine heatwaves more intense and frequent. It means reefs often don’t have time to recover between destructive bleaching events.

All this is compounded by the general trend towards warmer oceans as the planet heats up.

Drastic action on climate change is needed now. If this alarming pattern continues, the world’s reefs risk being lost entirely.The Conversation

Kelly Boden-Hawes, PhD Candidate in oceanography, The University of Western Australia and Nicole L. Jones, Professor of Physical Oceanography, The University of Western Australia

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The promise of green iron, steel and ammonia is keeping the green hydrogen dream alive

D.Alimkin, Shutterstock
Changlong WangMonash University and Stuart WalshMonash University

Hydrogen was once sold as a universal climate fix — a clean, green wonder fuel for cars, homes, power grids and even global export. But reality has cooled that buzz.

This week, the South Australian government shelved plans for a A$593 million hydrogen power plant, in favour of injecting that money into the $2.4 billion Whyalla steelworks rescue package. Premier Peter Malinauskas said there was “no point in producing hydrogen” without a customer: the steelworks.

It’s the latest in a series of setbacks for hydrogen. Last year, Australian mining and energy giant Fortescue pared back its green hydrogen projects as a result of increasing costs and changing financial circumstances in the United States.

Then, gas and oil heavyweight Woodside withdrew plans for two large-scale green hydrogen projects and Origin Energy dropped out of the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub.

Meanwhile, the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project in Victoria, meant to ship hydrogen to Japan, has met with delays and overruns. Earlier this month, the new Queensland government chose to halt further investment in the Central Queensland Hydrogen Project, putting plans to export hydrogen in doubt.

These setbacks show hydrogen isn’t the ultimate solution to all our energy needs, especially if we want to export it. But they don’t spell doom. Instead, they nudge us toward where hydrogen really shines: in heavy industry, right where it’s made.

Heavy industry: where hydrogen makes sense

Heavy industries such as steel manufacturing and ammonia production are where hydrogen proves its worth. These sectors are significant contributors to climate change — steel accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, ammonia a further 2%.

Most emissions from steelmaking come from burning coal in blast furnaces to convert ore into iron and carbon dioxide.

In a cleaner alternative, hydrogen (when produced using renewable energy) can be used to strip oxygen from the ore and make iron, with water as a byproduct. The result is green iron, ready to be turned into steel in an electric arc furnace – with a fraction of the emissions.

Ammonia is used to make fertiliser and industrial chemicals, and hydrogen is one of the main ingredients in its production. Hydrogen bonds with nitrogen from the air to form ammonia. No hydrogen, no ammonia — it’s that simple. Conventional ammonia plants get hydrogen from methane, producing CO₂ in the process. Green ammonia uses renewable energy to produce hydrogen by splitting water via electrolysis.

Our recent research crunched the numbers on producing these new green commodities. We found making green iron in Australia with hydrogen and shipping it to Europe for steel production could be 21% cheaper than exporting raw iron ore and hydrogen separately. Plus, it could cut emissions by up to 95% compared to traditional methods.

There are huge economic opportunities for Australia too. Instead of shipping low-value raw materials, Australia could export ready-to-use green iron or green steel, reshaping global supply chains while cutting costs and carbon. That’s the kind of rethink hydrogen enables.

Industry hubs: a practical fix

Transporting hydrogen long distances is costly and inefficient. The fix? Industry hubs that produce hydrogen right where it’s needed — next to steel mills, ammonia plants, desalination plants, water treatment plants or even aluminium smelters. Putting producers and consumers together slashes transport costs and unlocks efficiencies.

We’ve built tools to pinpoint places with the greatest potential to produce these new green commodities.

The Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool maps where renewable energy, infrastructure and industrial sites align for cost-effective hydrogen production.

The Green Steel Economic Fairways Mapper zooms in on prime locations for green steel, spotlighting places such as Eyre Peninsula in SA and the Pilbara in Western Australia, among others (see below). These locations have abundant wind and solar resources alongside an existing industrial base.

Examples of maps and charts available using the Green Steel Economic Fairways mapping tool
The Green Steel Economic Fairways Mapper compares the levelised cost of steel, including production and transport to the port. a) Regional changes across Australia b) Example of how to optimise the system to minimise the levelised cost of producing 1 million tonnes per annum c) Breakdown of costs d) Hourly system performance, in terms of energy flows. Green Steel Economic Fairways Mapper, Geoscience Australia

Challenges remain

Green hydrogen promises to revolutionise heavy industries, but significant hurdles stand in the way of widespread domestic adoption. The biggest challenge comes from the unpredictable nature of renewable energy, which makes it hard to maintain the steady hydrogen supply industries need.

The costs remain steep, too. Splitting water into hydrogen using renewable electricity isn’t cheap, particularly when you need backup storage systems to keep production going during cloudy or windless periods.

Getting hydrogen where it needs to go poses another major challenge. As hydrogen is both bulky to transport and highly flammable, it requires special handling and infrastructure, driving up costs, especially for facilities far from production sites.

Many companies also hesitate to invest in hydrogen-compatible equipment, as retrofitting existing plants or building new ones requires substantial upfront costs without guaranteed returns.

The $2.4 billion rescue package for the Whyalla Steelworks (ABC News)

Government backing: a push in the right direction

Thursday’s announcement of A$2.4 billion investment in the Whyalla steelworks along with plans for a $1 billion green iron investment fund are a bold bet on green steel. Furthermore, the landmark Future Made in Australia legislation introduces a $6.7 billion Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive, offering $2 per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced between 2027–28 and 2039–40, alongside a 10% tax credit for critical minerals processing.

Meanwhile tax credits for green aluminium and alumina should help another heavy industry to navigate the energy transition using clean hydrogen.

These measures aim to unlock tens of billions in private investment, boost regional economies, and position Australia as a leader in clean energy manufacturing. This isn’t just about one-off projects. It’s laying the groundwork for hubs that link renewable energy and hydrogen production to industrial demand.

There’s more in the pipeline. The Hydrogen Headstart program pumps funds into hydrogen innovation, and the Future Made in Australia initiative backs clean industry with billions more. Add in policies like carbon pricing or low-interest loans, and the economics tilt even further toward green steel and ammonia. Government buying power — in the form of procurement targets for low-carbon materials — could seal the deal by guaranteeing demand.

These policies aren’t just wishful thinking — they’re practical steps that are already working elsewhere. Sweden’s HYBRIT project, which paired green steel with government-backed demand, has already led to construction starting on new industrial-scale green steel facilities. At the same time, the European Union’s hydrogen strategy leans on carbon pricing and subsidies to guide industries and suppliers through the energy transition, while Japan offers incentives for the use of green steel in their automotive industry.

Australia has the renewable energy and the industrial base to take advantage of these opportunities. With the right leadership, we can turn hydrogen’s stumbles into a global triumph for heavy industry.The Conversation

Changlong Wang, Research fellow in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Monash University and Stuart Walsh, Senior lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Farmers, investors, miners and parents: how unconventional climate advocates can reach new audiences

Max Acronym/Shutterstock
Xiongzhi WangAustralian National UniversityKelly FieldingThe University of QueenslandRebecca ColvinAustralian National UniversityRobyn GulliverThe University of Queensland, and Winnifred LouisThe University of Queensland

When you think about climate advocates, you’ll likely picture left-leaning environmentalists who live in cities. This group has contributed to building public support for climate action worldwide, through protests, petitions, lobbying and so on.

While a majority of Australians understand that climate change is happening and that humans are the main cause, there are still holdout groups. Acceptance of the fact that climate change is largely caused by humans sits at 60% of Australians, well below other countries.

Holdout groups in Australia can include people associated with political conservatism, the business sector, farming, the resource sector, some religious groups and some sports fans. For these groups, climate advocacy by left-leaning environmentalists may be limited in its effectiveness.

How do you reach these groups? Our new research points to one solution: unconventional climate advocates. That is, those not from the stereotypical background and who belong to holdout groups. Think of groups such as Farmers for Climate Action and the Investor Group on Climate Change.

These individuals and groups can play a crucial role in expanding the base of the climate movement – without necessarily working with mainstream climate groups. Better still, we found these unconventional advocates tend to receive more sympathetic media coverage.

Who are these unconventional advocates?

We distinguish two types of unconventional climate advocates –role-based and bridge-builders.

Role-based advocates come from groups not typically associated with climate advocacy, such as Australian Parents for Climate Action, Doctors for the Environment, Vets for Climate Action and Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance. These advocates broaden our perception of who engages in climate advocacy.

Bridge-builders come from groups with a history of tension with environmentalists and environmental issues. They can often span the divide between their group and the broader climate movement. These groups include Farmers for Climate Action, Investor Group on Climate Change, Hunter Jobs Alliance and Australian Religious Response to Climate Change.

Why do they matter?

Unconventional advocates are vital because they can reach a broader section of the population. This is because we are more likely to listen to insiders: people from groups we identify with who share our values and beliefs. We also pay more attention to messages when they come from a surprising source and when they go against perceived interests.

A farmer advocating for climate action is more likely to resonate with other farmers than city-based environmentalists, for instance. Similarly, if you expect farmers to be opposed to climate action, you’re more likely to pay attention to their message than if it came from an environmentalist.

Our research shows these groups are not mainstream environmentalists. They exist on the periphery of the climate movement.

Using social network analysis, we mapped the connections between more than 3,000 climate advocacy groups in Australia. This showed us unconventional advocates are less connected to traditional environmental groups such as Greenpeace Australia Pacific or the Australian Conservation Foundation.

This distance may actually be advantageous. By maintaining a degree of independence from the mainstream environmental movement, unconventional advocates can avoid being dismissed as “greenies” – an unpopular group for some people in rural areas. Farmers advocating for climate action may be more effective if they’re not seen as aligned with environmentalists who might be viewed with suspicion in rural communities.

Does unconventional advocacy work?

By one metric, unconventional advocacy does work. These individuals and groups broadly receive more sympathetic media coverage.

In recent research, we analysed more than 17,000 Australian media articles published between 2017 and 2022 mentioning unconventional and more stereotypical environmentalist climate advocacy groups.

We found Greenpeace Australia Pacific and other established groups received the most media coverage overall. Disruptive groups such as Extinction Rebellion tended to be framed negatively, with a focus on conflict and arrests. The negativity was most pronounced in articles published by News Corp, owned by the conservative media figure Rupert Murdoch.

Unconventional advocates received less media coverage than other types of advocates. When they did receive coverage, it was generally more sympathetic. Articles tended to focus on their achievements and to use less confrontational language, even from conservative-leaning media outlets.

This suggests unconventional advocates are well positioned to shift public opinion in holdout groups and build a broader base of support for climate action.

Unconventional advocates for unprecedented times

In Australia and in many other countries, climate action has become politicised – often along party lines. Holdout groups are a minority, but a large minority. To actually respond to the increasing threat of climate change will require building a bigger base of support.

Unconventional advocates offer a way to disrupt hardened divides, expand the range of voices in the movement and engage communities and groups often left out of the conversation.The Conversation

Xiongzhi Wang, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Environmental Social Science, Australian National UniversityKelly Fielding, Professor of Environmental Psychology, The University of QueenslandRebecca Colvin, Associate Professor in Social Science, Australian National UniversityRobyn Gulliver, Honorary Research Fellow in Social Science, The University of Queensland, and Winnifred Louis, Professor of Social Psychology, The University of Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Want a side of CO₂ with that? Better food labels help us choose more climate-friendly foods

udra11, Shutterstock
Yi LiMacquarie University

When you’re deciding what to eat for lunch or dinner, do you consider the meal’s greenhouse gas emissions? How do you compare the carbon footprint of a beef sandwich with that of a falafel wrap?

Most people can’t tell what’s better for the climate. Even those who care deeply about making sustainable food choices can struggle.

In Australia, meat products are responsible for almost half (49%) the greenhouse gas emissions of products consumed at home. Switching from these high-emission foods to lower-emission foods, such as plant-based meals, can significantly reduce household emissions. But a lack of knowledge may be stopping people doing the right thing.

The good news is my colleagues and I have a simple solution. Highlighting the source of the food as animal- or plant-based on carbon labels makes a big difference to consumer choices. In our latest research, we show this new carbon label encourages switching from animal-based to plant-based foods.

Closing the knowledge gap

Previous research has shown consumers consistently underestimate the vast difference in greenhouse gas emissions between animal- and plant-based foods. For instance, producing one kilogram of beef emits 60kg of greenhouse gases, whereas producing the same quantity of peas emits just 1kg of greenhouse gases. However, most people think the gap between the two is much smaller.

This matters because collectively, our food choices have a big impact on climate change. Agriculture generates almost a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, with animal products the biggest contributors.

Making carbon labels more informative

A “carbon footprint” refers to the greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product.

Globally, there is increasing interest in carbon food labelling, given its potential to nudge consumers towards more sustainable food choices. In Australia, such labelling is voluntary and not yet widespread.

Most carbon labels follow a similar approach. They typically display a number representing greenhouse gas emissions, and a traffic-light system indicating the level of environmental impact from green (low) to red (high). But such labels do not indicate whether the food is animal- or plant-based. So a high carbon score does not help people identify the source of the emissions.

Comparing four different types of food labels, from the most basic 'carbon neutral' to quantifying the carbon dioxide emissions, adding the colour coded traffic light and finally, indicating the source as mainly plant or animal. system
Our label maps the carbon footprint to the source of the food, whether plant or animal, along with information about the greenhouse gas emissions. Romain Cadario, Yi Li, Anne-Kathrin Klesse, (2025) Appetite.CC BY

We designed a new type of label. It clearly displays whether the food is sourced mainly from animals or plants, along with the standard emissions score and traffic-light colour code. This approach is especially useful for the growing segment of pre-prepared and packaged foods such as soups and other ready-to-eat meals, which often contain a mix of meat and plant-based food.

Our label creates a mental link between a food source and its carbon impact. When a consumer sees high carbon scores and red traffic lights appearing more frequently on meat and other animal products, they begin to make the connection between those products and higher emissions. This is key to addressing a lack of knowledge around food carbon emissions.

We tested our label against the existing labels in a series of experiments with 1,817 everyday consumers from Australia, the United States and the Netherlands.

One experiment involved soup. Compared with the group exposed to the standard carbon label, the group exposed to our label learned to associate animal-based soups with higher greenhouse gas emissions more effectively. They were more accurate at estimating the greenhouse gas emissions of a second batch of soups without labels.

This improved knowledge also translates to more climate-friendly food choices. In another experiment with Australian consumers, we encouraged participants to choose five meals from ten options. Five were animal-based and five were plant-based.

Half the participants saw the meal options with our carbon labels, and the other half did not see the carbon labels. The group exposed to our carbon labels chose fewer animal-based options in their weekly meal plan. In this case, we don’t know whether a third group exposed to the standard label would also make more climate-friendly choices, but our earlier experiments suggested our label was more effective.

In the final experiment conducted in the Netherlands, displaying our carbon label made university students more likely to choose the plant-based snack option rather than the animal-based option.

A selection of ten meals with images of the dish alongside the detailed carbon labels, including whether the food is mainly plant-based or animal-based.
Providing information about the source of the food, whether plant or animal, influenced choices of meal plans. Romain Cadario, Yi Li, Anne-Kathrin Klesse, (2025) Appetite.CC BY

When knowledge isn’t enough

While people who care most about sustainable eating may think they know better than others, we found that is not the case. These people were not better able than other participants to tell the difference in greenhouse gas emissions between animal- and plant-based foods without seeing our carbon label.

But they were better learners. When confronted with the facts about the differences between animal and plant-based foods on our labels, they were more likely to change their choices and switch to plant-based foods.

What this means for consumers and businesses

A simple change to food labels could help consumers make more informed environmental choices. For businesses and policymakers, it shows displaying only carbon numbers isn’t enough – the food source is crucial.

Some forward-thinking restaurants and food companies are already experimenting with adding carbon labels to the menu to encourage diners to choose climate-friendly dishes. Our research suggests this approach could be more effective when combined with the new carbon labels we designed.

A person holds up a handmade poster at a protest or rally that reads 'less meat, less heat'
Meat products make a significant contribution to climate change. Valmedia, Shutterstock

Implications for climate action

As Australia grapples with meeting its climate commitments, helping consumers understand the environmental impact of their food choices will become increasingly important.

The challenge for businesses, policymakers and researchers isn’t convincing people to care about sustainability – they already do. Almost half of Australian shoppers (46%) say sustainability is important to them and influences their purchases, despite cost-of-living pressures.

But most sustainable actions in retail involve recyclable packaging, products and materials, and local produce. The carbon emission implications of these actions, sadly, are far less than reducing animal-based food consumption.

Instead, we need to focus on giving people the tools to make their environmental concerns count. Our carbon labels could be the key to helping consumers turn their sustainable intentions into meaningful climate action.The Conversation

Yi Li, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Macquarie University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Nose-to-tail mining: how making sand from ore could solve a looming crisis

Thanagornsoisep/Shutterstock
Daniel FranksThe University of Queensland

Every year, the world consumes around 50 billion tonnes of sand, gravel and crushed stone. The astonishing scale of this demand is hard to comprehend – 12.5 million Olympic sized swimming pools per year – making it the most-used solid material by humans.

Most of us don’t see the sand and gravel all around us. It’s hidden in concrete footpaths and buildings, the glass in our windows and in the microchips that drive our technology.

Demand is set to increase further – even as the extraction of sand and gravel from rivers, lakes, beaches and oceans is triggering an environmental crisis.

Sand does renew naturally, but in many regions, natural sand supplies are being depleted far faster than they can be replenished. Desert sand often has grains too round for use in construction and deserts are usually far from cities, while sand alternatives made by crushing rock are energy- and emissions-intensive.

But there’s a major opportunity here, as we outline in our new research. Every year, the mining industry crushes and discards billions of tonnes of the same minerals as waste during the process of mining metals. By volume, mining waste is the single largest source of waste we make.

There’s nothing magical about sand. It’s made up of particles of weathered rock. Gravel is larger particles. Our research has found companies mining metals can get more out of their ores, by processing the ore to produce sand as well.

This would solve two problems at once: how to avoid mining waste and how to tackle the sand crisis. We dub this “nose-to-tail” mining, following the trend in gastronomy to use every part of an animal.

man with concrete mixer.
Concrete is everywhere – but it requires a great deal of sand and gravel. MVolodymyr/Shutterstock

The failings of tailings

The metal sulphides, oxides and carbonates which can be turned into iron, copper and other metals are only a small fraction of the huge volumes of ore which have to be processed. Every year, the world produces about 13 billion tonnes of tailings – the ground-up rock left over after valuable metals are extracted – and another 72 billion tonnes of waste rock, which has been blasted but not ground up.

For decades, scientists have dreamed of using tailings as a substitute for natural sand. Tailings are often rich in silicates, the principal component of sand.

But to date, the reality has been disappointing. More than 18,000 research papers have been published on the topic in the last 25 years. But only a handful of mines have found ways to repurpose and sell tailings.

Why? First, tailings rarely meet the strict specifications required for construction materials, such as the size of the particles, the mineral composition and the durability.

Second, they come with a stigma. Tailings often contain hazardous substances liberated during mining. This makes governments and consumers understandably cautious about using mining waste in homes and our built environment.

Neither of these problems is insurmountable. In our research, we propose a new solution: manufacture sand directly from ore.

Converting rock into metal is a complex, multi-step process which differs by type of metal and by type of ore. After crushing, the minerals in the ore are typically separated using flotation, where the metal-containing sulphide minerals attach to tiny bubbles that float up through the slurry of rock and water.

At this stage, leftover ore is normally separated out to be disposed of as waste. But if we continue to process the ore, such as by spinning it in a cyclone, impurities can be removed and the right particle size and shape can be achieved to meet the specifications for sand.

We have dubbed this “ore-sand”, to distinguish it from tailings. It’s not made from waste tailings – it’s a deliberate product of the ore.

iron ore on conveyor belt
Turning ore into metal requires intensive crushing and grinding. These methods could also make sand. Aussie Family Living/Shutterstock

More from ore

This isn’t just theory. At the iron ore mine Brucutu in Brazil, the mining company Vale is already producing one million tonnes of ore-sand annually. The sand is used in road construction, brickmaking and concrete.

The move came from tragedy. In 2015 and 2019, the dams constructed to store tailings at two of Vale’s iron ore mines collapsed, triggering deadly mudflows. Hundreds of people died – many of them company employees – and the environmental consequences are ongoing.

In response, the company funded researchers (such as our group) to find ways to reduce reliance on tailings dams in favour of better alternatives.

Following our work with Vale we investigated the possibility of making ore-sand from other types of mineral ores, such as copper and gold. We have run successful trials at Newmont’s Cadia copper-gold mine in Australia. Here, using innovative methods we have produced a coarser ore-sand which doesn’t require as much blending with other sand.

Ore-sand processing makes the most sense for mines located close to cities. This is for two reasons: to avoid the risk of tailings dams to people living nearby, and to reduce the transport costs of moving sand long distances.

Our earlier research showed almost half the world’s sand consumption happens within 100 kilometres of a mine which could produce ore-sand as well as metals. Since metal mining already requires intensive crushing and grinding, we found ore-sand can be produced with lower energy consumption and carbon emissions than the extraction of conventional sands.

The challenge of scale

For any new idea or industry, the hardest part is to go from early trials to widespread adoption. It won’t be easy to make ore-sand a reality.

Inertia is one reason. Mining companies have well-established processes. It takes time and work to introduce new methods.

Industry buy-in and collaboration, supportive government policies and market acceptance will be needed. Major sand buyers such as the construction industry need to be able to test and trust the product.

The upside is real, though. Ore-sand offers us a rare chance to tackle two hard environmental problems at once, by slashing the staggering volume of mining waste and reducing the need for potentially dangerous tailings dams, and offering a better alternative to destructive sand extraction.The Conversation

Daniel Franks, Professor and Director - Global Centre for Mineral Security, The University of Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Intense heat changes our biology and can make us age significantly faster: study

PorporLing/Shutterstock
Rongbin XuMonash University and Shuai LiThe University of Melbourne

Heat takes it out of you. After a long, hot day, we feel tired and grumpy.

But sustained periods of heat do more than that – they age us faster. Cumulative heat stress changes our epigenetics – how our cells turn on or off gene switches in response to environmental pressure.

Now, new research from the United States explores the pressing question of how extreme heat affects humans. The findings are concerning. The more days of intense heat a participant endured, the faster they aged. Longer periods of extreme heat accelerated ageing in older people by more than two years.

As the climate heats up, humans will be exposed to more and more heat – and our bodies will respond to these stresses by ageing faster. These findings are especially pertinent to Australia, where heatwaves are expected to become more frequent and intense in a warmer world.

How, exactly, does heat age us?

Ageing is natural. But the rate of ageing varies from human to human. As we go through life, our bodies are affected by stresses and shocks. For instance, if we don’t get enough sleep over a long period, we will age faster.

While heat can directly sicken or kill us, it also has a long tail. Sustained heat stresses our bodies and make them less efficient at doing the many jobs needed to stay alive. This is what we mean when we say it accelerates biological ageing. This deterioration is likely to precede the later development of diseases and disabilities.

What does that look like on a genetic level? You might think your genes don’t change over your life, and this is mostly true (apart from random mutations).

But what does change is how your genes are expressed. That is, while your DNA stays the same, your cells can switch some of its thousands of genes off or on in response to stresses. At any one time, only a fraction of the genes in any cell are turned on – meaning they are busy making proteins.

This is known as epigenetics. The most common and best understood pathway here is called DNA methylation (DNAm). Methylation here refers to a chemical our cells can use to block a DNA sequence from activating and producing proteins with various functions. Cellular changes in DNAm can lead to proteins being produced more or less, which in turn can flow on to affect physiological functions and our health status. This can be both bad or good.

Heat stress can alter the pattern of which genes are turned off or on, which in turn can affect our rate of ageing.

Severe heat stress can be remembered in cells, leading them to change their DNAm patterns over time. In laboratory testing, the effect is pronounced in fish, chickens, guinea pigs and mice.

To date, much research on how heat affects epigenetics has focused on animals and plants. Here, the evidence is clear – even a single episode of extreme heat has been shown to have a long-lasting effect on mice.

But only a couple of studies have been done involving humans, and they have been limited. This is the gap this new research is intended to help fill.

hand holding thermometer, hot day.
Sustained heat changes how our cells express genes – accelerating ageing. aleks333/Shutterstock

What did the study find?

The study by researchers at the University of Southern California involved almost 3,700 people, with an average age of 68 years.

Heat affects older people more than younger people. Our ability to control our body temperature drops as we age, and we are less resilient to outside stresses and shocks. We also know periods of extreme heat trigger a wave of illness and death, especially among older people.

The study set out to better understand what happens to human bodies at a biological level when they’re exposed to intense heat over the short, medium and longer term.

To do this, the researchers took blood samples and measured epigenetic changes at thousands of sites across the genome, which were used to calculate three clocks measuring biological age, named PcPhenoAge, PCGrimAge and DunedinPACE.

older african-american woman, pensive expression.
Ageing is natural – but the speed at which we age can change. Bricolage/Shutterstock

Then, they looked at the levels of heat each participant would have been exposed in their geographic areas over the preceding six years, which was 2010–16. They used the US heat index to assess heat, from caution (days up to 32°C), extreme caution (32–39°C) and danger (39–51°C). They used regression modelling to see how much faster people were ageing over the normal rate of ageing.

The effect of heat was clear in the three biological clocks. Longer term exposure to intense heat increased biological age by 2.48 years over the six year period of the study according to PCPhenoAge, 1.09 years according to PCGrimAge and 0.05 years according to DunedinPACE.

Over the period of the study, the effect was up to 2.48 years faster than normal ageing, where one calendar year equals one biological year of ageing. That is, rather than their bodies ageing the equivalent of six years over a six year period, heat could have aged their bodies up to 8.48 years.

Importantly, the biological clocks differ quite substantially and we don’t yet know why. The authors suggest the PCPhenoAge clock may capture a broader spectrum of biological ageing, covering both short term and longer term heat stress, while the other two may be more sensitive to long term heat exposure.

The way these researchers have conducted their study gives us confidence in their findings – the study sample was large and representative, and the use of the heat index rather than air temperature is an improvement over previous studies. However, the findings don’t account for whether the participants had airconditioning in their homes or spent much time outside.

We need to know more

Perhaps surprisingly, there has been little research done to date on what heat does to human epigenetics.

In 2020, we conducted a systemic review of the science of how environment affects human epigenetics. We found only seven studies, with most focused on the effect of cold rather than heat.

Now we have this new research which sheds light on the extent to which heat ages us.

As we face a warmer future, our epigenetics will change in response. There is still a lot of work to do to see how we can adapt to these changes – or if we even can, in some parts of the world.The Conversation

Rongbin Xu, Research Fellow in Health and Epigenetics, Monash University and Shuai Li, Associate Professor in Genetic Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

New report skewers Coalition’s contentious nuclear plan – and reignites Australia’s energy debate

John QuigginThe University of Queensland

Debate over the future of Australia’s energy system has erupted again after a federal parliamentary inquiry delivered a report into the deployment of nuclear power in Australia.

The report casts doubt on the Coalition’s plan to build seven nuclear reactors on former coal sites across Australia should it win government. The reactors would be Commonwealth-owned and built.

The report’s central conclusions – rejected by the Coalition – are relatively unsurprising. It found nuclear power would be far more expensive than the projected path of shifting to mostly renewable energy. And delivering nuclear generation before the mid-2040s will be extremely challenging.

The report also reveals important weaknesses in the Coalition’s defence of its plan to deploy nuclear energy across Australia, if elected. In particular, the idea of cheap, factory-built nuclear reactors is very likely a mirage.



A divisive inquiry

In October last year, a House of Representatives select committee was formed to investigate the deployment of nuclear energy in Australia.

Chaired by Labor MP Dan Repacholi, it has so far involved 19 public hearings and 858 written submissions from nuclear energy companies and experts, government agencies, scientists, Indigenous groups and others. Evidence I gave to a hearing was quoted in the interim report.

The committee’s final report is due by April 30 this year. It tabled an interim report late on Tuesday, focused on the timeframes and costs involved. These issues dominated evidence presented to the inquiry.

The findings of the interim report were endorsed by the committee’s Labor and independent members, but rejected by Coalition members.

What did the report find on cost?

The report said evidence presented so far showed the deployment of nuclear power generation in Australia “is currently not a viable investment of taxpayer money”.

Nuclear energy was shown to be more expensive than the alternatives. These include a power grid consistent with current projections: one dominated by renewable energy and backed up by a combination of battery storage and a limited number of gas peaking plants.

The Coalition has identified seven coal plant sites where it would build nuclear reactors. Some 11 gigawatts of coal capacity is produced on those sites. The committee heard replacing this capacity with nuclear power would meet around 15% of consumer needs in the National Electricity Market, and cost at least A$116 billion.

In contrast, the Australian Energy Market Operator estimates the cost of meeting 100% of the National Electricity Market’s needs – that is, building all required transmission, generation, storage and firming capacity out to 2050 – is about $383 billion.

What about the timing of nuclear?

On the matter of when nuclear energy in Australia would be up and running, the committee found “significant challenges” in achieving this before the mid-2040s.

This is consistent with findings from the CSIRO that nuclear power would take at least 15 years to deploy in Australia. But is it at odds with Coalition claims that the first two plants would be operating by 2035 and 2037 respectively.

The mid-2040s is well beyond the lifetime of Australia’s existing coal-fired power stations. This raises questions about how the Coalition would ensure reliable electricity supplies after coal plants close. It also raises questions over how Australia would meet its global emissions-reduction obligations.

Recent experience in other developed countries suggests the committee’s timeframe estimates are highly conservative.

Take, for example, a 1.6GW reactor at Flamanville, France. The project, originally scheduled to be completed in 2012, was not connected to the grid until 2024. Costs blew out from an original estimate of A$5.5 billion to $22 billion.

The builder, Électricité de France (EDF), was pushed to the edge of bankruptcy. The French government was forced to nationalise the company, reversing an earlier decision to privatise it.

EDF is also building two reactors in the United Kingdom – a project known as Hinkley C. It has also suffered huge cost blowouts.

Recent nuclear reactor projects in the United States have also fallen victim to cost overruns, sending the owner, Westinghouse, bankrupt.

What does the Coalition say?

The committee report included dissenting comments by Coalition members.

As the Coalition rightly points out, global enthusiasm for nuclear power remains steady. The UK, France and the US all signed a declaration in 2023 at the global climate change conference, COP28, pledging to triple nuclear power by 2050.

And in the UK and France, advanced plans are afoot to construct new nuclear reactors at existing sites.

But even there, progress has been glacial. The UK’s Sizewell C project has been in the planning stage since at least 2012. The French projects were announced by President Emmanuel Macron in 2022. None of these projects have yet reached a final investment decision. Delays in Australia would certainly be much longer.

The Coalition also draws a long bow in claiming Australia’s existing research reactor at Lucas Heights, in New South Wales, means we are “already a nuclear nation”.

At least 50 countries, including most developed countries, have research reactors. But very few are contemplating starting a nuclear industry from scratch.

At least one issue seems to have been resolved by the committee’s inquiry. Evidence it received almost unanimously dismissed the idea small modular reactors (SMRs) will arrive in time to be relevant to Australia’s energy transition – if they are ever developed.

The Coalition’s dissenting comments did not attempt to rebut this evidence.

Looking ahead

Undoubtedly, existing nuclear power plants will play a continued role in the global energy transition.

But starting a nuclear power industry from scratch in Australia is a nonsensical idea for many reasons – not least because it is too expensive and will take too long.

In the context of the coming federal election, the nuclear policy is arguably a red herring – one designed to distract voters from a Coalition policy program that slows the transition to renewables and drags out the life of dirty and unreliable coal-fired power.The Conversation

John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Week Four February 2025 (February 17-23)

Just Two Trees

From award winning film maker Bruce Walters (Avalon Now), Just Two Trees is a powerful expository that follows the ongoing fight of impassioned Pittwater locals to save two majestic gum trees from contractor's chainsaws.

In May 2024 Northern Beaches Council informed residents of Ruskin Rowe, in Avalon NSW, of its intention to remove four Flooded gums which form part of the street's historic avenue of trees. A large branch had fallen from one of the trees earlier in the year, causing damage to a resident's car that had been parked on public land in the quiet cul-de-sac.

This sparked a chain of events that ultimately lead to the removal of two of the four trees, and a month-long blockade of the remaining two by local residents and community groups. At the very core of the dispute is the notion of the risk versus the benefits of a community's unique tree canopy.

Watch the film below.

Background in 2024 reports:

Council's Draft Tree Management Policy Opens for Feedback

The Northern Beaches Council is inviting feedback on its new draft Tree Management Policy which the council states ‘aims to strengthen tree assessment and protection requirements and expand the local green links between natural areas’.

‘The draft harmonises the former council's policies and provides a consistent and strategic approach to tree management across the area.’ a release by the council says

Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins encouraged the community to have their say on the draft Policy  

“This initiative underscores our commitment to maintaining and enhancing the region's exceptional tree canopy coverage, which with an estimated 12 million trees is among the highest for an urban council in Australia.  

"Our tree canopy is a vital part of our local environment, helping to keep temperatures down, providing important habitat, and is highly valued by our local community.

The council states the new draft policy provides: 

  • a framework that supports the sustainable management and retention of safe and healthy trees 
  • supports the management of public trees through succession and new tree planting, along with proactive and reactive maintenance programs
  • preferences locally occurring native species for new plantings
  • prioritises alternative options before pursuing the removal of trees

For more information and to provide feedback, the community can visit the Your Say project page. 

The policy will be on exhibition from Monday 24 February 2025 to Sunday 30 March 2025.

Visit; https://yoursay.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/ 

Electrification upgrade of Manly Andrew Boy Charlton Aquatic Centre a win for finances and environment

Thursday, 20 February 2025

Northern Beaches Council today welcomed a $1.4 M Federal government grant to support the replacement of the gas heating systems at Manly Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton Pool (MABC) saving ratepayers an estimated $500,000 a year.

Currently, gas accounts for approximately 34% of Council’s carbon emissions, with nearly 90% of this usage at the MABC. The proposed upgrade involves replacing the existing gas pool and domestic water heating systems with energy-efficient electric heat pump systems, significantly reducing Council’s costs and emissions. 

Mayor Sue Heins said “This project is a win for Council budget and the environment. 

“The ongoing benefit of this replacement project will drastically reduce our energy bills, saving an estimated $500,000 each year and supports our commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2045.

“I welcome the support of Minister Chris Bowen and local MP Zali Steggall for their support of this project. By working together across the various tiers of Government we can support facilities like MABC which has direct benefits for our ratepayers and the environment,” Mayor Heins said.

Member for Warringah, Zali Stegall said, “This is wonderful news. The project will have a dual benefit of reducing the swim centre’s emissions by more than 1,378 tonnes CO2-e each year and will also facilitate welcome cost savings for the council.”   

This project received grant funding from the Australian Government and is part of the Federal Government Community Energy Upgrades Fund (CEUF) that provides co-funding for projects that help local governments make their facilities more energy efficient, cut their emissions and reduce their energy bills.

Australia’s Eucalypt of the Year 2025: The Travel Edition voting opens 

Australia’s much-loved Eucalypt of the Year 2025 voting is now open. This year, in a departure from previous years, voters won’t be asked to pick their favourite gumtree, but their favourite eucalypt-filled destination.

“In our eighth consecutive Eucalypt of the Year, we want to celebrate the sheer diversity of our eucalypts by showcasing ten iconic eucalypt destinations around Australia,” says Linda Baird, CEO of Eucalypt Australia.

“This much-loved day aims to raise awareness of eucalypts and celebrate the important place they hold in the hearts and lives of Australians. This year, we want Australians to get behind their favourite destination and vote for their favourite ‘holiday amongst the gumtrees’ to really put it on the map as a unique eucalypt location.

“From the Snow Gums in the High Country, to the eucalypt diversity of the Blue Mountains and destinations in every state and territory across the country, there is a personal favourite for everyone!” says Linda.

People can vote for their favourite eucalypt destination until Thursday 20th March at www.eucalyptaustralia.org.au

The winning eucalypt holiday spot will be announced on National Eucalypt Day, Sunday March 23. National Eucalypt Day is Australia’s biggest annual celebration of eucalypts held every year to celebrate and promote Australia’s eucalypts and what they mean to our lives and hearts.

You can tell us how you voted on social media by tagging @EucalyptAus using the hashtag #EucalyptoftheYear2025.

The ten contenders for 2025 Eucalypt of the Year are:

  • Alpine Rainbows: Snow Gums in the High Country - ACT/NSW/Vic
  • Ghosts of Central Australia - NT
  • Shades of Splendour: Eucalypt Diversity in the Blue Mountains - NSW
  • Regents of the Otways: Mountain Ash - Vic
  • Bronzed Beauties of the Great Western Woodlands - WA
  • Kakadu’s Secrets of the Savanna - NT
  • Epic Elders of the Styx and Huon Valleys - Tas
  • Resilient River Reds of Ikara-Flinders Ranges - SA
  • Wondrous Forests of the Walpole Wilderness - WA
  • Tropical Treasures of Magnetic Island - Qld

Shades of Splendour: Eucalypt diversity in the Blue Mountains NSW

On Sydney’s doorstep, a blue haze hangs above a scenic playground cloaked in eucalypts of every description. Locals and tourists alike flock to hike, climb, kayak and fly amongst the greatest diversity of eucalypts in the world, with more than 100 eucalypt species calling the Greater Blue Mountains home.

Notable Species:

Sydney Blue Gum, Eucalyptus saligna

Scribbly Gums, E. sclerophylla, racemosa and rossii

Narrow-leaved Apple, Angophora bakeri

Red Bloodwood, Corymbia gummifera

Blue Mountains Mallee, Eucalyptus stricta

Faulconbridge Mallee Ash, Eucalyptus burgessiana

Image: © Lovleah via Canva.com

What does our Energy Future look like: Community Forum

Join Avalon & Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce for a public interest forum on Australia's energy future. Federal MP Dr Sophie Scamps will be joined by Tony Woods (Grattan Institute) and Tim Buckley (Climate Energy Finance) Tuesday 25th February, from 6pm Tickets $10 Drinks available to purchase
Date: Tuesday 25 February 2025 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (UTC+11)
Location: Avalon Recreation Centre

Clean Up Australia Day

Sunday, 2 March 2025 - 07:00 am to 08:00 pm

Community, schools and businesses can volunteer for Clean Up Australia Day to help keep our area pristine.  Now is the time to register for this year’s community event, happening on Sunday 2nd of March 2025.

Businesses are also encouraged to join the Business Clean Up Day on Tuesday 25 February 2025 and young people can get involved in the School Clean Up Day on Friday 28 February 2025.  

To register to volunteer, visit Clean Up Australia Day.

MAG&M stages Signs in the Sand

Manly Art Gallery & Museum’s (MAG&M) is partnering with contemporary artist Anna Madeleine Raupach to create an innovative approach to raising awareness for environmental issues in its latest exhibition Signs in the Sand: Anna Madaleine Raupach’s Climate Sign Archiveopening on 11 March 2025.

Signs in the Sand, an immersive augmented reality (AR) installation, is a continuation of respected artist, Anna Madeleine Raupach’s Climate Sign Project. The exhibition will form part of MAG&M’s program for Climate Action Week (10-16 March).

In mid-February the Collective for Environmental Art & Design (CEAD) Forum is being held, where participants will be asked to create climate action signs for Signs in the Sand. Raupach will digitise these signs, add them to her growing archive and place them virtually in the sand along Manly Cove.  

During the Signs in the Sand exhibition, 11 March to 11 May 2025, visitors can engage with these artworks via a QR code downloaded to their electronic device.

Northern Beaches Mayor, Sue Heins expressed enthusiasm for the premise and personal engagement of the exhibition.

“Signs in the Sand is a powerful example of how art and technology can come together to address urgent environmental issues.

“This exhibition not only highlights the creativity and innovation of our community but also encourages them to reflect on the role we all play in fostering environmental and sustainability awareness and action,” Mayor Heins said.

The exhibition will feature digitised signs from Raupach’s archive, as well as the new signs created during the CEAD (Collective for Environmental Art & Design) Forum in February. These AR installations will be displayed along Manly Cove’s beachfront and within MAG&M, providing an immersive interactive experience for visitors. QR codes placed at MAG&M will link visitors to the project’s AR platform, allowing them to engage with the artwork in a unique and meaningful way.

Signs in the Sand is part of MAG&M’s commitment to presenting art and ideas that drive real-world environmental change through the CEAD program. The exhibition aligns with MAG&M’s mission to inspire interdisciplinary creativity and meaningful dialogue about sustainability.

The exhibition is free and open to the public, making it accessible for everyone to enjoy and participate in this important conversation about the environment.

See first-hand how art and technology can work together towards environmental change.

Weekly curator’s walk-through

Thursday mornings at 11am. Please meet in the foyer of Manly Art Gallery & Museum.

FREE - No booking required 

Location: Manly Art Gallery & Museum, 1a West Esplanade, Manly 

Image courtesy Anna Madeleine Raupach

Kimbriki Composting & Worms Workshop

Date: Saturday 1st March 2025
Time: 10am to 1pm
Venue:  Kimbriki Eco House & Garden Education Centre.  Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre,  1 Kimbriki Road (off Mona Vale Road), Ingleside,  2101
Cost: $35.00 - book in here

Access by vehicle only – as there is no pedestrian access to Kimbriki please arrange to arrive by vehicle. All vehicles must enter and exit Kimbriki via the Weighbridges. On entry, stop to advise the Operator before proceeding to the Eco House car park. 

Residents attending the entire Composting & Worms workshop: Northern Beaches Council would like to support its residents in recycling food waste at home by giving you a voucher towards buying a worm farm or compost bin. Northern Beaches Council will issue a $90 voucher to Northern Beaches residents who attend a Kimbriki Composting and Worms workshop and who have not had a free worm farm, compost bin or voucher from Council in the past. One voucher per household (not per person) is issued irrespective of number of workshops attended. The vouchers are issued directly from Council after you have attended the workshop. Please allow up to 3-4 weeks for the voucher to be issued and posted to your residential address. Voucher can be used at New Leaf Nursery in Ingleside or at the Kimbriki Eco House & Garden Eco shop.

Composting and worm farming are great alternatives to disposing of your food waste in the rubbish bin while creating natural fertiliser for your garden. By recycling food scraps in a compost bin or worm farm you can help reduce organic waste disposed in landfill, in turn reducing the production of leachate and greenhouse gases from landfills. Compost and worm ‘castings’ are both ideal natural fertiliser for your garden.

Our Composting and Worms Workshop covers the following topics:

  • Why compost or have a worm farm? Learn why food scraps & garden waste must be taken out of our rubbish bins
  • Setting up your compost bin & worm farm
  • What goes into your compost & worm farms?
  • Learn different methods of composting
  • Maintaining your compost & worm farm
  • How to use compost, worm castings & ‘worm juice’ on your garden
  • The vital role of organic matter & humus in your soil
  • Outlining the human health problems associated with using synthetic fertilisers on your edible gardens
  • Answers to the most common problems with worm farms

‘1080 pest management’

Applies until Friday August 1st 2025. 

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service will be conducting a baiting program using manufactured baits, fresh baits and Canid Pest Ejectors (CPEs) containing 1080 poison (sodium fluroacetate) for the control of foxes. The program is continuous and ongoing between 1 February 2025 and 31 July 2025 in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Don’t touch baits or ejector devices. Penalties apply for non-compliance.

All baiting locations are identifiable by signs.

Domestic pets are not permitted in NSW national parks and reserves. Pets and working dogs may be affected (1080 is lethal to cats and dogs). In the event of accidental poisoning seek immediate veterinary assistance.

Fox baiting in these reserves is aimed at reducing their impact on threatened species.

For more information, contact the local park office on:

Forestville 9451 3479 or Lane Cove 8448 0400 (business hours)

NPWS after-hours call centre: 1300 056 294 (after hours)

Closed areas: Major works in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

Applies from Wed 05 Feb 2025, 8.59am to Fri 28 Mar 2025, 5.00pm. 

Major works are currently being undertaken to upgrade the sewerage system in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. As a result, there may be small delays experienced on Ku-ring-gai Chase Road on weekdays.

There will also be a partial closure of the Apple Tree Bay picnic area, with the back section being inaccessible to the public during these works. Penalties apply for non-compliance. For more information, contact the local park office on (02) 8448 0400.

 

Please Remember to leave water out for wildlife on hot days

With the BOM forecasting heatwave conditions to return over the weekend and into next week please remember to put out bowls of water in shady positions for wildlife. For lizards and smaller birds a shallow dish with some sticks or twigs via which to get out again are best. If you have a birdbath, these too are best placed out of the sun so the water doesn't overheat.

Photo: Bush Turkey dug itself a cooling dirt pit under the hedge in the PON yard on Tuesday January 28 2025 when Sydney temperatures hit 40+ degrees. The baby Bush Turkey seen a in December has grown and it too was spending time in the shade.

Reporting Dogs Offleash - Dog Attacks to Council


If the attack happened outside local council hours, you may call your local police station. Police officers are also authorised officers under the Companion Animals Act 1998. Authorised officers have a wide range of powers to deal with owners of attacking dogs, including seizing dogs that have attacked.

You can report dog attacks, along with dogs offleash where they should not be, to the NBC anonymously and via your own name, to get a response, at: https://help.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/s/submit-request?topic=Pets_Animals

If the matter is urgent or dangerous call Council on 1300 434 434 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

If you find injured wildlife please contact:
  • Sydney Wildlife Rescue (24/7): 9413 4300 
  • WIRES: 1300 094 737

Remember Gus the Groper?

Cate Faehrmann MLC, Greens NSW spokesperson, commenced circulating a petition this past week calling for a pememnt ban on on blue groper fishing and for marine sanctuaries across NSW to be restored.


In October 2021 a man was fined $10,000 in Manly Court for exceeding the possession limit of abalone at Mona Vale. He also had speared a Blue Groper, one of the aquatic residents of that place.

Another large Blue Groper who once inhabited the rock shelfs off Palm Beach rock pool for years has also disappeared.

Ms Faehrmann's petition reads:

''Just over a year ago, our collective hearts broke when beloved blue groper, Gus, was tragically killed by a spearfisher off the coast of Cronulla. Then, just a few weeks later, another three blue gropers met the same fate in Jervis Bay.

Spearfishing gropers has been illegal for some time in NSW, but a loophole exists for anglers to legally catch and kill up to two gropers a day. 

The killing of Gus really touched a nerve and as a result of a huge public outcry the government imposed a 12 month fishing ban on blue gropers. But that protection is set to expire in a little over a week on 28 February, meaning these friendly and iconic creatures may soon be legally hooked and killed again. 

The blue groper isn’t just any fish. 

It’s the state fish of NSW, plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems, and holds deep cultural significance for many First Nations peoples.

Unfortunately though, their slow growth, unique social structures, and friendly nature make them especially vulnerable to fishing. Research also shows that with climate change warming our oceans, the NSW blue groper population has halved since 2008.

The last thing they need for their survival is for this fishing ban to be lifted. And while the Minister is at it we’re calling on her to restore the marine sanctuaries that were opened to fishing under the outrageous decision of the former Government’s National Party minister.

Please help us honour Gus’ memory and protect blue gropers for future generations: Add your voice to urge the Minister to permanently ban blue groper fishing and restore marine sanctuaries across NSW.

It was people power that won us the initial ban Eric, and we can do it again now. 

We know marine sanctuaries are critical to provide protected spaces for fish like the Blue Groper and other marine animals to thrive, allowing species and habitat to recover.

Let’s make sure these incredible creatures remain safe in our waters. Click here to take action now.''

Cate Faehrmann
Greens NSW MLC

World Heritage values threatened by delays to the Great Koala National Park

A new report from environmental groups has found the Great Koala National Park would be eligible for World Heritage status, but says those values are under threat every day logging continues.

The Nature Conservation Council NSW (NCC), Bellingen Environment Centre and Forest Alliance of NSW co-authored the report, which also found ongoing industrial logging was a threat to existing World Heritage areas that share borders with the State Forests.

The new report, Great Koala National Park World Heritage Values, highlights that the proposed GKNP contains some of the most precious forest habitats in the world. The rainforests of north-east NSW cover only 0.3% of Australia but house half of all Australian plant families and a third of its mammal and bird species. 

The proposed GKNP contains significant areas already recognised as globally significant, having been granted World Heritage listing and listing as Interim World Heritage Areas. There are even more areas of globally significant forests that are currently open to logging and can only receive World Heritage listing if these forests are transferred to national parks. 

Ashley Love, life member of the Bellingen Environment Centre said:

“The Great Koala National Park proposal was based on protecting two of the most significant wild coastal koala meta-populations in Australia, which would most likely qualify for World Heritage listing once their habitat was adequately protected.

“These forests are already recognised as being globally significant for their diversity of Eucalypt species and unique associations with ancient rainforests. 

“World Heritage status is the pinnacle of international recognition and Australia has an obligation to protect these values.

“These values are under threat, with intensive logging continuing right up the borders of these globally significant forests and within forests that have potential to receive this globally significant recognition.”

Steve Ryan, Forests Campaigner for Nature Conservation Council NSW said:

“There has been recent logging right up the Interim World Heritage border in Hyland Nature Reserve. This is no way to treat globally significant forests.

“Increases in weeds, fire, feral animals and loss of connectivity all result from logging.

“The full protection of the proposed GKNP would connect three World Heritage Areas and create a buffer to guard their long-term survival.”

Dailan Pugh, Spokesperson for North East Forest Alliance said:

“The NSW and Commonwealth Governments committed to a review and renomination of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area back in 1996. It took them until 2010 to put forward a tentative list to the World Heritage Centre including 459,739 ha of NSW’s National Parks as additions, though there has been no progress since.

“The creation of the Great Koala National Park provides them with an opportunity to include additional areas, though they must act on their long overdue commitment to prepare a renomination for these globally significant forests.”

In 2015 the NSW Labor had already recognised these values and promised to “ensure Australia takes the NSW areas within the (interim) listing to the World Heritage Committee and gives these rainforests the international recognition and protection they so richly deserve”.

Cover of the new report, Great Koala National Park World Heritage Values

Estuary vegetation: the threat of climate change and sea level rise

video by NSW Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, October 2024

DCCEEW Vegetation Ecologist Dr Tanya Mason explains the importance of estuary vegetation, the role it plays in the interface between the sea and the land and the dual threats of sea level rise and climate change.

This research was funded under the Marine Estate Management Strategy (MEMS). MEMS is the NSW Government's ten-year Strategy developed by the NSW Marine Estate Management Authority to coordinate the management of the marine estate.

Join the flock: help protect threatened birds by becoming a citizen scientist

video by NSW Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, November 2024

The #SavingOurSpecies program, supported by citizen scientists, works on conservation projects to protect these threatened birds.

Find out how you can get involved: https://www2.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/join-flock-help-protect-threatened-birds-becoming-citizen-scientist

Plastic Bread Ties For Wheelchairs

The Berry Collective at 1691 Pittwater Rd, Mona Vale collects them for Oz Bread Tags for Wheelchairs, who recycle the plastic.

Berry Collective is the practice on the left side of the road as you head north, a few blocks before Mona Vale shops . They have parking. Enter the foyer and there's a small bin on a table where you drop your bread ties - very easy.

A full list of Aussie bread tags for wheelchairs is available at: HERE 


Volunteers for Barrenjoey Lighthouse Tours needed

Details:

Stay Safe From Mosquitoes 

NSW Health is reminding people to protect themselves from mosquitoes when they are out and about this summer.

NSW Health’s Acting Director of Environmental Health, Paul Byleveld, said with more people spending time outdoors, it was important to take steps to reduce mosquito bite risk.

“Mosquitoes thrive in wet, warm conditions like those that much of NSW is experiencing,” Byleveld said.

“Mosquitoes in NSW can carry viruses such as Japanese encephalitis (JE), Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE), Kunjin, Ross River and Barmah Forest. The viruses may cause serious diseases with symptoms ranging from tiredness, rash, headache and sore and swollen joints to rare but severe symptoms of seizures and loss of consciousness.

“People should take extra care to protect themselves against mosquito bites and mosquito-borne disease, particularly after the detection of JE in a sentinel chicken in Far Western NSW.

The NSW Health sentinel chicken program provides early warning about the presence of serious mosquito borne diseases, like JE. Routine testing in late December revealed a positive result for JE in a sample from Menindee. 

A free vaccine to protect against JE infection is available to those at highest risk in NSW and people can check their eligibility at NSW Health.

People are encouraged to take actions to prevent mosquito bites and reduce the risk of acquiring a mosquito-borne virus by:
  • Applying repellent to exposed skin. Use repellents that contain DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Check the label for reapplication times.
  • Re-applying repellent regularly, particularly after swimming. Be sure to apply sunscreen first and then apply repellent.
  • Wearing light, loose-fitting long-sleeve shirts, long pants and covered footwear and socks.
  • Avoiding going outdoors during peak mosquito times, especially at dawn and dusk.
  • Using insecticide sprays, vapour dispensing units and mosquito coils to repel mosquitoes (mosquito coils should only be used outdoors in well-ventilated areas)
  • Covering windows and doors with insect screens and checking there are no gaps.
  • Removing items that may collect water such as old tyres and empty pots from around your home to reduce the places where mosquitoes can breed.
  • Using repellents that are safe for children. Most skin repellents are safe for use on children aged three months and older. Always check the label for instructions. Protecting infants aged less than three months by using an infant carrier draped with mosquito netting, secured along the edges.
  • While camping, use a tent that has fly screens to prevent mosquitoes entering or sleep under a mosquito net.
Remember, Spray Up – Cover Up – Screen Up to protect from mosquito bite. For more information go to NSW Health.

Mountain Bike Incidents On Public Land: Survey

This survey aims to document mountain bike related incidents on public land, available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K88PSNP

Sent in by Pittwater resident Academic for future report- study. The survey will run for 12 months and close in February 2025.

Report fox sightings

Fox sightings, signs of fox activity, den locations and attacks on native or domestic animals can be reported into FoxScan. FoxScan is a free resource for residents, community groups, local Councils, and other land managers to record and report fox sightings and control activities. 

Our Council's Invasive species Team receives an alert when an entry is made into FoxScan.  The information in FoxScan will assist with planning fox control activities and to notify the community when and where foxes are active.



marine wildlife rescue group on the Central Coast

A new wildlife group was launched on the Central Coast on Saturday, December 10, 2022.

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast (MWRCC) had its official launch at The Entrance Boat Shed at 10am.

The group comprises current and former members of ASTR, ORRCA, Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace, WIRES and Wildlife ARC, as well as vets, academics, and people from all walks of life.

Well known marine wildlife advocate and activist Cathy Gilmore is spearheading the organisation.

“We believe that it is time the Central Coast looked after its own marine wildlife, and not be under the control or directed by groups that aren’t based locally,” Gilmore said.

“We have the local knowledge and are set up to respond and help injured animals more quickly.

“This also means that donations and money fundraised will go directly into helping our local marine creatures, and not get tied up elsewhere in the state.”

The organisation plans to have rehabilitation facilities and rescue kits placed in strategic locations around the region.

MWRCC will also be in touch with Indigenous groups to learn the traditional importance of the local marine environment and its inhabitants.

“We want to work with these groups and share knowledge between us,” Gilmore said.

“This is an opportunity to help save and protect our local marine wildlife, so if you have passion and commitment, then you are more than welcome to join us.”

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast has a Facebook page where you may contact members. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076317431064


Watch out - shorebirds about

Summer is here so watch your step because beach-nesting and estuary-nesting birds have started setting up home on our shores.
Did you know that Careel Bay and other spots throughout our area are part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP)?

This flyway, and all of the stopping points along its way, are vital to ensure the survival of these Spring and Summer visitors. This is where they rest and feed on their journeys.  For example, did you know that the bar-tailed godwit flies for 239 hours for 8,108 miles from Alaska to Australia?

Not only that, Shorebirds such as endangered oystercatchers and little terns lay their eggs in shallow scraped-out nests in the sand, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Threatened Species officer Ms Katherine Howard has said.
Even our regular residents such as seagulls are currently nesting to bear young.

What can you do to help them?
Known nest sites may be indicated by fencing or signs. The whole community can help protect shorebirds by keeping out of nesting areas marked by signs or fences and only taking your dog to designated dog offleash area. 

Just remember WE are visitors to these areas. These birds LIVE there. This is their home.

Four simple steps to help keep beach-nesting birds safe:
1. Look out for bird nesting signs or fenced-off nesting areas on the beach, stay well clear of these areas and give the parent birds plenty of space.
2. Walk your dogs in designated dog-friendly areas only and always keep them on a leash over summer.
3. Stay out of nesting areas and follow all local rules.
4. Chicks are mobile and don't necessarily stay within fenced nesting areas. When you're near a nesting area, stick to the wet sand to avoid accidentally stepping on a chick.


Possums In Your Roof?: do the right thing

Possums in your roof? Please do the right thing 
On the weekend, one of our volunteers noticed a driver pull up, get out of their vehicle, open the boot, remove a trap and attempt to dump a possum on a bush track. Fortunately, our member intervened and saved the beautiful female brushtail and the baby in her pouch from certain death. 

It is illegal to relocate a trapped possum more than 150 metres from the point of capture and substantial penalties apply.  Urbanised possums are highly territorial and do not fare well in unfamiliar bushland. In fact, they may starve to death or be taken by predators.

While Sydney Wildlife Rescue does not provide a service to remove possums from your roof, we do offer this advice:

✅ Call us on (02) 9413 4300 and we will refer you to a reliable and trusted licenced contractor in the Sydney metropolitan area. For a small fee they will remove the possum, seal the entry to your roof and provide a suitable home for the possum - a box for a brushtail or drey for a ringtail.
✅ Do-it-yourself by following this advice from the Department of Planning and Environment: 

❌ Do not under any circumstances relocate a possum more than 150 metres from the capture site.
Thank you for caring and doing the right thing.



Sydney Wildlife photos

Aviaries + Possum Release Sites Needed

Pittwater Online News has interviewed Lynette Millett OAM (WIRES Northern Beaches Branch) needs more bird cages of all sizes for keeping the current huge amount of baby wildlife in care safe or 'homed' while they are healed/allowed to grow bigger to the point where they may be released back into their own home. 

If you have an aviary or large bird cage you are getting rid of or don't need anymore, please email via the link provided above. There is also a pressing need for release sites for brushtail possums - a species that is very territorial and where release into a site already lived in by one possum can result in serious problems and injury. 

If you have a decent backyard and can help out, Lyn and husband Dave can supply you with a simple drey for a nest and food for their first weeks of adjustment.

Bushcare in Pittwater: where + when

For further information or to confirm the meeting details for below groups, please contact Council's Bushcare Officer on 9970 1367 or visit Council's bushcare webpage to find out how you can get involved.

BUSHCARE SCHEDULES 
Where we work                      Which day                              What time 

Avalon     
Angophora Reserve             3rd Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Dunes                        1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Golf Course              2nd Wednesday                 3 - 5:30pm 
Careel Creek                         4th Saturday                      8:30 - 11:30am 
Toongari Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon (8 - 11am in summer) 
Bangalley Headland            2nd Sunday                         9 to 12noon 
Catalpa Reserve              4th Sunday of the month        8.30 – 11.30
Palmgrove Park              1st Saturday of the month        9.00 – 12 

Bayview     
Winnererremy Bay                 4th Sunday                        9 to 12noon 

Bilgola     
North Bilgola Beach              3rd Monday                        9 - 12noon 
Algona Reserve                     1st Saturday                       9 - 12noon 
Plateau Park                          1st Friday                            8:30 - 11:30am 

Church Point     
Browns Bay Reserve             1st Tuesday                        9 - 12noon 
McCarrs Creek Reserve       Contact Bushcare Officer     To be confirmed 

Clareville     
Old Wharf Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      8 - 11am 

Elanora     
Kundibah Reserve                   4th Sunday                       8:30 - 11:30am 

Mona Vale     
Mona Vale Beach Basin          1st Saturday                    8 - 11am 
Mona Vale Dunes                     2nd Saturday +3rd Thursday     8:30 - 11:30am 

Newport     
Bungan Beach                          4th Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
Crescent Reserve                    3rd Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
North Newport Beach              4th Saturday                    8:30 - 11:30am 
Porter Reserve                          2nd Saturday                  8 - 11am 

North Narrabeen     
Irrawong Reserve                     2nd Saturday                   2 - 5pm 

Palm Beach     
North Palm Beach Dunes      3rd Saturday                    9 - 12noon 

Scotland Island     
Catherine Park                          2nd Sunday                     10 - 12:30pm 
Elizabeth Park                           1st Saturday                      9 - 12noon 
Pathilda Reserve                      3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon 

Warriewood     
Warriewood Wetlands             1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 

Whale Beach     
Norma Park                               1st Friday                            9 - 12noon 

Western Foreshores     
Coopers Point, Elvina Bay      2nd Sunday                        10 - 1pm 
Rocky Point, Elvina Bay           1st Monday                          9 - 12noon

Friends Of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment Activities

Bush Regeneration - Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment  
This is a wonderful way to become connected to nature and contribute to the health of the environment.  Over the weeks and months you can see positive changes as you give native species a better chance to thrive.  Wildlife appreciate the improvement in their habitat.

Belrose area - Thursday mornings 
Belrose area - Weekend mornings by arrangement
Contact: Phone or text Conny Harris on 0432 643 295

Wheeler Creek - Wednesday mornings 9-11am
Contact: Phone or text Judith Bennett on 0402 974 105
Or email: Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment : email@narrabeenlagoon.org.au

Gardens and Environment Groups and Organisations in Pittwater


Ringtail Posses 2023

Elusive New Holland mouse rediscovered in Wollemi National Park

February 21, 2025

For the first time in two decades, the tiny New Holland mouse has been documented in Wollemi National Park, offering fresh hope for the vulnerable species.

During ecological monitoring surveys in the northern end of the park, scientists recorded multiple sightings of the native rodent, which is nationally listed as a vulnerable threatened species.

The discovery of the New Holland mouse in Wollemi National Park was made through the world-leading Ecological Health Scorecards program. This initiative uses survey techniques – including cameras and acoustic monitoring – to comprehensively measure the health of national parks.

Often too small to clearly identify in traditional surveys, the mice were attracted through a scent lure and photographed on multiple close-range cameras across the park. The lure was a mix of peanut butter and oats, put in a tea strainer, that allows animals to smell but not eat it.

The park-wide surveys have found the species in both forests and heath habitats which burnt in the 2019–20 fires, as well as unburnt areas, which is a promising sign the environment is recovering. The mouse was last recorded in the park in 2004.

The results of the surveys will be included in the Ecological Health Scorecard for the Greater Blue Mountains. The scorecard will provide a baseline against which the health of the park can be measured in the future.

Data from the scorecard will also be used by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to understand how the park’s health is changing over time and to make evidence-based decisions about park management.

Scorecards for the Royal National Park and Kosciuszko National Park have already been released.

For more information on the Ecological Health Scorecards visit: environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/npws-conservation/ecological-health-performance-scorecards

NPWS ecologist Vera Wong stated:

“The exciting discovery of the New Holland mouse population in Wollemi National Park highlights the important role these detailed scientific surveys play in understanding the biodiversity and ecosystem health of our parks.

“Wollemi National Park is one of our largest parks and finding this tiny mouse, which is one of Australia’s smallest rodents, is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The New Holland mouse was presumed extinct in NSW until it was rediscovered in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in 1967.

“Native rodents are incredibly important as they contribute to important ecological processes, such as seed dispersal. 

“The New Holland Mouse is very social and shares burrows, which may have provided protection to survive during the bushfires.”

New Holland mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae), Wollemi National Park. Photo :DEECW

$10 million for Good Neighbours Program to tackle pest and weeds across NSW

February 20, 2025

The Minns Labor Government states it is delivering on its election commitment to tackle pest and weed infestations between neighbouring public and private lands across the state through its $10 million investment in new or expanded, on the ground, biosecurity projects.

The Good Neighbours Program, led by Local Land Services, will undertake 21 initial projects in priority areas across NSW.

The initiative is part of the Government’s $945 million commitment to addressing biosecurity threats to the state’s $20 billion primary industries sector.

The Good Neighbours projects will target pest animals and problem weeds, including feral deer, feral pigs, tropical soda apple and hudson pear.

Improved on-ground outcomes will be achieved through coordinated pest animal and weed control programs, as well as capacity-building workshops, training and education for landholders and land managers.

The 21 projects will be delivered in partnership with respective public land managers including Forestry Corporation, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and local councils.

The Good Neighbours Program highlights the importance of public and private land managers working together to prevent the spread of pests and weeds and protect the NSW economy, environment and community.

Pest animals and weeds impact more than 70 per cent of the state’s threatened species and endangered ecological communities, posing a significant agricultural threat.

The Good Neighbours Program brings together a range of stakeholders and agencies to combat the issue and educate landholders and land managers about their shared general biosecurity duty under the NSW Biosecurity Act 2015 to control pests and weeds on their properties.

The program will run until mid-2026, with additional projects to be funded. Visit nsw.gov.au/good-neighbours to learn more.

Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty said:

“Effective pest and weed management are critical to supporting agricultural productivity and biodiversity in NSW, and it’s best achieved by working as a united front.”

“The Good Neighbours program demonstrates the NSW Government’s commitment to protecting our natural environment and agricultural industry by focusing our resources on areas where we can work together to achieve the best results.

“As the saying goes, everybody needs good neighbours. Biosecurity is a shared responsibility, and we all have a part to play.”

Local Land Services Project Manager Good Neighbours Program, Dale Kirby said:

“When it comes to coordinated pest animal and weed control programs, many hands make light work.”

“We can achieve far better outcomes when private and public landholders work together, with expert advice and support from Local Land Services, to reduce impacts and limit the spread of pests and weeds across the landscape.”

Good Neighbours projects:

  1. Cane Toad Program (North Coast) - Joint efforts between the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Local Land Services, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Forestry Corporation of NSW, Landcare and private landholders to control cane toads on the North Coast.
  2. Chinese Violet Program (North Coast) – This program is based in the Tweed Shire, where Rous County Council is targeting Chinese violet on the fringes of the Heritage Wollumbin National Park and Jerusalem National Park.
  3. Job’s Tears Eradication Program (North Coast) - Led by Rous County Council, Landcare and landholders, this program aims to eradicate Job’s tears from creek lines in the Kyogle and Lismore shires.
  4. Tropical Soda Apple Eradication (TSA) Program (North Coast) - This program targets Tropical soda apple across the Lismore, Kyogle, Ballina, Byron, Richmond Valley and Tweed local government areas, led by Rous County Council, community groups and landholders.
  5. Far South Coast Coastal Weeds Program (South East) – Tackling weeds such as coastal bitou bush and sea spurge on the Far South Coast between Tuross and Wonboyn, led by Far South Coast Landcare, local councils, Local Land Services and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
  6. Hudson Pear Control Program - Kinchega National Park (Western) – Combating Hudson Pear in the middle reaches of Stephens Creek to the west of Kinchega National Park, led by the managers of Kars and Eureka stations, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Castlereagh Macquarie County Council and Local Land Services.
  7. Jumping Cholla Control Program (Western) – Targeting Jumping cholla in the Living Desert State Park and nearby Limestone and Nine Mile stations in the Broken Hill area, with the help of the station owners, Broken Hill City Council, Castlereagh Macquarie County Council and Local Land Services.
  8. Parthenium Weed Eradication (North West) - Management and control of Parthenium weed across two Travelling Stock Reserves (TSR) at Croppa Creek, led by North West Local Land Services and supported by local councils, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, TSR users, landholders and Traditional Owners.
  9. Mt Stuart Boxing Glove Control Program (Western) – Tackling the spread of Boxing glove cactus in Tibooburra, south of the Sturt National Park, in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Mt Stuart Station neighbours, Castlereagh Macquarie County Council, Crown Lands and Local Land Services.
  10. North Coast Branch Pig Control Program (North Coast and Northern Tablelands) - Feral pig control led by the North Coast branch of the National Parks and Wildlife Service across 12 reserves from western Richmond River to the coast, from Ballina in the north to Hat Head in the south.
  11. Orange Hawkweed Eradication Program (South East) – A collaboration between Snowy Monaro Council, Snowy Valleys Council, Local Land Services, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and private landholders targeting Hawkweed in the Kosciuszko National Park and surrounding private land.
  12. Strategic Weed Management and Control - Blackberry and St John’s Wort (Central West) - Coordinated control of priority weeds within Goobang National Park, led by Parkes Shire Council, Macquarie and Lachlan Valley Weeds Committee, Central West and Central Tablelands regional weeds committees and neighbouring landholders.
  13. Wild Horse Cross Tenure Eradication Program (North Coast) - Wild horse control focused on the Barcoongere area, south of Grafton, in conjunction with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, National Parks and Wildlife Service and landholders.
  14. Bathurst Joint Weed Program (Central Tablelands) - Working with the Forestry Corporation of NSW and private landholders to control weeds such as broom, gorse and Chilean needle grass between state forest and private land in Bathurst.
  15. Bathurst Pest Program - Feral Pig Management Program (Central Tablelands) - Support for a feral pig baiting program involving the Forestry Corporation of NSW, Crown Lands and neighbouring land managers.
  16. Feral deer control - Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (Central Tablelands, Hunter, Greater Sydney and South East) - Coordinated efforts between the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Local Land Services, the Invasive Species Council, Crown Lands and public land managers to reduce the impacts of feral deer.
  17. Forestry Pest Management Neighbour’s Program (Western, Central West, Central Tablelands, North West, Riverina and Murray) - Targeting feral pig populations on properties with state forest boundaries in the Western NSW region, led by the Forestry Corporation of NSW and state forest neighbours.
  18. Koala Habitat Restoration (North Coast) - Protecting and restoring koala habitat in the Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie areas in conjunction with private landholders, Local Aboriginal Land Councils, Landcare groups, National Parks and Wildlife Service, and the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
  19. North Coast Feral Deer Management Program (North Coast) - An existing feral deer coordinated control program based in the Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie areas involving local councils, Forestry Corporation of NSW, National Parks and Wildlife Service and private landholders.
  20. Red Cestrum Management and Control (North Coast) - This program is focused on controlling Red cestrum infestations on the Dorrigo Plateau, led by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Forestry Corporation of NSW, Bellingen Shire Council and private landholders.
  21. Tamworth Peri Urban Pest Species Project (North West) - Targeting feral goats, pigs and deer within the Tamworth Local Government Area, supported by Tamworth Regional Council, Crown Lands and private landholders.

NOPSEMA approves woodside scarborough facility: 'NOPSEMA the puppets of the industry' - Greens

Thursday, 20 February 2025

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) approved Woodside’s Scarborough offshore facility and trunk line operations yesterday, clearing the way for the company to advance its expansion plans for the next 30 years. While this decision meets procedural requirements, the Greens state it raises serious concerns over the safeguarding of the marine environment and the cultural heritage of First Nations communities.

The approval comes at a critical time when Sea Country is under unprecedented pressure from large-scale industrial development. Without robust environmental and cultural protections in place, there is a risk of setting a dangerous precedent that could irreversibly damage one of the nation’s most precious assets.

Woodside’s project will now begin operations generating 878 million tonnes of emissions into the atmosphere.

Greens portfolio holder for First Nations, Resources, Trade, Tourism and North Australia, and Yamatji Noongar woman, Senator Dorinda Cox stated:

“This decision by NOPSEMA is reckless and sets a dangerous precedent for our Sea Country. It is unacceptable that fossil fuel companies can submit Environmental Plans for offshore projects without consulting Traditional Owners and it is time to change that in favour of free, prior and informed consent to satisfy the requirement of genuine and meaningful consultation.”

“The approval of Woodside’s Scarborough project without safeguards shows a clear disregard for the long-term protection of our environment and cultural heritage. The Greens ‘Protecting the Spirit of Sea Country’ Bill is a fair and necessary amendment that takes the burden off Traditional Owners to challenge court decisions after they are made, and instead shifts the responsibility to the cashed up fossil fuel cartels to do their job.”

“We cannot stand by while the gas industry puppeteers the Government to push through projects that endanger our future. It’s shameful that this was approved at all given NOPSEMA are fully aware of the rules they need to follow. This is simply about gas exports being sold in contracts and on the spot markets or being sold on by other countries in surplus - very simple! Not about defending our way of life, protecting our heritage, and preserving our Sea Country for generations to come.”

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP said:

"Climate emissions are higher under Anthony Albanese than under Scott Morrison, with Labor approving 32 new coal and gas projects since coming into office."

"To have any chance of a safer climate, Labor must stop approving new coal and gas projects and start rapidly cutting emissions.“

"We can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. By electing more Greens we can keep Dutton out and get Labor to act on the climate crisis."

With just 5 years to go, the world is failing on a vital deal to halt biodiversity loss

Justine Bell-JamesThe University of Queensland and James WatsonThe University of Queensland

Almost 200 nations have signed an ambitious agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss but none is on track to meet the crucial goal, our new research reveals.

The agreement, known formally as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, seeks to coordinate global efforts to conserve and restore biodiversity. Its overarching goal is to safeguard biodiversity for future generations.

Biodiversity refers to the richness and variety within and between plant and animal species, and within ecosystems. This diversity is declining faster than at any time in human history.

Five years remain until the framework’s 2030 deadline. Our research shows a more intense global effort is needed to achieve the goals of the agreement and stem the biodiversity crisis.

Biodiversity is in decline

Biodiversity decline is a growing global issue. Around one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction.

The problem is driven by human activities such as land clearing, climate change, pollution, excessive resource extraction and the introduction of invasive species.

As biodiversity continues to degrade, the foundation of life on Earth becomes increasingly unstable. Biodiversity loss threatens our foodwater and air. It increases our vulnerability to natural disasters and imperils ecosystems crucial for human survival and wellbeing.

The Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted in late 2022 after four years of consultation and negotiation. It involved 23 core commitments to be met by 2030 involving both land and sea. Key to the deal is protecting areas from future harm, and restoring past harms.

These aims are captured in two targets.

The first is ensuring 30% of degraded areas are under “effective restoration” to enhance biodiversity. This could involve replanting vegetation, reducing weeds and other pests, or restoring water to drained areas.

The second is to effectively conserve and manage 30% of land and sea areas – especially those important for biodiversity and the ways ecosystems function and benefit humans. This could mean creating national or marine parks, or nature refuges on private land.

Importantly, countries should both increase the size of areas protected or under restoration (a matter of quantity), and choose areas where interventions will most benefit biodiversity (a matter of quality).

Nations were asked to provide an action plan before October 2024. In a paper published today, we reviewed these plans.

What we found

Our findings were disappointing. Only 36 countries (less than one quarter of signatory nations) submitted a plan. Australia was one of them.

And the plans provided were underwhelming. In particular, nations fell badly short on the restoration target. Only nine out of 36 countries committed to restoring a specific percentage of land and sea.

For example, Italy pledged only to restore “large surfaces of degraded areas” and Australia committed to restoring “priority degraded areas”.

Defining commitments with numbers is important, because it allows progress to be monitored and measured, and forces nations to be accountable.

Of those nine countries that made specific restoration commitments, only six committed to the 30% goal: Aruba, China, Curaçao, Japan, Luxembourg and Uganda.

The results were better when it came to protecting land and sea. Some 22 of the 36 countries set a percentage target for protection. However, only 14 committed to protecting at least 30% of areas, in line with the goals of the deal.

Again, quality is also important here. Under the deal nations signed up to, protected land should enhance biodiversity, and cover areas very valuable for biodiversity recovery. However, many nations were silent on the issue of quality when outlining their planned protections. It means their efforts could, in some cases, do little for biodiversity.

A spotlight on Australia

In recent years, Australia has sought to establish itself as a biodiversity leader on the international stage. This included hosting the global Nature Positive Summit in October last year.

Following the summit, the federal government claimed it was:

a tangible demonstration of Australia’s commitments under the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It showed our willingness to work collaboratively towards the goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

But despite the rhetoric, our research shows Australia’s plans are not particularly impressive.

As noted above, Australia does not provide a percentage target for ecosystem restoration. Instead, its plan refers broadly to restoring “priority areas” without defining what these areas are.

Australia’s plan pledges to identify “priority degraded areas” and define what “under effective restoration” means, but does not outline how this will be done.

Australia is more aligned with global leaders on protection of biodiversity. It committed to safeguarding 30% of land and water in protected areas.

However, it provided limited details on how it will select, implement and enforce protection measures. The plan also fails to recognise current shortcomings in protected areas, both in oceans and on land – in particular, Australia’s focus to date on quantity over quality when it comes to selecting sites.

In contrast, the nation of Slovenia mapped out proposed protected areas.

So, while Australia did submit an action plan, it has missed the opportunity to be a true global leader.

Running out of time

The Global Biodiversity Framework aims to unite nations in the fight to conserve and restore biodiversity. But as our research shows, many countries do not have plans to achieve this, and plans submitted to date are largely inadequate.

As species and habitats are lost, ecosystems become less stable. This damages human health and wellbeing, as well as economies. Biodiversity loss also undermines vital cultural and spiritual connections to nature.

All countries must accelerate efforts to avert the biodiversity crisis, and preserve Earth’s precious natural places for future generations.The Conversation

Justine Bell-James, Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland and James Watson, Professor in Conservation Science, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Safety first: bushwalkers reminded to plan ahead before exploring NSW national parks

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is reminding bushwalkers to prioritise safety before heading out on long or remote walks by using 2 simple tools – personal locator beacons and trip intention forms.

No larger than a mobile phone, but far more reliable, personal locator beacons are especially useful for long-distance and multi-day hikes. When activated, these devices transmit a distress signal via satellite, allowing emergency services to locate your location, even without mobile reception. 

Personal locator beacons can be hired for free from 12 national park visitor centres across the state or purchased at quality outdoor supply shops.

Trip intention forms are also a critical safety tool for hikers. They provide NPWS with key information about a planned route, expected return time and even the colour of clothing being worn by walkers. This information should also be shared with an emergency contact before departing.

Hikers should ensure they are educated on the planned route, comfortable with its difficulty and ideally travel in a group of 3 or more people, while wearing bright, waterproof, windproof and light weight clothing. They should also wear protective shoes, a hat and sunscreen; as well as carry essential supplies such as water, food, first aid kit, matches, a torch, a topographic map and compass.

Locations for hiring personal locator beacons are listed on the NPWS website.

Trip intention forms can be submitted at a visitor centre when collecting a personal locator beacon, or online on the NPWS website.

Further advice about hiking safety is available on the NPWS bushwalking safety webpage.  

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Acting Deputy Secretary Naomi Stephens stated:

'In New South Wales we are lucky to be surrounded by incredible national parks, but these landscapes can be unforgiving and it’s very easy to get lost, whether you are new to hiking or a seasoned veteran.  

'We welcome around 53 million visitors a year to national parks across the state. Given these numbers, it is crucial for hikers to inform someone about their plans, carry a personal locator beacon, and ensure they are well-equipped with the necessary supplies.'

Review of energy transmission planning to prioritise public interest in post-privatisation era

The NSW Government has launched an independent, expert review into energy transmission planning arrangements in NSW, to ensure the system is operating in the public interest for the people of NSW.

After a decade of privatisation of electricity assets by the previous government, the review will recommend reforms to improve how electricity transmission is planned in NSW. This will ensure new transmission infrastructure is planned in a way that delivers outcomes in the public interest and supports NSW policies and legislated targets.

A well-coordinated transmission network is essential for a reliable and affordable energy system. Improving transmission planning arrangements is an opportunity to ensure that NSW maintains energy reliability, while putting downward pressure on energy prices for households and businesses.

Transmission planning involves identifying what infrastructure is needed to keep the lights on and deliver best outcomes for electricity customers. It is governed by both the National Electricity Rules and NSW legislation. At least four bodies have a role in planning transmission infrastructure in NSW, and only one of them is a state government agency.

The review will focus on streamlining processes and improving coordination between key parties responsible for planning transmission in NSW and delivering the Minns Labor Government’s plan for a reliable energy system, the government has stated.

Transmission lines enable electricity to be transported around NSW, and between states. The delivery of new transmission infrastructure is critical to enable renewable energy zones to transmit renewable energy from solar and wind to where it is needed.

An independent panel of experts will be led by Richard Owens, a veteran in transmission and electricity regulation and reform. The panel will consult with key stakeholders across the sector, including industry, market bodies, government agencies and consumer advocates.

The review is another milestone in the NSW Government’s implementation of the recommendations from the Electricity Supply and Reliability Check-Up.

The review is expected to be completed with a final report to the Minister by September 2025. The Government will consider the recommendations before responding.

For more information visit www.energy.nsw.gov.au/nsw-plans-and-progress/regulation-and-policy/nsw-transmission-planning-review-2025.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Penny Sharpe stated on Thursday February 20:

“The previous government’s privatisation has complicated the transformation of NSW’s energy system.

“NSW needs a transmission framework that ensures the public interest is prioritised in planning this critical new infrastructure. This review will reduce duplication and ensure coordination between relevant entities.

“The Minns Labor Government’s focus is on ensuring we accelerate the right projects to build a more reliable, affordable energy system for households and businesses in NSW.”

More dry lightning in Tasmania is sparking bushfires – challenging fire fighters and land managers

David BowmanUniversity of Tasmania and Grant WilliamsonUniversity of Tasmania

Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest and alpine ecosystems of Cradle Mountain that may never recover.

The situation has taken emergency services and land management agencies by surprise. The seasonal bushfire outlook for summer 2024 suggested Tasmania’s fire risk was nothing out of the ordinary. The state was also well prepared for bushfire fighting, particularly with specialised aircraft.

But this fire season has turned out to be anything but typical. Firefighting capacity has been stretched to the limit and interstate crews have been called in.

It all began with a massive lightning storm in the evening of Monday February 3. The incidence of such lightning fires has been increasing in Tasmania since the 1990s.

An official inquiry into the bushfires will no doubt be held, given the substantial social, economic and environmental harm – as well as the sizeable costs associated with fighting the fires from the air in remote and rugged landscapes.

Nonetheless, important lessons are emerging from these fires, which speak to the broader, worsening threat as the climate changes.

Understanding the impacts of the fires

Fortunately, direct economic losses from theses fires have been limited so far, despite significant disruption associated with evacuation and road closures. Tourism operators and honey producers have been hardest hit.

The fires caused brief but substantial smoke pollution across the state, placing a range of people with medical conditions at risk.

The full environmental effects and the benefits of prescribed burning are yet to be evaluated. Nonetheless, there is grave concern about damage to unique rainforests and alpine ecosystems. If sufficiently dry the organic soils, or peats, that supports forests and treeless areas in western Tasmania are also vulnerable to combustion.

We undertook a preliminary estimate of how much highly fire-sensitive vegetation – plant communities that will take more than 50 years to recover – may have burned. This involved comparing the current bushfire boundaries or footprint, based on satellite data and field reconnaissance, to vegetation mapping used for various purposes including fire management. We put the figure at 19,716 hectares of vegetation. However, it’s possible not all of this burned and islands of unburned vegetation persist within the broad fire boundary.

Our estimation includes 10,419 hectares of temperate rainforest (10% of the fire area) and 462 hectares of alpine vegetation (0.45% of the fire area). Neither of these vegetation types can readily tolerate fire.

Our analysis suggests about half of fire-affected rainforest areas have been previously burned by fires since 1982 (48%) and some small areas have burned twice (5%). Recurrent fires in rainforest can result in permanent loss of this vegetation. Just how much damage has been done will require further assessment.

Map zooming in on the northwest of Tasmania showing the area burned including impacted rainforest
Current area affected by bushfires in northwestern Tasmania, comparing data from Geoscience Australia on bushfire boundaries and Land Information Services Tasmania on vegetation. Note, not all of the shaded area has burned. Grant Williamson

Emergence of new fire patterns

The number of fires ignited by lightning have increased in Tasmania since the 1990s. When the lightning occurs in storms without much rain, or where the rain evaporates before it hits the ground, it’s known as dry lightning.

Concerningly, in the last decade two other major dry lightning fire events have occurred, likely a signal of a change in fire activity. As a result, fires are burning into areas that historically are rarely affected by fire, damaging the natural values of the Tasmanian wilderness.

This event could not be predicted

Going into summer, experts were concerned that soils across western Tasmania were particularly dry. This increased the fire risk in the seasonal outlook.

The recent rapid fire growth in Tasmania was caused by the unusual combination of regional drying (including dry soils), an extreme lightning storm and subsequent strong winds.

But the sequence of events that caused this fire to take off could not have been predicted more than a week ahead. That’s because it is impossible to predict lightning and windstorms outside the seven-day window of weather forecasts.

What’s more, our research shows it is currently not possible to reliably predict which lightning strikes will start fire.

A satellite image showing smoke billowing from Tasmania, acquired at 4pm local time on February 12, 2025.
By February 12, more than a dozen fires had burned around 50,000 hectares in the state’s northwest. NASA Earth Observatory

Rapid attack and fire suppression have practical limits

Massive lightning storms that ignite multiple fires overwhelm the capacity of firefighters to locate and immediately extinguish all the flames.

Unfavourable weather conditions caused the west coast fires to rapidly grow. Firefighting shifted from attempts to extinguish the fire to instead contain its spread. This involved techniques such as targeted waterbombing, back burning and building fire breaks.

These approaches have been successful in some cases, notably the deployment of retardant drops to contain the Canning Peak fire, saving extensive stands of conifer rainforest. But suppression efforts were imperfect, as the loss of a private tourist facility hut on the Overland Track has demonstrated.

Managing these massive fires demands triage – making difficult choices about where to direct firefighting effort. Effective triage requires a detailed understanding of the location of areas of high economic, cultural and environmental value. High-quality mapping of these sites and involvement of specialists in the broader decision-making process is essential.

The Tasmanian government does have maps and expertise to guide triage, but there are calls for more investment to protect the region’s ecological values. This is particularly important for small, localised sites vulnerable to fire, such as groves of ancient Huon pine.

Fires continue to burn in Tasmania’s west, putting wilderness areas at risk (7.30)

Broader lessons for fire fighting

Dry lightning storms are hard to predict, extraordinarily difficult to contain, and can cause substantial economic, social and environmental harms.

Technology alone – such as that which combines satellites, artificial intelligence, drones and water bombers – is not enough to eliminate these fires. What’s needed is a diverse portfolio of approaches, involving a combination of:

  • reducing fuel loads by prescribed burning
  • firefighting that is carefully targeted using high quality data
  • expertise embedded in firefighting teams.

Researchers and fire managers must also identify the best strategies for prescribed burning to reduce bushfire risk while protecting areas of high economic, conservation and cultural value.

Climate change will bring more frequent monster fires – and fighting them demands a broad suite of investment.The Conversation

David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania and Grant Williamson, Research Fellow in Environmental Science, University of Tasmania

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Lethal second-generation rat poisons are killing endangered quolls and Tasmanian devils

Adwo/Shutterstock
Robert DavisEdith Cowan UniversityJudy DunlopCurtin UniversityMelissa SnapeUniversity of Canberra, and Stephanie PulsfordAustralian National University

Humans have been poisoning rodents for centuries. But fast-breeding rats and mice have evolved resistance to earlier poisons. In response, manufacturers have produced second generation anticoagulant rodenticides such as bromadiolone, widely used in Australian households.

Unfortunately, these potent poisons do not magically disappear after the rodent is dead. For example, it’s well known owls who eat poisoned rodents suffer the same slow death from internal bleeding.

Our new research shows the problem is much bigger than owls. We found Australia’s five largest marsupial predators – the four quoll species and the Tasmanian devil – are getting hit by these poisons too.

Half of the 52 animals we tested had these poisons in their bodies. Some had died from it. These species are already threatened by foxes and feral cats. Rat poison is yet another threat – and one they may not be able to survive. Other countries have moved to ban these poisons. But in Australia, they’re widely available.



How does rat poison end up in a Tasmanian devil?

Quolls and Tasmanian devils are carnivores. They eat mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, finding food by hunting – or by scavenging dead bodies, including rats and mice. But do they eat enough poisoned rats and mice to be at risk?

To find out, we analysed liver samples from all four of Australia’s quoll species as well as the iconic Tasmanian devil. The samples came from dead animals from a range of sources, including animals dying in veterinary care, found as roadkill, or simply found dead.

Each of these species is endangered or vulnerable. Together, they represent the largest remaining Australian carnivorous marsupials – native animals at the top of their food chains.

We tested samples from 52 animals. Half of these were positive for second generation anticoagulant rodenticides. Of these, 21% tested positive for more than one rodenticide.

Unfortunately, many animals we tested had consumed doses high enough to kill. Around 15% of the Tasmanian devils, 20% of the eastern quolls, 22% of chuditch (western quolls) and 20% of the spotted-tailed quolls tested were very likely to die either from the poison itself or a related cause such as longer-term sickening.

tasmanian devil drinking water
Tasmanian devils often scavenge from carcasses – exposing them to poisoned rats. Vaclav Matous/Shutterstock

We found one chuditch from a Perth suburb had been exposed to three different second-generation rodenticides. It had levels of one poison, brodifacoum, at 1.6 milligrams per kilo, far above the rate presumed to be lethal to mammals. This is likely the highest recorded exposure rate in an Australian marsupial.

Some 5% of Tasmanian devils had also been exposed to lethal levels of these second-generation poisons and a further 10% were exposed to potentially lethal levels.

Even when these poisons don’t directly kill the quoll or devil, they can leave it worse off.

All five species are threatened, meaning their populations are a fraction of what they used to be. Even small changes to populations can trigger more rapid decline.

Our analysis indicates an increase in deaths of just 2–4% of the chuditch population could increase extinction risk by 75%. This figure is dwarfed by how many chuditch are at risk from rat poisons, which we estimate at 22% of any given population in each generation, based on the exposure rates here.

So, exposure to rat poison alone is likely enough to tip the species towards extinction – even without other threats such as being killed by foxes and cats.

eastern quoll being released.
The release of an eastern quoll during a translocation. Rat poisons may pose a real risk to the species. Judy DunlopCC BY-NC-ND

Can poisons be too potent?

After the poison kills a mouse or rat, it remains lethal for some time.

The poisons we examined take several months to halve in toxicity, meaning during this time they can kill owlsreptilesfrogs and small and medium-sized mammals such as possums.

In Australia and around the world, evidence is mounting that these second-generation rodenticides are killing many more animals than those targeted. The poisons are hitting a wide range of carnivores including otters, wolves, foxes and raccoons. Even the famous Californian condor is threatened by rodenticides.

Efforts to use thousands of litres of bromadiolone to stop a mouse plague in New South Wales triggered strong criticism. But to date, criticism has done little to curb their use in Australia.

gloved hand holding piece of rat poison.
Second generation anticoagulant poisons are extremely effective at killing rats and mice – but the poison doesn’t stop there. speedshutter Photography/Shutterstock

Australia is an outlier on this issue. In European and North American nations, these products are restricted to use by licensed pest controllers and banned for home use. Some nations have gone further and banned these poisons altogether. But here, you can buy them at Bunnings, Coles or Woolworths.

Last year, a delegation of Australian researchers lobbied politicians to do more to regulate the use of these poisons.

The institution responsible for ensuring poisons are safe is the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority. At present, the authority is weighing a decision on whether to introduce restrictions on these second-generation poisons, expected in April.

Four other threatened Australian species – the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagleTasmanian masked owlpowerful owl and Carnaby’s black cockatoo – have previously been found to be exposed to these rodenticides. Our research takes this tally to nine threatened species.

In the absence of regulation, you can make a difference at home. Don’t use second-generation poisons which rely on brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone, difenacoum or flocoumafen. Get rid of your mouse or rat problem with first-generation poisons containing warfarin, coumatetralyl or other chemicals.

If you only have a mouse or two, consider looking at non-poison alternatives.

Taking a moment to consider these alternatives could save Australia’s most threatened native predators from an agonising death.


Acknowledgements: Michael Lohr (Birdlife Australia) was the lead author on the research behind this article. Cheryl Lohr (Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Western Australia) contributed to the research.The Conversation

Robert Davis, Associate Professor in Conservation, Edith Cowan UniversityJudy Dunlop, Research Fellow in Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin UniversityMelissa Snape, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Ecology, University of Canberra, and Stephanie Pulsford, Adjunct Fellow in Ecology, Australian National University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Lake Victoria is turning green – the deadly bacteria behind it

Lauren HartUniversity of MichiganGeorge S BullerjahnBowling Green State UniversityGregory J. DickUniversity of Michigan, and Kefa M. OtisoBowling Green State University

Lakes, natural and man-made, provide water, food and habitats for wildlife, as well as supporting local economies. Around the world, though, there’s a growing threat to lakes: toxic bacteria which turn the water green.

This is the same green as you see on stagnant ponds. It’s caused by tiny organisms called cyanobacteria and can be deadly.

Cyanobacteria thrive in warm, sunny lakes and ponds that contain excess nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients derived from fertiliser, manure and sewage. When conditions are right, cyanobacteria multiply rapidly and form smelly green scums on the water’s surface.

Known to science as cyanoHABs (cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms), the scums are harmful to livestock, wildlife, pets, people and aquatic organisms like fish. Toxins make untreated water unsafe to drink, swim in, or even touch. Sometimes they can become suspended in air and be inhaled. The cyanoHABs also harm ecosystems by depleting oxygen, killing off whatever lives in the water, and disrupting food webs and fisheries.

CyanoHABs are a global threat and receive considerable scientific attention in North America and Europe. Blooms are becoming more widespread worldwide because rising temperatures promote cyanobacterial growth and more intense rainfall delivers nutrients from the landscape. Only effective management of nutrients can reverse this trend.

The problem is understudied in Africa’s main lakes, including its largest – Lake Victoria. Past research on cyanoHABs has mostly used microscopy to study the kinds found there, but microscopy cannot differentiate between toxic and non-toxic cyanobacterial cells.

We are on a large project team of scientists who have been studying the socioeconomic and environmental effects of cyanoHABs in the Winam Gulf region of Lake Victoria in south-western Kenya.

Our latest study identified which cyanobacteria were the most abundant in the gulf and which ones were producing the main toxin of concern.

These findings can improve public safety:

  • local authorities can monitor for specific cyanobacteria and warn residents to stay away when blooms are present

  • cyanoHAB prevention practices (nutrient reduction, land-use practices) can target the cyanobacteria that cause the problem.

Greening of lakes

Lake Victoria now receives large influxes of nutrients because of growing lakeside populations and land-use changes. Nutrients from agriculture, industry and urbanisation fuel the growth of cyanoHABs.

CyanoHABs occur in many basins in Lake Victoria but are highly concentrated in Kenya’s shallow Winam/Nyanza Gulf. Changing nutrient and temperature conditions can also alter which types of cyanobacteria dominate the gulf and the types and levels of toxins in the water. Lakeside communities that rely on the gulf for drinking water and domestic tasks are at risk of exposure to cyanoHAB toxins.

Past research on cyanoHABs has mostly used the oldest of microbiological techniques — microscopy — to classify the types of cyanobacteria in the gulf. This cannot differentiate between toxic and non-toxic cyanobacterial cells.

Modern genome sequencing technologies can identify genes encoding the production of known and novel toxins and other molecules of interest, such as those with medicinal properties. Genomic data from African Great Lakes is scarce, so the chemical capabilities of bacteria in this region are largely unexplored. But this is beginning to change.

Our latest study adds to a growing number of recent studies our team has carried out in and around Lake Victoria. In this study, our research vessel stopped at over 31 sites to collect scientific samples and data. The samples were later analysed for DNA, the biological “instruction manual” inside every living thing. DNA tells an organism how to grow, function, reproduce, and – in the case of cyanobacteria – make deadly toxins. This analysis produced near-complete genome sequences – that is, the set of all genes in the DNA – for organisms at each sampling site.

Past reports identified Microcystis as the dominant cyanobacteria in the Winam Gulf. Our research, however, found Dolichospermum was the most abundant type in major cyanoHAB events there. This finding might be due to recent environmental changes in the region.

But we linked Microcystis to microcystin. This is a liver-damaging toxin that can kill livestock, wildlife and humans, especially those whose immune system isn’t working well. In Winam Gulf, it’s often more abundant than the health limits set by the WHO.

Our study also found that Microcystis occurs mainly in murkier river mouths where green scums are not visible, making scientific monitoring and public alerts even more important.

Local authorities can now monitor for these cyanobacteria and warn residents to stay away when blooms are present.

The findings also mean that authorities know which cyanobacteria to target in prevention efforts like reducing the amount of phosphorus and other nutrients entering the gulf.

Lastly, our genomic study uncovered over 300 uncharacterised genes that may produce novel cyanobacterial molecules. These molecules could have toxic or therapeutic effects, and provide an opportunity for future investigators to explore.

A model for what is to come

Rapid human population growth and settlement around lakes and their watersheds is leading to high levels nutrients in lakes around the world. This results in excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants. This danger is likely to increase with global warming because warm temperatures promote algal blooms.

Our data provides a foundation for remedying this in Lake Victoria – and possibly discovering beneficial properties in cyanoHABs.The Conversation

Lauren Hart, PhD candidate, Michigan Geomicrobiology Lab, University of MichiganGeorge S Bullerjahn, Distinguished Research Professor and Director, Great Lakes Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health, Bowling Green State UniversityGregory J. Dick, Professor, University of Michigan, and Kefa M. Otiso, Professor of Geography, Bowling Green State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Week Three February 2025 (February 10-16)

Clean Up Australia Day

Sunday, 2 March 2025 - 07:00 am to 08:00 pm

Community, schools and businesses can volunteer for Clean Up Australia Day to help keep our area pristine.  Now is the time to register for this year’s community event, happening on Sunday 2nd of March 2025.

Businesses are also encouraged to join the Business Clean Up Day on Tuesday 25 February 2025 and young people can get involved in the School Clean Up Day on Friday 28 February 2025.  

To register to volunteer, visit Clean Up Australia Day.

MAG&M stages Signs in the Sand

Manly Art Gallery & Museum’s (MAG&M) is partnering with contemporary artist Anna Madeleine Raupach to create an innovative approach to raising awareness for environmental issues in its latest exhibition Signs in the Sand: Anna Madaleine Raupach’s Climate Sign Archiveopening on 11 March 2025.

Signs in the Sand, an immersive augmented reality (AR) installation, is a continuation of respected artist, Anna Madeleine Raupach’s Climate Sign Project. The exhibition will form part of MAG&M’s program for Climate Action Week (10-16 March).

In mid-February the Collective for Environmental Art & Design (CEAD) Forum is being held, where participants will be asked to create climate action signs for Signs in the Sand. Raupach will digitise these signs, add them to her growing archive and place them virtually in the sand along Manly Cove.  

During the Signs in the Sand exhibition, 11 March to 11 May 2025, visitors can engage with these artworks via a QR code downloaded to their electronic device.

Northern Beaches Mayor, Sue Heins expressed enthusiasm for the premise and personal engagement of the exhibition.

“Signs in the Sand is a powerful example of how art and technology can come together to address urgent environmental issues.

“This exhibition not only highlights the creativity and innovation of our community but also encourages them to reflect on the role we all play in fostering environmental and sustainability awareness and action,” Mayor Heins said.

The exhibition will feature digitised signs from Raupach’s archive, as well as the new signs created during the CEAD (Collective for Environmental Art & Design) Forum in February. These AR installations will be displayed along Manly Cove’s beachfront and within MAG&M, providing an immersive interactive experience for visitors. QR codes placed at MAG&M will link visitors to the project’s AR platform, allowing them to engage with the artwork in a unique and meaningful way.

Signs in the Sand is part of MAG&M’s commitment to presenting art and ideas that drive real-world environmental change through the CEAD program. The exhibition aligns with MAG&M’s mission to inspire interdisciplinary creativity and meaningful dialogue about sustainability.

The exhibition is free and open to the public, making it accessible for everyone to enjoy and participate in this important conversation about the environment.

See first-hand how art and technology can work together towards environmental change.

Weekly curator’s walk-through

Thursday mornings at 11am. Please meet in the foyer of Manly Art Gallery & Museum.

FREE - No booking required 

Location: Manly Art Gallery & Museum, 1a West Esplanade, Manly 

Image courtesy Anna Madeleine Raupach

Kimbriki Composting & Worms Workshop

Date: Saturday 1st March 2025
Time: 10am to 1pm
Venue:  Kimbriki Eco House & Garden Education Centre.  Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre,  1 Kimbriki Road (off Mona Vale Road), Ingleside,  2101
Cost: $35.00 - book in here

Access by vehicle only – as there is no pedestrian access to Kimbriki please arrange to arrive by vehicle. All vehicles must enter and exit Kimbriki via the Weighbridges. On entry, stop to advise the Operator before proceeding to the Eco House car park. 

Residents attending the entire Composting & Worms workshop: Northern Beaches Council would like to support its residents in recycling food waste at home by giving you a voucher towards buying a worm farm or compost bin. Northern Beaches Council will issue a $90 voucher to Northern Beaches residents who attend a Kimbriki Composting and Worms workshop and who have not had a free worm farm, compost bin or voucher from Council in the past. One voucher per household (not per person) is issued irrespective of number of workshops attended. The vouchers are issued directly from Council after you have attended the workshop. Please allow up to 3-4 weeks for the voucher to be issued and posted to your residential address. Voucher can be used at New Leaf Nursery in Ingleside or at the Kimbriki Eco House & Garden Eco shop.

Composting and worm farming are great alternatives to disposing of your food waste in the rubbish bin while creating natural fertiliser for your garden. By recycling food scraps in a compost bin or worm farm you can help reduce organic waste disposed in landfill, in turn reducing the production of leachate and greenhouse gases from landfills. Compost and worm ‘castings’ are both ideal natural fertiliser for your garden.

Our Composting and Worms Workshop covers the following topics:

  • Why compost or have a worm farm? Learn why food scraps & garden waste must be taken out of our rubbish bins
  • Setting up your compost bin & worm farm
  • What goes into your compost & worm farms?
  • Learn different methods of composting
  • Maintaining your compost & worm farm
  • How to use compost, worm castings & ‘worm juice’ on your garden
  • The vital role of organic matter & humus in your soil
  • Outlining the human health problems associated with using synthetic fertilisers on your edible gardens
  • Answers to the most common problems with worm farms

‘1080 pest management’

Applies until Friday August 1st 2025. 

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service will be conducting a baiting program using manufactured baits, fresh baits and Canid Pest Ejectors (CPEs) containing 1080 poison (sodium fluroacetate) for the control of foxes. The program is continuous and ongoing between 1 February 2025 and 31 July 2025 in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Don’t touch baits or ejector devices. Penalties apply for non-compliance.

All baiting locations are identifiable by signs.

Domestic pets are not permitted in NSW national parks and reserves. Pets and working dogs may be affected (1080 is lethal to cats and dogs). In the event of accidental poisoning seek immediate veterinary assistance.

Fox baiting in these reserves is aimed at reducing their impact on threatened species.

For more information, contact the local park office on:

Forestville 9451 3479 or Lane Cove 8448 0400 (business hours)

NPWS after-hours call centre: 1300 056 294 (after hours)

Closed areas: Major works in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

Applies from Wed 05 Feb 2025, 8.59am to Fri 28 Mar 2025, 5.00pm. 

Major works are currently being undertaken to upgrade the sewerage system in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. As a result, there may be small delays experienced on Ku-ring-gai Chase Road on weekdays.

There will also be a partial closure of the Apple Tree Bay picnic area, with the back section being inaccessible to the public during these works. Penalties apply for non-compliance. For more information, contact the local park office on (02) 8448 0400.

 

Please Remember to leave water out for wildlife on hot days

With the BOM forecasting heatwave conditions to return over the weekend and into next week please remember to put out bowls of water in shady positions for wildlife. For lizards and smaller birds a shallow dish with some sticks or twigs via which to get out again are best. If you have a birdbath, these too are best placed out of the sun so the water doesn't overheat.

Photo: Bush Turkey dug itself a cooling dirt pit under the hedge in the PON yard on Tuesday January 28 2025 when Sydney temperatures hit 40+ degrees. The baby Bush Turkey seen a in December has grown and it too was spending time in the shade.

 

Reporting Dogs Offleash - Dog Attacks to Council


If the attack happened outside local council hours, you may call your local police station. Police officers are also authorised officers under the Companion Animals Act 1998. Authorised officers have a wide range of powers to deal with owners of attacking dogs, including seizing dogs that have attacked.

You can report dog attacks, along with dogs offleash where they should not be, to the NBC anonymously and via your own name, to get a response, at: https://help.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/s/submit-request?topic=Pets_Animals

If the matter is urgent or dangerous call Council on 1300 434 434 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

If you find injured wildlife please contact:
  • Sydney Wildlife Rescue (24/7): 9413 4300 
  • WIRES: 1300 094 737

Caladenia callitrophila - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Critically endangered 

Caladenia callitrophila D.L.Jones, an orchid – proposed Critically endangered species listing - Preliminary Determination open for comment until 28 February 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 319KB)

Caladenia callitrophila is endemic to the southern Riverina region of New South Wales (NSW). It is currently known to exist in three small, isolated subpopulations located within state forests between the towns of Berrigan and Balldale at altitude range of 120-170 m ASL (Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The subpopulations are separated by 16-50 km of cultivated farmland. This species occurs in woodland of Callitris glaucophylla (white cypress pine), Eucalyptus melliodora (yellow box) and Eucalyptus microcarpa (western grey box), with a grassy and sparsely shrubby understorey, on red-brown sandy or sandy-loam soils. Most of the plants have been found in 3-4 m tall white cypress pine regrowth (G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021).

There is a very low number of mature individuals of Caladenia callitrophila. The total number of C. callitrophila flowering plants recorded during the 2020 season, after good winter rain, was around 183 flowering plants, with the majority of those (>90%) occurring at one site (G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021; DCCEEW unpubl. data). Following the much drier winter of 2023 only 14 flowering plants were recorded (DCCEEW unpubl data; L. Carrigan unpubl data; G. French unpubl data).

It is difficult to estimate the current total population size of C. callitrophila as plants observed flowering in one season that did not reemerge in the following season are not necessarily dead. Some may remain dormant underground, a common ecological strategy observed in orchids with a similar life history (Dixon and Tremblay 2009). Emergent numbers fluctuate primarily due to rain and soil moisture, and the underground population is probably capable of persisting for some years without emergence (Dixon and Tremblay 2009). However, given the season in 2020 was considered a year with good conditions for flowering, the population size is likely no more than 250.

Little is known of the specific details of the biology of Caladenia callitrophila however it is believed to be very similar to other spider orchids. Caladenia species are deciduous and die back to a dormant, fleshy tuber over summer (NSW DEC 2004; Dixon and Tremblay 2009). In Caladenia, tubers are generally replaced annually by a single daughter tuber on a vertical dropper, but few species appear to reproduce vegetatively by this means (Jones 2021). The tuber sprouts following sufficient late autumn/winter rains, with a single leaf developing above ground. Once the leaf is fully extended, a single flower may be produced. C. callitrophila flowers in September to October if conditions are suitable and flowers persist for about a month depending on the seasonal conditions (NSW DEC 2004; Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The prominent calli on the labellum of C. callitrophila suggest that is likely pollinated by nectar-foraging thynnid wasps (Zaspilothynnus sp.) (Reiter et al. 2019).

Acacia chrysotricha - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Critically endangered 

Acacia chrysotricha Tindale, a tree – proposed Critically endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 298KB):

Acacia chrysotricha was found to be eligible for listing as Critically Endangered under the IUCN Criteria B1ab(iii).

The main reasons for this species being eligible are: 1) Acacia chrysotricha has a very highly restricted Extent of Occurrence (EOO) of 28 km2, 2) Acacia chrysotricha is known from a single threat-defined location; and 3) continuing decline has been observed and is expected to continue in the quality of habitat due the combined effects of weed invasion and logging activities. 

Acacia chrysotricha Tindale (Figure 1; Newry golden wattle, Bellinger River wattle) is a conventionally accepted species (CHAH 2006) in the Fabaceae family. Acacia chrysotricha is described in PlantNET (2004) as an “Erect tree usually 6–15 m high; bark finely or deeply fissured, grey to red-brown; branchlets ± terete with low ridges, densely yellowish-hairy at first, later the hairs greyish or fawn. Leaves ± sessile on pulvinus, with petiole to 0.1 cm long above pulvinus; rachis 5–14 cm long, densely hairy, circular jugary glands irregularly present at the lowest 1–3 pairs and/or upper 1–3 pairs of pinnae, interjugary glands absent or rarely an odd one present; pinnae 8–18 pairs, 1–4.7 cm long; pinnules mostly 12–25 pairs (6 or more on basal pinnae),oblong to narrowly oblong, elliptic-oblong or ± lanceolate, recurved when dry, mostly 3–4.5 mm long and 1–1.5 mm wide, with fine white or golden hairs mainly on margins and midvein. Inflorescences in axillary and terminal racemes and panicles; peduncles 3–6 mm long, golden-hairy; heads globose, 15–30-flowered, 4–7 mm diam., bright yellow. Pods straight to slightly curved, ± flat, mostly barely to slightly constricted between seeds, 3–10 cm long, 4–6 mm wide, firmly papery thinly leathery, with long fine hairs; seeds longitudinal; funicle ± encircling the seed. Flowering July-August”.

The first collection of Acacia chrysotricha was made in 1910. It was first described by Tindale in 1966 based on the following type specimen: “Connell's Creek, on Compt. 24 of Newry SF, just south of Urunga, on a side gully 40 to 50 ft. high, 8 inches indiam. at the base, one tree 70 ft. high, 12 inches in diam., A. Floyd 7.1961 (NSW 34451), located in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, Sydney" (Hunter 2017). The name “Newry golden wattle” refers to the golden hairs on the branchlets (PlantNET 2004). It can be distinguished from similar co-occurring Acacia species (e.g., A. mearnsii and A. oshanesii) by features such as the colour and fissuring of the bark, densely hairy branchlets, shorter petiole length, position of jugary and interjugary glands, typically fewer pairs of pinnae and pinnules and the bright yellow flowers (PlantNET 2004).

Acacia chrysotricha trees are typically described as growing approximately 6 to 20 m tall (PlantNET 2004; Richards 2011), however, a few individuals have been observed with estimated heights as tall as 25–40 m in undisturbed habitats (Smith 2012).

Acacia chrysotricha fruit. Image Credit: Gavin Phillips/DCCEEW

Caladenia rileyi - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Caladenia rileyi D.L.Jones, an orchid – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

Preliminary determination (PDF 280KB)

Conservation assessment report using the common assessment method (PDF 340KB)

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extracts from the Preliminary determination (PDF 280KB):

The main reasons for this species being eligible are (i) it has highly restricted geographic distribution (EOO is 327 km2 and AOO is 36 km2); (ii) it has low population size (plausibly less than 2 500 mature individuals); (iii) it is severely fragmented and has a small number of threat based locations; (iv) there is a continuing decline in the area, extent and/or quality of habitat and the number of mature individuals due to threats from habitat loss and destruction, forestry activities, herbivory (grazing and browsing), weed incursion, and climate change.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Caladenia rileyi D.L.Jones (family Orchidaceae) was described by (Jones 2021) as “Leaf linear-lanceolate, 40–100 x 6–8mm. Flower stem 80–250mm tall, wiry, 1–flowered. Flowers 40–50mm across, yellowish-green with red central stripes;sepals and petals with thickish brown clubs 6–25 x 3 mm, petal clubs shorter than sepals. Dorsal sepal erect, 40–55 x 2–3 mm, incurved. Lateral sepals obliquely deflexed, 40–55 x 3–3.5 mm, more or less parallel. Petals obliquely deflexed, 30–40 x 1.5–2mm. Labellum delicately hinged, 17–20 x 18–20 mm, pale green with a white central patch and maroon apex; basal margins with 4–6 pairs of erect combteeth to 6mm long; midlobe margins with 5–8 pairs short blunt teeth to apex; tip recurved. Basal calli c.4mm long. Lamina calli to 3mm long, maroon, in 4 crowded rows onto base of maroon patch. Column 12–14 x 5.5–6.5 mm, transparent with pink to red flecks and striae; basal glands obovoid, c.3 mm long, yellow with a reddish basal stalk shiny. Flowers: September to October.”

2. Caladenia rileyi is endemic to the southern inland plains of New South Wales (NSW) and is restricted to a small area near the town of Narrandera, at 100-200m elevation (Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The species is currently known to exist in only four subpopulations, all located on crown land. Two of these subpopulations are in state forests, one is a Travelling Stock Reserve (TSR) north of Narrandera, and one is found along a roadside site just east of Narrandera. These four sites are small and isolated patches of habitat (10-55 km apart), separated from one another by cultivated farmland. This species grows in woodland habitats dominated by  Callitris glaucophylla (white cypress pine), with a sparse understory of grasses and forbs on red-brown sandy soils or sandy clay loams (Jones 2021). Caladenia rileyi has been recorded in Callitris glaucophylla - Eucalyptus melliodora (yellow box) woodlands, Callitris glaucophylla – Allocasuarina verticillata (drooping sheoak) woodlands and woodlands dominated by a mixture of Callitris glaucophylla, E. dwyeri (Dwyer’s red gum) and Acacia doratoxylon (currawang) (ALA 2024; G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021).

3. The habitat of this species may occur within 'Inland Grey Box Woodland in the Riverina, NSW South Western Slopes, Cobar Peneplain, Nandewar and Brigalow Belt South Bioregions’ an Endangered Ecological Community (EEC) under the NSW BC Act (NSW SC 2011). This EEC most likely corresponds with Plant Community Type (PCT) ‘Western Grey Box - White Cypress Pine tall woodland on loam soil on alluvial plains of NSW South Western Slopes Bioregion and Riverina Bioregion (PCT 80). This species may also occur in PCT ‘Dwyer's Red Gum - White Cypress Pine - Currawang shrubby woodland mainly in the NSW South Western Slopes Bioregion’ (PCT 185), but may not be restricted to these specific PCTs (NSW DPE 2023).

Eucalyptus oresbia - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl, a tree – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

Preliminary determination (PDF 311KB)

Conservation assessment report using the common assessment method (PDF 929KB)

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 311KB):

Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl as was found to be Endangered in accordance with the following provisions in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017: Clause 4.2(1 b)(2 c) and Clause 4.3(b)(d)(e i,iii) because: 1) the species is suspected to have undergone a large population reduction of >50% over a three generation period of 306 years due to historical clearing for agriculture and pine plantations; 2) the species has a highly restricted area of occupancy (44 km2 ) and extent of occurrence (420 km2); 3) the species is known from 3–4 threat-defined locations; and 4) continuing decline is inferred in the area, extent and quality of habitat and the number of mature individuals due to conflicting land uses such as plantation forestry and agriculture in prime E. oresbia habitat, adverse fire regimes, the maintenance of tracks and trails, and the invasion of weeds such as blackberry and radiata pine.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl (family Myrtaceae) is described by Hunter and Bruhl (1999) as a “Tree to 30 m tall. Bark smooth white, yellow or cream, rarely grey, sock absent or rarely present on younger trees to 1 m. Juvenile stems and branchlets usually strongly quadrangular. Leaves: seedling leaves ovate to elliptic, 3–10 cm long, 1–3.5 cm wide, plane, opposite, apex acute to obtuse, base rounded or ± caudate, petiolate at first and then a few pairs sessile, concolorous; intermediate leaves ovate to lanceolate, 12–18 cm long, 3–6.5 cm wide, sub-opposite to alternate, apex acute to acuminate, ± hooked, base rounded to ± oblique; adult leaves lanceolate, falcate or ± plane, 9.5–18 cm long, 1.2–2.2 cm wide, alternate, conspicuously glossy and dark green, margins entire, apex acuminate and often hooked, base attenuate, acute or oblique, petiole terete to flattened, barely channelled above, 1–2 cm long; venation 30–45° to midrib, intramarginal vein 0.5–2 mm from the margin, midrib channelled above.

Inflorescence of axillary umbellasters. Flowers 6–7 per axil; peduncle 8–17 mm long, 2–5 mm wide; pedicel distinct in bud and fruit, 3–5 mm long in buds, 2–4.5 mm long in fruit; buds obloid to clavate, bulbous above and below the suture,± 1-ribbed, 6–9.5 mm long; calyptra peaked hemispherical, acutely obconical or ±rostrate, 2.5–5 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide; hypanthium 2.5–5 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide; style terete, 3–4 mm long; stamens with filaments 3.5–5 mm long, anthers dorsifixed, parallel, dehiscence longitudinal, 0.4–0.6 mm long, white, oil gland orbicular and abaxial. Fruit cupular, ± 1-ribbed, 4.5–8 mm long, 5–8 mm wide, often splitting on one side; disc level to descending, c. 1 mm wide; valves 3, ± level. Seeds red-brown to black. Cotyledons bilobed.”

2. Eucalyptus oresbia is a range-restricted species endemic to several small, disjunct sites near the town of Nundle on the New South Wales (NSW) Northern Tablelands (Hunter and Bruhl 1999; OEH 2021). Eucalyptus oresbia is currently known from four disjunct sites. The core area is around the type locality at Hanging Rock, due east of Nundle, with smaller outlying stands known from the Scotts Creek area near Murrurundi to the south, in the Dungowan Dam catchment area northeast of Nundle, and in Ben Halls Gap National Park southeast of Nundle. Given the minimum distance between these sites is approximately 11 km, each is considered a separate subpopulation per the IUCN (2024) definition.

3. The minimum estimated population size of Eucalyptus oresbia is 6,458-6,708 mature individuals. Approximately 92-96% of the known population occurs within the Hanging Rock subpopulation, and less than 1% of the known individuals occur on lands managed for conservation in the Ben Halls Gap and Dungowan Dam subpopulations.

Eucalyptus oresbia. Image Credit: Gavin Phillips/DCCEEW

Tasmannia purpurascens - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm., a shrub – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 338KB):

Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm. was found to be Endangered in accordance with the following provisions in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017: Clause 4.3(b)(d)(e i,iii) because: 1) the species has a highly restricted geographic range with an area of occupancy (AOO) of 240–248 km2 and an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 550–1,199 km2; 2) it occurs in three threat-defined locations; and 3) there is an estimated and inferred continuing decline in the area, extent and quality of habitat and number of mature individuals due to habitat clearing, fragmentation, and degradation; dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection; habitat degradation from feral animals; invasion by Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) and Rubus spp. (blackberry); and adverse fire regimes, particularly high frequency fire and high severity fire.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm. (family Winteraceae) is a “shrub 1– 3 m high, apical buds and stems purplish. Leaves oblanceolate to ± obovate, mostly 8–18 cm long, 30– 50 mm wide, apex obtuse, glabrous, both surfaces green and purplish towards base; secondary veins forming angles of c. 45° with midvein; ± sessile, gradually tapered to base. Petals usually 2, 8–12 mm long, white. Carpels 2– 9 per flower. Ovary c. 2 mm long; stalk of carpel much shorter than the ovary. Berries ovoid to oblong, 10–15 mm long, blackish purple; usually 2–6 develop, each on stalk 1– 4 mm long, peduncle 20–40 mm long.” (Harden 1990).

2. The majority of Tasmannia purpurascens records are in the Barrington Tops and Gloucester Tops area of the NSW Northern Tablelands. The species is also recorded in Ben Halls Gap Nature Reserve (NR), approximately 40 km to the northwest. The distribution of T. purpurascens occurs on the traditional lands of the Geawegal and Kamilaroi peoples (AIATIS 2023).

3. The population size of Tasmannia purpurascens is estimated to exceed 100,000 individuals (OEH 2021). The species is dioecious (Smith 1969; Falster et al. 2021) but the proportion of males and females is unknown, as is the proportion of mature individuals. Tasmannia purpurascens is common on the Barrington Plateau (M. Saunders pers. obs. November 2023). There is no long-term monitoring information available for this species and there is no information on long-term population trends. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs across an estimated 1–3 subpopulations, as per the IUCN (2024) definition.

4. Tasmannia purpurascens has a highly restricted geographic range. The extent of occurrence (EOO) was calculated at 550–1,199 km2 and is based on a minimum convex polygon enclosing all mapped occurrences of the species, the method of assessment recommended by IUCN (2024). The area of occupancy (AOO) is estimated to be 240–248 km2 and was calculated using 2 x 2 km grid cells, the scale recommended by IUCN (2024).

5. Tasmannia purpurascens typically occurs in in tall, moist eucalypt, subalpine woodland, and cool temperate rainforest (OEH 2019; PlantNet 2023) at elevations ranging from 1,050–1,560 m above sea level. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs on freely draining soil with good moisture retention but can also grow on heavier soils (Casey 1983).

6. Tasmannia purpurascens is dioecious (Smith 1969; Falster et al. 2021) and flowers from October to November (Falster et al. 2021; OEH 2021; PlantNet 2023). Tasmannia purpurascens fruits from February to June (FOA 2022), with fruit maturing over several months, based on what is known about Tasmannia lanceolata (Read 2017). Tasmannia purpurascens seeds are dormant at the time of release. In situ fruit burial studies of Tasmannia stipitata, with which T. purpurascens co-occurs, have shown the species has a delayed germination of at least 2 months (Campbell et al. 2012) and up to 10 months (Campbell et al. 2016), suggesting T. purpurascens is likely to have similar delayed germination under real world conditions with the environmental conditions required to break dormancy and promote germination remaining unknown.

7. Tasmannia purpurascens is exposed to a broad range of threats, including habitat clearing, fragmentation, and degradation; dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection; habitat degradation from feral animals; invasion by Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) and Rubus spp. (blackberry); and adverse fire regimes, particularly high frequency fire and high severity fire. Hybridisation with sympatric Tasmannia taxa is also occurring and appears to be an important evolutionary process among other taxa in the genus (Worth et al. 2010). Threats are concentrated in the Barrington Tops area, with Bens Halls Gap NR currently only affected by low densities of feral herbivores. ‘Clearing of native vegetation’, ‘Infection of native plants by Phytophthora cinnamomi’, ‘Predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs (Sus scrofa)’, ‘Habitat degradation and loss by feral horses (brumbies, wild horses), Equus caballus Linnaeus 1758’, ‘Invasion and establishment of Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom)’, ‘Loss and degradation of native plant and animal habitat by invasion of escaped garden plants, including aquatic plants’, and ‘High frequency fire resulting in the disruption of life cycle processes in plants and animals and loss of vegetation structure and composition’ are listed as Key Threatening Processes under the Act.

8. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs at three threat-defined locations as per the IUCN definition (IUCN 2024), due to the most serious plausible threats which result in the lowest number of locations being dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection and adverse fire regimes.

9. Habitat disturbance, fragmentation, and degradation from logging operations has resulted in an estimated and inferred loss of mature individuals and a significant decline in habitat quality and extent. Targeted surveys undertaken in logging compartments in 2023 inferred logging to have resulted in or contributed to a circa 77–100% decline in the number of individuals (in all age classes) at 5–21 years after the logging events (NSW DCCEEW 2024).

Tasmannia purpurascens. Image Credit: Matt Saunders

Plastic Bread Ties For Wheelchairs

The Berry Collective at 1691 Pittwater Rd, Mona Vale collects them for Oz Bread Tags for Wheelchairs, who recycle the plastic.

Berry Collective is the practice on the left side of the road as you head north, a few blocks before Mona Vale shops . They have parking. Enter the foyer and there's a small bin on a table where you drop your bread ties - very easy.

A full list of Aussie bread tags for wheelchairs is available at: HERE 


Volunteers for Barrenjoey Lighthouse Tours needed

Details:

Stay Safe From Mosquitoes 

NSW Health is reminding people to protect themselves from mosquitoes when they are out and about this summer.

NSW Health’s Acting Director of Environmental Health, Paul Byleveld, said with more people spending time outdoors, it was important to take steps to reduce mosquito bite risk.

“Mosquitoes thrive in wet, warm conditions like those that much of NSW is experiencing,” Byleveld said.

“Mosquitoes in NSW can carry viruses such as Japanese encephalitis (JE), Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE), Kunjin, Ross River and Barmah Forest. The viruses may cause serious diseases with symptoms ranging from tiredness, rash, headache and sore and swollen joints to rare but severe symptoms of seizures and loss of consciousness.

“People should take extra care to protect themselves against mosquito bites and mosquito-borne disease, particularly after the detection of JE in a sentinel chicken in Far Western NSW.

The NSW Health sentinel chicken program provides early warning about the presence of serious mosquito borne diseases, like JE. Routine testing in late December revealed a positive result for JE in a sample from Menindee. 

A free vaccine to protect against JE infection is available to those at highest risk in NSW and people can check their eligibility at NSW Health.

People are encouraged to take actions to prevent mosquito bites and reduce the risk of acquiring a mosquito-borne virus by:
  • Applying repellent to exposed skin. Use repellents that contain DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Check the label for reapplication times.
  • Re-applying repellent regularly, particularly after swimming. Be sure to apply sunscreen first and then apply repellent.
  • Wearing light, loose-fitting long-sleeve shirts, long pants and covered footwear and socks.
  • Avoiding going outdoors during peak mosquito times, especially at dawn and dusk.
  • Using insecticide sprays, vapour dispensing units and mosquito coils to repel mosquitoes (mosquito coils should only be used outdoors in well-ventilated areas)
  • Covering windows and doors with insect screens and checking there are no gaps.
  • Removing items that may collect water such as old tyres and empty pots from around your home to reduce the places where mosquitoes can breed.
  • Using repellents that are safe for children. Most skin repellents are safe for use on children aged three months and older. Always check the label for instructions. Protecting infants aged less than three months by using an infant carrier draped with mosquito netting, secured along the edges.
  • While camping, use a tent that has fly screens to prevent mosquitoes entering or sleep under a mosquito net.
Remember, Spray Up – Cover Up – Screen Up to protect from mosquito bite. For more information go to NSW Health.

Mountain Bike Incidents On Public Land: Survey

This survey aims to document mountain bike related incidents on public land, available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K88PSNP

Sent in by Pittwater resident Academic for future report- study. The survey will run for 12 months and close in February 2025.

Report fox sightings

Fox sightings, signs of fox activity, den locations and attacks on native or domestic animals can be reported into FoxScan. FoxScan is a free resource for residents, community groups, local Councils, and other land managers to record and report fox sightings and control activities. 

Our Council's Invasive species Team receives an alert when an entry is made into FoxScan.  The information in FoxScan will assist with planning fox control activities and to notify the community when and where foxes are active.



marine wildlife rescue group on the Central Coast

A new wildlife group was launched on the Central Coast on Saturday, December 10, 2022.

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast (MWRCC) had its official launch at The Entrance Boat Shed at 10am.

The group comprises current and former members of ASTR, ORRCA, Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace, WIRES and Wildlife ARC, as well as vets, academics, and people from all walks of life.

Well known marine wildlife advocate and activist Cathy Gilmore is spearheading the organisation.

“We believe that it is time the Central Coast looked after its own marine wildlife, and not be under the control or directed by groups that aren’t based locally,” Gilmore said.

“We have the local knowledge and are set up to respond and help injured animals more quickly.

“This also means that donations and money fundraised will go directly into helping our local marine creatures, and not get tied up elsewhere in the state.”

The organisation plans to have rehabilitation facilities and rescue kits placed in strategic locations around the region.

MWRCC will also be in touch with Indigenous groups to learn the traditional importance of the local marine environment and its inhabitants.

“We want to work with these groups and share knowledge between us,” Gilmore said.

“This is an opportunity to help save and protect our local marine wildlife, so if you have passion and commitment, then you are more than welcome to join us.”

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast has a Facebook page where you may contact members. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076317431064


Watch out - shorebirds about

Summer is here so watch your step because beach-nesting and estuary-nesting birds have started setting up home on our shores.
Did you know that Careel Bay and other spots throughout our area are part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP)?

This flyway, and all of the stopping points along its way, are vital to ensure the survival of these Spring and Summer visitors. This is where they rest and feed on their journeys.  For example, did you know that the bar-tailed godwit flies for 239 hours for 8,108 miles from Alaska to Australia?

Not only that, Shorebirds such as endangered oystercatchers and little terns lay their eggs in shallow scraped-out nests in the sand, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Threatened Species officer Ms Katherine Howard has said.
Even our regular residents such as seagulls are currently nesting to bear young.

What can you do to help them?
Known nest sites may be indicated by fencing or signs. The whole community can help protect shorebirds by keeping out of nesting areas marked by signs or fences and only taking your dog to designated dog offleash area. 

Just remember WE are visitors to these areas. These birds LIVE there. This is their home.

Four simple steps to help keep beach-nesting birds safe:
1. Look out for bird nesting signs or fenced-off nesting areas on the beach, stay well clear of these areas and give the parent birds plenty of space.
2. Walk your dogs in designated dog-friendly areas only and always keep them on a leash over summer.
3. Stay out of nesting areas and follow all local rules.
4. Chicks are mobile and don't necessarily stay within fenced nesting areas. When you're near a nesting area, stick to the wet sand to avoid accidentally stepping on a chick.


Possums In Your Roof?: do the right thing

Possums in your roof? Please do the right thing 
On the weekend, one of our volunteers noticed a driver pull up, get out of their vehicle, open the boot, remove a trap and attempt to dump a possum on a bush track. Fortunately, our member intervened and saved the beautiful female brushtail and the baby in her pouch from certain death. 

It is illegal to relocate a trapped possum more than 150 metres from the point of capture and substantial penalties apply.  Urbanised possums are highly territorial and do not fare well in unfamiliar bushland. In fact, they may starve to death or be taken by predators.

While Sydney Wildlife Rescue does not provide a service to remove possums from your roof, we do offer this advice:

✅ Call us on (02) 9413 4300 and we will refer you to a reliable and trusted licenced contractor in the Sydney metropolitan area. For a small fee they will remove the possum, seal the entry to your roof and provide a suitable home for the possum - a box for a brushtail or drey for a ringtail.
✅ Do-it-yourself by following this advice from the Department of Planning and Environment: 

❌ Do not under any circumstances relocate a possum more than 150 metres from the capture site.
Thank you for caring and doing the right thing.



Sydney Wildlife photos

Aviaries + Possum Release Sites Needed

Pittwater Online News has interviewed Lynette Millett OAM (WIRES Northern Beaches Branch) needs more bird cages of all sizes for keeping the current huge amount of baby wildlife in care safe or 'homed' while they are healed/allowed to grow bigger to the point where they may be released back into their own home. 

If you have an aviary or large bird cage you are getting rid of or don't need anymore, please email via the link provided above. There is also a pressing need for release sites for brushtail possums - a species that is very territorial and where release into a site already lived in by one possum can result in serious problems and injury. 

If you have a decent backyard and can help out, Lyn and husband Dave can supply you with a simple drey for a nest and food for their first weeks of adjustment.

Bushcare in Pittwater: where + when

For further information or to confirm the meeting details for below groups, please contact Council's Bushcare Officer on 9970 1367 or visit Council's bushcare webpage to find out how you can get involved.

BUSHCARE SCHEDULES 
Where we work                      Which day                              What time 

Avalon     
Angophora Reserve             3rd Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Dunes                        1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Golf Course              2nd Wednesday                 3 - 5:30pm 
Careel Creek                         4th Saturday                      8:30 - 11:30am 
Toongari Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon (8 - 11am in summer) 
Bangalley Headland            2nd Sunday                         9 to 12noon 
Catalpa Reserve              4th Sunday of the month        8.30 – 11.30
Palmgrove Park              1st Saturday of the month        9.00 – 12 

Bayview     
Winnererremy Bay                 4th Sunday                        9 to 12noon 

Bilgola     
North Bilgola Beach              3rd Monday                        9 - 12noon 
Algona Reserve                     1st Saturday                       9 - 12noon 
Plateau Park                          1st Friday                            8:30 - 11:30am 

Church Point     
Browns Bay Reserve             1st Tuesday                        9 - 12noon 
McCarrs Creek Reserve       Contact Bushcare Officer     To be confirmed 

Clareville     
Old Wharf Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      8 - 11am 

Elanora     
Kundibah Reserve                   4th Sunday                       8:30 - 11:30am 

Mona Vale     
Mona Vale Beach Basin          1st Saturday                    8 - 11am 
Mona Vale Dunes                     2nd Saturday +3rd Thursday     8:30 - 11:30am 

Newport     
Bungan Beach                          4th Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
Crescent Reserve                    3rd Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
North Newport Beach              4th Saturday                    8:30 - 11:30am 
Porter Reserve                          2nd Saturday                  8 - 11am 

North Narrabeen     
Irrawong Reserve                     2nd Saturday                   2 - 5pm 

Palm Beach     
North Palm Beach Dunes      3rd Saturday                    9 - 12noon 

Scotland Island     
Catherine Park                          2nd Sunday                     10 - 12:30pm 
Elizabeth Park                           1st Saturday                      9 - 12noon 
Pathilda Reserve                      3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon 

Warriewood     
Warriewood Wetlands             1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 

Whale Beach     
Norma Park                               1st Friday                            9 - 12noon 

Western Foreshores     
Coopers Point, Elvina Bay      2nd Sunday                        10 - 1pm 
Rocky Point, Elvina Bay           1st Monday                          9 - 12noon

Friends Of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment Activities

Bush Regeneration - Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment  
This is a wonderful way to become connected to nature and contribute to the health of the environment.  Over the weeks and months you can see positive changes as you give native species a better chance to thrive.  Wildlife appreciate the improvement in their habitat.

Belrose area - Thursday mornings 
Belrose area - Weekend mornings by arrangement
Contact: Phone or text Conny Harris on 0432 643 295

Wheeler Creek - Wednesday mornings 9-11am
Contact: Phone or text Judith Bennett on 0402 974 105
Or email: Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment : email@narrabeenlagoon.org.au

Gardens and Environment Groups and Organisations in Pittwater


Ringtail Posses 2023

Earth is already shooting through the 1.5°C global warming limit, two major studies show

Andrew KingThe University of Melbourne and Liam CassidyThe University of Melbourne

Earth is crossing the threshold of 1.5°C of global warming, according to two major global studies which together suggest the planet’s climate has likely entered a frightening new phase.

Under the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, humanity is seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep planetary heating to no more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average. In 2024, temperatures on Earth surpassed that limit.

This was not enough to declare the Paris threshold had been crossed, because the temperature goals under the agreement are measured over several decades, rather than short excursions over the 1.5°C mark.

But the two papers just released use a different measure. Both examined historical climate data to determine whether very hot years in the recent past were a sign that a future, long-term warming threshold would be breached.

The answer, alarmingly, was yes. The researchers say the record-hot 2024 indicates Earth is passing the 1.5°C limit, beyond which scientists predict catastrophic harm to the natural systems that support life on Earth.

2024: the first year of many above 1.5°C

Climate organisations around the world agree last year was the hottest on record. The global average temperature in 2024 was about 1.6°C above the average temperatures in the late-19th century, before humans started burning fossil fuels at large scale.

Earth has also recently experienced individual days and months above the 1.5°C warming mark.

But the global temperature varies from one year to the next. For example, the 2024 temperature spike, while in large part due to climate change, was also driven by a natural El Niño pattern early in the year. That pattern has dissipated for now, and 2025 is forecast to be a little cooler.

These year-to-year fluctuations mean climate scientists don’t view a single year exceeding the 1.5°C mark as a failure to meet the Paris Agreement.

However, the new studies published today in Nature Climate Change suggest even a single month or year at 1.5°C global warming may signify Earth is entering a long-term breach of that vital threshold.

What the studies found

The studies were conducted independently by researchers in Europe and Canada. They tackled the same basic question: is a year above 1.5°C global warming a warning sign that we’re already crossing the Paris Agreement threshold?

Both studies used observations and climate model simulations to address this question, with slightly different approaches.

In the European paper, the researchers looked at historical warming trends. They found when Earth’s average temperature reached a certain threshold, the following 20-year period also reached that threshold.

This pattern suggests that, given Earth reached 1.5°C warming last year, we may have entered a 20-year warming period when average temperatures will also reach 1.5°C.

The Canadian paper involved month-to-month data. June last year was the 12th consecutive month of temperatures above the 1.5°C warming level. The researcher found 12 consecutive months above a climate threshold indicates the threshold will be reached over the long term.

Both studies also demonstrate that even if stringent emissions reduction begins now, Earth is still likely to be crossing the 1.5°C threshold.

Heading in the wrong direction

Given these findings, what humanity does next is crucial.

For decades, climate scientists have warned burning fossil fuels for energy releases carbon dioxide and other gases that are warming the planet.

But humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase. Since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its first report in 1990, the world’s annual carbon dioxide emissions have risen about 50%.

Put simply, we are not even moving in the right direction, let alone at the required pace.

The science shows greenhouse gas emissions must reach net-zero to end global warming. Even then, some aspects of the climate will continue to change for many centuries, because some regional warming, especially in the oceans, is already locked in and irreversible.

If Earth has indeed already crossed the 1.5°C mark, and humanity wants to get below the threshold again, we will need to cool the planet by reaching “net-negative emissions” – removing more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than we emit. This would be a highly challenging task.

Feeling the heat

The damaging effects of climate change are already being felt across the globe. The harm will be even worse for future generations.

Australia has already experienced 1.5°C of warming, on average, since 1910.

Our unique ecosystems, such as the Great Barrier Reef, are already suffering because of this warming. Our oceans are hotter and seas are rising, hammering our coastlines and threatening marine life.

Bushfires and extreme weather, especially heatwaves, are becoming more frequent and severe. This puts pressure on nature, society and our economy.

But amid the gloom, there are signs of progress.

Across the world, renewable electricity generation is growing. Fossil fuel use has dropped in many countries. Technological developments are slowing emissions growth in polluting industries such as aviation and construction.

But clearly, there is much more work to be done.

Humanity can turn the tide

These studies are a sobering reminder of how far short humanity is falling in tackling climate change.

They show we must urgently adapt to further global warming. Among the suite of changes needed, richer nations must support the poorer countries set to bear the most severe climate harms. While some progress has been made in this regard, far more is needed.

A major shift is also needed to decarbonise our societies and economies. There is still room for hope, but we must not delay action. Otherwise, humanity will keep warming the planet and causing further damage.The Conversation

Andrew King, Associate Professor in Climate Science, ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather, The University of Melbourne and Liam Cassidy, PhD Candidate, The University of Melbourne

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A fierce tussle over a Northern Territory river reveals Australia’s stark choice on water justice

The Roper River. Chris Ison/Shutterstock
Quentin GraftonCrawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityAnne PoelinaUniversity of Notre Dame Australia, and Sarah MilneAustralian National University

Water is now a contested resource around the world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the fight playing out over the Northern Territory’s Roper River – one of the last free-flowing rivers in Australia, nurtured by the enduring presence of First Nations custodians.

The territory government recently doubled water extraction allowances from the aquifer that feeds the Roper River, making billions of litres available to irrigators, for free. The change risks permanent damage not just to the river but to world-famous springs and sacred sites fundamentally important to Traditional Owners.

Australia has a very poor track record on maintaining healthy river systems, and on respecting First Nations rights to access and use water.

The Roper River represents a chance to change course on decades of water policy failure. It also shows we must transform how Australia’s water is valued, who uses it, and who decides how vital rivers should be managed.

What’s happening on the Roper River?

The Roper River runs east for 400 kilometres from the Katherine region to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

First Nations people comprise 73% of the population in the Roper River area. Amid socioeconomic challenges, Country sustains them as it has done for 65,000 years. It is integral to maintaining cultural knowledge, as well as ceremonial practices, environmental care and traditional food systems. Traditional Owners’ rights are recognised through Aboriginal freehold land and native title across the area.

Irrigated crops including melons, mangoes and cotton are grown over a small part of the river catchment.

In a string of recent decisions – mainly the designation of regional “water allocation plans” – the territory government has vastly increased potential extraction from underground aquifers. This could allow agriculture and other industries to expand.

The Mataranka plan, which applies to the Roper River, now allows irrigators to double the amount of water extracted from an underground aquifer crucial to the river’s dry-season flows. These new extraction amounts would fill 25,000 Olympic swimming pools a year. The groundwater also feeds thermal springs at Mataranka – a sacred site and tourism drawcard.

woman swims in springs
The groundwater also feeds thermal springs at Mataranka, a tourism drawcard. Martin Helgemeir/Shutterstock

The decision came despite staunch opposition from Traditional Owners. As Northern Land Council chair Matthew Ryan told SBS:

Both the previous and the current NT Government have ignored the voices of Traditional Owners, who have repeatedly said that the health and viability of the Roper River and the springs at Mataranka are at great risk.

Water is life. It is our most valuable resource and Traditional Owners have an obligation to take care of the land and areas of cultural significance.

The Baaka: a sad story of degradation

Sadly, this story is not new to Australia. We need only look to the Baaka (Lower Darling River) in New South Wales as a cautionary tale.

More than a century of water extraction has left the river and its wetlands degraded. This was demonstrated in 2023 when up to 30 million fish died due to low levels of dissolved oxygen, caused by, among other factors, too much water extracted upstream.

The ecological damage has harmed the health and wellbeing of river communities – especially Traditional Owners such as the Barkandji people, who have long relied on the river for sustenance.

The problem is getting worse. As research late last year showed, an investment of more than A$8 billion to date has failed to prevent a stark decline in the health of the Murray-Darling Basin river system.

Martuwarra: another river in peril

Martuwarra, or the Fitzroy River, runs through Western Australia’s Kimberley region. It is the state’s largest Aboriginal Cultural Heritage site and is on the national heritage list. Evidence indicates human occupation along the Martuwarra for at least 35,000  years.

Traditional knowledge indicates climate change – among other harms – is threatening the Martuwarra. Ecological and ground water systems are drying up, making traditional food and medicine harder to find.

This harms Indigenous custodians reliant on the Martuwarra for their lifeways and livelihoods.

But there is hope. The Indigenous-led Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council has united West Kimberley people, First Peoples and others, along with stakeholders. It seeks to foster joint decision-making on planning and management to take full account of the social, cultural, spiritual and environmental impacts of water allocation across the catchment.

This world-leading example shows what can be achieved when Traditional Owners and their partners unite to defend nature, water and Country as sources of life, not just resources to be exploited.

Finding answers

Many of the world’s largest rivers are suffering from neglect and destruction. Last month, on the world’s inaugural Water Justice Day, people around the globe fighting for water justice came together in Canberra.

Community members, researchers, Elders, advocates and decision-makers gathered to share stories from Argentina, Australia, India, Kenya, Brazil and Mexico.

Each tale described people working together to push back against water injustice, whether it involved unequal access, theft, dispossession, pollution or post-truth claims about water.

Participants also watched the premiere screening of the short film EveryOne, EveryWhere, EveryWhen. It highlights what is at stake for Australia’s living rivers – Baaka, Roper and Martuwarra – and tells of the struggle to bring justice to these rivers and their people.

A trailer for the film EveryOne, EveryWhere, EveryWhen.

A fork in the river

Clearly, the time for water reform is now. So what does this mean in practice?

First, the precautionary principle must be deeply embedded in all government decisions. This means the potential for serious environmental damage must be properly considered, and actions taken to avoid it, even when science is not certain.

Second, permission from First Peoples should be obtained for any activity affecting their land or waters, following the principles of “free, prior and informed consent”.

And finally, both Indigenous knowledge and Western science must be brought together to plan, monitor and regulate all water extraction, to ensure our precious rivers are managed for both the present and the future.

Australians face a stark choice.

We can keep gifting valuable water resources to powerful commercial interests, while ignoring the warning signs our rivers are sending.

Or we can follow First Nations leaders and listen to what Country is telling us: to safeguard water for everyone, including non-human kin, to secure a liveable and thriving future for all.


In response to issues raised in this article, the NT’s Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment, Joshua Burgoyne, said the Mataranka water allocation plan provides certainty to the environment and the community and supports regional economic development.

He said the plan was “precautionary, evidenced based, and developed with considered involvement from local community representatives” including Traditional Owners, and preserves more than 90% of dry season flows to the Roper River.The Conversation

Quentin Grafton, Australian Laureate Professor of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityAnne Poelina, Professor and Chair Indigenous Knowledges & Senior Research Fellow Nulungu Institute of Research University of Notre Dame & Chair Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, University of Notre Dame Australia, and Sarah Milne, Associate Professor, Head of Resources, Environment and Development Department, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Golf courses can be safe havens for wildlife and beacons of biodiversity

Jacinta HumphreyRMIT University

Golf courses are sometimes seen as harmful to the environment. According to the popular notion, the grass soaks up too much water, is cut too short and sprayed with dangerous chemicals. But in reality, golf courses can act as safe havens for native wildlife, especially in cities.

Cities are home to a wide range of plants and animals, including 30% of Australia’s threatened species. But ongoing population growth and urban development threatens this biodiversity. We’re still losing green space and tree cover, leaving less habitat and resources for native birds, bats, possums, lizards, frogs, beetles and butterflies.

This is where golf courses can play a role. Australia is one of the golfing capitals of the world, with more than 1,800 active courses. These courses represent large, continuous green spaces often with native vegetation, mature trees, lakes and wetlands. Given their ubiquity, golf courses could help conserve urban biodiversity.

This week, the annual LIV Golf tournament returns to Grange Golf Club in South Australia. Grange is known for its commitment to natural habitats and wildlife. So what makes a golf course good or bad for biodiversity?

Grange Golf Club has a Biodiversity Manager.

The gold in the rough

From a biodiversity perspective, the most valuable part of a golf course is the area all golfers seek to avoid: the “rough”. These spaces between the green, manicured fairways can include remnant or restored bushland with dense leaf litter, long grass, thick shrubs, and both living and dead trees. This vegetation is often native and features a diversity of plant species.

Collectively, this can provide a range of resources for native wildlife including food, shelter and tree hollows for nesting. In Melbourne, research found golf courses provided better habitat for wildlife than nearby suburban streets and parklands. They were also home to a greater diversity of birds and bats.

Golf courses also have relatively little human activity. Golfers are only allowed on the course during certain hours of the day. Courses usually do not allow dogs. And there are few cars and roads, so there’s less noise and light pollution than in other urban areas. This makes golf courses pretty attractive to native animals looking for somewhere to live.

Many golf courses are heavily irrigated to ensure high-quality playing surfaces. This ample water supply (typically from recycled sources) is fantastic for wildlife, especially in warmer and drier climates. Birds are known to flock to water resources during drought – a behaviour likely to become more common under future climate change.

Much-feared water hazards for golfers, such as lakes and ponds, actually provide valuable habitat for aquatic birds, frogs, fish and insects. These water bodies are particularly important in cities where wetlands are regularly cleared to make way for new houses, shops and roads.

Importantly, once constructed, golf courses are rarely threatened by clearing or development. In Perth, research found golf courses helped protect native vegetation as development spread through surrounding suburbs. The mere existence of a golf course can help secure a home for native species for many decades to come.

Golf courses are not a perfect solution

However, not all land on golf courses is valuable for wildlife. Large open areas such as fairways typically only benefit species adapted to life in cities such as the aggressive noisy miner.

Golf courses can also harbour pests such as cane toads, rats and common mynas. These undesirable species may pose a threat to native biodiversity.

The use of pesticides and fertilisers can affect soil quality, contaminate water sources, and make frogs sick.

Frequent lawn mowing can reduce insect diversity, particularly among bugs, bees, wasps and ants. This is likely to have flow-on effects for animals that feed on insects, and for flowering plants that depend on insects for pollination and seed dispersal.

Some urban golf courses may also be physically isolated from other suitable habitats, making it hard for wildlife to safely move around to find food, water and a mate. To get in and out, animals may need to cross busy roads or move through dangerous areas where they are exposed to predators such as cats and foxes.

Close up showing new plantings in sandy areas alongside the fairway at Glenelg Golf Course, with golfers passing by.
Four golf courses in Adelaide are working together to improve and connect habitat. Glenelg Golf Club

So, how can we best manage golf courses for biodiversity?

In an ideal world, golf courses should only be constructed in developed areas. That’s because constructing courses in natural, undisturbed areas is likely to involve clearing vegetation for fairways, greens, car parks and club houses.

As a result, the biodiversity value of a golf course increases the closer it is to a city.

Existing golf courses can help protect biodiversity by retaining and restoring diverse bushland patches in the rough. Important conservation areas can also be fenced off and deemed “out of bounds” to golfers.

The use of harsh chemicals should be reduced to minimise risks to soil, water and wildlife. “Organic golf courses” overseas are already making progress in this space, but they are far from mainstream.

Finally, efforts must be made to connect golf courses to nearby parks and reserves through wildlife corridors, road underpasses, and special crossing structures such as rope bridges. This will enable animals to safely move around the urban landscape.

Many golf courses now have biodiversity management plans and are working hard to make their practices more sustainable. In other cases, disused golf courses are even being converted into conservation reserves, such as the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve in Elsternwick, Melbourne.

While golf courses cannot replace natural habitats, they can provide a useful alternative for many species that call our cities home.The Conversation

Jacinta Humphrey, Research Fellow in Urban Ecology, RMIT University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Grampians National Park is still burning – here’s what we can expect will survive and recover

John WhiteDeakin University

Fire broke out in the Grampians National Park (Gariwerd) in December and raged for weeks. Then lightning strikes ignited fresh blazes late last month, which merged to form a mega-fire that’s not out yet.

This 168,000-hectare reserve, about 200km west of Melbourne, is a significant ecological and cultural landscape. Its ancient sandstone mountains and valleys maintain eucalypt woodlands and heathlands that support a rich diversity of plants and animals, making it a key conservation asset in Victoria.

Since 2008, our team has been monitoring mammal species annually in the Grampians. This long-term effort has allowed us to learn how species respond to wildfires, droughts and floods.

We commenced our research just two years after big fires swept through the park in 2006. We also witnessed the changes following more fires in 2013 and 2014.

So while many animals have lost much of their habitat to fire this summer, we know recovery is possible. But some may need help to cope with challenges ahead.

A terrible summer as multiple fires rage

The massive December wildfire in the park’s east burned for weeks, forcing evacuations in towns such as Halls Gap, and upending Christmas for many residents. By early January, that fire was contained – but only after burning about 76,000 hectares of the park and surrounding areas.

Then, on January 27, lightning strikes in the west ignited four fires that eventually merged, burning through the entire Victoria Range and some rural properties.

The full extent of damage is not yet known. But it’s already clear the fires have been devastating. They burned much of the same areas affected by the 2006 wildfires in the east and 2013 fires in the west, as well as long-unburned areas.

Combined, fires this big have not been observed in this landscape in the past 50 years.

Maps comparing the extent of the fires in the Grampians this summer to fires in 2006, 2013 and 2014.
The extent of this summer’s wildfires in the Grampians is almost as big as fires in 2006 and 2013 put together. John White, using data from Luke Lupone at Dekain University and VicEmergency

What is the extent of the damage to the environment?

It’s difficult to determine how much of the park has burned so far this summer, because the shaded area on the state emergency map extends beyond the park’s borders. But a rough, conservative estimate suggests at least 110,000 hectares of the 168,000 hectare park has burned since December. This is a deeply troubling scenario.

The Grampians is an isolated landscape – an “island” of native vegetation surrounded by a sea of agricultural land. So animals can’t easily migrate from other parts of Victoria to repopulate the area. Recovery largely depends on the landscape’s own ability to regenerate after fire.

Populations of small carnivorous marsupials often peak in areas that haven’t burned for 10–20 years.

So for many species, most of their habitat has been lost to fire. This includes endangered mammals such as the smoky mouse, heath mouse, brush-tailed rock wallaby, southern brown bandicoot and long-nosed potoroo. These species in particular will need considerable help for the next few years.

Six photos showing native small mammals from the Grampians landscape: yellow-footed antechinus, southern brown bandicoot, agile antechinus (male), swamp rat, long-nosed potoroo, heath mouse.
Some of the native small mammals from the Grampians landscape. Clockwise from top left: yellow-footed antechinus, southern brown bandicoot, agile antechinus (male), swamp rat, long-nosed potoroo, heath mouse. John White

Recovery will happen over time

Many animals likely perished in the blaze and more will die in coming months.

Unfortunately, most native small mammals struggle to survive in freshly burned habitats. Fire depletes their food sources and strips away the vegetation that provides cover and protection from predators.

But there is hope. Our previous research shows some animals do survive. These survivors can eventually breed, sparking the slow recovery of the landscape and helping reestablish populations over the next decade or two.

The rate of recovery will be driven by rainfall. So if drought hits, recovery will be slow. But if we have wet years, recovery will accelerate.

Many native plants in the national park are more resilient to fire than the animals, so recover faster. Native heathland plants such as Australian grass trees have evolved in the presence of fire and often reshoot pretty quickly. Seeds also germinate after fires. But it takes a few years after the plants come back before many native animal species fully recover.

So the first few years after fire are usually tough for native species. From a conservation perspective this is manageable in a patchy landscape — where some areas burned recently and others haven’t burned in decades. However, the current situation is different. This year, most of the landscape burned and almost no long-unburned habitat remains.

Closeup of a native grass tree showing fresh green shoots beneath orange burnt tips after fire.
A native grass tree reshoots after wildfire. John White

What are the threats?

The main challenge to recovery in the coming months and years is introduced species, especially foxes and cats. Foxes are particularly problematic, because they are drawn to recently burned areas where hunting is much easier.

To give native mammals a fighting chance, it is essential to ramp up fox management efforts for at least the next year. This will allow surviving native mammals time to recover and for vegetation to regrow, providing necessary cover.

In addition, Parks Victoria and the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action are erecting artificial shelters in ecologically sensitive areas. These provide temporary refuge for animals, giving them a better chance to evade predators.

What about the role of climate change?

In recent decades, the Grampians have experienced a general decline in rainfall, coupled with a significant increase in wildfires since the early 2000s.

We’re now witnessing a cycle where large fires are followed by droughts, and then wet periods such as the recent La Niña years.

During these wetter periods, vegetation flourishes. But when the inevitable dry spells return, that vegetation dries out, creating ideal conditions for wildfires. So the good years, while offering relief to the landscape, are setting the stage for the next fire. This leaves the landscape constantly vulnerable.

What can people do to help?

Fire is a natural process – albeit one increasingly driven by climate change. As climate change worsens, landscapes like the Grampians will face more frequent, large wildfires.

We should approach our natural landscapes with care, acknowledging climate change is fundamentally altering how these ecosystems function.

The best action we can take is to pressure governments to seriously address climate change and implement meaningful solutions.The Conversation

John White, Associate Professor in Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Deakin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Dingoes are being culled in Victoria. How much harm to the species is needed to protect commercial profits?

Danielle Ireland-PiperAustralian National University

A Victorian government decision to allow dingo culling in the state’s east until 2028 has reignited debate over what has been dubbed Australia’s most controversial animal.

Animals Australia, an animal welfare group, has filed proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria, challenging the decision. The case is due to be heard this year.

Announcing the legal action, the group said the eradication program targeted a unique native animal at risk of extinction, and ignored pleas from Traditional Owners who “treasure the dingo as a totem species”.

The controversy raises a few thorny questions. Are dingoes an important native species or an agricultural pest? And what is the right balance between protecting the species, and protecting the interests of farmers?

What’s this all about?

Dingoes are listed as vulnerable in Victoria. This means the species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild over the medium term.

Dingoes are also protected under Victoria’s Wildlife Act – unless a special order is made to declare them “unprotected”. To date, these unprotection orders have been made when authorities deem it necessary to prevent dingoes from killing livestock.

An unprotection order means a person can legally kill dingoes in certain areas of private and public land, by trapping, poisoning or shooting.

Since around 2010, a succession of unprotection orders have allowed dingoes to be killed in various parts of Victoria. The unprotection order now being challenged came into effect on October 1 last year and will continue until January 1, 2028.

Announcing the decision, Victoria’s Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos says the government was:

striking the right balance between protecting our vulnerable dingo populations while giving farmers the ability to protect their livestock, and we will regularly engage to ensure settings continue to achieve this balance.

Dingoes are not ‘wild dogs’

DNA studies suggest dingoes have been in Australia for between 4,600 and 18,000 years. Often wrongly described as “wild dogs”, they are actually descended from south Asian wolves.

Adding to the complications, it can be hard to distinguish between a wild dog and a dingo without DNA testing.

Dingoes were once widespread across Victoria but are now extinct across most of the state, save for two populations in the state’s north and east.

Conservationists and scientists fear the extended order in eastern Victoria may push dingoes to local extinction

The experience in north-west Victoria offers a cautionary tale. There, under a dingo unprotection order, the population dropped to as few as 40 individuals. The local dingo population was deemed “critically low and at risk of extinction”, prompting the government to reinstate dingo protections.

In eastern Victoria, the dingo population is estimated at between 2,640 and 8,800.

However in September last year, before the unprotection order in eastern Victoria came into effect, Nationals Member for Gippsland, Tim Bull, claimed 1,500 dingoes were already being killed in the region each year by farmers and others.

If those figures are correct, it suggests extending the unprotection order until 2028 will devastate the dingo population in eastern Victoria.

A decline in dingo populations is not just a concern for the species itself – it will have knock-on effects.

Dingoes are apex predators and research shows they are central to how ecosystems function. They can help control introduced predators such as foxes, feral cats and rabbits. This benefits native animals and plants.

Is the balance right?

Given the risks to dingo populations and the broader environment, it’s pertinent to ask if the government decision swings too far towards protecting agricultural production.

One report suggests within Victoria’s 16 “wild dog management zones” in the 2022–23 financial year, there were more than 1.7 million head of livestock. Of these, 1,455 were confirmed killed by dingoes. While understandably of concern to farmers, this nonetheless represents a tiny proportion of total stock numbers.

The number of sheep killed by dingoes is also only a fraction of the 14.6 million currently farmed in Victoria. Sheep are not at risk of extinction.

These numbers suggest the government has not struck the right balance between protecting livestock and ensuring dingo populations survive.

Considering the rights of Traditional Owners

When weighing up an unprotection order, a minister must consider how it affects the rights of Traditional Owners.

In 2023, when deliberating over whether to make an unprotection order in eastern Victoria, the Victorian government stated that for Aboriginal people:

  • dingoes are part of their living cultural heritage

  • the loss of a dingo is akin to the loss of a family member

  • the dingo helps maintain connection to Country

  • some have a totemic and kinship relationship with the dingo.

The government said while the order would limit Aboriginal people’s rights, this was justified when taking other factors into account.

The court will decide

Animal protection group Animals Australia has filed proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria, challenging the lawfulness and validity of the unprotection order. Court documents are not yet publicly available.

Australia does not have a single and consistent animal welfare and protection regime. Instead, protections are fractured between the states. That is why the current challenge to dingo culling is limited to Victoria, even though culling takes place in other states. This illustrates the difficulty in using the law to protect animals at a national level.

This challenge is part of a broader push to redefine the relationship between humans and animals through what’s known as animal law. In recent years, animal advocates have used various aspects of the law to challenge the gassing of pigs before they are slaughtered, and recreational duck shooting.

The current case is an important test for how the law balances the needs of humans and animals – and in particular, how much harm is deemed “necessary” at law to protect commercial profit and livelihood.The Conversation

Danielle Ireland-Piper, Associate Professor, ANU National Security College, Australian National University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

‘A house battery you can drive around’: how a handful of Australians are selling power from their cars back to the grid

24K-Productions
Scott DwyerUniversity of Technology SydneyJaime ComberUniversity of Technology Sydney, and Kriti NagrathUniversity of Technology Sydney

Our cars sit unused most of the time. If you have an electric vehicle, you might leave it charging at home or work after driving it. But there’s another step you could take. If you have a bidirectional charger, you can set it to sell power back to the grid when demand is high.

Fewer than ten people across Australia actually do this, because the technology – known as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) – is very new. To date, it only works with a single car model (Nissan LEAF) and a single charger (Wallbox Quasar 1). We’ve estimated the number of users based on sales of this charger. The chargers are expensive and there’s a thicket of regulations to navigate.

But that could soon change. Last year, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen announced new Australian standards and communications protocols for bidirectional chargers in a bid to make it mainstream. Cheaper EVs and bidirectional chargers will make this more appealing.

If it takes off, V2G could become extremely useful to the power grid as a way to release power as required and stabilise the grid against fluctuations.

This week, Australia’s renewable energy agency released a V2G roadmap, which notes widespread uptake could “materially reduce electricity costs for consumers and accelerate national emissions reduction”.

To understand why people are using the technology and the challenges to do so, we interviewed five early adopters from New South Wales and South Australia. Our findings are released today.

sunset and power lines.
A bidirectional charger is necessary to sell power back to the grid. doublelee/Shutterstock

Setting up V2G isn’t easy

Our interviewees reported a long, complex journey to set up V2G. These early adopters had no playbook to follow, so the process was one of trial and error.

Some relied on professional networks or social media groups to gather information. They spent significant time and energy finding electricians, installers and charger manufacturers to set up their systems. Strata approvals were required. They also had to negotiate with power retailers and distributors.

Delays were common, especially when seeking approval from the energy distributor. Some interviewees reported delays of months to years.

Most interviewees had experience in a technical field such as engineering or technology. Some reported a significant learning curve, while others using new software from their retailer reported a smoother “set and forget” process.

So why do it? Our interviewees had several reasons, ranging from getting the most out of expensive assets (solar and the EV) to offsetting power bills entirely.

Four out of five interviewees reported making a small profit of about A$1,000 annually instead of a bill. Many wanted to be able to reduce dependence on the grid and reduce their environmental impact.

As one told us:

you originally think of it as a car you can also use to power your house. [But actually] it’s a house battery you can drive around.

Maximising savings

Typically, our interviewees plugged their car in at home during the day to charge from their rooftop solar. In the evenings when power prices peaked, they used an app to sell power back to the grid. This maximised their cost savings for charging the car battery and their earnings from the grid.

For instance, a V2G user was alerted by their energy retailer that power prices had spiked to over $20 per kilowatt hour – far above normal rates of 25–45 cents. They immediately set their car and home battery to sell power back to the grid. In two hours, they sold 28 kilowatt hours of power to the grid and made more than $560. As they told us: “I look forward to more such events.”

Our interviewees often monitored energy prices, solar output and car battery levels to optimise their output. To avoid their EV battery getting too low, they set a lower limit – say 30% of charge – after which their car would stop exporting power.

set up of a vehicle to grid user, nissan leaf car charging in garage.
This photo shows the setup of one of our early adopter interviewees. Pictured is the Nissan LEAF and bidirectional charger. For years, this has been the only car model compatible with vehicle to grid, but this is set to change. Author providedCC BY-NC-ND

Is there a downside?

One of the main reasons people are sceptical of V2G is due to concern about accelerated degradation of the battery.

This is a common concern. But to date, there’s no consensus showing V2G shortens the battery life of EVs significantly. One recent study shows it increases degradation by 0.3% a year. But another showed V2G might actually extend battery life in some scenarios.

Last year, we surveyed more than 1,300 members of a motoring organisation about their view of V2G technology. We found battery warranty was a bigger concern than battery life. This is because most EV manufacturers other than Nissan don’t mention V2G in their battery warranties, leading drivers to believe they might void their warranty by using V2G.

Awareness of V2G technology is growing. The survey also found almost 40% of respondents were very or somewhat familiar with V2G, a jump from the 17% who reported familiarity in 2022. Among EV owners, almost 90% reported knowledge of the concept.

Moving beyond early adopters

For V2G to go mainstream, the process must be much simpler, cheaper and easier to set up.

To accelerate uptake, reliable, accessible information is essential.

Expanding government incentive programs to include bidirectional chargers would cut the upfront cost and make it more accessible.

Even within the EV supply chain, knowledge of V2G is limited. Car dealerships will need to know which models work with V2G.

Electricians may need specific training to install and maintain these chargers.

EVs are falling in price as manufacturers vie for market share and cheaper options become available. V2G capabilities might help boost sales for competing car companies.

As more motorists switch to EVs, interest in V2G will increase. While V2G can boost the appeal of EVs, there are others, such as Vehicle-to-Home (using your car to power your home during blackouts or to save money) and Vehicle-to-Load (using your EV to run power tools or appliances).

Each of these can help consumers get more value from the vehicles parked in driveways and garages.The Conversation

Scott Dwyer, Research Director, Energy Futures, University of Technology SydneyJaime Comber, Senior Research Consultant in Energy Futures, University of Technology Sydney, and Kriti Nagrath, Research Principal in Energy Futures, University of Technology Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Tiny splendid peacock spiders have the fastest known jump among their kin – new study

Pranav Joshi
Ajay NarendraMacquarie University

Jumping spiders – one of the largest spider families – get their name from the extraordinary jumps they make to hunt prey, to navigate and also to evade predators.

Male jumping spiders also jump to escape from cannibalistic females and competing males. So they are under tremendous pressure to jump efficiently and rapidly.

We studied the jumping abilities of miniature male and female Australian peacock spiders. We found that the males – incredibly light creatures, weighing just 2 milligrams – have the highest acceleration among any known jumping spider.

Our study is the first to explore and identify differences in how male and female jumping spiders undertake their impressive jumps. It’s now published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

A male Australian splendid peacock spider. Pranav Joshi

Unique hydraulics

Jumping is an energetically “expensive” movement strategy. To perform it, animals have to launch themselves from a surface by coordinating the movement of numerous body parts.

Some invertebrates, like ants, jump with the help of their muscles. Others, like fleas, use energy stored in internal structures that are rapidly released to trigger a leap.

Jumping spiders are different – they use a unique semi-hydraulic system. They don’t have muscles to extend their legs and power the jumps. Instead, they extend their legs by increasing the pressure of the haemolymph (fluid analogous to blood in invertebrates) in their legs, which triggers the jump.

Peacock spiders are well known for the elaborate courtship display males carry out to court females. It has captured the attention of biologists and non-scientific audiences alike. The display includes extending and waving their third pair of legs and opening the colourful flap-like extensions on the abdomen.

The quantitative description of jumping movements, known as jump kinematics, has only been conducted for four of the 6,000+ jumping spider species known worldwide. On top of this, scientists have never investigated differences in jump dynamics in male and female spiders.

Because male and female peacock spiders differ strongly in size from each other, they present a unique opportunity to identify sex-specific differences in jump kinematics.

Spiders on campus

We studied the Australian splendid peacock spider (Maratus splendens) found both on the Macquarie University campus in Sydney and in the surrounding area.

The females weighed more than twice as much as males, and the heaviest female was 6.6 times heavier than the lightest male. We scanned male and female specimens using micro-computed tomography and carried out a 3D reconstruction to determine the centre of mass of each sex.

Micro CT reconstruction of the male of the Australian splendid peacock spider with centre of mass highlighted by a circle. Ajay Narendra

We then filmed the jumps of male and female spiders using a high-speed camera, and tracked the animals’ centre of mass during each jump. From this, we measured a suite of kinematic measures, including jump take-off angle, acceleration, and g-force.

We found that these lighter male peacock spiders have a distinct jump choreography and kinematics compared to the heavier females.

High, fast and steep

We discovered that the splendid peacock spiders accelerated at 127.8 m/s² – more than twice as fast as the previous highest known acceleration in jumping spiders.

This rapid acceleration may have evolved to escape from predators or to track and capture fast-moving prey in their natural environments.

Though the lighter males accelerated faster, after controlling for body mass we found that acceleration in males was slower compared to females. Males and females experienced accelerations equivalent to 13.03 times and 12.5 times the force of gravity, respectively.

Interestingly, the jumps of males were at a steeper angle than those of females, which is likely an adaptation to rapidly escape from females and other males.

A question that remained was which of the four pairs of legs powered this rapid jump. To figure this out, we tracked multiple joints on all of the spiders’ legs throughout the jump.

We found that the joint on the third pair of legs had an extremely acute angle before jumping, and rapidly changed to something like a straight angle after attaining maximum acceleration. Our results show that it’s the third pair of legs that propels the splendid peacock spider into its impressive jumps.The Conversation

Ajay Narendra, Associate Professor of Insect Neuroethology, Macquarie University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Climate impacts are forcing people from their homes. When, how and why do they have valid refugee claims?

Jane McAdamUNSW Sydney

For a long time, it seemed refugee law had little relevance to people fleeing the impacts of climate change and disasters.

Nearly 30 years ago, the High Court of Australia, for instance, remarked that people fleeing a “natural disaster” or “natural catastrophes” could not be refugees.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Canada had said “victims of natural disasters” couldn’t be refugees “even when the home state is unable to provide assistance”.

It was back in 2007 that I first started considering whether international refugee law could apply to people escaping the impacts of drought, floods or sea-level rise. At the time, I also thought refugee law had limited application. For a start, most people seeking to escape natural hazards move within their own country and don’t cross an international border. That fact alone makes refugee law inapplicable.

Refugee law defines a refugee as someone with a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group.

So one challenge was in classifying supposedly “natural” events as “persecution”, which requires an identifiable human actor.

It was also widely thought such events were indiscriminate and couldn’t target people on account of their race, religion or one of the other five grounds. This is partly why some advocates called for an overhaul of the Refugee Convention to protect so-called “climate refugees”.

However, we have learned a lot in the intervening years.

A new approach

It’s become clear the impacts of climate change and disasters interact with other social, economic and political drivers of displacement to create risks for people.

This is what some legal experts have called the “hazard-scape”.

And the impacts of climate change and disasters are not indiscriminate – they affect people in different ways. Factors such as age, gender, disability and health can intersect to create particular risk of persecution for particular individuals or communities.

For example, a person who is a member of a minority may find their government is withholding disaster relief from them. Or, climate or disaster impacts may end up exacerbating inter-communal conflicts, putting certain people at heightened risk of persecution.

Now, we have a much more nuanced understanding of things. Refugee law (and complementary protection under human rights law) do have a role to play in assessing the claims of people affected by climate change.

No such thing as a ‘climate refugee’ under the law

There isn’t a legal category of “climate refugee” – a popular label that has caused confusion. However, there are certainly people facing heightened risks because of the impacts of climate change or disasters. These impacts can generate or exacerbate a risk of persecution or other serious harm.

This means that when it comes to the law, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Instead, by applying existing legal principles and approaches, it’s clear some people impacted by climate change already qualify for refugee status or complementary protection (under human rights law).

One instructive case, heard in New Zealand, involved a deaf and mute man from Tuvalu who was seeking to avoid deportation on humanitarian grounds. He was found to be at heightened risk if a disaster struck because he could not hear evacuation or other warnings. He also didn’t have anyone who could sign for him or ensure his safety.

In another case, an older couple from Eritrea were found to be especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change because of “their elderly status and lack of family support”, in circumstances where they would be exposed to “conditions of abject poverty, underdevelopment and likely displacement”. This, in addition to other conditions in Eritrea, meant that there was “a real chance they would suffer cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by way of starvation and destitution”. They were granted complementary protection.

A practical way forward

New Zealand has led the way on showing how existing international refugee and human rights law can provide protection in the context of climate change and disasters. It’s time for the rest of the world to catch up.

With colleagues from Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, I’ve helped create a practical toolkit on international protection for people displaced across borders in the context of climate change and disasters.

This is a detailed resource for legal practitioners and decision-makers tasked with assessing international protection claims involving the impacts of climate change and disasters.

It shows when, why and how existing law can apply to claims where climate change or disasters play a role.

Inaccurate but popular labels aren’t helpful

Inaccurate but popular labels – such as “climate refugee” – have caused confusion and arguably hampered a consistent, principled approach.

Some judges and decision-makers assessing refugee claims may be spooked by “climate change”. They may think they need specialist scientific expertise to grapple with it.

The new toolkit shows why international protection claims arising in the context of climate change and disasters should be assessed in the same way as all other international protection claims. That is, by applying conventional legal principles and considering the facts of each case.

The toolkit stresses that it’s important to assess the impacts of climate change and disasters within a broader social context.

That includes examining underlying systemic issues of discrimination or inequity that may impact on how particular people experience harm.

The toolkit also shows why a cumulative assessment of risk is necessary, especially since risks may emerge over time, rather than as the result of a single, extreme event.

And it emphasises the need to look at the “hazard-scape” as a whole in assessing the future risk of harm to a person.

We hope the toolkit helps to debunk some common misunderstandings and charts a clear way forward. Our ultimate ambition is that people seeking international protection in the context of climate change and disasters will have their claims assessed in a consistent, fair and principled way.The Conversation

Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor and ARC Laureate Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Where should we look for new metals that are critical for green energy technology? Volcanoes may point the way

Florian Nimsdorf / Shutterstock
Brenainn SimpsonThe University of QueenslandCarl SpandlerUniversity of Adelaide, and Teresa UbideThe University of Queensland

About 400 kilometres northwest of Sydney, just south of Dubbo, lies a large and interesting body of rock formed around 215 million years ago by erupting volcanoes.

Known as the Toongi deposit, this site is rich in so-called rare earths: a collection of 16 metallic elements essential for modern technologies from electric cars to solar panels and mobile phones.

Efforts are under way to mine this deposit, but the demand for rare earths in the coming decades is likely to be enormous.

To find more, we need to understand how and why these deposits form. Our latest research on Australian volcanoes, published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment, shows how tiny crystals formed inside volcanoes offer clues about the formation of rare earth deposits – and how we can find more of them.

Rare earths and the melting mantle

The formation of rare earth element deposits begins with partial melting of Earth’s mantle which lies deep below the crust.

Earth’s mantle is dominated by minerals that are rich in iron and magnesium. These minerals also contain small amounts of other elements, including the rare earth elements.

When the mantle melts to form magma, the rare earth elements move easily into the magma. If the amount of melting is small, the magma has a higher proportion of rare earth elements than if the amount of melting is large – for example, at a mid-ocean ridge where vast amounts of magma rush to the surface and form new oceanic crust.

As this magma migrates towards Earth’s surface, it cools down and new minerals begin to form. These minerals are mostly composed of oxygen, silicon, calcium, aluminium, magnesium and iron.

This means the leftover magma contains a higher concentration of rare earth elements. This residual liquid will continue to ascend through the crust until it solidifies or erupts at the surface.

From Greenland to central New South Wales

If the magma cools and crystallises in the crust, it can form rocks containing high levels of critical metals. One place where this has happened is the Gardar Igneous Complex in Southern Greenland, which contains several rare earth element deposits.

In central New South Wales in Australia, magmas enriched in rare earth elements erupted at the surface. They are collectively given the geological name Benolong Volcanic Suite.

Aerial photo of a treed landscape with a small earthmoving activity in the foreground.
The Toongi deposit was formed hundreds of millions of years ago. ASM

Within this suite is the Toongi deposit – a part of the ancient volcanic plumbing system. This is an “intrusion” of congealed magma containing very high levels of critical metals.

Magmas enriched in rare earth elements are uncommon, and those that are enriched enough to be productively mined are rarer still, with only a few known examples worldwide. Even with all we know about how magmas form, there is much more work to be done to better understand and predict where magmas enriched in critical metals can be found.

Crystals record volcanic history

You may have wondered how scientists know so much about what happens kilometres (sometimes tens of kilometres) below our feet. We learn a lot about the interior of the Earth from studying rocks which make their way to the surface.

The processes that occur in a magma as it rises from Earth’s interior leave clues in the chemical composition of minerals which crystallise along the way. One mineral in particular – clinopyroxene – is particularly effective at preserving these clues, like a tiny crystal ball.

Fortunately, there are crystals of clinopyroxene within many of the rocks in the Benolong Volcanic Suite. This allowed us to examine the history of the non-mineralised rocks and compare it with the mineralised Toongi intrusion.

What’s different about the rocks at Toongi

We found that the Toongi rocks have two important differences.

First, the clinopyroxenes in the non-mineralised volcanic suite contain a lot of rare earth elements. This tells us that for most rocks in the volcanic suite, critical metals were “locked up” within clinopyroxene, rather than remaining in the residual melt.

In contrast, clinopyroxene crystals from Toongi show low levels of rare earth elements. Here, these elements are contained in a different mineral, eudialyte, which can be mined for rare earth elements.

Microscope images of crystals showing an hourglass-like structure.
The ‘hourglass’ shape of clinopyroxene crystals from Toongi, viewed with electron microscopy and laser mapping. Simpson, Ubide & Spandler / Nature Communications Earth & EnvironmentCC BY

Second, and most interesting, the clinopyroxenes from Toongi have an internal crystal structure that resembles an hourglass shape. This is caused by different elements residing in some parts of the crystal. It’s an exciting observation because it suggests rapid crystallisation occurred due the release of gas while the crystals were forming.

In contrast, we found no evidence of rapid crystallisation in the rocks without high levels of rare earths.

Our work means we can now track the composition and zoning of clinopyroxene in other extinct volcanoes in Australia and beyond to find out which ones may accumulate relevant rare earth element deposits.

This study adds another piece of the puzzle for understanding how critical metals accumulate, and how we can find them to power green, renewable energy sources for a sustainable future.The Conversation

Brenainn Simpson, PhD Candidate, The University of QueenslandCarl Spandler, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide, and Teresa Ubide, ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor in Igneous Petrology/Volcanology, The University of Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Record January heat suggests La Niña may be losing its ability to keep global warming in check

Richard P. AllanUniversity of Reading

January 2025 was the hottest on record – a whole 1.7°C above pre-industrial levels. If many climate-watchers expected the world to cool slightly this year thanks to the natural “La Niña” phenomena, the climate itself didn’t seem to get the memo. In fact, January 2025’s record heat highlights how human-driven ocean warming is increasingly overwhelming these natural climate patterns.

La Niña is a part of the El Niño southern oscillation, a climate fluctuation that slowly sloshes vast bodies of water and heat between different ocean basins and disrupts weather patterns around the world. El Niño was first identified and christened by Peruvian fishermen who noticed a dismal drop in their catch of sardines that coincided with much warmer than usual coastal waters.

El Niño is now well known to be part of a grander climate reorganisation that also has a reverse cool phase, La Niña. As vast swathes of the eastern Pacific cool down during La Niña, this has knock on effects for atmospheric weather patterns, shifting the most vigorous storms from the central Pacific to the west and disrupting the prevailing winds across the globe.

This atmospheric reaction also helps to amplify the sea surface temperature changes. Typically, La Niña will lower the global temperature by a couple of tenths of a degree Celsius.

In 2024 the Pacific swung from moderate El Niño conditions to a weak La Niña. However, this time around, it’s apparently not enough to stop the world warming – even temporarily. So what’s different this time?

Each La Niña cycle is unique

Scientists aren’t entirely surprised. Each El Niño and La Niña cycle is unique. Following a surprisingly lengthy “triple dip” La Niña starting in 2020, the El Niño that developed in 2023 was also unusual, struggling to stand out against globally warm seas. The switch to a weak La Niña has only slightly cooled a narrow band along the equatorial Pacific, while surrounding waters have remained unusually hot.

Recent research shows human caused warming of the ocean is accelerating – so a year on year rise in temperature is itself getting bigger – and this is dominating to an ever greater extent over El Niño and other natural oscillations in the climate. This means that even during La Niña – when equatorial eastern Pacific waters are cooler than normal – the rest of the world’s oceans have remained remarkably warm.

More carbon, less reflection

There is also a sense of inevitability as greenhouse gas levels continue to grow, even despite the demise of El Niño. During El Niño years, the land tends to absorb less carbon from the atmosphere as large continental areas, such as parts of South America, temporarily dry out causing less plant growth and more carbon-emitting plant decay.

La Niña tends to have the opposite effect. In the strong La Niña of 2011, so much extra rain fell on the normally dry lands of Australia and parts of South America and southeast Asia that sea levels dropped as the land held on to this excess moisture borrowed temporarily from the ocean. This meant more carbon was taken from the atmosphere to feed extra plant growth. But despite the switch to La Niña, the rate of rise in atmospheric carbon in 2024 and January 2025 remains above the already high levels of previous years.

To this we can also add the diminishing effects of particle pollution from industry, big ships and other sources of “aerosols”, which in some regions had added a reflective haze in the atmosphere meaning the world absorbed less sunlight. Clean air policies introduced over time have made the world less smoggy, but they also seem to have caused clouds to reflect less sunlight back to space, adding to global heating.

As industrial activity continues to spew greenhouse gases into the air, while air cleansed of particle pollution causes more sunlight to reach the ground, this growing heating effect is beginning to drown out natural fluctuations, tipping the balance toward record warmth and worsening hot, dry and wet extremes.

The long-term trend is clear

But, just as one swallow doesn’t make a summer, a single month is not reflective of the overall trajectory of climate change. Changing weather patterns from week to week can rapidly shift temperatures especially over big landmasses, which warm up and cool down more quickly than the oceans (it takes a long time to boil up water for your vegetables but not long to super heat an empty pan).

Large areas of Europe, Canada and Siberia experienced much less cold weather than is normal for January (by up to about 7°C). Parts of South America, Africa, Australia and Antarctica also experienced above average temperatures. Along with the balmy oceans, this all contributed to an unexpectedly warm start to 2025.

While this particular warm January isn’t necessarily cause for immediate alarm, it suggests natural cooling phases may become less effective at temporarily offsetting the impact of rising greenhouse gas levels on global temperatures. And to limit the scale of the inevitable, ensuing climate change, there is a clear, urgent need to rapidly and massively cut greenhouse gas emissions and to properly account for the true cost of our lifestyles on societies and the ecosystems that underpin them.


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Richard P. Allan, Professor of Climate Science, University of Reading

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

There isn’t enough ‘sustainable’ aviation fuel to make a dent in our emissions – and there won’t be for years

Most of this fuel is currently made from used cooking oil. Scharfsinn / shutterstock
Ben PurvisUniversity of Sheffield

The UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has described so-called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as a “game changer”. As she announced government support for a series of airport expansions, she said that the fuel “can reduce carbon emissions from flying by 70%”.

This number is misleading. Optimistic estimates do suggest that fully replacing fossil jet fuel with its sustainable alternative could lead to total savings of around 70%. But it will be hard to produce enough SAF to make a difference on that sort of scale. Even if the UK meets its ambitious targets, an annual saving of 7% by 2030 is more plausible.

SAF is synthetic liquid fuel derived from something other than fossil fuels. These inputs have to be processed into a liquid that can be burned safely while also storing a lot of energy for its weight, since minimising weight is crucial. This is why long-haul electric battery-powered planes are unlikely to take off any time soon.

The UK classifies three major pathways for creating sustainable aviation fuel. It can be derived from oils or fats, including used cooking oil or tallow. It can come from other sorts of material, such as municipal solid waste, agricultural residues, or sewage. Or it can be made from hydrogen and captured carbon using renewable electricity.

SAF can also be produced from bioenergy crops, and products such as palm oil. However the UK won’t certify it as sustainable, due to concerns about land use and impacts on wildlife.

Emissions that would have occurred anyway

Burning SAF actually emits a similar amount of CO₂ to fossil jet fuel. Instead, most savings come from how we account for the waste and renewable energy that is used to produce it.

landfill
Waste emits greenhouse gases anyway, sustainable fuel supporters argue. So why not have those emissions do something useful, like power a plane? Jenya Smyk/shutterstock

SAF fundamentally relies on assumptions that if waste or energy crops were not used to make this fuel, they would be incinerated, would degrade, or would in some way release their embodied carbon anyway. In the case of fuel derived from renewable energy and captured carbon, it assumes that carbon came from the atmosphere in the first place. This allows these emissions to be deducted from the total impact of SAF, leading to lower emissions than conventional aviation fuel.

Is sustainable aviation fuel even sustainable?

Estimates of how much greenhouse gas SAF could cut vary greatly due to the many different ways it can be produced, and the complexities of accounting for emissions across the entire life cycle from waste, to fuel production, to plane engine. A 2023 review by the Royal Society illustrates this nicely. It found SAF could at best produce effectively negative emissions (a 111% reduction), while at worst it could be more carbon intensive than fossil kerosene jet fuel (a 69% increase).

While policy incentives are likely to encourage increased production, there remain serious concerns that will need to be addressed before SAF can become a serious competitor for conventional jet fuel. There are hard limits to the amount of used cooking oil available for instance, and the use of other feedstocks is still in its infancy.

Meanwhile any renewable energy used to make the fuel will have to compete with growing demand from electric vehicles, AI data centres and more. And there are big worries the industry simply won’t be profitable enough to attract initial capital investment, let alone take on its well-established rival.

UK SAF production

Coming into effect in January, the UK’s SAF mandate sets legal obligations for aviation fuel suppliers in the UK to progressively increase proportions of sustainable fuel, from 2% of total jet fuel in 2025 to 10% in 2030, and 22% in 2040.

This is one of a growing number of commitments globally, including RefuelEU, and the US SAF grand challenge, which seek to increase demand and encourage more investment in production.

As of 2023, 97% of the UK’s supply is derived from used cooking oil, with the rest from food waste. Only 8% of this cooking oil is sourced from the UK, with most being imported from China and Malaysia. The UK also comprises 16% of the global SAF market, despite representing only 1% of total passengers.

Currently, the only commercial producer of SAF in the UK is the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery which processes used cooking oil. The previous government allocated £135 million of funding to nine projects, aiming to have five plants under construction by 2025. Despite several projects selecting sites, at the time of writing none appear to be under construction.

In an industry with razor-thin profit margins, SAF remains considerably more expensive than conventional aviation fuel. With potential producers filing for bankruptcy and companies including Shell pulling out due to profitability concerns, the market is looking rocky.

A 7% saving is more plausible

Let us assume that Rachel Reeves’ 70% saving is deliverable if fossil jet fuel was fully replaced with SAF. That’s optimistic in itself, but not beyond the realms of possibility.

Getting hold of that much sustainable fuel is less plausible, however – the total demand for jet fuel in the UK is more than ten times the current global production of SAF. But let’s assume that the rocky global market can deliver the UK’s ambitious demand of 10% SAF use by 2030.

Reeves’ figure then becomes an optimistic value of 7% savings across the UK industry. If we then correct for anticipated growth of passenger numbers, assuming plans for airport expansion, those savings are likely to vanish.

While SAF has a role to play in decarbonisation, growth sits in clear opposition to its impacts and potential. If the UK has any hope of meeting its climate targets, it should instead be seeking alternatives to flying where possible.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
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Ben Purvis, Research Associate, Sustainability Assessment, University of Sheffield

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How the war in Ukraine has made flying worse for the climate

UladzimirZuyeu/Shutterstock
Viktoriia IvannikovaDublin City University

Some long-haul flights connecting Europe and Asia are emitting 40% more CO₂ since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, my new study shows. The spike is largely due to airspace closures above conflict zones which are forcing airlines to seek alternative routes, significantly increasing flight times. Longer flights consume more fuel and increase the operating costs for airlines, quite apart from their contribution to climate change.

The research I led with colleagues highlights how conflicts contribute to climate change in unexpected ways. Understanding this is crucial for tackling aviation’s environmental footprint.

The war in Ukraine closed the country’s airspace and limited access to the airspace of the Russian Federation and Belarus. This amounts to the biggest closure of airspace since the cold war, spanning 18 million km².

Airlines that previously flew in Russian or Ukrainian airspace on routes between Europe and Asia, North America and Asia, and North America and the Middle East now take significant detours. For example, Finnair’s flight AY73 from Helsinki to Tokyo now covers an additional 3,131 kilometres, extending flight times by up to 3.5 hours. North American flights to Asia have been rerouted over the Arctic and Central Asia.

Safety concerns and geopolitical sanctions have forced airlines to carefully navigate around restricted zones.

The situation is further complicated by restrictions in other conflict regions – including the Middle East, where the airspaces of Syria, Yemen and Iraq are also considered no-fly zones for many airlines. The global aviation map has been redrawn, forcing airlines to adapt quickly to a new and challenging reality.

A world map showing closed airspaces and rerouted flight paths.
Several international flights now skirt war zones. Viktoriia Ivannikova

This has been accompanied by significant costs, both financially and to the climate. We analysed 14 long-haul routes between Europe and Asia that were affected by airspace restrictions and operated by three European airlines: Finnair, LOT Polish and Lufthansa.

The findings are striking: rerouted flights burn an additional 23 to 28.5 tonnes of fuel per journey, releasing an extra 72 to 90 metric tonnes of CO₂. That’s equivalent to the annual emissions of several cars for a single flight.

Airlines have also reported significant operating cost increases due to the extra flight hours, including higher fuel consumption, air navigation charges and crew salary increases. Our analysis showed that on certain routes between Europe and Asia, costs have risen by between 19% and 39%, while emissions have increased by between 18% and 40%, depending on the airline.

On routes from Warsaw to Beijing, Warsaw to Tokyo and Warsaw to Seoul, LOT Polish Airlines has reported an increase of 23% in average aircraft operating costs following flight restrictions. CO₂ emissions on these routes have increased by 24% and ticket prices have also risen.

Finnair, which historically relied on Russian airspace for efficient Europe-Asia connections, appears to be the most affected carrier. Following flight restrictions, aircraft operating costs on the routes from Helsinki to Shanghai, Helsinki to Tokyo and Helsinki to Seoul have risen by 39%, while average CO₂ emissions on these routes have increased by 40%.

Our findings shed new light on the massive carbon footprint of war, which is often overlooked in climate policy. Using a forecasting model with specialised software, we found that continued avoidance of the airspaces of Russia and Ukraine could increase all aviation-related CO₂ emissions globally by up to 29% in 2025, compared with 2022.

Aviation already accounts for 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions, and this figure is expected to grow as air travel expands.

An aeroplane in the upper atmosphere with white contrails.
Aeroplanes seed heat-trapping clouds that amplify their climate impact. Peter Gudella/Shutterstock

Our findings demonstrate that the need to decarbonise transport cannot be separated from broader geopolitical issues. As wars and conflicts reshape airspace availability, they also worsen aviation’s carbon footprint. It’s not just the airline industry that bears these costs – we all do, in the form of rising temperatures and a changing climate.

What action needs to be taken?

While the challenges are significant, there are solutions.

Upgrading airline fleets with more fuel-efficient aircraft, such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, can help to reduce CO₂ emissions by roughly 20%–25% compared with older aircraft models, such as the Boeing 777-200ER or Airbus A330-200.

Optimising flight paths using advanced air traffic management systems could help too. These systems, allow aircraft to choose the shortest and most efficient paths and can reduce unnecessary detours.

International agreements to manage airspace collectively during times of conflict can keep essential flight corridors open and ensure airlines avoid inefficient rerouting.

Airlines are investing in sustainable aviation fuels, which emits less than traditional kerosene – but insufficient supplies, high costs and other challenges make this an expensive and partial solution. With no viable low-carbon alternatives for aircraft, reducing air travel should be the priority.

As researchers, we see our findings as a call to action. By understanding the environmental consequences of conflict, we can work towards a more sustainable future for aviation and the planet.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.The Conversation


Viktoriia Ivannikova, Assistant Professor in Aviation Management, Dublin City University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

What public-private-partnership scandals can tell us about wrongdoing in the water industry

Jory Mundy/Shutterstock.com
Daniel FisherUniversity of Sussex

Water bills are going up in England and Wales, even after the series of scandals around water companies. Last year water firms paid £158 million in fines following a record-breaking number of sewage dumps in rivers and seas.

Severn Trent Water and United Utilities alone reportedly made 1,374 illegal sewage spills over two years. (Both companies took issue with the analysis that led to this figure but acknowledged concerns about sewage discharges.)

There have been other notable incidents. Whistleblowers have told of water companies that fail to treat legally required amounts of sewage and divert that sewage to public waterways. To add to the disgrace, water companies have generally failed to invest enough in the UK’s water infrastructure.

Research suggests that governments have been pressured to become more “business-like”. This has given rise to the use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to run important public services, such as water, transport and even prisons. Water companies in England and Wales are private companies that bid for their contracts, while in Scotland, the water provider is a public organisation.

While other findings show that PPPs can support important public service needs, such as public health, research by my colleagues and I examines a consistent pattern in UK PPP scandals and wrongdoing. Over the past decade and a half, billions of pounds of taxpayers’ funds are unaccounted for. This appears to be largely because private interests have been prioritised over public needs.

As a researcher of PPP wrongdoing, the reasons for many of the scandals seem obvious. My colleagues and I studied parliamentary inquiries and reports that have scrutinised PPP wrongdoing. This research can tell us a great deal about the UK’s predicament with regard to the failings in the water industry.

The first lesson is that, in general, many PPPs are motivated actually to reduce the quality of the services they deliver. One parliamentary inquiry found that contracting services out from the public to the private sector had become a “transactional process” where cost-cutting is favoured and the “knock-on cost” to users results in a lower-quality public service.

Other findings showed that companies regularly reduced the quality of a service to maximise profits. One way was to bid for a public service at a low price. A Public Accounts Committee member observed that companies coming in with low quotes for contracts can end up damaging services by under-investing in them.

Another example is Sodexo – a private prison management provider. It cut employee numbers by around 200 and a subsequent BBC Panorama documentary detailed escapes and widespread drug use in the prisons they managed and also criticised a lack of safety for both prisoners and prison officers. Sodexo acknowledged the programme had highlighted problems and said it would investigate, but added that there had been “positive actions and improvements” already.

Similar practices were observed at a children’s prison run by security firm G4S, where an officer was left with brain damage after an attack by inmates. G4S admitted liability for the officer’s injuries and agreed a settlement with him.

Pay the fine, it’s cheaper

The second lesson is it can be cost-effective to breach contracts and pay fines. Companies sometimes breach the terms of their public-private contracts because it’s in their economic interest. This even has a name – economists call it “efficiency breach”.

For instance, a parliamentary report found that between 2010 and 2016 G4S was fined 100 times for breaching contracts – paying out roughly £3 million. As one MP suggested, these fines compared to its profits are a “slap on the wrist”. The same has been said of water companies.

When observing the fines in comparison to the profitable contracts, it’s easy to posit what the motivations of many in the UK’s public service system are. In 2017, despite previous indictments of wrongdoing, G4S won £25 million of government contracts.

In 2020 the firm won another £300 million contract to run Wellingborough “mega-prison” in England. Despite some raised eyebrows, G4S said at the time it aimed to make the site a blueprint for “innovation, rehabilitation and modernisation” in the prison service.

Pay the shareholders, invest later

The third lesson is that shareholders are more important than long-term investments in a service. This is perhaps the most notable feature of the UK’s public service system, where a vast array of shareholders benefit from the profits made by PPPs. In one of the parliamentary reports we analysed, which details the collapse of the facilities management firm Carillion, it was clear that shareholders’ interests trumped good management and long-term investment.

As was noted in the report, despite Carillion’s collapse, the firm paid out £333 million more to shareholders than it generated in cash between 2012 and 2017. Often, this shareholder primacy can even go against a firm’s own employees rather than just the state and taxpayers. One MP noted that despite its pension scheme being in deficit, shareholders were still receiving dividends.

Often, shareholders are prioritised because of short-term thinking. These processes can lead to firms passing these bad practices down their supply chains.

The behaviour of water companies is suggestive of these dynamics. Since water companies have been privatised, they have loaded themselves up with debt (£64 billion) but paid out £78 billion to shareholders. Some 70% of these shareholders are “foreign investment firms, private equity, pension funds and businesses lodged in tax havens”.

aerial shot of Bantham beach and estuary, Devon
Water companies could give the UK’s rivers, estuaries and seas representation at board level. jimcatlinphotography.com/Shutterstock

So what should be done? There are plenty of ways to enhance and improve the UK’s PPP problems. The most obvious may be to renationalise public services and renew the quality of public services through New Deal-style investments. After all, this is what what most of the UK electorate wants.

There are other options. An innovative and exciting frontier is opening for businesses to recognise their environmental responsibilities – initiatives in New Zealand, India and Ecuador are giving the status of personhood to rivers and ecosystems, for example.

Outdoor fashion brand Patagonia has “the Earth” as its only shareholder, and hair and skincare brand Faith in Nature has appointed nature to its board. Imagine if the UK’s water companies had the rivers and seas represented.

In the end, only time will tell how water companies will be held accountable. But for the moment it’s the UK taxpayer and consumer paying the price.

G4S was approached about this article but declined to comment.The Conversation

Daniel Fisher, Assistant Professor in Management, University of Sussex

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

An unexpected anomaly was found in the Pacific Ocean – and it could be a global time marker

View of the Pacific Ocean from the International Space Station. NASA
Dominik KollAustralian National University

Earth must have experienced something exceptional 10 million years ago. Our study of rock samples from the floor of the Pacific Ocean has found a strange increase in the radioactive isotope beryllium-10 during that time.

This finding, now published in Nature Communications, opens new pathways for geologists to date past events gleaned from deep within the oceans.

But the cause of the beryllium-10 anomaly remains unknown. Could it have been major shifts in global ocean currents, a dying star, or an interstellar collision?

Extremely slow rocks deep in the ocean

I am on a hunt for stardust on Earth. Previously, I’ve sifted through snow in Antarctica. This time, it was the depths of the ocean.

At a depth of about 5,000 metres, the abyssal zone of the Pacific Ocean has never seen light, yet something does still grow there.

Ferromanganese crusts – metallic underwater rocks – grow from minerals dissolved in the water slowly coming together and solidifying over extremely long time scales, as little as a few millimetres in a million years. (Stalactites and stalagmites in caves grow in a similar way, but thousands of times faster.)

This makes ferromanganese crusts ideal archives for capturing stardust over millions of years.

The age of these crusts can be determined by radiometric dating using the radioactive isotope beryllium-10. This isotope is continuously produced in the upper atmosphere when highly energetic cosmic rays strike air molecules. The strikes break apart the main components of our air – nitrogen and oxygen – into smaller fragments.

Both stardust and beryllium-10 eventually find their way into Earth’s oceans where they become incorporated into the growing ferromanganese crust.

Ferromanganese crust sample VA13/2-237KD analysed in this work. The anomaly was discovered in this crust at a depth of about 30mm – representing 10 million years. Dominik Koll

One of the largest ferromanganese crusts was recovered in 1976 from the Central Pacific. Stored for decades at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources in Hanover, Germany, a 3.7kg section of it became the subject of my analysis.

Much like tree rings reveal a tree’s age, ferromanganese crusts record their growth in layers over millions of years. Beryllium-10 undergoes radioactive decay really slowly, meaning it gradually breaks down over millions of years as it sits in the rocks.

As beryllium-10 decays over time, its concentration decreases in deeper, older sediment layers. Because the rate of decay is steady, we can use radioactive isotopes as natural stopwatches to discern the age and history of rocks – this is called radioactive dating.

A puzzling anomaly

After extensive chemical processing, my colleagues and I used accelerator mass spectrometry – an ultra-sensitive analytical technique for longer-lived radioactive isotopes – to measure beryllium-10 concentrations in the crust.

This time, my research took me from Canberra, Australia to Dresden, Germany, where the setup at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf was optimised for beryllium-10 measurements.

The results showed that the crust had grown only 3.5 centimetres over the past 10 million years and was more than 20 million years old.

However, before I could return to my search for stardust, I encountered an anomaly.

Initially, as I searched back in time, the beryllium-10 concentration declined as expected, following its natural decay pattern – until about 10 million years ago. At that point, the expected decrease halted before resuming its normal pattern around 12 million years ago.

This was puzzling: radioactive decay follows strict laws, meaning something must have introduced extra beryllium-10 into the crust at that time.

Scepticism is crucial in science. To rule out errors, I repeated the chemical preparation and measurements multiple times – yet the anomaly persisted. The analysis of different crusts from locations nearly 3,000km away gave the same result, a beryllium-10 anomaly around 10 million years ago. This confirmed that the anomaly was a real event rather than a local irregularity.

Ocean currents or exploding stars?

What could have happened on Earth to cause this anomaly 10 million years ago? We’re not sure, but there are a few options.

Last year, an international study revealed that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current – the main driver of global ocean circulation – intensified around 12 million years ago, influencing Antarctic ocean current patterns.

Could this beryllium-10 anomaly in the Pacific mark the beginning of the modern global ocean circulation? If ocean currents were responsible, beryllium-10 would be distributed unevenly on Earth with some samples even showing a lack of beryllium-10. New samples from all major oceans and both hemispheres would allow us to answer this question.

Another possibility emerged early last year. Astrophysicists demonstrated that a collision with a dense interstellar cloud could compress the heliosphere – the Sun’s protective shield against cosmic radiation – back to the orbit of Mercury. Without this barrier, Earth would be exposed to an increased cosmic ray flux, leading to an elevated global beryllium-10 production rate.

near-Earth supernova explosion could also cause an increased cosmic ray flux leading to a beryllium-10 anomaly. Future research will explore these possibilities.

The discovery of such an anomaly is a windfall for geological dating. Various archives are used to investigate Earth’s climate, habitability and environmental conditions over different timescales.

To compare ice cores with sediments, ferromanganese crusts, speleothems (stalagmites and stalactites) and others, their timescales need to be synchronous. Independent time markers, such as Miyake events or the Laschamp excursion, are invaluable for aligning records thousands of years old. Now, we may have a corresponding time marker for millions of years.

Meanwhile, my search for stardust continues, but now keeping an eye out for new 10-million-year-old samples to further pin down the beryllium-10 anomaly. Stay tuned.The Conversation

Dominik Koll, Honorary Lecturer, Australian National University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Most animals have their own version of tree rings – here’s how we biologists use them to help species thrive

Narwhal tusks reveal how they’re affected by declining Arctic ice. Saifullahphtographer
Anna SturrockUniversity of Essex

We have a natural fascination with time – how landscapes have been carved over millennia, how our bodies grow and sag with age, how the stars traverse the sky each night. Scientists probe the layers beneath our feet to understand the secrets of our past. Geologists and palaeontologists sample ice, rock and fossils to reconstruct past climates and species and archaeologists pick through ancient “dustbins” (middens) in excavation sites to reimagine our historical dinner time.

Similarly, most living things produce records of their own existence in layered body tissues – often in the form of daily or yearly growth bands. The most familiar of these so-called biochronologies are tree rings, which form every year in response to seasonal cycles in temperature and rainfall.

Dendrochronology – the art of tree-ring counting – allows us to precisely date trees. Based on the rings in its trunk, a bristlecone pine in eastern California known as Methuselah is said to be the world’s oldest living thing at 4,856 years old.

Methuselah tree in easter California
Methuselah, the world’s oldest living tree. Xiaoling Sun

It’s not just the number of rings, either – their width tells us whether the tree was thriving in a particular year, or suffering due to drought. Chemical compounds locked into the wood offer clues about atmospheric changes, including those produced by volcanic eruptions.

Redwood tree ring
Tree rings are famously detailed life records. Veroja

Let’s not not stop at trees – your own tooth cement, nails and hair are forming chemical and visual records of your own life experience right now, storing traces of food, drink and drugs you have consumed. They can also produce “stress marks” during trauma or pregnancy, when a mother literally breaks her own body tissues to grow and nourish her baby.

Elsewhere in the natural world, some of the more surprising examples of biochronologies include whale earwaxnarwhal tusksbird feathers and the bony plates (scutes) on turtle shells.

Turtle probing rocks
Turtle power. VLADIMIR VK

Recent studies, for instance, have applied forensic analyses of whale earwax to explore their stress levels during historic whaling days. Narwhal tusks, meanwhile, have helped explain how declining Arctic sea ice has affected their diet and exposure to pollution.

The importance of otoliths

In my lab, we work with aquatic animals – from fish scales and ear bones to squid eyes and beaks. Like decoding a biological black box, we analyse chemical constituents in the growth layers to reconstruct a detailed picture of the individual’s prior health, diet and movements.

Some biochronologies are more “fickle”, forming layers at unpredictable rates, including the eye lenses of fish and turtle scutes. Others, such as bird feathers, are shorter lived due to periodic moulting. Yet they all share the important feature of serial growth, producing valuable archives that we can probe to build a picture of the animal’s life.

Probably the best known biochronometer in the animal world – and my own personal obsession – is the fish otolith, or ear bone (Ancient Greek: oto is ear and líthos is stone). We humans have tiny ear stones (otoconia), whose primary function is to maintain balance, but fish otoliths are also crucial for hearing, as well as featuring specific properties that make them particularly valuable markers of biochronology.

Unlike “normal” bones, fish otoliths are composed of calcium carbonate crystals and are metabolically inert, meaning they never get broken down and rebuilt. Instead they keep growing – even during periods of starvation – producing daily and annual growth bands.

These beautiful crystalline structures are also highly resistant to degradation and vary in shape between species. This enables scientists to use a combination of “otolith atlases” and artificial intelligence to identify popular choices of fish from otoliths left behind in ancient human middens, as well as in the contemporary stomach contents or poop of predators such as seals, albatrosses and squid.

Otoliths have driven my research for almost two decades. I’ve been fascinated by animal migration and the ecological and evolutionary processes underpinning these long and dangerous journeys ever since taking a “movement ecology” class at the University of Edinburgh with the brilliant Professor Victoria Braithwaite in 2003.

I decided I wanted to track marine animals myself, and my lab now primarily uses otolith and eye lens chemistry to reconstruct fish habitat use and growth rates, and the temperatures they experienced through their lives. We are now also investigating how well these same structures track reproductive events, chronic stress and exposure to pollution.

And we are working with international teams to understand how hypoxia (low oxygen zones or “dead zones”) affect fish growth and reproduction. Ultimately, this data allows us to connect stressful events in a fish’s past to its lifetime health and survival, which is important for predicting a species’ persistence.

For example, a recent study used otolith-derived metabolic rates of Atlantic bluefin tuna to show their vulnerability to future climate change. Meanwhile in California, we used otolith chemistry to understand the impact of dams on salmon migration and survival, revealing that – on many rivers - dams have made it impossible for salmon to escape into the mountains during summer, which is essential for enabling them to resist the increasingly severe droughts afflicting the region.

Conservation

Fisheries managers read the rings on millions of otoliths each year to track individual cohorts and look for warning signs of overfishing, but I would argue that biochronologies are still underused in this field. For example, fisheries managers could use otoliths to track the movements of juveniles too small to be tagged (those under 4cm long), since chemical markers make it possible to identify where they grew up. This would allow these managers to earmark productive or struggling “nursery habitats” for protection or improvement, respectively.

We consistently find that rivers and estuaries play a critical role in the survival and growth of valuable species such as salmon, sea bass and anchovies. Juvenile fish often have such high natural mortality rates – often only 1% survive to their first birthday – that even small improvements to their survival can result in large boosts in abundance and make wild fisheries more sustainable.

River salmon
Small improvements to survival of wild salmon could make a huge difference to their sustainability. Jakub Rutkiewicz

As such, let’s keep up the momentum to clean and restore our rivers and beaches, and to embrace monitoring tools such as biochronologies to learn which actions produce the biggest benefits. Next time you think about banging the glass at an aquarium, just remember that the fish inside are listening – and recording you too.The Conversation

Anna Sturrock, Senior Lecturer, School of Life Sciences, University of Essex

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Week Two February 2025 (February  3-9)

Early morning on Turimetta Beach, Monday January 3 2025. Photo: Joe Mills

 

No Access: Badger’s graffiti glance wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award

February 5, 2025

‘No Access’, British photographer Ian Wood’s perfectly timed capture of an ambling Eurasian badger glancing up at some rather familiar graffiti in St Leonards-on-Sea, England, has won the tenth edition of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award 2024.

'No Access' ©Ian Wood, Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The 25 nominated images for this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award received a record number of votes with over 76,000 wildlife photography and nature fans from around the world voting for their favourite image.

Director of the Natural History Museum, Dr Douglas Gurr, says: “Ian’s flawlessly timed image offers a unique glimpse of nature’s interaction with the human world, underscoring the importance of understanding urban wildlife. His exceptional photograph serves as a powerful reminder that local nature and wildlife, often just outside our homes, can inspire and captivate us.”

After residents of St Leonards-on-Sea, England, had been leaving food scraps on the pavement for foxes, Ian noticed that badgers from a nearby sett were also coming to forage. Having seen a badger walking along the pavement by this wall late one night, he decided to photograph it and set up a small hide on the edge of the road to take his picture. Only the light from a lamppost illuminated the creature as it ambled along.

Ian says: “The outpouring of badger love since my photo was nominated for the People’s Choice Award has been beautifully overwhelming. Finding out that it has won is truly humbling. 

However, there is a darker side to this image. I live in rural Dorset where I’m on a re-wilding mission to enhance habitats for a huge array of wildlife. The badger cull – which is still ongoing – has decimated their numbers and I fear that unless the cull is stopped, we’ll only see badgers in urban settings in several parts of England. My hope is for this image to raise awareness of the damaging effect of the badger cull and help push for change.”

European badgers

In the twentieth century, badger populations were severely threatened across Europe. Their woodland habitat was being cleared, primarily for agriculture and forestry, while disease and human persecution were also taking their toll.

Since the 1970s, however, the Eurasian badger has bounced back thanks to legal protections. While it’s not well known how many badgers there are in the whole of Europe, the population of badgers in England and Wales more than doubled to an estimated 500,000 by 2014.

Badgers are the UK’s largest living predator, and as a result play an important role in controlling populations of their prey. They’re also important ecosystem engineers, making an ecosystem more diverse by modifying it.

One of the main ways they do this is by digging out their underground homes, which are known as setts. Badger setts can last for decades or even centuries, as successive generations dig out a network of underground tunnels.

The excavation provides new opportunities for plants to grow and means that biodiversity around badger setts is often higher than the surrounding area. They’re also known for digging out latrines where the seeds carried in badger excrement can grow.

While badgers play an important role in the ecosystem, they can also spread bovine tuberculosis (TB), which is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium bovis. Concerns over its impact on cattle mean that over 230,000 badgers have been culled in the UK since 2013 in an effort to eradicate the disease.

The badger cull has been controversial, with doubts raised about its effectiveness. The UK government has now announced that the cull is set to end by 2030, with a programme of vaccinations instead planned for cattle and badgers.

The source of the word "badger" is uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary states it probably derives from "badge" + -ard, a reference to the white mark on its forehead that resembles a badge, and may date to the early 16th century. The French word bêcheur ('digger') has also been suggested as a source. A male badger is a boar, a female is a sow, and a young badger is a cub. A badger's home is called a sett. Badger colonies are often called clans.

The far older name "brock" (Old English: brocc), (Scots: brock) is a Celtic loanword (cf. Gaelic broc and Welsh broch, from Proto-Celtic *brokko) meaning 'grey'. The Proto-Germanic term was *þahsu- (cf. German Dachs, Dutch das, Norwegian svin-toks; Early Modern English dasse), probably from the PIE root *tek'- 'to construct', which suggests that the badger was named after its digging of setts (tunnels); the Germanic term *þahsu- became taxus or taxō, -ōnis in Latin glosses, replacing mēlēs ('marten' or 'badger'), and from these words the common Romance terms for the animal evolved (Italian tasso, French tesson/taisson/tasson—now blaireau is more common—, Catalan toixó, Spanish tejón, Portuguese texugo) except Asturian melandru.

Until the mid-18th century, European badgers were variously known in English as brock, pate, grey, and bawson. The name "bawson" is derived from "bawsened", which refers to something striped with white. "Pate" is a local name that was once popular in northern England. The name "badget" was once common, but only used in Norfolk, while "earth dog" was used in southern Ireland. The badger is commonly referred to in Welsh as a mochyn daear ('earth pig')

Four ‘Highly Commended’ images

The four ‘Highly Commended’ images that also impressed wildlife lovers across the globe include ‘Earth and Sky’ by Francisco Negroni, an unforgettable capture of a double lenticular cloud illuminated at nightfall by lava emitted from the Villarrica volcano in Chile, and ‘Edge of Night’ by Jess Findlay, an action shot showing a ghostly barn owl exiting through the hayloft window of a derelict barn to hunt.

‘Earth and Sky’ ©Francisco Negroni, Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A double lenticular cloud is illuminated at nightfall by the lava emitted from the Villarrica volcano, Chile.  

Villarica is in the town of Pucón in the south of Chile. It’s one of the country’s most active volcanoes and last erupted in 2015.  

Francisco takes regular trips to Villarrica to monitor its activity. On this visit, he stayed nearby for 10 nights.  

He says every trip is “quite an adventure – never knowing what the volcano might surprise you with”. Some nights are calm, others furious as in this photograph, where the brightness of the crater illuminates the night sky.

‘Edge of Night’ ©Jess Findlay (Canada), Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A ghostly barn owl exits the hayloft window of a derelict barn to hunt in fields outside Vancouver, Canada. Jess quietly watched the owl for several nights to understand its habits.

He set up an invisible beam that would trigger a flash when the owl flew out of the barn. Simultaneously, a slow shutter speed gathered ambient light cast on the clouds and barn.

On the tenth night, all the moving parts came together as the owl left to begin its hunt.

The two other finalist images depict a stoat sitting up to observe its territory as it blends perfectly into a snowy landscape in Belgium in Michel d’Oultremont’s image ‘Whiteout’, and David Northall’s interesting capture ‘Spiked’ which shows a bloodied yet determined honey badger returning to finish off a Cape porcupine, which had tried to defend itself earlier.

'Whiteout' ©Michel d’Oultremont (Belgium), Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A stoat sits up and observes its territory as it blends perfectly into a snowy landscape in Belgium.  

Michel had been looking for stoats in the snow for many years.  

The magic of snowfall fascinates Michel every winter. He wanted to take a photograph that showed how the stoats blend in with the whiteness of the landscape.  

He’d seen a few in Switzerland but never in his native Belgium. Then, finally his dream came true. He lay in the snow with a white camouflage net covering all but his lens.  

This curious stoat came out of its snowy hole and sat up from time to time, observing its territory just before setting off to hunt.

The fourth Highly Commended photograph shows a bloodied yet determined honey badger returning to renew its attack on a Cape porcupine, which earlier had tried to defend itself.  

Found throughout Botswana, honey badgers are famously ferocious. They often chase animals many times their own size.  

This honey badger got an unpleasant surprise when it attacked the normally nocturnal Cape porcupine.  

The badger grabbed the porcupine’s right leg. In defence, the porcupine repeatedly backed into its attacker, piercing it with many quills.  

During a lull in the attack, the porcupine managed to shuffle away, its leg badly damaged.  

After a short retreat, the bloodied badger returned and renewed its attack on the porcupine under a bush close to the original attack then dragged it into its underground den.

'Spiked' ©David Northall (UK), Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Ian’s image, 'No Access', and the four finalist ‘Highly Commended’ images were selected from a shortlist of 25 images chosen by the Natural History Museum, London, and an international judging panel from almost 60,000 images submitted for the sixtieth Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

The five images will be displayed both online and on the interactive voting screens in the flagship exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, on until 29 June 2025.

About Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Wildlife Photographer of the Year shines a light on inspiring and impactful stories from the natural world to create advocates for our planet. The annual competition for amateur and professional photographers of all ages from around the world uses photography’s unique emotive power to connect people with nature.

Images entered into the sixty-first competition are currently being judged by an international panel of expertsThe winners will be announced at the next annual awards ceremony which will take place at the Natural History Museum, London, in October 2025.

You can view the Wildlife Photographer of the Year images from the current and previous years' competitions online. These images were awarded for their artistic composition, technical innovation and truthful interpretation of the natural world.

Wonderful images of and from Australia are among this gallery.

Visit: www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery

Wildlife Photographer of the Year was founded in 1965 by BBC Wildlife Magazine, then called Animals. The Natural History Museum joined forces in 1984 to create the competition as it is known today. The annual competition and touring exhibition are now run and owned by the Natural History Museum, London.

International touring venues currently include the Australian National Maritime Museum (in Sydney), Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and National Wool Museum in Australia; Royal BC Museum and Royal Ontario Museum in Canada; Statens Naturhistoriske Museum (Danish Natural History Museum) in Denmark; Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Bourges (Bourges Natural History Museum) in France; Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museum, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Westfälisches Pferdemuseum Münster and Naturkunde Museum Reutlingen in Germany; Forte di Bard in Italy; Naturhistorisches Museum Basel (Natural History Museum Basel) in Switzerland; National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States in the USA.

Labor have officially abandoned the environment in stunning capitulation to mining, logging lobby: Greens

February 5, 2025

The Albanese Government has taken the extraordinary step of moving to discharge their own bill from the Senate Notice Paper, sounding the death knell for Australia’s environment, the Greens state. 

Greens environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:

“The Labor Party has abandoned the environment and sent a message to voters everywhere that they cannot be trusted to protect nature.

“What a shocking lack of leadership from the Albanese Government. Last week, these bills were listed on the draft Senate schedule but just days later it is again clear that it’s the mining lobby and the likes of Gina Rinehart who are calling the shots on what happens in this parliament. 

“This is a stunning capitulation to vested interests in the mining and logging lobby. Rather than work with the Greens to get an outcome to protect our environment and end native forest logging, the Prime Minister is letting the fossil fuel and logging lobby dictate Labor’s policy.

“Labor is now on a unity ticket with the environment-wrecking Liberal Party.

“This is not just a broken promise by the Albanese Labor Government, it sounds the death knell for our iconic koalas, native forests and the climate.

“The PM has bulldozed his own environment policy, leaving Labor with nothing to show but three years of broken promises. 

“Australians overwhelmingly want to protect our native forests and native wildlife. The only way they’re going to get that is to vote Greens at the ballot box. 

“The Greens won’t stop fighting to save our forests and koalas, and for an end to new coal and gas. It’s clear Labor won’t do it, but we will.”

Net Zero Planning Grant: NSW businesses supported to plan for net zero emissions - applications close Friday 2 May 2025 

Friday February 7, 2025

Applications are now open for a $1.5 million grant program to help eligible businesses plan and take action to achieve net zero emissions.

NSW businesses play an essential role in achieving the state’s net zero goals. Taking action on emissions reduction will strengthen their global competitiveness, build resilience, and drive innovation and growth.

The Net Zero Planning Grant offers eligible businesses in all sectors up to $30,000, covering up to 75% of project costs, to identify and implement actions towards net zero.

Eligible projects could include developing greenhouse gas inventory, developing a net zero stakeholder engagement plan and formulating a net zero action plan or a net zero target.

The Grant is provided in two stages:

  • Stage 1: Up to $4,000 to access expert advisors to identify and prioritise key actions across areas such as strategy, governance, people and capability, data, targets, net zero action planning, finance, reporting and stakeholder engagement.
  • Stage 2: Up to $26,000 to support detailed work in one or more of the prioritised actions.

Grantees can also access the Net Zero Business Guide, developed following a pilot program with more than 50 organisations to provide practical guidance throughout their net zero journey.

The grant is part of the NSW Government’s $22 million Business Decarbonisation Program, supporting businesses implement low-cost improvements and accelerate their transition to net zero.

The NSW Government states it has delivered on its promise to make action on climate change a whole of government priority, by enshrining emissions reduction targets in law. Legislation mandates a 50% reduction on 2005 levels by 2030, a 70% reduction by 2035 and Net Zero by 2050.

Round 1 of the Net Zero Planning grant is now open for applications, visit the NSW Climate and Energy action website for more information and to check your businesses’ eligibility.

DCCEEW Director of Program and Market Development, Terry Niemeier said:

“We understand that transitioning to a net zero future can be complex for businesses to navigate.

“As we work towards a net zero future we want to work with businesses to unlock opportunities for innovation, growth and resilience.

“This Grant empowers businesses to turn their plans into a reality – whether it’s setting a net zero target, developing a greenhouse gas inventory or formulating a net zero action plan.”

 

Please Remember to leave water out for wildlife on hot days

With the BOM forecasting heatwave conditions to return over the weekend and into next week please remember to put out bowls of water in shady positions for wildlife. For lizards and smaller birds a shallow dish with some sticks or twigs via which to get out again are best. If you have a birdbath, these too are best placed out of the sun so the water doesn't overheat.

Photo: Bush Turkey dug itself a cooling dirt pit under the hedge in the PON yard on Tuesday January 28 2025 when Sydney temperatures hit 40+ degrees. The baby Bush Turkey seen a in December has grown and it too was spending time in the shade.

Sacred Aboriginal site and habitat for threatened species among additions to NSW national parks

February 7, 2025

Threatened plants and animals will be protected and a sacred Aboriginal site preserved with the Minns Labor Government’s purchase of Broughton Vale Station, 75 kilometres east of Broken Hill in Far West NSW.

This is one of 12 land acquisitions made in 2024 to expand the network of national parks in NSW by just over 36,000 hectares. It makes more of our natural environment available to the public and delivers on the Minns Labor Government’s commitment to turn around biodiversity loss and restore habitats and ecosystems, the government has stated.

The 31,500-hectare Broughton Vale Station includes the Kukirrka or Burkes Cave, a sacred Aboriginal birthing cave used for more than 2,000 years, and other significant cultural sites containing artworks and engravings.

The cave and a nearby freshwater spring were also used by Burke and Wills during their 1860 expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and as a Cobb and Co stopover between Broken Hill and Wilcannia.

At least 70 threatened species have been recorded close to Broughton Vale Station including purple-wood wattle, Barrier Range dragon, pink cockatoo, Stimson’s python and the creeping Darling pea. It also includes vegetation types and landscapes not found in any other national park in NSW. More than half the property supports the Threatened Ecological Community Neila (Acacia loderi) tall shrubland.

The property adjoins the recently created Langidoon-Medford State Conservation Area. Together these reserves will permanently protect around 92,000 hectares conserving threatened plant and animal species and cultural landscapes.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) will work with Aboriginal communities to ensure the protection of important cultural sites. NPWS will also carry out feral animal and weed control and ensure fire trail access. Future visitor facilities could include a campsite and walking trails.

In 2024, the NSW Government secured more than 36,000 hectares to expand existing parks, create new ones and protect critical habitats. Six acquisitions directly protect koala habitat, as part of the Minns Government’s action to save koalas from extinction in NSW.

The national parks estate covers about 10% of NSW and contains a diverse range of landscapes. NSW records more than 53 million domestic visits to national parks a year, plus many more by international travellers.

Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe said:

“The sacred site on Broughton Vale Station holds significant cultural and spiritual meaning for Aboriginal communities and we have taken action to preserve it for generations to come.

“Adding this land to the national parks network is an important step forward in environmental and cultural conservation in NSW. It will also greatly enhance ecological, educational, cultural and tourism opportunities in our Far West.

“The Minns Labor Government is committed to turning around the loss and restoring habitats, ecosystems and biodiversity, and expanding our national parks is one way we are delivering on that commitment.”

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, David Harris said:

“It cannot be understated how fundamental the preservation of this sacred land is for Traditional Owners and the broader community.

“The Broughton Vale Station contains sites of enormous cultural significance to the local Aboriginal community and I am proud the Minns Labor Government has taken the steps to ensure this Country will be protected for generations to come.”

 Burkes Cave/Kukirrka, Barkandji elder, Dot Stephens said:

"We haven’t had access to Burkes Cave in many years and being able to return to the site I helped assess in the early 90s is so important in us being able to look after country.

“When I was told that the Minister had purchased Burkes Cave, I burst into tears. The site is a spiritual place, a woman's site, and it connects our country from Mutawintji to the Menindee Lakes and beyond.”

Burkes Cave/Kukirrka, Barkandji elder, Feona Bates said:

“It is so important that National Parks purchase places like Broughton Vale as it allows us to look after the place.

“There are men's and women's sites on the property, and we need to protect them.”

Additional land added to the national park system in 2024:

Koala habitat:

  • Addition to Guula Ngurra National Park: 589 hectares, 25km northwest of Mittagong, to connect Guula Ngurra National Park to Bangadilly National Park. It is in a stronghold area of a known high priority koala population. It is suitable habitat for 30 locally-threatened species including glossy black cockatoo and southern greater glider.
  • Addition to Nymboi-Binderay National Park: 40 hectares, 45km northwest of Coffs Harbour, which provides habitat for 21 threatened fauna species including koala, rufous bettong, gliders, bats, other mammals and birds.
  • Addition to Khatambuhl National Park: Two areas totalling 1259 hectares, 50km northwest of Taree, linking Bretti Nature Reserve with Khatambuhl Nature Reserve. It is located in a corridor between three koala Priority Population Areas and 70% of the property contains koala feed trees. The habitat is suitable for more than 20 other threatened species including the Manning River helmeted turtle, southern greater glider, white-flowered wax plant, craven grey box, scrub turpentine and stuttering frog.
  • Addition to Cottan-Bimbang National ParkTwo areas, 398 hectares and 487 hectares, 45km northwest of Wauchope have been added to the national park. The land includes 4km of Ralfes Creek, a major tributary of the Hastings River. It is suitable for 22 threatened species, notably koala, southern greater glider, scrub turpentine, magenta lilly pilly and giant barred frog.
  • Addition to Dangelong Nature Reserve: 784 hectares, 20km southeast of Cooma, featuring high to very high-quality koala habitat in the Kybeyan Range, a Southern Tablelands koala hot spot. It is suitable habitat for 25 other threatened species including gang-gang cockatoo, little eagle, hooded robin, dusky woodswallow, spotted-tailed quoll and pale pomaderris.
  • Addition to Barrington Tops National Park: 867 hectares, 60km northeast of Muswellbrook, featuring koalas and glossy black cockatoos as well as habitat for 22 other threatened fauna species including the specked warbler and Davies tree frog which occurs only above 400m in the region.

Highland wetlands:

  • Addition to Doodle Comer Swamp Nature Reserve: 41 hectares, 60km south of Wagga Wagga, featuring a wetland of national significance. Doodle Comer Swamp is a Declared Aboriginal Place with cultural significance to the Wiradjuri People. The acquisition protects cultural heritage sites, two threatened ecological communities and seven threatened species including the endangered Australasian bittern and Bush stone-curlew.
  • Addition to Little Llangothlin Nature Reserve: 18 hectares, 39km south of Glen Innes, which protects the remainder of the Ramsar-listed wetland Billy Bung Lagoon and its catchment. It contains four Threatened Ecological Communities.

Cultural Heritage:

  • Butterfly Cave: 26 hectares at West Wallsend which protects the sacred Butterfly Cave and the surrounding cultural landscape, including vital aquifers, traditional journey paths, creeks, stone arrangements and food source areas.

Barrier Range dragon (Ctenophorus mirrityana). Image Credit: Matthew Bonnett/DCCEEW

 

Wildlife killed by Same roaming dog Pair Again: 2025 Review of NSW Companion Animals Act to Commence following Dog Attack Inquests    

Dogs killing wildlife at: North Narrabeen-Elanora-Ingleside-Warriewood - January 2024

Residents have reported that a pair of dogs witnessed killing a water dragon in 2023 are once more on the loose in North Narrabeen, Elanora and Ingleside. 

On Wednesday January 15 2025 one of the pair was seen with another dead water dragon dangling from its mouth.

One resident stated they 'had seen these two killing wildlife in November 2023 as well, so repeat offenders'. 

Another witness stated 'they caused havoc February to March 2023, were seen killing a water dragon and chasing down wallabies, trashed a couple of nurseries in Ingleside, attacked chooks and native ducks. And that's only what people saw. '

Another resident stated; 'These dogs have been a menace for years - it’s time these dogs were sorted out  - they’ve killed so much wildlife.'

The photograph sent into the news service in 2023 shows this is the same pair of dogs in that new image of January 15.

Chasing macropods can cause stress myopathy, a fatal condition that causes muscle tissue to break down.

All native birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals (except the dingo) are protected in New South Wales by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act). This includes eggs and young ones.

However, wildlife continues to be attacked and/or killed in this area. Photographs, videos and emailed reports come in to the news service on a daily basis of dogs offleash across all public spaces and in wildlife preservation areas (WPA's).

Visit: 
The latest available official number of dog attack incidents reported by the northern beaches council to the Office of Local Government (NSW Gov.) from 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2024 (1st Quarter 2024/25) records 53 attacks. Of those on people, 5 were serious (required medical treatment and/or hospitalisation) and there were 15 less serious attacks, and 39 animals were attacked by dogs. The NBC LGA records forwarded to the NSW OLG states it has 74,025 microchipped dogs registered in the area.

In comparison Central Coast Council recorded 58 attacks on people, with 11 requiring medical attention or hospitalisation, 34 people  recorded as reporting to their council what was deemed a 'less serious attack', and 56 animals attacked. The CC LGA records it has 162,490 microchipped dogs registered for the LGA.

Shoalhaven City Council, the council area where 90 year old Ada "Sally" Holland died after she was attacked by a pack of unregistered dogs on a south coast beach, recorded 68 attacks of which 6 were people and serious and required medical treatment and/or hospitalisation, and 37 'less serious attacks' on people and 68 animals attacked as well. That council records 60,512 microchipped and registered dogs.

The Quarterly NSW Report of all Dog attack incidents reported by all councils from 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2024 (1st Quarter 2024/25) records 1,358 attacks on people.

These figures also record the victims as:
Adult 739
Child (Child is up to 16 years) 115
Dog 688
Cat 64
Livestock 235
Other (animal) 202

The injuries on people that were more serious record:
Medical treatment required 197
Hospitalisation 69

The Number of injuries on animals records 1188 in total for the first quarter of 2024-2025, and:
Medical treatment required 212
Hospitalisation 72
Deaths 383


Young Wallaby in Warriewood. Photo: by Kevin Murray, March 2022.

young Eastern Water Dragon at Irrawong Falls. Photo: by Joe Mills, January 2025.

In June 2024 the New South Wales coronial inquiry into dog attacks found the death of Ada Holland could have been prevented if the council had responded appropriately to another attack by the same dogs a week earlier.

On the 29th of March 29, 2020, a Sunday, Ada was walking on Collingwood beach with her daughter, Gloria Holland, when a group of three dogs attacked them.

Magistrate Forbes found Ms Holland had a heart attack after suffering "extreme injuries" in the "brutal attack" and could not be revived.

Gloria was also seriously injured and required 38 stitches while another lady, Carol Evans, was also injured and required 120 stitches.

"Her children and friends have been severely traumatised and are left bereft by her unnecessary and savage death," Magistrate Forbes told the court.

On Friday, January 17 2025, Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes delivered the findings of the inquest into the death of the "very cherished" five-week-old baby who died in July 2021 at Kariong on the Central Coast from "fatal injuries", including puncture wounds to his chest by an American Staffordshire terrier.

The inquest heard that around a month before the baby's death, a council ranger was called to the home because a neighbour's Cocker Spaniel was found dead in the yard. A hole was found under a fence between the two properties, but it was unclear whether the Cocker Spaniel had been dragged under the fence or was attacked after making its way beyond its home yard.

The ranger from the Central Coast Council who attended observed traits of the attacking animal including yellow eyes, white tips on its toes and its build, which made her suspect the dog was part Pit Bull. The Pit Bull is deemed in Australia, American Staffordshire Terriers are not. The council gave the owner one month to provide proof the dog was not a restricted breed or cross breed and sent a notice of intention to declare it a restricted breed.

Coroner Forbes made 10 recommendations, including:
  1. The Minister and the OLG review the adequacy of the penalties for non-compliance with registration and identification requirements for dogs in the CA Act and the Regulation.
  2. The Minister and the OLG, in consultation with councils, develop and implement a Statewide public awareness and education campaign to educate dog owners and the community generally about the risks posed by dogs and how safely to interact with them.
  3. The Minister and the OLG, in consultation with councils and other stakeholders, introduce a licensing requirement for dog ownership, which may involve particular licence conditions calibrated for particular breeds of dogs and with applicants being required to undergo education with respect to safety and risk management.
  4. The Minister and the OLG examine the adequacy of the maximum penalties for the offences provided by ss 12A, 13, 14, 16 and 17 of the CA Act.
  5. The Minister and the OLG amend s 16 of the CA Act to delete subsection (2)(b).
  6.  The Minister and the OLG amend s 18 of the CA Act to broaden the scope for exercise of that power.
  7. The Minister and the OLG amend: (a) the interim control obligations and interim powers enlivened under ss 36 and 58B of the CA Act upon the giving of a notice of intention to declare a dog (i) dangerous or menacing or (ii) restricted; and (b) s 58(4) so as to make clearer its intended operation.
  8. The Minister and the OLG introduce a general power in the CA Act for an authorised officer to direct an owner or person in control of a dog to secure the dog with a muzzle and / or lead for a specified period.
  9. The Minister and the OLG amend s 58C of the CA Act (a) regarding the prohibition on an authorised officer making a restricted dog declaration if the owner provides a written statement by an approved breed assessor or approved temperament assessor; and (b) to require breed and/or temperament assessors to provide an outline of the assessment carried out (including, for the temperament assessment, where, over what duration, and in what conditions).
  10. To the extent not already done, the Minister and the OLG investigate, or continue to investigate, facilitating reasonable access to DNA testing in NSW to assist breed identification of dogs.
In 2025 the NSW Government is reviewing the Companion Animals Act and Regulations. The 2025 CA Review will take a broad-based approach considering: responsible ownership of companion animals, compliance, and enforcement role of councils and the important consideration of the issues relating to the rehoming of companion animals.

The 2025 CA Review will include extensive consultation with key stakeholders, including NSW Local Councils, pet owners, breeders, veterinarians, rehoming and rescue organisations, animal welfare organisations, Department of Primary Industries in regional development, NSW Police, and NSW Department Communities and Justice.

A discussion paper to initiate the review is expected to be published in early 2025 for public comment. The paper will invite feedback on the three key focus areas relating to the management of companion animals.

The review is scheduled to commence at the conclusion of the series of dog attack inquests that Deputy State Coroner Forbes has been conducting and at the conclusion of the relevant Parliamentary Inquiries.

The timing of the review has been specifically set to allow those conducting the review to benefit from the findings from the inquests into dog attacks and the Parliamentary Inquiries.

This week the report of a dog attack on 4-year-old Lucia while playing on a beach near Perth has reminded people of what can happen when dogs are allowed offleash in public spaces. The dog grabbed Lucia by the neck and shoulder, repeatedly dragging her under the water.

Lucia was unresponsive and covered in blood from large puncture wounds to her neck and back by the time a stranger managed to help her mother Natalie and two siblings get the dog off her. She was airlifted to Perth to undergo surgery.

Her mother Natalie states the incident has left her family traumatised and is sharing her story, hoping it will serve as a warning to other parents about the unpredictability of dogs around children.

Although Lucia is now back at home, recovering, and her family is trying to come to terms with what they witnessed, the unprovoked attack on the little girl has left scars that may not heal.

"She cannot be around our family pet now. She doesn't want to go to the beach or be around dogs anymore," Natalie told the ABC.

"That beach is where most of our family holiday memories are. It should be a safe place. It's going to be a bit of a road to turn it back into that, from a place of fear."

This most recent unprovoked dog attack on a small child has renewed debate about dogs being allowed offleash in public spaces, including public beaches where young and small children will be present.

The south end of Mona Vale beach, currently the subject of a Plan of Management the council is seeking feedback on, which has been re-written from Pittwater Council days ostensibly to allow dogs offleash in this space, has already been the site of an attack on a child in July 2022. The owner of that dog ran away after the child was attacked.

Weeks before another toddler playing on the sand at south Mona Vale beach was run over by a large dog, the child's mother told by that pet owner to 'not come there as this was now a dog beach' and to walk her child right along the beach to the north end if she wanted the child to be able to paddle on hot days.

The south end of Mona Vale beach is NOT currently an area where dogs are allowed. There is a dog offleash area above the beach on Mona Vale Headland Park ( Robert Dunn Reserve).


The dog in W.A., a Rottweiler, was euthanised after the attack. Although not on the list of restricted breeds in Australia, Lucia's mum Natalie has spoken in support of others who have stated this breed should be added to that list. 

Dog breeds banned in Australia include: 
  • American Pit Bull Terrier: Also known as the pit bull terrier
  • Dogo Argentino
  • Fila Brasileiro
  • Japanese Tosa
  • Perro de Presa Canario: Also known as the Presa Canario
These breeds are prohibited from being owned, bred, or imported across Australia to reduce the risk of dog attacks and protect people and other animals. State and territory governments enforce strict regulations to ensure compliance. 

In NSW, any dog declared by an authorised officer of a council, under division 6 of the Companion Animals Act 1998, to be a restricted dog, is also then a restricted dog. If you own a restricted dog and it attacks or injures a person or an animal without being provoked, you must report it to your local council within 24 hours of the attack or injury.

However, hunting dog breeds are allowed - when used for stalking deer and pigs, or when targeting native or non-indigenous 'game' birds.  The NSW DPI, under its Native Game Bird Management Program, allows 'licensed, responsible volunteer hunters to help landholders manage the impacts of native game birds over their agricultural lands'.

In 2023-2024 there were 29, 266 native birds 'harvested' to benefit ricegrowers, almost double the previous years' deaths [1.]

The latest available reported numbers included 10,053 of the species Black Duck or Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa), a bird which has a songline that traditionally runs through Pittwater.

The Northern Beaches Council was contacted to query what action it has taken between 2023 and now to address these two dogs hunting, chasing, attacking and killing local wildlife, and whether the dogs' owner was fined for the wildlife killed in 2023. A spokesperson for council stated:

''Council is aware of several complaints regarding these dogs and have confirmed the owner’s identity. 
 
In March 2023 reports were made to Council about a brown poodle allegedly attacking a water dragon on private property (?) in Ingleside and in addition a duck being killed at a nursery on Powderworks Road, Ingleside. The matter was investigated and there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the owner at this time. 
 
A second complaint has been received this week regarding allegations of two dogs attacking wildlife on Powderworks Road. This matter is currently under investigation by Council to confirm the dogs identity, their owners and the allegations made. 

Residents are encouraged to contact Council directly about these alleged incidents if they haven’t already to assist staff with their investigations, especially if they have witnessed them first-hand.''

The most recent attack on wildlife in the North Narrabeen-Elanora-Ingleside-Warriewood area was reported to the council, as had those that had been witnessed previously by others.

The news service chose not to run the images of the two dogs sent in in 2023 and in January 2025 so as NOT to make them targets - all dogs are hunters; it's built into their DNA - responsible pet ownership to ensure they do not chase wildlife is what is required, under law, of all pet owners in NSW.

Both are larger dogs, one black - which looks like a labradoodle - one dark brown - which looks like a curly haired retriever.

If you have seen a dog attack a person or animal, or you have been attacked by a dog yourself, report it to your local council. This advice stands for attacks that happen in public and private settings.

If the attack happened outside local council hours, you may call your local police station. Police officers are also authorised officers under the Companion Animals Act 1998. Authorised officers have a wide range of powers to deal with owners of attacking dogs, including seizing dogs that have attacked.

You can report dog attacks, along with dogs offleash where they should not be, to the NBC anonymously and via your own name, to get a response, at: https://help.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/s/submit-request?topic=Pets_Animals

If the matter is urgent or dangerous call Council on 1300 434 434 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

If you find injured wildlife please contact:
  • Sydney Wildlife Rescue (24/7): 9413 4300 
  • WIRES: 1300 094 737
  
  
Black duck having a bird bath in Careel Creek, Pittwater; part of its traditional and ancient range.

Report updated Tuesday 21 January 2025
1. NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Native Game Bird Management Program. Retrieved from DPI webpage: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/hunting/game-and-pests/native-game-birds

 

Breeding time for Little Penguins: Boaters urged to stick to speed limit 

🐧 Say hello to Manly's newest (and cutest) residents - Little Penguins! 

It's breeding season for these endangered guys, so boaters lets keep them safe by:
  • Keep speed to under four knots when entering North Harbour, Manly
  • Be extra careful at dawn and dusk
  • Don’t anchor in seagrass beds
  • Don’t bring dogs or cats onto beaches
To learn more visit: https://bit.ly/4g0HUbg

NSW Maritime 
January 16, 2025

NB: there is also a colony of Little Penguins on Lion Island and a colony of seals at Barrenjoey. Residents have reported vessels speeding on the Pittwater estuary during January 2025.


Caladenia callitrophila - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Critically endangered 

Caladenia callitrophila D.L.Jones, an orchid – proposed Critically endangered species listing - Preliminary Determination open for comment until 28 February 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 319KB)

Caladenia callitrophila is endemic to the southern Riverina region of New South Wales (NSW). It is currently known to exist in three small, isolated subpopulations located within state forests between the towns of Berrigan and Balldale at altitude range of 120-170 m ASL (Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The subpopulations are separated by 16-50 km of cultivated farmland. This species occurs in woodland of Callitris glaucophylla (white cypress pine), Eucalyptus melliodora (yellow box) and Eucalyptus microcarpa (western grey box), with a grassy and sparsely shrubby understorey, on red-brown sandy or sandy-loam soils. Most of the plants have been found in 3-4 m tall white cypress pine regrowth (G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021).

There is a very low number of mature individuals of Caladenia callitrophila. The total number of C. callitrophila flowering plants recorded during the 2020 season, after good winter rain, was around 183 flowering plants, with the majority of those (>90%) occurring at one site (G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021; DCCEEW unpubl. data). Following the much drier winter of 2023 only 14 flowering plants were recorded (DCCEEW unpubl data; L. Carrigan unpubl data; G. French unpubl data).

It is difficult to estimate the current total population size of C. callitrophila as plants observed flowering in one season that did not reemerge in the following season are not necessarily dead. Some may remain dormant underground, a common ecological strategy observed in orchids with a similar life history (Dixon and Tremblay 2009). Emergent numbers fluctuate primarily due to rain and soil moisture, and the underground population is probably capable of persisting for some years without emergence (Dixon and Tremblay 2009). However, given the season in 2020 was considered a year with good conditions for flowering, the population size is likely no more than 250.

Little is known of the specific details of the biology of Caladenia callitrophila however it is believed to be very similar to other spider orchids. Caladenia species are deciduous and die back to a dormant, fleshy tuber over summer (NSW DEC 2004; Dixon and Tremblay 2009). In Caladenia, tubers are generally replaced annually by a single daughter tuber on a vertical dropper, but few species appear to reproduce vegetatively by this means (Jones 2021). The tuber sprouts following sufficient late autumn/winter rains, with a single leaf developing above ground. Once the leaf is fully extended, a single flower may be produced. C. callitrophila flowers in September to October if conditions are suitable and flowers persist for about a month depending on the seasonal conditions (NSW DEC 2004; Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The prominent calli on the labellum of C. callitrophila suggest that is likely pollinated by nectar-foraging thynnid wasps (Zaspilothynnus sp.) (Reiter et al. 2019).

Acacia chrysotricha - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Critically endangered 

Acacia chrysotricha Tindale, a tree – proposed Critically endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 298KB):

Acacia chrysotricha was found to be eligible for listing as Critically Endangered under the IUCN Criteria B1ab(iii).

The main reasons for this species being eligible are: 1) Acacia chrysotricha has a very highly restricted Extent of Occurrence (EOO) of 28 km2, 2) Acacia chrysotricha is known from a single threat-defined location; and 3) continuing decline has been observed and is expected to continue in the quality of habitat due the combined effects of weed invasion and logging activities. 

Acacia chrysotricha Tindale (Figure 1; Newry golden wattle, Bellinger River wattle) is a conventionally accepted species (CHAH 2006) in the Fabaceae family. Acacia chrysotricha is described in PlantNET (2004) as an “Erect tree usually 6–15 m high; bark finely or deeply fissured, grey to red-brown; branchlets ± terete with low ridges, densely yellowish-hairy at first, later the hairs greyish or fawn. Leaves ± sessile on pulvinus, with petiole to 0.1 cm long above pulvinus; rachis 5–14 cm long, densely hairy, circular jugary glands irregularly present at the lowest 1–3 pairs and/or upper 1–3 pairs of pinnae, interjugary glands absent or rarely an odd one present; pinnae 8–18 pairs, 1–4.7 cm long; pinnules mostly 12–25 pairs (6 or more on basal pinnae),oblong to narrowly oblong, elliptic-oblong or ± lanceolate, recurved when dry, mostly 3–4.5 mm long and 1–1.5 mm wide, with fine white or golden hairs mainly on margins and midvein. Inflorescences in axillary and terminal racemes and panicles; peduncles 3–6 mm long, golden-hairy; heads globose, 15–30-flowered, 4–7 mm diam., bright yellow. Pods straight to slightly curved, ± flat, mostly barely to slightly constricted between seeds, 3–10 cm long, 4–6 mm wide, firmly papery thinly leathery, with long fine hairs; seeds longitudinal; funicle ± encircling the seed. Flowering July-August”.

The first collection of Acacia chrysotricha was made in 1910. It was first described by Tindale in 1966 based on the following type specimen: “Connell's Creek, on Compt. 24 of Newry SF, just south of Urunga, on a side gully 40 to 50 ft. high, 8 inches indiam. at the base, one tree 70 ft. high, 12 inches in diam., A. Floyd 7.1961 (NSW 34451), located in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, Sydney" (Hunter 2017). The name “Newry golden wattle” refers to the golden hairs on the branchlets (PlantNET 2004). It can be distinguished from similar co-occurring Acacia species (e.g., A. mearnsii and A. oshanesii) by features such as the colour and fissuring of the bark, densely hairy branchlets, shorter petiole length, position of jugary and interjugary glands, typically fewer pairs of pinnae and pinnules and the bright yellow flowers (PlantNET 2004).

Acacia chrysotricha trees are typically described as growing approximately 6 to 20 m tall (PlantNET 2004; Richards 2011), however, a few individuals have been observed with estimated heights as tall as 25–40 m in undisturbed habitats (Smith 2012).

Acacia chrysotricha fruit. Image Credit: Gavin Phillips/DCCEEW

Caladenia rileyi - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Caladenia rileyi D.L.Jones, an orchid – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

Preliminary determination (PDF 280KB)

Conservation assessment report using the common assessment method (PDF 340KB)

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extracts from the Preliminary determination (PDF 280KB):

The main reasons for this species being eligible are (i) it has highly restricted geographic distribution (EOO is 327 km2 and AOO is 36 km2); (ii) it has low population size (plausibly less than 2 500 mature individuals); (iii) it is severely fragmented and has a small number of threat based locations; (iv) there is a continuing decline in the area, extent and/or quality of habitat and the number of mature individuals due to threats from habitat loss and destruction, forestry activities, herbivory (grazing and browsing), weed incursion, and climate change.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Caladenia rileyi D.L.Jones (family Orchidaceae) was described by (Jones 2021) as “Leaf linear-lanceolate, 40–100 x 6–8mm. Flower stem 80–250mm tall, wiry, 1–flowered. Flowers 40–50mm across, yellowish-green with red central stripes;sepals and petals with thickish brown clubs 6–25 x 3 mm, petal clubs shorter than sepals. Dorsal sepal erect, 40–55 x 2–3 mm, incurved. Lateral sepals obliquely deflexed, 40–55 x 3–3.5 mm, more or less parallel. Petals obliquely deflexed, 30–40 x 1.5–2mm. Labellum delicately hinged, 17–20 x 18–20 mm, pale green with a white central patch and maroon apex; basal margins with 4–6 pairs of erect combteeth to 6mm long; midlobe margins with 5–8 pairs short blunt teeth to apex; tip recurved. Basal calli c.4mm long. Lamina calli to 3mm long, maroon, in 4 crowded rows onto base of maroon patch. Column 12–14 x 5.5–6.5 mm, transparent with pink to red flecks and striae; basal glands obovoid, c.3 mm long, yellow with a reddish basal stalk shiny. Flowers: September to October.”

2. Caladenia rileyi is endemic to the southern inland plains of New South Wales (NSW) and is restricted to a small area near the town of Narrandera, at 100-200m elevation (Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The species is currently known to exist in only four subpopulations, all located on crown land. Two of these subpopulations are in state forests, one is a Travelling Stock Reserve (TSR) north of Narrandera, and one is found along a roadside site just east of Narrandera. These four sites are small and isolated patches of habitat (10-55 km apart), separated from one another by cultivated farmland. This species grows in woodland habitats dominated by  Callitris glaucophylla (white cypress pine), with a sparse understory of grasses and forbs on red-brown sandy soils or sandy clay loams (Jones 2021). Caladenia rileyi has been recorded in Callitris glaucophylla - Eucalyptus melliodora (yellow box) woodlands, Callitris glaucophylla – Allocasuarina verticillata (drooping sheoak) woodlands and woodlands dominated by a mixture of Callitris glaucophylla, E. dwyeri (Dwyer’s red gum) and Acacia doratoxylon (currawang) (ALA 2024; G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021).

3. The habitat of this species may occur within 'Inland Grey Box Woodland in the Riverina, NSW South Western Slopes, Cobar Peneplain, Nandewar and Brigalow Belt South Bioregions’ an Endangered Ecological Community (EEC) under the NSW BC Act (NSW SC 2011). This EEC most likely corresponds with Plant Community Type (PCT) ‘Western Grey Box - White Cypress Pine tall woodland on loam soil on alluvial plains of NSW South Western Slopes Bioregion and Riverina Bioregion (PCT 80). This species may also occur in PCT ‘Dwyer's Red Gum - White Cypress Pine - Currawang shrubby woodland mainly in the NSW South Western Slopes Bioregion’ (PCT 185), but may not be restricted to these specific PCTs (NSW DPE 2023).

Eucalyptus oresbia - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl, a tree – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

Preliminary determination (PDF 311KB)

Conservation assessment report using the common assessment method (PDF 929KB)

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 311KB):

Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl as was found to be Endangered in accordance with the following provisions in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017: Clause 4.2(1 b)(2 c) and Clause 4.3(b)(d)(e i,iii) because: 1) the species is suspected to have undergone a large population reduction of >50% over a three generation period of 306 years due to historical clearing for agriculture and pine plantations; 2) the species has a highly restricted area of occupancy (44 km2 ) and extent of occurrence (420 km2); 3) the species is known from 3–4 threat-defined locations; and 4) continuing decline is inferred in the area, extent and quality of habitat and the number of mature individuals due to conflicting land uses such as plantation forestry and agriculture in prime E. oresbia habitat, adverse fire regimes, the maintenance of tracks and trails, and the invasion of weeds such as blackberry and radiata pine.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl (family Myrtaceae) is described by Hunter and Bruhl (1999) as a “Tree to 30 m tall. Bark smooth white, yellow or cream, rarely grey, sock absent or rarely present on younger trees to 1 m. Juvenile stems and branchlets usually strongly quadrangular. Leaves: seedling leaves ovate to elliptic, 3–10 cm long, 1–3.5 cm wide, plane, opposite, apex acute to obtuse, base rounded or ± caudate, petiolate at first and then a few pairs sessile, concolorous; intermediate leaves ovate to lanceolate, 12–18 cm long, 3–6.5 cm wide, sub-opposite to alternate, apex acute to acuminate, ± hooked, base rounded to ± oblique; adult leaves lanceolate, falcate or ± plane, 9.5–18 cm long, 1.2–2.2 cm wide, alternate, conspicuously glossy and dark green, margins entire, apex acuminate and often hooked, base attenuate, acute or oblique, petiole terete to flattened, barely channelled above, 1–2 cm long; venation 30–45° to midrib, intramarginal vein 0.5–2 mm from the margin, midrib channelled above.

Inflorescence of axillary umbellasters. Flowers 6–7 per axil; peduncle 8–17 mm long, 2–5 mm wide; pedicel distinct in bud and fruit, 3–5 mm long in buds, 2–4.5 mm long in fruit; buds obloid to clavate, bulbous above and below the suture,± 1-ribbed, 6–9.5 mm long; calyptra peaked hemispherical, acutely obconical or ±rostrate, 2.5–5 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide; hypanthium 2.5–5 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide; style terete, 3–4 mm long; stamens with filaments 3.5–5 mm long, anthers dorsifixed, parallel, dehiscence longitudinal, 0.4–0.6 mm long, white, oil gland orbicular and abaxial. Fruit cupular, ± 1-ribbed, 4.5–8 mm long, 5–8 mm wide, often splitting on one side; disc level to descending, c. 1 mm wide; valves 3, ± level. Seeds red-brown to black. Cotyledons bilobed.”

2. Eucalyptus oresbia is a range-restricted species endemic to several small, disjunct sites near the town of Nundle on the New South Wales (NSW) Northern Tablelands (Hunter and Bruhl 1999; OEH 2021). Eucalyptus oresbia is currently known from four disjunct sites. The core area is around the type locality at Hanging Rock, due east of Nundle, with smaller outlying stands known from the Scotts Creek area near Murrurundi to the south, in the Dungowan Dam catchment area northeast of Nundle, and in Ben Halls Gap National Park southeast of Nundle. Given the minimum distance between these sites is approximately 11 km, each is considered a separate subpopulation per the IUCN (2024) definition.

3. The minimum estimated population size of Eucalyptus oresbia is 6,458-6,708 mature individuals. Approximately 92-96% of the known population occurs within the Hanging Rock subpopulation, and less than 1% of the known individuals occur on lands managed for conservation in the Ben Halls Gap and Dungowan Dam subpopulations.

Eucalyptus oresbia. Image Credit: Gavin Phillips/DCCEEW

Tasmannia purpurascens - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm., a shrub – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 338KB):

Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm. was found to be Endangered in accordance with the following provisions in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017: Clause 4.3(b)(d)(e i,iii) because: 1) the species has a highly restricted geographic range with an area of occupancy (AOO) of 240–248 km2 and an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 550–1,199 km2; 2) it occurs in three threat-defined locations; and 3) there is an estimated and inferred continuing decline in the area, extent and quality of habitat and number of mature individuals due to habitat clearing, fragmentation, and degradation; dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection; habitat degradation from feral animals; invasion by Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) and Rubus spp. (blackberry); and adverse fire regimes, particularly high frequency fire and high severity fire.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm. (family Winteraceae) is a “shrub 1– 3 m high, apical buds and stems purplish. Leaves oblanceolate to ± obovate, mostly 8–18 cm long, 30– 50 mm wide, apex obtuse, glabrous, both surfaces green and purplish towards base; secondary veins forming angles of c. 45° with midvein; ± sessile, gradually tapered to base. Petals usually 2, 8–12 mm long, white. Carpels 2– 9 per flower. Ovary c. 2 mm long; stalk of carpel much shorter than the ovary. Berries ovoid to oblong, 10–15 mm long, blackish purple; usually 2–6 develop, each on stalk 1– 4 mm long, peduncle 20–40 mm long.” (Harden 1990).

2. The majority of Tasmannia purpurascens records are in the Barrington Tops and Gloucester Tops area of the NSW Northern Tablelands. The species is also recorded in Ben Halls Gap Nature Reserve (NR), approximately 40 km to the northwest. The distribution of T. purpurascens occurs on the traditional lands of the Geawegal and Kamilaroi peoples (AIATIS 2023).

3. The population size of Tasmannia purpurascens is estimated to exceed 100,000 individuals (OEH 2021). The species is dioecious (Smith 1969; Falster et al. 2021) but the proportion of males and females is unknown, as is the proportion of mature individuals. Tasmannia purpurascens is common on the Barrington Plateau (M. Saunders pers. obs. November 2023). There is no long-term monitoring information available for this species and there is no information on long-term population trends. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs across an estimated 1–3 subpopulations, as per the IUCN (2024) definition.

4. Tasmannia purpurascens has a highly restricted geographic range. The extent of occurrence (EOO) was calculated at 550–1,199 km2 and is based on a minimum convex polygon enclosing all mapped occurrences of the species, the method of assessment recommended by IUCN (2024). The area of occupancy (AOO) is estimated to be 240–248 km2 and was calculated using 2 x 2 km grid cells, the scale recommended by IUCN (2024).

5. Tasmannia purpurascens typically occurs in in tall, moist eucalypt, subalpine woodland, and cool temperate rainforest (OEH 2019; PlantNet 2023) at elevations ranging from 1,050–1,560 m above sea level. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs on freely draining soil with good moisture retention but can also grow on heavier soils (Casey 1983).

6. Tasmannia purpurascens is dioecious (Smith 1969; Falster et al. 2021) and flowers from October to November (Falster et al. 2021; OEH 2021; PlantNet 2023). Tasmannia purpurascens fruits from February to June (FOA 2022), with fruit maturing over several months, based on what is known about Tasmannia lanceolata (Read 2017). Tasmannia purpurascens seeds are dormant at the time of release. In situ fruit burial studies of Tasmannia stipitata, with which T. purpurascens co-occurs, have shown the species has a delayed germination of at least 2 months (Campbell et al. 2012) and up to 10 months (Campbell et al. 2016), suggesting T. purpurascens is likely to have similar delayed germination under real world conditions with the environmental conditions required to break dormancy and promote germination remaining unknown.

7. Tasmannia purpurascens is exposed to a broad range of threats, including habitat clearing, fragmentation, and degradation; dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection; habitat degradation from feral animals; invasion by Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) and Rubus spp. (blackberry); and adverse fire regimes, particularly high frequency fire and high severity fire. Hybridisation with sympatric Tasmannia taxa is also occurring and appears to be an important evolutionary process among other taxa in the genus (Worth et al. 2010). Threats are concentrated in the Barrington Tops area, with Bens Halls Gap NR currently only affected by low densities of feral herbivores. ‘Clearing of native vegetation’, ‘Infection of native plants by Phytophthora cinnamomi’, ‘Predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs (Sus scrofa)’, ‘Habitat degradation and loss by feral horses (brumbies, wild horses), Equus caballus Linnaeus 1758’, ‘Invasion and establishment of Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom)’, ‘Loss and degradation of native plant and animal habitat by invasion of escaped garden plants, including aquatic plants’, and ‘High frequency fire resulting in the disruption of life cycle processes in plants and animals and loss of vegetation structure and composition’ are listed as Key Threatening Processes under the Act.

8. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs at three threat-defined locations as per the IUCN definition (IUCN 2024), due to the most serious plausible threats which result in the lowest number of locations being dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection and adverse fire regimes.

9. Habitat disturbance, fragmentation, and degradation from logging operations has resulted in an estimated and inferred loss of mature individuals and a significant decline in habitat quality and extent. Targeted surveys undertaken in logging compartments in 2023 inferred logging to have resulted in or contributed to a circa 77–100% decline in the number of individuals (in all age classes) at 5–21 years after the logging events (NSW DCCEEW 2024).

Tasmannia purpurascens. Image Credit: Matt Saunders

Centennial Coal's plan to dump millions of litres of toxic wastewater into Sydney’s water catchment every day 

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental organisation, is calling on the State government to reject Centennial Coal’s proposal to dump millions of litres of toxic wastewater into Sydney’s drinking water catchment. 

The proposal was submitted to the Department of Planning earlier in January 2025, outlining the company’s plans to discharge up to 42 ML of wastewater every day into Thompsons Creek Reservoir. Thompsons Creek Reservoir is a popular fishing spot and outflows through the Blue Mountains World Heritage area and into Warragamba Dam. 

Centennial mining operations are adjacent to the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area, a place with 80 rare and threatened species and 16 threatened ecological communities. Intensive mining methods have destroyed aquifers, resulting in drying out of endangered upland peat swamps. 

“Centennial’s water issue is a crisis of their own making, resulting from damaging aquifers in their underground mining operations. Now they want to pollute World Heritage streams and force the people of Greater Sydney to drink the mess,” said NCC Senior Climate Campaigner Jacqui Mills. 

“The water that Centennial wants to offload is laced with heavy metals and brine. 

“Sydneysiders are lucky to drink some of the most pristine water in the world, thanks to the beautiful forests of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area that filter our water. 

“We can’t let mining companies like Centennial use our drinking water as a dumping ground.  

"We know this application is the tip of the iceberg, and the enormity of this environmental disaster will slowly be revealed as Centennial plans to discharge polluted water from its currently flooded mine and disrupts more groundwater resources with continued mining." 

“Centennial’s destructive mining has damaged groundwater flows under the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area bordering the Blue Mountains World Heritage area, resulting in massive water inflows into underground mines.   

“They are manufacturing a crisis moment with excess water not able to be sent to the Mount Piper power station for use in cooling towers whilst the station is offline for periods this year.   

“The real issue here is that Centennial Coal has not adopted technology to clean the wastewater of heavy metals and salt toxic to aquatic life in this sensitive area. 

“Instead, they intend to dilute dirty water with treated water prior to discharge to the dam. Experts have warned this approach would exacerbate pollution load. It’s simply not good enough.  

“The Independent Planning Commission must refuse permission, and the NSW Environment Protection Agency must do what it takes to make Centennial clean up its act.  

“We urgently need a public inquiry into the damaging mine wastewater from Centennial’s underground coal mines in the Gardens of Stone region.” 

Centennial has a bad environmental track record. Over a 23-year period, Centennial has been found to have breached its environmental licence more than 1400 times across 7 coal mine sites in the Greater Blue Mountains region. 

This includes a Centennial Clarence coal mine spill into the World Heritage area that resulted in the single largest fine ever imposed by the EPA at that time (2017), totalling $1,050,000. In addition, a $1,450,000 fine was imposed on Centennial Springvale and Angus Place collieries in 2011, the largest issued under section 486DA the Commonwealth EPBC Act 1999 at the time. 

Sydney Wildlife (Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Services) Needs Volunteers: New course starts in February

As you know our work doesn't stop. 
We had the introduction of our new computer system which we all had to learn and get used to during a very busy time of the year! And everyone nailed it.

Now down to business; We need you!! Our next Rescue and Care Course is starting in February and we are desperate for members all over Sydney. Wouldn't it look great on your resume if you are looking for a job? ‘Volunteer at Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Services’ the skills you learn are endless! 

I could write a list as long as my arm the suburbs we need members in. So if this is something you have ever thought about, dreamt about or even had a discussion with your neighbour about now is the time! 

Follow the link and sign up: 

Maybe you cant have animals in your residence but have a car. We also need transporters to transport animals to carers from vets email info@sydneywildlife.org.au

Don't have a car, can't keep animals at home? Sign up for our volunteer rescue line. This is run 24/7 by volunteers. One overnight shift a week (5pm-9am) could be your volunteer hours if Centrelink require you to volunteer. 

These shifts can be done from your own home so you can still feed the kids, pop them to bed, jump in to bed yourself and just answer the phone if it rings between those times or do set hours a week during the day. Contact Carolyn for a chat at 

An egg-cellent beach activity

Shark and skate egg cases come in all different shapes, colours and sizes, and they are all unique to the species. Only the Draughtboard Shark (Cephaloscyllium laticeps) lays eggs of this particular shape and size.


After hatching, the egg cases wash up on beaches, where they may be mistaken for seed pods or other marine creatures.

So while you're at the beach this summer, the CSIRO want you to record your sightings of shark egg cases for The Great Eggcase Hunt Australia.

The CSIRO have teamed up with The Shark Trust, so it's easy to record your sightings via their app or website. It would be a jaws-ome help to their work.

Find out more about the hunt and download the app at: https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2023/march/great-eggcase-hunt

Draft Plan of Management for Dogs offleash On South Mona Vale Beach Open for feedback

The Northern Beaches Council announced on Wednesday December 11 2024 that it is placing its draft Plan of Management (PoM) for the southern end of Mona Vale Beach on exhibition for feedback.

Feedback closes on Sunday February 9 2025. The document is available here  (PDF: 4.06MB)

The adoption of this PoM would amend Pittwater Council’s Ocean Beaches Plan of Management (2005) (Ocean Beaches PoM) as set out in Appendix 9, pursuant to section 41 of the Local Government Act. The effect of the amendment is that the Ocean Beaches PoM would no longer apply to Mona Vale Beach (southern end).

The NSW Government (via Crown Lands, Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure) recently transferred the management of Crown Land at Mona Vale Beach and at Palm Beach to the Northern Beaches Council and gave consent for the draft PoM for South Mona Vale Beach to be publicly exhibited.

The State Government, which requires this document to be made, states, 'Plans of management are legal documents we develop and maintain to guide how Crown land will be sustainably managed. They provide a wealth of information about that site, including social, environmental, and economic values, set objectives and performance targets for community land, and provide for active land management and use, including the issuing of tenures over the land.'

The draft PoM, among other aspects of these standard documents, has ostensibly been prepared to include a proposal for a dog off-leash area.  

That does not mean residents of Pittwater should focus solely on that primary reason in any feedback provided. This is an opportunity to scrutinise how the Northern Beaches Council states it will protect coastal vegetation and wildlife habitat, support the ongoing use by the whole of the community of the foreshore (beach) area, and how it will assess whether it is meeting the criteria within its own PoM.

For instance, page 20 of the Draft POM records;

The NSW Biodiversity Values (BV) Map is facilitated by the NSW State Government and identifies land with high biodiversity value, particularly sensitive to impacts from development and clearing. On the 27 October 2023, the BV Map was updated to include the addition of revised habitat mapping for a number of threatened species. As a result, a portion of vegetation within the PoM is now identified on the BV Map (see Figure 7).

A draft PoM for Governor Phillip Park, another public whole of community (and whole of world) public space, which also includes a proposal for a dog off-leash area trial at Palm Beach (north) and has again been drafted primarily for the same reason, is also being developed by the Northern Beaches Council and this draft POM is expected to be prepared by mid-2025. 

The Northern Beaches Council has stated it will then seek the Department’s and then the Northern Beaches Council Councillors approval to also publicly exhibit this draft PoM.  

Dogs are currently prohibited at the southern end of Mona Vale Beach and on the beach at Palm Beach, however, dogs are seen on both beaches, and every other beach across the LGA, all day every day. 

The Northern Beaches Council has stated this restriction will remain in place unless the Northern Beaches Council adopts the draft PoM, amends the existing prohibition, and designates a part of the beach as an area for dogs to be off-leash under section 13(6) of the Companion Animals Act 1998.

Following public exhibition of the draft PoM, feedback will be reviewed, and the outcome of the public exhibition and any final draft POM will be reported to a Council meeting for Northern Beaches Council Councillors to approve. 

The land is a combination of escarpment and restored coastal vegetation leading down to partially vegetated foredune and beach and ocean. 

The land and beach is used by families with toddlers and young children, for surfing, swimming, and less strenuous activities such as just sitting and enjoying the view.

The area provides feeding and nesting habitat for aquatic and land-based birds and animals, environmental conservation and dune stabilisation within the dune areas. 

Those who enjoy strolling, running, passive and active beach and ocean activities and who contribute as volunteer bush revegetation and regeneration workers are the current every day and regular users of South Mona Vale Beach. 

The Northern Beaches Council said in a release it is yet to make a decision about proceeding with dog off-leash area trials at both locations as various processes must be completed before the Northern Beaches Council is in a position to do so. 

However, as both this and the PoM being drafted for Governor Phillip Park, and the REF that preceded these, were drafted specifically to permit dogs offleash in both these public spaces and wildlife habitat, and the Northern Beaches Council is again topping the state for dog attack statistics that resulted in the deaths of wildlife and hospitalisation of residents and visitors, and residents have reported to the news service again this week being attacked while using the ocean rock pools, beaches and public paths across the Local Government Area, the only fly in that ointment may turn out to be Mr. or Mrs. 'I'll Sue this ******** Council'.

Is this an area where those who have big dogs that need a kilometre or two to run fast in, more space than their backyards provide and as long as the whole of Mona Vale beach, where other users won't mind sitting and swimming in dog urine and faeces? 

Having your children run over, mauled and scarred for life or being told 'get out of here if you don't like it, this is a dog beach' looks set to be on its way, and has already been happening, at south Mona Vale beach.

Dog parks that include water features and large areas for furry darlings to romp are a success in Western Sydney areas, and have proved a lot less expensive than all the processes followed here has now accrued, in more than just financial costs, to our community.

''In the meantime, please only exercise your dog at approved locations across the area otherwise you may be subject to a $330 fine for contravening the dog off-leash rule or for being the owner of dog in prohibited public space.'' the Northern Beaches Council release states in closing

The 'you may be fined' under the Northern Beaches Council contrasts in messaging to the 'You Will Definitely Be Fined and/or Prosecuted' that occurs in other LGAs. But as a high amount of community reports on how the Northern Beaches Council is trying to rein in what has become a serious problem across the LGA come in every week, the 'may' has become 'will' again here too. Following advice by others to 'do what you want where you want and when you want' is leading to an insurmountable financial burden and absolute heartbreak for some.

It's heart-breaking hearing their stories of what happens when you ignore the law, NBC signage and rules, and follow that advice. And heart-breaking hearing of the trauma undergone and pain experienced by those who end up in hospital because someone has followed that advice.

Feedback closes on Sunday February 9 2025. The PoM document is available here  (PDF: 4.06MB)  The Northern Beaches Council webpage to provide feedback is at: yoursay.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/mona-vale-beach-south-plan-management

For those who wish to address more than the stated main reason for this new PoM; the habitat, other potential uses and other items drafted into the PoM, and use the emailing or writing option and format, rather than the 'yay' or 'nay' 1 minute survey on the NBC webpage, those addresses are:

Email: council@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

In writing: marked 'Mona Vale Beach (southern end) Plan of Management', Northern Beaches Council, PO Box 82, Manly NSW 1655.

The Northern Beaches Council also states it is providing:

Come and chat Pop-up event

Sunday 19 January 2025 12:00 pm to 02:00 pm, at Village Park, Mona Vale 

Come and chat with the Project Team at our stall at the Australian Made Markets

Book a call

Click the button (here) to book a call to chat with the project team. If none of the times available suit you, call 1300 434 434 to arrange another time.

Mon 13 Jan, 2 - 5pm

Wed 15 Jan, 8.30 - 11.30am

Wed 5 Feb, 11.30 - 2.30pm

Thur 6 Feb, 8.30 - 11.30am.

The whole of the 2023-2024 dog attack statistics for the Northern Beaches Council LGA were released in November 2024, and are available in: 

Australia Post urges councils to take strong action as dog attacks on Posties continue: Northern Beaches Council Dog Attack Numbers for 2023/24 Higher than LGAs with more than twice the number of registered dogs


North Palm Beach; dogs are taken into this area despite clear signage this is a no dogs area

Dogs on South Mona Vale Beach, Saturday December 15:image supplied

Dogs on Turimetta Beach, December 2024: Image supplied

Dogs on Narrabeen beach, December 2024: Image supplied



Dog attacking formerly resting seal at Long Reef Aquatic Reserve (a WPA). Photos supplied

Plastic Bread Ties For Wheelchairs

The Berry Collective at 1691 Pittwater Rd, Mona Vale collects them for Oz Bread Tags for Wheelchairs, who recycle the plastic.

Berry Collective is the practice on the left side of the road as you head north, a few blocks before Mona Vale shops . They have parking. Enter the foyer and there's a small bin on a table where you drop your bread ties - very easy.

A full list of Aussie bread tags for wheelchairs is available at: HERE 


Volunteers for Barrenjoey Lighthouse Tours needed

Details:

Stay Safe From Mosquitoes 

NSW Health is reminding people to protect themselves from mosquitoes when they are out and about this summer.

NSW Health’s Acting Director of Environmental Health, Paul Byleveld, said with more people spending time outdoors, it was important to take steps to reduce mosquito bite risk.

“Mosquitoes thrive in wet, warm conditions like those that much of NSW is experiencing,” Byleveld said.

“Mosquitoes in NSW can carry viruses such as Japanese encephalitis (JE), Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE), Kunjin, Ross River and Barmah Forest. The viruses may cause serious diseases with symptoms ranging from tiredness, rash, headache and sore and swollen joints to rare but severe symptoms of seizures and loss of consciousness.

“People should take extra care to protect themselves against mosquito bites and mosquito-borne disease, particularly after the detection of JE in a sentinel chicken in Far Western NSW.

The NSW Health sentinel chicken program provides early warning about the presence of serious mosquito borne diseases, like JE. Routine testing in late December revealed a positive result for JE in a sample from Menindee. 

A free vaccine to protect against JE infection is available to those at highest risk in NSW and people can check their eligibility at NSW Health.

People are encouraged to take actions to prevent mosquito bites and reduce the risk of acquiring a mosquito-borne virus by:
  • Applying repellent to exposed skin. Use repellents that contain DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Check the label for reapplication times.
  • Re-applying repellent regularly, particularly after swimming. Be sure to apply sunscreen first and then apply repellent.
  • Wearing light, loose-fitting long-sleeve shirts, long pants and covered footwear and socks.
  • Avoiding going outdoors during peak mosquito times, especially at dawn and dusk.
  • Using insecticide sprays, vapour dispensing units and mosquito coils to repel mosquitoes (mosquito coils should only be used outdoors in well-ventilated areas)
  • Covering windows and doors with insect screens and checking there are no gaps.
  • Removing items that may collect water such as old tyres and empty pots from around your home to reduce the places where mosquitoes can breed.
  • Using repellents that are safe for children. Most skin repellents are safe for use on children aged three months and older. Always check the label for instructions. Protecting infants aged less than three months by using an infant carrier draped with mosquito netting, secured along the edges.
  • While camping, use a tent that has fly screens to prevent mosquitoes entering or sleep under a mosquito net.
Remember, Spray Up – Cover Up – Screen Up to protect from mosquito bite. For more information go to NSW Health.

Mountain Bike Incidents On Public Land: Survey

This survey aims to document mountain bike related incidents on public land, available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K88PSNP

Sent in by Pittwater resident Academic for future report- study. The survey will run for 12 months and close in February 2025.

Report fox sightings

Fox sightings, signs of fox activity, den locations and attacks on native or domestic animals can be reported into FoxScan. FoxScan is a free resource for residents, community groups, local Councils, and other land managers to record and report fox sightings and control activities. 

Our Council's Invasive species Team receives an alert when an entry is made into FoxScan.  The information in FoxScan will assist with planning fox control activities and to notify the community when and where foxes are active.



marine wildlife rescue group on the Central Coast

A new wildlife group was launched on the Central Coast on Saturday, December 10, 2022.

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast (MWRCC) had its official launch at The Entrance Boat Shed at 10am.

The group comprises current and former members of ASTR, ORRCA, Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace, WIRES and Wildlife ARC, as well as vets, academics, and people from all walks of life.

Well known marine wildlife advocate and activist Cathy Gilmore is spearheading the organisation.

“We believe that it is time the Central Coast looked after its own marine wildlife, and not be under the control or directed by groups that aren’t based locally,” Gilmore said.

“We have the local knowledge and are set up to respond and help injured animals more quickly.

“This also means that donations and money fundraised will go directly into helping our local marine creatures, and not get tied up elsewhere in the state.”

The organisation plans to have rehabilitation facilities and rescue kits placed in strategic locations around the region.

MWRCC will also be in touch with Indigenous groups to learn the traditional importance of the local marine environment and its inhabitants.

“We want to work with these groups and share knowledge between us,” Gilmore said.

“This is an opportunity to help save and protect our local marine wildlife, so if you have passion and commitment, then you are more than welcome to join us.”

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast has a Facebook page where you may contact members. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076317431064


Watch out - shorebirds about

Summer is here so watch your step because beach-nesting and estuary-nesting birds have started setting up home on our shores.
Did you know that Careel Bay and other spots throughout our area are part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP)?

This flyway, and all of the stopping points along its way, are vital to ensure the survival of these Spring and Summer visitors. This is where they rest and feed on their journeys.  For example, did you know that the bar-tailed godwit flies for 239 hours for 8,108 miles from Alaska to Australia?

Not only that, Shorebirds such as endangered oystercatchers and little terns lay their eggs in shallow scraped-out nests in the sand, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Threatened Species officer Ms Katherine Howard has said.
Even our regular residents such as seagulls are currently nesting to bear young.

What can you do to help them?
Known nest sites may be indicated by fencing or signs. The whole community can help protect shorebirds by keeping out of nesting areas marked by signs or fences and only taking your dog to designated dog offleash area. 

Just remember WE are visitors to these areas. These birds LIVE there. This is their home.

Four simple steps to help keep beach-nesting birds safe:
1. Look out for bird nesting signs or fenced-off nesting areas on the beach, stay well clear of these areas and give the parent birds plenty of space.
2. Walk your dogs in designated dog-friendly areas only and always keep them on a leash over summer.
3. Stay out of nesting areas and follow all local rules.
4. Chicks are mobile and don't necessarily stay within fenced nesting areas. When you're near a nesting area, stick to the wet sand to avoid accidentally stepping on a chick.


Possums In Your Roof?: do the right thing

Possums in your roof? Please do the right thing 
On the weekend, one of our volunteers noticed a driver pull up, get out of their vehicle, open the boot, remove a trap and attempt to dump a possum on a bush track. Fortunately, our member intervened and saved the beautiful female brushtail and the baby in her pouch from certain death. 

It is illegal to relocate a trapped possum more than 150 metres from the point of capture and substantial penalties apply.  Urbanised possums are highly territorial and do not fare well in unfamiliar bushland. In fact, they may starve to death or be taken by predators.

While Sydney Wildlife Rescue does not provide a service to remove possums from your roof, we do offer this advice:

✅ Call us on (02) 9413 4300 and we will refer you to a reliable and trusted licenced contractor in the Sydney metropolitan area. For a small fee they will remove the possum, seal the entry to your roof and provide a suitable home for the possum - a box for a brushtail or drey for a ringtail.
✅ Do-it-yourself by following this advice from the Department of Planning and Environment: 

❌ Do not under any circumstances relocate a possum more than 150 metres from the capture site.
Thank you for caring and doing the right thing.



Sydney Wildlife photos

Aviaries + Possum Release Sites Needed

Pittwater Online News has interviewed Lynette Millett OAM (WIRES Northern Beaches Branch) needs more bird cages of all sizes for keeping the current huge amount of baby wildlife in care safe or 'homed' while they are healed/allowed to grow bigger to the point where they may be released back into their own home. 

If you have an aviary or large bird cage you are getting rid of or don't need anymore, please email via the link provided above. There is also a pressing need for release sites for brushtail possums - a species that is very territorial and where release into a site already lived in by one possum can result in serious problems and injury. 

If you have a decent backyard and can help out, Lyn and husband Dave can supply you with a simple drey for a nest and food for their first weeks of adjustment.

Bushcare in Pittwater: where + when

For further information or to confirm the meeting details for below groups, please contact Council's Bushcare Officer on 9970 1367 or visit Council's bushcare webpage to find out how you can get involved.

BUSHCARE SCHEDULES 
Where we work                      Which day                              What time 

Avalon     
Angophora Reserve             3rd Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Dunes                        1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Golf Course              2nd Wednesday                 3 - 5:30pm 
Careel Creek                         4th Saturday                      8:30 - 11:30am 
Toongari Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon (8 - 11am in summer) 
Bangalley Headland            2nd Sunday                         9 to 12noon 
Catalpa Reserve              4th Sunday of the month        8.30 – 11.30
Palmgrove Park              1st Saturday of the month        9.00 – 12 

Bayview     
Winnererremy Bay                 4th Sunday                        9 to 12noon 

Bilgola     
North Bilgola Beach              3rd Monday                        9 - 12noon 
Algona Reserve                     1st Saturday                       9 - 12noon 
Plateau Park                          1st Friday                            8:30 - 11:30am 

Church Point     
Browns Bay Reserve             1st Tuesday                        9 - 12noon 
McCarrs Creek Reserve       Contact Bushcare Officer     To be confirmed 

Clareville     
Old Wharf Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      8 - 11am 

Elanora     
Kundibah Reserve                   4th Sunday                       8:30 - 11:30am 

Mona Vale     
Mona Vale Beach Basin          1st Saturday                    8 - 11am 
Mona Vale Dunes                     2nd Saturday +3rd Thursday     8:30 - 11:30am 

Newport     
Bungan Beach                          4th Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
Crescent Reserve                    3rd Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
North Newport Beach              4th Saturday                    8:30 - 11:30am 
Porter Reserve                          2nd Saturday                  8 - 11am 

North Narrabeen     
Irrawong Reserve                     2nd Saturday                   2 - 5pm 

Palm Beach     
North Palm Beach Dunes      3rd Saturday                    9 - 12noon 

Scotland Island     
Catherine Park                          2nd Sunday                     10 - 12:30pm 
Elizabeth Park                           1st Saturday                      9 - 12noon 
Pathilda Reserve                      3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon 

Warriewood     
Warriewood Wetlands             1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 

Whale Beach     
Norma Park                               1st Friday                            9 - 12noon 

Western Foreshores     
Coopers Point, Elvina Bay      2nd Sunday                        10 - 1pm 
Rocky Point, Elvina Bay           1st Monday                          9 - 12noon

Friends Of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment Activities

Bush Regeneration - Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment  
This is a wonderful way to become connected to nature and contribute to the health of the environment.  Over the weeks and months you can see positive changes as you give native species a better chance to thrive.  Wildlife appreciate the improvement in their habitat.

Belrose area - Thursday mornings 
Belrose area - Weekend mornings by arrangement
Contact: Phone or text Conny Harris on 0432 643 295

Wheeler Creek - Wednesday mornings 9-11am
Contact: Phone or text Judith Bennett on 0402 974 105
Or email: Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment : email@narrabeenlagoon.org.au

Gardens and Environment Groups and Organisations in Pittwater


Ringtail Posses 2023

Labor’s dumping of Australia’s new nature laws means the environment is shaping as a key 2025 election issue

Controversy over land clearing at the Lee Point (Binybara) housing development site, near Darwin, highlights the urgent need for environmental law reform. Euan Ritchie
Peter BurnettAustralian National UniversityEuan RitchieDeakin University, and Jaana DielenbergCharles Darwin University

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has shelved the proposed reforms to Australia’s 25-year-old environment laws, citing a lack of parliamentary support for the changes.

The decision breaks Labor’s 2022 election commitment to overhaul the protections. The Albanese government is now the latest in a string of governments that have tried and failed to reform the law known formally as the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

This is despite two major independent reviews calling for wholesale change.

Labor’s capitulation does not, however, change the facts. Australia’s natural environment is deteriorating rapidly. Laws are urgently needed to protect our nation’s valuable natural assets.

Establishing effective laws is an investment that will benefit Australia’s biodiversity, economy, cultural values, health and wellbeing. Nature is now a key 2025 election issue.

How did we get here?

An independent review of the EPBC Act, known as the Samuel Review, was completed in 2020 under the former Coalition government. It found that without urgent changes, most of Australia’s threatened plants, animals and ecosystems will become extinct.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek promised to act on the review’s recommendations, via a plan Labor badged as “Nature Positive”.

The centrepiece of reform is to set national environmental standards that would be overseen by an independent regulator and watchdog called Environmental Protection Australia (EPA). But reform was split into three stages.

Stage one legislated for national markets in nature repair and expanded the requirement to assess potential impacts on water resources under the EPBC Act. The so-called “water trigger” now captures “unconventional gas” projects such as shale gas recovery in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin. The law passed in December 2023, but the markets are not yet functioning.

Stage two of the reforms, including establishing a federal EPA, came before the Senate in late 2024. Plibersek had reportedly made a deal with the crossbench to secure passage. But this deal was scuttled by Albanese at the eleventh hour.

Stage two was relisted for discussion in the upcoming first parliamentary sitting week of 2025, this week. But on Saturday, Albanese told The Conversation the government would, again, not be proceeding with the reform this term.

The reforms have been delayed for so long that we are now closer to the next statutory review of the laws, due in 2029, than to the last one.

Stage three, which covers the bulk of substantive reform recommended in the Samuel Review, is yet to be seen publicly.

What will happen after the next election?

Albanese must go to the polls by May 17, but there is speculation the election may be as early as March. So what is the likely fate of these environmental reforms in the next term?

A Roy Morgan poll on Monday found if a federal election were held now, the result would be a hung parliament. So the result is looking tight.

Government control of the Senate is rare. So whoever is in power after the election is very likely to rely on crossbench support for any reforms.

Albanese has ruled out forming a coalition with the Greens or crossbenchers in the event of a hung parliament. However, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he would negotiate with independents to form government.

A returned Albanese majority government would probably revisit the scuttled deal on stage two. With elections in the rear-view mirror, Albanese may be prepared to wear some political pain early in the next term to secure a deal. He would also still need to roll out the bulk of the Nature Positive reforms, the detail of which remains hidden behind a vague “stage three” banner.

A minority Albanese government may face a tougher ask: demands from an environmentally progressive crossbench for major commitments to environmental reform in return for promises of support on budget and confidence.

A Coalition government would be coming from a very different angle. Dutton has painted Nature Positive as a “disaster” for the economy, expressing particular concern about impacts on the mining sector.

The Coalition’s environmental agenda is increasingly focused on “cutting green tape” – in other words, reducing bureaucratic hurdles for developers – and repealing bans on nuclear power stations. Finding crossbench support in the Senate for this agenda could be challenging.

The Greens have vowed to make environmental protection a key election issue, urging voters to cast their ballot for nature this election.

A recent poll published by the Biodiversity Council shows 75% of Australians support strengthening national environmental law to protect nature. Only 4% are opposed and the rest are undecided.

But converting a high level of broad support into votes is another thing altogether – especially during a cost-of-living crisis.

Crystal clear consequences

The political crystal ball remains cloudy. But when it comes to the state of Australia’s environment, the picture is clear.

The environment continues to decline and the consequences are increasingly serious. These consequences extend beyond further irreversible loss and the increasing cost of environmental repair, to include the economic and social consequences of losing more of the natural assets on which our quality of life depends.

The building blocks of successful reform are all on the table, where the Samuel Review put them in 2020.

When will governments accept that kicking the can down the road is selling us all down the drain?The Conversation

Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National UniversityEuan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, and Jaana Dielenberg, University Fellow in Biodiversity, Charles Darwin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

It’s official: Australia’s ocean surface was the hottest on record in 2024

Moninya RoughanUNSW Sydney

Australia’s sea surface temperatures were the warmest on record last year, according to a snapshot of the nation’s climate which underscores the perilous state of the world’s oceans.

The Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday released its annual climate statement for 2024 – the official record of temperature, rainfall, water resources, oceans, atmosphere and notable weather.

Among its many alarming findings were that sea surface temperatures were hotter than ever around the continent last year: a whopping 0.89°C above average.

Oceans cover more than 70% of Earth’s surface, and their warming is gravely concerning. It causes sea levels to rise, coral to bleach and Earth’s ice sheets to melt faster. Hotter oceans also makes weather on land more extreme and damages the marine life which underpins vital ocean ecosystems.

What the snapshot showed

Australia’s climate varies from year to year. That’s due to natural phenomena such as the El Niño and La Niña climate drivers, as well as human-induced climate change.

The bureau confirmed 2024 was Australia’s second-warmest year since national records began in 1910. The national annual average temperature was 1.46°C warmer than the long-term average (1961–90). Heatwaves struck large parts of Australia early in the year, and from September to December.

Average rainfall in Australia was 596 millimetres, 28% above the 30-year average, making last year the eighth-wettest since records began.

And annual sea surface temperatures for the Australian region were the warmest on record. Global sea surface temperatures in 2024 were also the warmest on record.

According to the bureau, Antarctic sea-ice extent was far below average, or close to record-lows, for much of the year but returned to average in December.

What caused the hot oceans?

It’s too early to officially attribute the ocean warming to climate change. But we do know greenhouse gas emissions are heating the Earth’s atmosphere, and oceans absorb 90% of this heat.

So we can expect human-induced climate change played a big role in warming the oceans last year. But shorter-term forces are at play, too.

The rare triple-dip La Niña Australia experienced from 2020 to 2023 brought cooler water from deep in the ocean up to the surface. It was like turning on the ocean’s air-conditioner.

But that pattern ended and Australia entered an El Niño in September 2023. It lasted about seven months, when the oscillation between El Niño and La Niña entered a neutral phase.

The absence of a La Niña meant cool water was no longer being churned up from the deep. Once that masking effect disappeared, the long-term warming trend of the oceans became apparent once more.

Water can store a lot more heat than air. In fact, just the top few metres of the ocean store as much heat as Earth’s entire atmosphere. Oceans take a long time to heat up and a long time to cool.

Heat at the ocean’s surface eventually gets pushed deeper into the water column and spreads across Earth’s surface in currents. The below chart shows how the world’s oceans have heated over the past 70 years.

chart showing ocean warming since 1960
Changes in the world’s ocean heat content since 1955. NOAA/NCEI World Ocean Database

Why should we care about ocean warming?

Rapid warming of Earth’s oceans is setting off a raft of worrying changes.

It can lead to less nutrients in surface waters, which in turn leads to fewer fish. Warmer water can also cause species to move elsewhere. This threatens the food security and livelihoods of millions of people around the world.

Just last week, it was reported that tens of thousands of fish died off northwestern Australia due to a large and prolonged marine heatwave.

Warm water causes coral bleaching, as experienced on the Great Barrier Reef in recent decades. It also makes oceans more acidic, reducing the amount of calcium carbonate available for organisms to build shells and skeletons.

Warming oceans trigger sea level rise – both due to melt water from glaciers and ice sheets, and the fact seawater expands as it warms.

Hotter oceans are also linked to weather extremes, such as more intense cyclones and heavier rainfall. It’s likely the high annual rainfall Australia experienced in 2024 was in part due to warmer ocean temperatures.

What now?

As long as humans keep burning fossil fuels and pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the oceans will keep warming.

Unfortunately, the world is not doing a good job of shifting its emissions trajectory. As the bureau pointed out in its statement, concentrations of all major long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increased last year, including carbon dioxide and methane.

Prolonged ocean warming is driving changes in weather patterns and more frequent and intense marine heatwaves. This threatens ecosystems and human livelihoods. To protect our oceans and our way of life, we must transition to clean energy sources and cut carbon emissions.

At the same time, we must urgently expand ocean observing below the ocean’s surface, especially in under-studied regions, to establish crucial baseline data for measuring climate change impacts.

The time to act is now: to reduce emissions, support ocean research and help safeguard the future of our blue planet.The Conversation

Moninya Roughan, Professor in Oceanography, UNSW Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Albanese dumps Nature Positive legislation and considers shrinking the electoral reform bill

Michelle GrattanUniversity of Canberra

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dumped – for the second time – the government’s controversial “Nature Positive” legislation, which had run into strong opposition from the Western Australian Labor government.

Albanese, speaking on The Conversation’s Politics podcast ahead of a fortnight parliamentary sitting starting next week, said there was not enough support for the legislation, which had been on the draft list of bills for next week, circulated by the government.

This is the second time the Prime Minister has pulled back from the legislation. Late last year he also said it did not have enough support, despite Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek believing she had a deal with the Greens and crossbench for its passage.

The legislation would set up a federal Environment Protection Agency, which has riled miners who claim it would add to bureaucracy and delay approvals.

In recent days WA premier Roger Cook, who was instrumental in heading off the legislation last year, has been lobbying the federal government again. WA faces an election on March 8.

In an interview on Saturday, Albanese told The Conversation: “I can’t see that it has a path to success. So at this stage, I can say that we won’t be proceeding with it this term. There simply isn’t a [Senate] majority, as there wasn’t last year.

"The Greens Party on one hand have changed their views”, making another demand during the week, he said. While the Liberals – who began the review of the present Environment Protection Act – “have chosen an obstructionist path,” he said.

Albanese said the government would continue to discuss the issue with stakeholders in the next term of parliament.

“Does the environment and protection act need revision from where it was last century? Quite clearly it does. Everyone says that that’s the case. It’s a matter of working to, in a practical way, a commonsense reform that delivers something that supports industry.

"I want to see faster approvals. We in fact have speeded up approvals substantially.

"But we also want proper sustainability as well.”

Albanese also flagged the government might cut back its legislation to reform rules covering electoral donations and spending in order to get a deal to pass it.

Special Minister of State Don Farrell and the Liberals had been on the brink of a deal in the final week of parliament last year, but negotiations imploded at the eleventh hour.

Albanese told The Conversation he hoped the legislation could still be passed. “I spoke with [Farrell] today, he is consulting with people across the parliament.

"What I would say is that we are looking to get reform through. Now whether that is a bigger, broader reform or whether it needs to be narrowed down, we’ll wait and see.

"But we’re very serious about the reform which would lower the donation declarations, that would put a cap on donations, a cap on expenditure, that would lead to more transparency as well. It’s an important part of supporting our democracy.

"We see overseas and we’ve seen people like Clive Palmer here spend over $100 million on a campaign. That’s a distortion of democracy – if one person can spend that much money to try to influence an election and we don’t find out all of that information till much later on.”

The reforms would not start operating until the next term of parliament.

Albanese said he thought the reform would have “overwhelming support” with the public “and I hope that it receives overwhelming support in the Senate as well”.

Podcast E&OE TRANSCRIPT

MICHELLE GRATTAN, HOST: The date for the election isn’t announced yet, but the contestants have been running at full tilt for months. Many voters, however, hard pressed by the cost of living, are just starting to tune in, and their mood is often sour and certainly impatient. The polls at present are showing the election battle is finally balanced, with observers speculating on a hung parliament. But there’s a lot to play out in coming weeks before the result is decided. Today, in our first podcast for 2025, we sit down with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to talk about current issues and his pitch for a second term. Prime Minister, thank you for joining the podcast. Let’s start with the antisemitism wave that we’re seeing. Now, I know that you won’t comment on the recent incident involving the caravan full of explosives, about which, reportedly, you weren’t told initially. But more generally, are you satisfied with the performance of federal and state agencies in dealing with this wave generally, and are you satisfied that your Government and the states are doing everything they can to try to bring this under control?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I am satisfied that we are doing everything within our powers, and that every single request by the Australian Federal Police or by state jurisdictions or by the intelligence agencies, including ASIO, is met with one word: yes. So they are being provided with all of the resources and support. My focus is two things. The first focus is on safety. The second is on providing those intelligence and police agencies with support so that people can be rounded up, and I want to see people hunted down. I want to see them jailed.

GRATTAN: This whole wave, though, seems quite extraordinary, to me, at least. Have you any explanation or theory about how this could be happening? So much violence, so many incidents.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the police have outlined, themselves, some of their views about what the motivation is, and one of those is that some of the perpetrators of these violent acts have been paid to do so. Now, they are engaged in an operation to not just find the perpetrators, but find who’s paying them. Who are the actors behind this? Which is why some of the calls for more of that information to be out there, whilst understandable from one perspective, what you can’t do is undermine an investigation. And I’m about outcomes here, I want to make sure that that the people responsible, not just up front, but behind this, are held to account.

GRATTAN: But are you surprised that we’ve seen this enormous outbreak?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, I was surprised as well by last week the vision of up to 30 men in black gear from head to toe, marching through Adelaide and Adelaide Park – trying to march through – and Adelaide city, to disrupt Australia Day festivities. That’s not who Australia – it’s not what we are. We’re a tolerant, multicultural, harmonious nation, and some of clearly the motivation of some of this is about causing social division. Is about disruption. And it is – it is shocking. It has caused enormous distress in particularly, of course, in the Jewish community, who’ve been targeted. But more broadly, it’s caused distress as well.

GRATTAN: Obviously, over its history, since the 1970s, multiculturalism has come under pressure at times. Do you think it is now seriously under pressure because of what’s happened in the wake of the Middle East conflict, and do you think more action has to be taken by governments, by organisations, by community leaders, to really put more glue in our multiculturalism?

PRIME MINISTER: We can’t take our social cohesion for granted. It needs to be nurtured, it needs to be cherished. That’s why I’ve appointed Peter Khalil as the Special Envoy on Social Cohesion to work with communities to that end. So I think quite clearly with some of the challenges that are there – and this isn’t just an Australian phenomenon. We see this in the United States, the United Kingdom, in other nations as well. We need to make sure that we do what we can to, as you put it, provide that glue that brings us together. I’ve always thought that Australia can be a microcosm for the world that can show people of different faiths, different backgrounds, can come together, living in harmony, strengthened by our diversity. And it certainly is one of the things that I find fantastic about living in Australia, is that diversity that’s there. I’ve just been celebrating the Year of the Snake in the Lunar New Year, with tens of thousands of people in the Chinese community gathered at Box Hill. They’re expecting today, over the day, over 150,000 people to participate there in Melbourne, and that’s a great privilege. It’s one of the great things about being Australian.

GRATTAN: Let’s turn to cost of living, which, of course, will be at the heart of the election battle. We’ve been in a per capita recession for some time now. And you told the Fin Review a day or so ago that Australians will be better off in three years’ time than they are now. How soon do you anticipate we might be out of this per capita recession?

PRIME MINISTER: We can see already from the figures that inflation is down to 2.4 per cent, the headline rate. Underlying down to 3.2 per cent from 3.6 per cent. So it’s been heading in the right direction. It peaked above seven. When we came to office, it had a six in front of it, so it’s almost a third. So that’s part of the equation. The second part, of course, is the inputs, which is people’s wages and real wages have risen four quarters in a row. Unemployment is low, relatively. It’s at 4 per cent and indeed the average unemployment rate during my Government is lower than any government in the last 50 years, and that’s a remarkable achievement given global inflationary pressures. So we want to see living standards rise. We see the purpose of an economy being working for people, not the other way around. And there are positive signs there. If you look at consumer confidence, those figures have been heading in the right direction as well. So I am very hopeful that what we’ve managed to do – I say, it’s like landing a 747 on a helicopter pad – to try to land lower inflation, whilst providing cost of living, relief and support, whilst making sure you don’t have a negative impact in which there’s spike in unemployment. That’s been our task, and the figures show that it has been the right strategy going forward, compared with New Zealand which is in a significant recession. Unemployment has hit double digits amongst many of our competitors, and we have the fastest employment growth, faster than any G7 country.

GRATTAN: So could we get out of this per capita recession this calendar year, do you think?

PRIME MINISTER: Look, things are heading positive, and when you have real wages increasing and you have inflation heading in the right direction down to 2.4 per cent. So the Reserve Bank band that they seek is between two and three, so it’s in the bottom half. Now the Reserve Bank will make independent decisions, but obviously interest rates have a major impact on people’s quality of life as well, and so I am positive that what we have done is to come through some of the hardest economic times that we’ve seen globally, which was a product, in part, of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But also, people can’t underestimate the impact that the tail of COVID, which is still with us, has had.

GRATTAN: So without pre-empting the Reserve Bank, do you think we can expect interest rates will come down in the next few months?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, all of the economic commentators are saying that that is the most likely prediction of markets. It’s not up to me as Prime Minister to tell the independent Reserve Bank what to do, but I’m certain that we’ve created the conditions through, as well, our responsible economic management. Producing two Budget surpluses, the massive turnaround that we have seen, compared with what the March 2022 Budget handed down by the Coalition by Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg, was predicting. That turnaround is around $200 billion. That is a big turnaround, the biggest ever fiscal turnaround, in any term of government.

GRATTAN: I’m sure you’ll have your fingers crossed mid-month when the Bank meets.

PRIME MINISTER: February 18 is the meeting, and I’m certainly conscious of that date.

GRATTAN: Incidentally, in the interview that I referred to, I noticed you said the election date is fluid. That is your position? No final decision on that?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, no, we make decisions when we finalise them and I’ll consult. But I’ve always said, I’ve been asked this now for some time. One of the problems with three year terms is they are too short, and this time last year, Peter Dutton was calling for an election to stop tax cuts going forward, it’s important to remember. And then various publications were predicting an election in August. Then it was September, October, etc. I think three years is too short, so we’ll make an assessment at an appropriate time. But Parliament will be sitting next week, as I said last year that it would.

GRATTAN: Maybe you really do want that Budget in March?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we certainly are working to hand down a budget in March. The ERC will be meeting this week as it met last week, and we’ve done a lot of work, obviously, with the March Budget proposed, a lot of work is done in advance in MYEFO, more so than if it was a May budget. So a lot of work has been done.

GRATTAN: You often say that you don’t want people held back or people left behind. At this point, who is left behind? In other words, who do you see as the most, as the people most needing urgent help?

PRIME MINISTER: One of the issues that brings up, I think, is intergenerational equity. I think that young people feel like they’ve got the rough end of the pineapple compared with previous generations. So something I’m really conscious of, that’s one of the reasons why we’ll cancel 20 per cent of student debt on top of the $3 billion we’ve already cancelled. That’s one of the reasons why we’re concentrating so hard on housing and on making sure that we increase supply. That’s one of the reasons why, as well, I’ve done so much hard work with Jason Clare, not just on early childhood education that we’ve done with Anne Aly, but on school education at the moment, trying to finally deliver on David Gonski’s vision of 14 years ago. We’ve now got six of the states and territories signed up to that. But while also we’re delivering Free TAFE, more than 600,000 Australians, largely young people, have benefited from that, as well as the Universities Accord. So all the way through, we think education is really important. Housing is important and giving people that opportunity.

GRATTAN: So do you want to do more in the way of promises and so on this term for young people? Or do you think you’ve reached the limit of what you can do?

PRIME MINISTER: We’ll have more policies being announced for them and and in other areas as well. I mean Labor will always want to do more to strengthen the economy and for that to create the conditions to do more in education and health and creating opportunity. And what I mean by no one left behind is that during these difficult economic times, we’ve provided substantial income support for people who’ve needed it. We changed the Single Parenting Payment. We’ve increased Rental Assistance by 45 per cent with two consecutive support increases, the first time that’s ever happened. So we’ve done that to target particularly disadvantaged groups. We’re reforming the NDIS to make sure that it’s sustainable in the long term. We’ve got aged care reform to make sure that older Australians get the dignity and respect they deserve in their later years. Now, all of that is designed by making sure that people aren’t left behind. But no one held back is about opportunity as well, seizing the opportunity that’s there from new industries with the shift to net zero, seizing the opportunity to train Australians for those jobs of the future. That is what I mean by those two phrases, and that, I think, is a pretty useful frame I have found for government as well. Are we achieving either of those objectives with what we’re putting forward?

GRATTAN: Now, looking abroad, Donald Trump is set to have a major influence way beyond the United States. What do you think the implications will be for Australia? Firstly, in terms of the economy, do you think will be hit with tariffs? And secondly, in terms of the region, and thirdly, in terms of climate change policy internationally?

PRIME MINISTER: On the former, the direct impact on us, I can say that the first discussion I had with President Trump to congratulate him on his election was very positive. That when it comes to decisions about tariffs, I believe that the world benefits from free trade. We do have a free trade agreement with the United States. The United States has a trade surplus with us, so it is in their interest for that relationship to continue.

GRATTAN: You think they’ll see that?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we will put our arguments forward very clearly. With regard to the impact of a Trump Administration on the region, part of what we will be saying and doing is there’s a recognition that Australia punches above our weight in this region. We are a significant power when it comes to the Pacific, and we exercise that in a range of ways – soft power, diplomatic power, economic influence, support for infrastructure and programs in the Pacific, but also ASEAN. I hosted last year every ASEAN leader in Melbourne, that was extremely successful. And that relationship with the growing economies in our region, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and more is very important, and we play that role. We’re important alliance partners with the United States, but we’re also important partners in the Quad together with Japan and India in this region. So we play an important role going forward. I think that is very much recognised.

GRATTAN: And you would be stressing that. And what about climate change?

PRIME MINISTER: Climate change – we believe very firmly that climate change action isn’t just about the environment. It’s also about strengthening our economy. That we have an economic advantage by developing green aluminium, green steel, these new industries. So, largely, the impact of the US and their relationship to the Paris Accord shouldn’t be overemphasised, the impact on what we do domestically. And I also think that some of what occurs in the United States – the Inflation Reduction Act – Members of Congress and the Senate, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, will be, I think, reluctant to unwind some of the support for industry which is there because it’s about jobs in their local constituency, and it’s that same motivation that we have of jobs and where does future economic growth come from. I truly believe that action taken this decade can set Australia up for the many decades ahead.

GRATTAN: Do you have any idea, incidentally, when you might have your first face to face meeting with the new President?

PRIME MINISTER: The President, at this stage, hasn’t had international visitors, bilaterals, and that’s understandable. The Administration is being established. The Quad meeting is expected to take place in the second quarter of this year, perhaps around about June, so perhaps then, if not beforehand. But we will wait and see. We’ll certainly continue to have engagement. And it’s been very positive the engagement that ministers have had, I think the fact that Penny Wong, as our Foreign Minister, was one of the few international guests at the inauguration was a very positive sign.

GRATTAN: Now coming back closer to home, I know you’re pitching for majority government, but are you confident that if the election delivered you minority government, you could still deliver your program effectively? Now you do have, of course, experience in this area from the previous Labor Government.

PRIME MINISTER: I’m confident that we can achieve an ongoing majority government at this election. I think there are seats that we currently hold that we have good prospects in and indeed in recent days, today, I was in Menzies. Yesterday, I was in Deakin. I think there are seats where Labor can win –

GRATTAN: Menzies and Deakin?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, Menzies, absolutely we can win and Deakin, we have the same candidate that we had last time, Mr Gregg. So that that’s an advantage when you have a second crack. In Gabriel Ng in Menzies, he’s an outstanding candidate as well. And on the pendulum with the redistribution it has, I think it’s slightly in our corner, but basically 50/50, but it’s slightly towards us. And we’ll be campaigning hard across seats to retain seats that we currently hold, but to win seats off the Coalition and in a range of areas they have particular problems with sitting or former sitting Liberal members who’ve defected, or National Party members who are running as independents. You have as well, the opportunity for us to succeed in seats that are held in Queensland by the Greens party, and we certainly have fantastic candidates in seats, like Renee Coffey in Griffith is campaigning very hard. As is Rebecca Hack in Ryan and Madonna Jarrett in Brisbane.

GRATTAN: Talking about independents, do you think you could get Fowler back?

PRIME MINISTER: We certainly have a fantastic candidate in Tu Le in Fowler, she’s an accomplished lawyer. She is the daughter of quite prominent people who came to Australia by boat as refugees. She’s articulate, she’s smart, she’s accomplished. She’s from that area. She has lived there her whole life, and she’s having a real crack.

GRATTAN: And you think you can?

PRIME MINISTER: I think we are certainly in with a big opportunity, because it has historically been a Labor seat, and clearly there was backlash last time round by a perception that Kristina Keneally was not from the area. Tu Le is a great candidate, and she’s campaigning very hard.

GRATTAN: The Government this term didn’t introduce what was expected or hoped for, legislation on restricting gambling advertising, and many people were disappointed at that. Do you commit to doing this if you’re re-elected?

PRIME MINISTER: We are going to do more, but we’ve already done a lot. We’ve done more than any government since Federation on problem gambling. The BetStop Register was an important reform, banning credit cards from use, making sure that we get much stronger regulation. And one of the things that has also happened as a result of pressure from the Government as well, there’s been a reduction, a bit of self-regulation, if you like, as well, from some of the betting companies in terms of advertising. We also are very conscious that when it comes to problem gambling, it’s not just about betting on football, indeed, overwhelmingly, it’s poker machines is where most losses occur, with problem gamblers. But there are other forms as well, and so we want to make sure – one of the things we did as well was to change the ads from the benign ‘gamble responsibly’ that didn’t really say anything, to have very direct messages to people who are adults, to say, if you bet you will lose, to make that very clear as well. But we acknowledge that there’s more to do, and we’ll continue –

GRATTAN: And so you’ll do something on the advertising?

PRIME MINISTER: We will continue to consult with stakeholders and continue to take measures.

GRATTAN: Now the Parliament is about to meet for a fortnight, and I just want to ask you about a couple of important pieces of legislation that will go to the Senate. Do you think we will see the passage of the legislation for the changes in political donations and election spending, and how important are these changes?

PRIME MINISTER: I hope so. And Don Farrell, I spoke with today, as I speak to regularly. He is consulting with people across the Parliament to try to get reforms through –

GRATTAN: Is he confident?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Parliament, we spoke before about the prospect of getting legislation through. Labor has 25 out of 76 senators. So we need a large group of people, either the Coalition or the minor parties – a whole section of them, not just one or two – to support legislation. What I would say is that we are looking to get reform through now, whether that is a bigger, broader reform, or whether it needs to be narrowed down, we’ll wait and see. But we’re very serious about the reforms, which would lower the donation declaration, that would put a cap on donations, a cap on expenditure that would lead to more transparency as well. It’s an important part of supporting our democracy. We see overseas, and we’ve seen people like Clive Palmer here spend over $100 million on a campaign. That’s a distortion of democracy, if one person can spend that much money to try to influence an election, and we don’t find out all that information until much later on. So I want to see greater transparency. This term we said we would have a NACC – a National Anti-Corruption Commission. We’ve delivered that. It’s up and running. It’s operating, and I would like to see this. It wouldn’t begin, of course, until the next election, because of time factors of where we’re at with the Electoral Commission. But I think this would have overwhelming support, and I hope that it receives overwhelming support in the Senate as well.

GRATTAN: Now what about the nature positive legislation? It’s also listed. But the Western Australian Government, which is facing an election very soon, is very much against this legislation which sets up a new environmental watchdog. Are you – what is your position on this now? You did pull back from the bill late last year.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I can’t see that it has a path to success. So at this stage, I can say that we won’t be proceeding with it this term. There simply isn’t a majority as there wasn’t last year. The Greens Party, on one hand, have changed their views with a series of demands. They had another one during the week. Said they wouldn’t without linking it to native forestry and linking it to other things. The Liberal Party that, of course, this process began under them. They are the ones who commissioned the Samuel Report that showed that for neither industry or for environmental groups, the current legislation was working. But they have chosen an obstructionist path, which is what they have tended to do on a range of things. So at this point in time, given there is no prospect of it passing, we’ll continue to discuss with stakeholders in the next term, but at this –

GRATTAN: It will remain your policy?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we’ve got, of course, it will be, does the Environment and Protection Act need revision from where it was last century? Quite clearly, it does. Everyone says that that’s the case. It’s a matter of working to, in a practical way, a common sense reform that delivers something that supports industry. I want to see faster approvals. We, in fact, have speeded up approvals substantially, under my Government compared with what was there. But we also want proper sustainability as well.

GRATTAN: Now, looking at the polls, you do better with female voters than with male voters. Why do you think your polling with men is lagging, and how will you try and change that?

PRIME MINISTER: We know that this is a reversal of what historically has occurred. You wrote a piece on this, Michelle, that I read just a while ago. I think there’s a range of factors to it. One, I think, is a concern that many women have, that the Coalition don’t represent them. They certainly, if you look at the Parliament, they don’t reflect the general population. My Government is now majority women in the Caucus, and that plays through to a policy focus as well. So the gender pay gap is the lowest it’s ever been. We want to do even more, Paid Parental Leave, Single Parenting Payment, superannuation on Paid Parental Leave, the child care policy and women’s workforce participation. All of these measures are important, I think, for some men, there is the impact of social media is a major impact. One of the things, though, that we will be really campaigning very hard on is the impact on blue collar workers of the Coalition promises to get rid of Same Job, Same Pay. The definition of casual in employment, their plan to essentially go back to wages going backwards, not forwards, and that, I think, will have an impact as well.

GRATTAN: Now you hoped, of course, that the Voice would be your legacy achievement for this term, but that didn’t come to pass. So what would you nominate as your number one achievement?

PRIME MINISTER: Turning around the economy when people were under real pressure on cost of living. If we had followed the path that Peter Dutton’s actions suggest – that is, no tax cuts for every taxpayer, no Energy Bill Relief, no Cheaper Child Care, no Cheaper Medicines, no Free TAFE, you would have seen in a $78 billion deficit rather than what we produced, a $22 billion surplus. Then having those economic circumstances would have meant that you couldn’t do the measures that we wanted to put in place. You would have been under real pressure to do Paid Parental Leave, to do child care reform as we have. Now, we know there is more to do, but I said before the last election that a long term Labor government builds foundations, and one of the things that we’ve done – child care is a good example. I said before the last election, we’d have a change to the child care subsidy. We know that the average family has benefited by around about $2,700 as a result of that subsidy. Now, next term, we’re saying, if you like, phase two is three days guaranteed child care and a billion dollar fund for child care infrastructure. Particularly that we want to link up with schools, so you have that seamless – avoid the double drop off, all of that. And we know that this is good for productivity, workforce participation and population, the three Ps of economic growth. So this is good economic policy, but it’s also good equity policy as well. But it takes time. Had you tried to do all of that measure in one step, I’m sure it would not be successful. So we’re phasing in that reform, as I said, first tranche done. Second tranche committed to in December last year. But we continue to work on reform. Taking climate change seriously. We have turned that around. Not just having a target of 43 per cent but a mechanism to get there, through the Safeguard Mechanism. The Capacity Investment Scheme is about what you need to do, and doing it in partnership with industry, unions and mainstream conservation groups as well, all on one page with that announcement. That’s a significant achievement, given the climate wars that have occurred over a period of time. Now Peter Dutton wants to reconnect them by stopping all of that and going down this nuclear fantasy road. But we have, I think, set up the process with the mechanisms in place to drive that through the economy.

GRATTAN: So when you’ve got these foundations in, can you be more radical in the second term, and more adventurous, if you like, on issues such as tax or other economic reforms or some other front?

PRIME MINISTER: I think what you can do, the job of reform, of course, is never done. And mine has been a busy Government across economic, social and environmental policy, but we do want to do more. But the economic transformation that the transition to net zero represents is a very significant one. Essentially, we’re seeing globally a transition that is as significant as the Industrial Revolution. This is a new shift in the whole way that the economy functions. And connected up with that, of course, is how do we produce new energy that drives the industries for the future? Be it data centres, for example. I met with Microsoft at their headquarters in Sydney just this week. The prospect that’s there for Australia to be a hub throughout the Indo-Pacific Asian region, is enormous. The prospect that we have when – just a couple weeks ago, we were at Tomago in Newcastle in the Hunter for green aluminium – is exciting for Australia. We are positioned better than anywhere else in the world to benefit, in my view, from this transition that’s occurring. We can be a renewable energy superpower that can be about making more things here, the Future Made in Australia agenda is really significant for us, and if we don’t do that, the alternative isn’t standing still and staying the same, because we’ll go backwards. And it’s significant that Peter Dutton, the first word of his slogan, is ‘back’, and that’s exactly right. He’s promising a smaller economy. His energy plan is for 40 per cent less energy use in 2050. That means making less things here, less industry, less jobs. It’s a myopic vision for Australia, making us smaller. I want Australia to be more successful, to be enlarged in our optimism and our vision, and I want to lead a Government that does that, and I believe I’ve got the capacity, by the amazing talents of people in my Ministry. We’ve had to rebuild the public service during this term. Frankly, they were in a spot of bother, I think. They hadn’t been listened to. Cabinet processes been abandoned. My predecessor, appointed to multiple ministries, and the chaos that was ensuing, there weren’t proper Cabinet processes. You had a Cabinet committee with one member – himself. That that sort of dysfunction that occurred needs to never be returned to.

GRATTAN: So just finally, would we see if you are re-elected, any differences in your own style, your own way of governing? Is there anything that you’ve learned that would bring changes in the way you go about things?

PRIME MINISTER: One of the things that my mentor, Tom Uren, who you knew well, used to say to me was ‘you’ve got to learn something new every day, and you’ve got to get better every day.’ Better, not just professionally, but as a person grow. And I believe that I do learn something new every day, and I continue to analyse how things are going. How can we do things better? And of course, you can. One of the things that we’ve done is, as I say, value the public service, that takes time to bring that forward. There were billions of dollars being spent on outsourcing government roles. We had to turn that around. Aged care was in crisis. The NDIS was headed for real issues which would have undermined support for it. We, I think, had government processes that had effectively broken down. Our relations with the world, not just with China, obviously with the $20 billion of disruption to trade, but with the Pacific, our Pacific neighbours, had broken down. We were in the naughty corner when we attended climate change conferences around the world as well. We have rebuilt those relationships internationally, but we’ve rebuilt relationships domestically as well. There are things that we will do.

GRATTAN: What about your own work style, though? Will you make any changes from what you’ve learned over this last two and a half years?

PRIME MINISTER: I make changes as I’m going as well. The idea that you’re just static over a term –

GRATTAN: What sort of changes have you made?

PRIME MINISTER: I think in some of the processes that we’ve established, continue to work on getting better and better in terms of the office. People that –

GRATTAN: Your office, you mean?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, the people that we’ve brought in, the way that we engage with the community, the way that we function and make decisions as well is important. I think some of the advice that we get as well. Robodebt had an impact on the public service as well that needs to be addressed. Governments need to function and need to be able to make decisions as well.

GRATTAN: Is it a harder job than you expected? Because, after all, for a long time, you were close to the top job, as it were, in various roles. But have you found it something of a shock when you actually experienced it over these past two and a half years?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think preparing for the job, the fact that I’d served as Acting Prime Minister in 2013 and served as Deputy Prime Minister –

GRATTAN: Not the same, though.

PRIME MINISTER: No, it’s not. But also, being Leader of the House and chairing the Parliamentary Business Committee meant you have access and oversight of every single piece of legislation that’s before the Parliament, every single one. And particularly in the minority Parliament, of course, that was more acute. But I think people underestimate the time that is involved. The international conversations that you have to have. Australia has to be represented at the G20, at the Pacific Island Forum, at ASEAN, at the Quad meetings, at APEC.

GRATTAN: You mean the time that the job that takes up?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, yeah. And that, though, is an incredible honour and a privilege. I mean, I am enjoying the job each and every day –

GRATTAN: Do you get exhausted, sometimes?

PRIME MINISTER: Oh, of course you do. You’re human. But one of the things I’ve got – you spoke about what I would do differently. I’ve got much better, I’ve always been pretty good, I think, at time management. But I think I’ve got even better than I was as a Minister or Leader of the Opposition, because you have to. So you get better at knowing you have to make a decision. And you also, though – every day when the car drops me off here, we’re speaking here in my Parliament House office, it’s an incredible privilege that I don’t take for granted on any day. Every time I drive through into that courtyard, I feel lifted up and enthused, and the adrenaline kicks in. I think it can keep you going. My staff sometimes say to me, I don’t know how you do it when they see the diary and how busy you can be. But you know, this opportunity to serve and to make a difference to people’s lives is an incredible one, and I feel honoured to have it. I feel humbled that someone who, when I came into this Parliament, and would have been when we first met a long time ago now. You know, I didn’t come here to be Prime Minister with any expectation at all. But I’m here, and I’m very much enjoying it, and I really will be working each and every day as well to make sure that we’re in a position to continue to build in a second term. Not because of wanting to sit in this office, but because of what you can do for people in this office. And I get as well, some fuel in the tank, if you like, by when I’m out and about, like this morning in Box Hill, or last night at a function, people coming up and just saying, “thank you, you did this decision that made a difference to me,” and that to me, is really important.

GRATTAN: Well, there’ll be plenty of adrenaline flowing through you and through Peter Dutton in the weeks to come. Prime Minister, thank you very much for talking with us today.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Michelle.The Conversation

Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Habitat restoration is a long-haul job. Here are 3 groups that have endured

TREAT volunteers planting trees. TREAT
Nigel TuckerJames Cook University

Like ferns and the tides, community conservation groups come and go. Many achieve their goal. Volunteers restore a local wetland or protect a patch of urban bush and then hang up the gardening gloves with a warm inner glow. Some groups peter out while others endure, tackling the ecological problems facing today’s Australia.

One of those problems is fragmentation. Let’s say you have a national park in one spot and another large tract of habitat ten kilometres away. It’s too hard for many wildlife species to make it across open ground to get there. Over time, this means wild areas can effectively become islands.

This is where habitat corridors come in. Potentially, if you restore habitat between two isolated areas, wildlife can begin to safely move between the two. Over time, these corridors allow seeds, pollen, native birds and animals to disperse across today’s landscapes.

In my work as a restoration ecologist, I’ve come across many of Australia’s community groups devoted to the job. Three of these are LUCI – Lockyer Upland Catchments Inc, which began in 2015, the Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy, founded in 1993 and TREAT – Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands Inc, which began in 1982. Each of these has gone the distance. Here are some reasons why.

native fruit from Australia, colourful assemblage.
Native fruit from the trees in the remnant Big Scrub. Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy

Where are wildlife corridors most needed?

Australia’s Wet Tropics are especially threatened by fragmentation. This region is World Heritage listed due to its remarkable biodiversity. Tropical forests have grown here for at least 130 million years. Fragmentation directly threatens this.

In the tropical uplands of the Atherton Tablelands, there are three popular national parks – the Crater Lakes of Eacham and Barrine and the Curtain Fig Tree. But while visitors might see them as pristine, each is an island surrounded by pasture and settlement. Over time, this will take its toll on the species within.

view of farmland and forest mountain in far north Queensland.
Fragmented landscapes are common on the Atherton Tablelands. FiledIMAGE/Shutterstock

Staying the course

For a volunteer group to reverse the effects of fragmentation, and embark on a long term project such as this, it needs three things.

First the group has leaders committed to a long term cause, usually scientists or naturalists as well as locals with knowledge and drive. Leaders have to be able to work with governments and group members of all persuasions.

Second, the group has to be guided by science. You need current information on local plants, animals and habitats to make sure on-ground work has direct conservation benefits.

And third, networking skills. Harnessing the technical expertise of other groups, government and experts in project planning, execution and monitoring is vital.

Each of these three groups has these traits, even though they take different approaches to the challenge.

LUCI is an alliance of private landholders in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, who work to protect remnant vegetation and expand habitat. Their work on threatened species monitoring, protection of remnant vegetation on private land and community engagement reflects their emphasis on education.

Before European settlement, lowland subtropical rainforest covered 75,000 hectares of land in what is now Byron Bay’s hinterland. But 99% was cut down. In response, Big Scrub members have replanted around 600 hectares – doubling the size of what was left – and established an innovative genetics program to assist in maintaining and enhancing the gene pool of trees planted.

rainforest in background, cows in foreground.
Only a tiny fraction of the Big Scrub is still intact, at reserves such as the Andrew Johnston Big Scrub reserve. Farmland and acreage surrounds it. Peter Woodard/Wikimedia CommonsCC BY

TREAT is based on the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland. This region has long been prized for agriculture, which comes at a cost to habitat. In response, TREAT has worked to reconnect isolated tracts of rainforest. The group collaborates with Queensland Parks and Wildlife to grow many thousands of native rainforest tree seedlings for planting each year.

seedlings of tropical trees
TREAT grows tens of thousands of seedlings annually, alongside Queensland Parks and Wildlife. Pictured: Hicksbeachia seedlings. TREAT

All three groups recognise the importance of countering habitat fragmentation. This slicing and dicing forests into smaller and isolated patches severely threatens Australia’s biodiversity.

Wildlife corridors are deceptively simple in theory. But as I know from long experience restoring habitat, it’s harder than it seems.

Does it work?

Planting corridors sounds like a sure thing. But success is not guaranteed. For one thing, it takes work and time. You need baseline surveys, expert analysis of data and monitoring, ideally over decades. Given these challenges, it’s unsurprising that wildlife corridor restoration is little-studied.

In the 1990s, TREAT volunteers planted 17,000 trees to reconnect a 498 hectare fragment around Lake Barrine to the 80,000ha Wooroonooran National Park 1.2 kilometres away. This corridor is now more than 20 years old. It’s known as the Donaghy’s Corridor Nature Refuge, after the Donaghy family who donated the land for corridor restoration.

My research has found this corridor is proving successful, using good data collected before, during and after establishment. Ground mammals are moving along the corridor, and breeding has taken place. We could see this in the exchange of genes between two previously separated populations of the native bush rat (Rattus fuscipes).

More recent studies have shown the corridor has been colonised by many species, ranging from threatened and endemic plants to birds, ground mammals, reptiles, amphibians and microbats. While promising, this is just one corridor. Much more data would be needed to prove this approach is broadly effective.

As habitat fragmentation continues and the effects of climate change ramp up, more and more species will need to move. The work of volunteer groups such as LUCI, Big Scrub and TREAT in reconnecting scattered pieces of habitat is only going to get more important.The Conversation

Nigel Tucker, Research Associate in Environment and Sustainability, James Cook University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Why personal climate action matters – according to experts

EL_Images/Shutterstock
Jack MarleyThe Conversation

Do you feel powerless?

You probably aren’t responsible for the investment decisions of an energy company, nor do you have a hand in government policy. But still, you are reading about climate change – a problem that can easily seem intractable to most people.

The Veganuary campaign reported record participation this year: 25.8 million people worldwide tried a lighter lifestyle without meat and dairy in January, knowing that enormous emission sources sit beyond their immediate control. If such resolve to fix our planet exists, how can people exercise it?


This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage comes from our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed.


You might be used to thinking of climate change in terms of your carbon footprint. That’s no accident, says science communicator Sam Illingworth (Edinburgh Napier). A public relations firm, hired by oil giant BP, invented the concept in 2004 as part of a deliberate effort to shift attention from corporate culpability, he says.

“In my research into climate communication, I see how stories of guilt resonate with communities already facing misplaced blame,” Illingworth adds.

You’re not alone

“Net zero heroes” are set up to fail, Illingworth says. But realising this only makes collective action more important, and shows the futility of trying to bear the weight of the problem on your own.

Your choices do not exist in a vacuum. Earth is an interconnected community of living and non-living things says ethicist Patrick Effiong Ben of the University of Manchester. African philosophers like Jonathan Chimakonam and Aïda Terblanché-Greeff have a helpful concept for thinking through the weightiness of your decisions: complementarity.

A bumblebee in a yellow flower.
Life on Earth is connected in often subtle and unpredictable ways. Lois GoBe/Shutterstock

“Complementarity holds that the relationships that unite individual things can extend to prove the value of every contribution, no matter its size,” Ben says.

You can test this notion by choosing to eat a plant-based diet or forgo flying and observing your influence on others. If you’re sceptical, just think how many of your habits or turns of phrase are borrowed from loved ones. Steve Westlake, a behavioural psychologist at Cardiff University, says that your pro-environment choices can ultimately alter what other people consider “normal”.

“In a survey I conducted, half of the respondents who knew someone who has given up flying because of climate change said they fly less because of this example. That alone seemed pretty impressive to me,” he says.

“They explained that the bold and unusual position to give up flying had: conveyed the seriousness of climate change and flying’s contribution to it; crystallised the link between values and actions; and even reduced feelings of isolation that flying less was a valid and sensible response to climate change.”

What’s stopping us?

Often, is is not apathy that holds us back, but a seeming lack of options. In the UK, where I live, a train is by far the better travel choice emissions-wise but it is usually much more expensive than a flight that covers the same distance.

Environmental psychologists Christina Demski (University of Bath) and Stuart Capstick (Cardiff University) criticise the laissez-faire approach of successive governments that have “[gone] with the grain of consumer choice” while failing to recognise that many people would gladly choose the green option if they could afford or access it.

This desire to do something meaningful is continually frustrated, they say, but it will not vanish as the crisis worsens. Everyone alive and yet to live needs a liveable climate. Securing it is within our technical and material means.

Sunrise over Earth.
The human species has no home but this one. Canities/Shutterstock

Just listen to this from sustainability researcher Joel Millward-Hopkins (Université de Lausanne, previously University of Leeds):

“Fortunately, in new research we found that using 60% less energy than today, decent living standards could be provided to a global population of 10 billion by 2050. That’s 75% less energy than the world is currently forecast to consume by 2050 on our present trajectory – or as much energy as the world used in the 1960s.”

Instead of seeing your new vegan diet as a personal choice, think of it as a political act taken in solidarity with people and other species bearing the brunt of climate change say political philosophers Alasdair Cochrane (University of Sheffield) and Mara-Daria Cojocaru (Munich School of Philosophy).

And remember that it isn’t all sacrifice. The joy that is possible with more expensive and more energy-hungry lifestyles is fleeting says Capstick, but contentment, he argues, is low-carbonThe Conversation

Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Yes, energy prices are hurting the food sector. But burning more fossil fuels is not the answer

Vivienne ReinerUniversity of Sydney

Months out from a federal election, the industry lobby is gearing up in opposition to the Albanese government’s renewable energy targets. In a salvo on Monday, food distributors urged the government to increase fossil fuel production, as a way to purportedly tackle high energy prices.

It was followed by comments on Tuesday by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which also called for fast-tracking of gas expansion to avoid price spikes and blackouts.

Unfortunately, however, these approaches miss the point. They are a short-sighted response to what is, in large part, a climate-induced problem.

In fact, evidence suggests burning more coal and gas will only make things worse for many industries, including the food sector.

More fossil fuels = more industry disruption

The industry group Independent Food Distributors Australia claims Labor’s energy policies are driving up costs for businesses and, in turn, consumers.

In comments published in The Australian, the group’s chief executive Richard Forbes said the phase-out of coal-fired energy was too fast and the government’s renewable energy target was too ambitious. The newspaper claimed business owners instead want Labor to support new gas plants and support upgrades to existing coal plants.

The group represents food manufacturers, suppliers and distributors supporting the food service industry. Its members largely comprise food distribution warehouses operating large refrigerators and freezers.

First, it’s important to ask whether a focus on renewable energy can be blamed for Australia’s high energy prices. The answer is largely no.

That aside, would expanding fossil fuel production ultimately be a boon to food distributors? Evidence suggests it would not.

study published in 2022, led by my colleagues at the University of Sydney, found that almost one-fifth of total emissions from global food systems were produced by transport and supporting services, such as distribution warehouses. This was equivalent to about 6% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Of course, greenhouse gas emissions are warming the climate and leading to worse and more frequent natural disasters. And, as another University of Sydney study showed, these disasters have extensive repercussions for the food industry.

It found the disruptions would be hardest felt by the fruit, vegetable and livestock sectors, however effects flowed to other sectors such as transport services. Overall, people in rural areas and those from a low-socioeconomic background were most vulnerable, both to food and nutrition impacts, as well as losses in employment and income.

What’s more, research I led into the economic impact of Australia’s 2019–20 bushfires also reveals the vulnerability of the food ecosystem. The 2024 study, which focused on tourism, found employment and income losses were greatest in the hospitality and transport sectors respectively. Restaurants, cafes and accommodation providers were disproportionately hit by job losses resulting from reduced consumption, including less food being consumed out of home.

So what does all this mean? Clearly, expanding polluting energy generation to reduce food distribution costs in the short term will not, ultimately, secure the sector’s future.

Making food distribution more sustainable

Having said all this, Australia’s high energy prices are undoubtedly a stress point for many Australian businesses. So how can the food sector tackle the problem?

Energy requirements (and therefore costs and emissions) differ according to the type of food. Fruits and vegetables, for example, are likely to require a temperature-controlled environment. This generates about double the emissions produced by growing the crops themselves.

Growing and distributing crops that can be transported at ambient temperatures would reduce energy use. This is particularly important given refrigeration needs are likely to increase as the planet warms.

In terms of broader food movements, 94% of domestic transport happens by road. So, there is a strong case for investing in electric trucks to help guard against energy price hikes.

The weight of food freight has also been correlated with energy use. Cereals – along with fruit and vegetables, flour and sugar beet/cane – are among the food types transported at high tonnages.

As my colleagues have noted, there are huge energy savings to be gained if the global population ate more locally produced food, and if food businesses used cleaner production and distribution methods, such as natural refrigerants.

open door to cool room
Energy requirements differ according to the type of food. BK Awangga/Shutterstock

Looking ahead

Global food systems are crucial to human wellbeing. It’s in everyone’s interests to keep them functioning well and protected from climate-fuelled hazards.

The choices now facing the food-distribution sector represent one of many tradeoffs Australia must make during its transition to a low-carbon future.

Will we continue the polluting, business-as-usual approach or will we embrace Australia’s natural advantages in renewable energy, and protect the planet that supports us?

When it comes to food distribution, will Australia expand gas and coal production as a purported answer to lower energy costs in the short term – or will we move swiftly to decarbonise the sector and buy more local, sustainable food?The Conversation

Vivienne Reiner, PhD Candidate, Integrated Sustainability Analysis group, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A deadly bird flu strain is headed for Australia – and First Nations people have the know-how to tackle it

ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock
Nell ReidyMonash UniversityBhiamie WilliamsonMonash University, and Vinod BalasubramaniamMonash University

A virulent strain of bird flu continues to spread across the world. Australia, New Zealand and Pacific nations are the only countries free from the infection, but this will no doubt change.

Known as “Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza” or H5N1, the bird flu strain had killed more than 300 million birds worldwide as of December last year, including both poultry and wild bird populations.

Birds have always been part of the cultures and livelihoods of Australia Indigenous people. They feature in songs and dance, and are used for food and customary practices such as ceremonies and craft. Many of these practices continue today.

To date however, Indigenous peoples have not been adequately included in federal government planning for the arrival of H5N1.

So what is the likely result? Agencies and organisations will be ill-prepared to support Indigenous people experiencing intense social and cultural shock. And the opportunity to draw from the strengths of Indigenous organisations to tackle this impending disaster will have been squandered.

What is H5N1?

First identified in Hong Kong in 1997, H5N1 has since spread globally.

H5N1 is a viral infection primarily affecting birds – both poultry and wildlife. As overseas experience has shown, it can lead to population declines in wild birds and disrupt local ecosystems. Infected birds may exhibit symptoms such as lethargy, respiratory distress and neurological signs such as paralysis, seizures and tremors, and sudden death.

The virus also affects mammals including humans. Since November 2003, more than 900 human cases have been reported across 24 countries. About half these people died.

While Australia has suffered several severe avian influenza epidemics since the 1970s, the H5N1 strain has not yet affected birds in Australia. But when it does, the damage may be profound.

Birds are vital to Indigenous culture

Australia’s diverse, unique bird population comprises about 850 species, 45% of which exist only in Australia.

Birds are highly significant to many Indigenous groups.

The adult magpie goose and its eggs, for example, are an important food source for groups in the Kakadu region.

In Tasmania, Indigenous groups are revitalising customary practices by harvesting mutton birds. And bird feathers are used by Indigenous artisans in fashion and jewellery-making.

If H5N1 makes birds sick and diminishes their populations, Indigenous people’s livelihoods and wellbeing – social, emotional, and spiritual – will be severely affected.

Many birds are already struggling

Of greatest concern are the fate of threatened and endangered bird species. Indeed, Australia’s Threatened Species Commissioner, Dr Fiona Fraser, has warned the forthcoming H5N1 event may be more ecologically devastating than the 2019–20 bushfires.

Migratory birds, such as waders that travel from Siberia to lake systems throughout Australia, may take years or decades to return – if they return at all.

Even relatively healthy bird populations, such as emus, may be at risk in areas where local populations are dwindling.

The challenge has become more pronounced following the 2019–20 bushfires that affected vast areas of Australia’s southeast. Biodiversity in these burnt forests was later found to have declined, especially in bird populations.

These challenges mean Australia’s native bird populations may struggle to remain healthy and sustainable, and their availability to Indigenous groups is likely to diminish.

Mobilising Indigenous know-how

Indigenous people are deeply engaged in caring for Country and caring for their communities. This makes them a strategic asset when planning for the arrival of H5N1.

For example, Indigenous rangers are deeply engaged in land and water management including habitat restoration and biodiversity surveys. So, they are well placed to protect and monitor native species.

Traditional Owners and Indigenous rangers manage 87 dedicated “Indigenous Protected Areas” covering 90 million hectares of land and six million hectares of sea.

Indigenous health organisations will also be crucial to identifying human illness, should rare animal-to-human transmissions occur.

Shire councils and land councils are also well-placed to identify and monitor the impacts of bird flu.

It’s time for Indigenous inclusion

Indigenous inclusion in the federal government’s response to the threat H5N1 has been late and inadequate

This means Australia is already behind in supporting Indigenous groups to understand the threat and how to respond if they observe it – including how to deal with sick or dead birds.

To fill these gaps in public information, National Indigenous Disaster Resilience at Monash University has produced a bird flu fact sheet.

Indigenous community organisations demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for leadership during COVID-19. The muscle memory to mobilise in response to another outbreak remains strong.

Indigenous groups must be centred in preparing and responding to H5N1. What’s more, Indigenous culture needs to be foregrounded when considering how the virus might affect the social, psychological, spiritual, and economic wellbeing of communities.


In response to concerns raised in this article, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said the federal government was “working to engage with First Nations communities to ensure we meet community needs” before and during an outbreak of H5N1.

The department’s Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy was surveilling for avian influenza in northern Australia, including working with Indigenous Rangers. Indigenous engagement has also included presentations delivered virtually and on-country.

“By fostering close partnerships with First Nations communities and Indigenous rangers, and leveraging access to a broad collaborative network, NAQS is able to facilitate trusted avenues for First Nations communities and Indigenous rangers to report concerns about wild bird health across northern Australia,” the spokesperson said.

States and territories were planning local responses, and nationally coordinated, culturally appropriate communication activities were being developed. The spokesperson said Parks Australia was also working with Traditional Owners at jointly managed national parks, and with the Indigenous Protected Areas network, in developing plans to prepare and respond to any H5N1 detection.The Conversation

Nell Reidy, Research Fellow, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash UniversityBhiamie Williamson, Research Fellow in Disaster Resilience, Monash University, and Vinod Balasubramaniam, Associate Professor (Molecular Virology), Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

‘Serious concerns’: national assessment reveals rivers flowing into the Great Barrier Reef are getting more polluted

Anna LinternMonash University and Danlu GuoAustralian National University

Polluted runoff is still smothering the Great Barrier Reef, our first national assessment of water quality trends in Australian rivers has revealed. The problem on the reef is getting worse, not better, despite efforts to improve farming practices and billions of dollars committed by governments to water-quality improvements.

But in good news, there are signs of improvement in the Murray-Darling Basin, where less salt, sediment and phosphorous were detected in the water.

Our latest research quantifies, for the first time, how water quality in Australian rivers has changed over the past two decades. Around half our 287 monitoring sites experienced significant changes in water quality between 2000 and 2019 on every measure we analysed. But the results for the reef and the basin stood out.

In particular, freshwater flows into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon contained increasing levels of sediment and phosphorous. If the trend continues, we have serious concerns for the health of the Great Barrier Reef and the tourist industry it supports.

Understanding river water quality

We studied water quality monitoring data from 287 river sites across Australia. The relevant agency in each state and territory collects this information and makes it available online. The data covers the following:

  • salinity: too much makes water unsuitable for drinking or irrigation
  • dissolved oxygen: when the level is too low it can kill aquatic life
  • nitrogen and phosphorous: high levels of either can cause excessive algae growth and consumes oxygen
  • sediment: too much reduces light penetration and disrupts ecosystems

We focused on sites with records of all five water quality indicators from 2000 to 2019.

River flows can vary enormously from year to year and this affects water quality. So we used statistics to account for this and identify underlying long-term trends.

In the catchments that exhibited significant changes between 2000 and 2019, about half showed improvements in dissolved oxygen, salinity and phosphorus, while the other half deteriorated. Sediment levels mostly improved (86% of catchments) over time. The story was not so good when it came to nitrogen levels, which went up in 60% of catchments.

Two regions experienced the greatest large-scale changes in water quality over that time: the North East Coast basin and the Murray-Darling Basin.

Map showing the locations of water quality monitoring sites across Australia
The research analysed two decades of water quality monitoring data from 287 sites dotted across Australia. Danlu GuoCC BY-ND

More polluted water flowing to the reef

In the North East Coast basin, many rivers capture water from inland areas, including farming regions, and carry it to the ocean near the Great Barrier Reef. So, any pollution in these rivers are carried to the reef.

Suspended sediments make the water cloudy or “turbid”. This can reduce the growth of seagrass and disrupt the growth and reproductive cycles of coral and some fish.

Phosphorous and nitrogen are essential minerals or nutrients, which is why they are used on farms as fertiliser. But too much of either can lower coral diversity, and reduce resilience of coral to bleaching and disease.

We found water quality in rivers flowing to the reef – one of the world’s seven natural wonders – had declined over the past two decades. In particular, levels of phosphorus and sediments had increased at around 5% per year on average across catchments.

This may be a hangover from intensifying land use and clearing in the 1960s and ‘70s. Land clearing can lead to more erosion of sediment and phosphorus attached to soils. Similarly, intensive agriculture can lead to increased phosphorus in rivers, due to fertiliser use.

Substantial investment has been made to improve water quality over many years. This includes almost A$1.8 billion committed by the federal and Queensland governments between 2014 and 2030. But it appears greater effort is needed to turn things around.

It can take a long time for management strategies to start having an effect on water quality. So efforts to date may not yet be showing up. Or perhaps the scale of these changes has not been enough to shift the long-term trend in water quality.

Regardless, declining water quality over the past two decades has direct implications for the future of the world heritage listed site.

Cleaning up the basin

In contrast, we found water quality in the Murray-Darling Basin was improving. Salinity levels declined, along with phosphorus and suspended sediment.

Managing salinity in the basin is a long-term issue. Much of the basin’s groundwater is naturally saline to begin with. Land clearing and agricultural activities since European colonisation have further exacerbated the problem.

But our results suggest salinity levels in the Murray-Darling Basin rivers are improving. This may be due to large-scale management actions such as improving irrigation efficiency, reducing drainage, installing salt interception, and drainage diversion schemes to divert saline groundwater away from entering the Murray River.

These changes in water quality could also be due to declines in rainfall during the Millennium drought period over the late 1990s and early 2000s. The dry conditions might have altered processes controlling flushing of salt, sediments and phosphorus into waterways. As such, the drought has likely had more complicated and long-lasting impacts on water quality than the year-to-year variation in river flow.

While our research shows water quality in the Murray-Darling Basin has improved, this does not mean funding in this area should reduce or cease. Scientists and policymakers must continue monitoring and working towards a healthy basin for future generations.

Sunset in Renmark over the Murray River, aerial image.
Salt interception schemes divert about 400,000 tonnes of salt away from the river every year. Photo by Zac Edmonds on UnsplashCC BY

Keeping watch over water quality

Unfortunately, insufficient long-term water quality monitoring limits our understanding of water quality trends across large parts of the country.

This includes a large proportion of the western, northern and central parts of Australia. Filling these data gaps will require new and ongoing investment into water quality monitoring.

Australian water authorities need to keep checking the health of our rivers.

A national program to harness this data from states and territories, to monitor and track river water quality, is needed to continue similar Australia-wide assessments of water quality.

Such assessments are vital for providing an evidence base for federal policy and identifying future needs in river water quality protection.The Conversation

Anna Lintern, Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering, specialising in water quality, Monash University and Danlu Guo, Senior lecturer of Environmental Engineering, Australian National University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Greenland ice sheet is falling apart – new study

Tom Chudley
Tom ChudleyDurham University

Observing Greenland from a helicopter, the main problem is one of comprehending scale. I have thought we were skimming low over the waves of a fjord, before noticing the tiny shadow of a seabird far below and realising what I suspected were floating shards of ice were in fact icebergs the size of office blocks. I have thought we were hovering high in the sky over a featureless icy plane below, before bumping down gently onto ice only a few metres below us.

Crevasses – cracks in the surface of glaciers – are the epitome of this baffling range of scales. Formed by stresses at the surface, their direction and size tell us how the ice sheet is flowing towards the ocean. Inland, far away from the fast-flowing glaciers that discharge hundreds of gigatonnes of icebergs a year into fjords, crevasses can be tiny cracks only millimetres wide.

As the ice speeds up, they can be metres in diameter, sometimes covered by deceptive snow bridges that require suitable safety equipment and rescue training to traverse. Finally, where the ice meets the ocean and no scientist would ever dare to stand, they can be monsters over 100 metres from wall to wall. And across Greenland, they are growing.

Large crevasses in glacier
Cracks you could fly a helicopter through. Tom Chudley

It shouldn’t be particularly surprising to scientists that crevasses are getting larger across Greenland. As the ocean warms, the ice sheet has sped up in response, increasing the stresses acting upon its surface. However, observations from satellites and in-person fieldwork are so poor that to date, we had no idea how extensively or quickly this process has been occurring.

Mapping cracks

In a new study, my colleagues and I mapped crevasses across the entirety of the Greenland ice sheet in 2016 and 2021. To do this, we used the “ArcticDEM”: three-dimensional surface maps of the polar regions based on high resolution satellite images. By applying image-processing techniques to over 8,000 maps, we could estimate how much water, snow or air would be needed to “fill” each crevasse across the ice sheet. This enabled us to calculate their depth and volume, and examine how they evolved.

We found that from 2016 to 2021, there were significant increases in crevasse volume across fast-flowing sectors of the Greenland ice sheet. In the southeast of the ice sheet, an area that has been particularly vulnerable to ocean-induced acceleration and retreat in the past few years, crevasse volume increased by over 25%.

Annotated overhead image of a satellite in Greenland
In most Greenland glaciers that flow into the ocean, scientists found crevasses are increasing in size and depth. Chudley et al / Nature Geoscience

However, against our expectations, crevasse volume across the whole ice sheet increased by only 4.3%. That’s much closer to an overall balance than the extremes observed in certain sectors. What had happened? In fact, the significant increases elsewhere were being offset by a single source: an outlet glacier known as Sermeq Kujalleq (Danish: Jakobshavn Isbræ).

Sermeq Kujalleq is the fastest-flowing glacier on the planet, reaching speeds of nearly 50 metres a day and providing an outsized proportion of Greenland’s total sea-level rise contribution. In 2016, responding to an influx of cold water from the north Atlantic ocean, the glacier slowed and thickened. As it did this, the crevasses on the surface began to close – offsetting increases across the rest of the ice sheet.

This slowdown was short-lived. Since 2018, Sermeq Kujalleq has once again reverted to acceleration and thinning in response to ongoing warming. We won’t be able to rely on it to offset ice-sheet-wide increases in crevassing in the future.

Cracks grow into icebergs

Crevasses play an integral part in the life cycle of glaciers, and as they grow they hold the potential to further accelerate ice-sheet loss. They deliver surface meltwater into the belly of the ice sheet: once inside, water can act to warm the ice or lubricate the bed that the glacier slides over, both of which can make the ice sheet flow faster into the ocean. Meanwhile, where the ice meets the sea, crevasses form the initial fractures from which icebergs can break off, increasing the output of icebergs into the ocean.

satellite image of glacier mouth
Where Sermeq Kujalleq, or Jakobshavn Glacier, meets the sea. That iceberg filled fjord is several miles wide. Copernicus Sentinel / lavizzara / shutterstock

In short, crevasses underpin the dynamic processes that occur across Greenland and Antarctica. However, these processes are very poorly understood, and their future evolution is the single largest uncertainty in our predictions of sea-level rise. Together, the increased discharge of ice holds the potential to add up to 10 metres of additional sea-level rise by 2300 (75% of all cities with more than 5 million inhabitants exist less than 10m above sea level). We need to better understand these processes – including crevasses – so that informed sea-level projections can form the basis of our responses to the global challenges that climate change presents.

Since 2023, an international coalition of polar scientists has been urging the world to limit warming to 1.5˚C to avoid the most catastrophic melt scenarios for global glaciers and ice sheets. Last month, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed that 2024 was the first year in which average global temperatures exceeded this threshold.

Every fraction of a degree matters. We may still be able to save ourselves from the worst of the damage the climate change will bring – but we are desperately running out of time.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.The Conversation


Tom Chudley, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Department of Geography, Durham University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

While plastic dominates human consumption, the global economy will remain hooked on fossil fuels

Plastic waste in the Maldives. MOHAMED ABDULRAHEEM/Shutterstock
Adam HaniehUniversity of Exeter

In early December 2024, hopes for a landmark global treaty to curb plastic pollution were dashed as negotiations in South Korea stalled. Leading the campaign against the deal were major oil-producing nations, especially Saudi Arabia and Russia, who argued for a more flexible approach to any legally binding limits on plastic manufacturing.

The collapse of any agreement came despite scientific research delivering ever more alarming warnings about the dangers of plastic pollution. Over the last two years, an avalanche of studies have revealed the pervasive presence of tiny plastic particles in human bloodbrains, and even placental tissue.

These particles, which stem from the breakdown of larger plastic waste, have been linked to everything from inflammation to hormonal disruption, and potential long-term health risks such as cancer. Aside from their effects on human health, plastics are wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems, with microplastics now found in Arctic ice and in the bodies of fish and birds.

Behind these alarming studies stands a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of plastic production. The annual global production of plastics reportedly grew nearly two hundredfold between 1950 (two million tonnes) and 2015 (381 million tonnes), and the pace of growth is accelerating.

Over half of all plastics ever made were produced in the past 25 years, and production levels are estimated to double or triple again by 2050. And more production brings more waste.

Less than 10% of all plastics ever produced have been recycled. And the volume of “mismanaged plastics” – those which are not recycled, incinerated, or sealed in landfills – is also estimated to double by 2050.

It seems as if humans have become the organic detritus within a plastic world of our own creation.

Plastic elephants

But despite growing awareness around the problems associated with plastic, there is a fundamental flaw in how we tend to think about it as a product.

For there is a tendency to frame plastic as a problem of pollution and recycling, rather than as an integral part of our fossil fuel-driven world. This narrative is also promoted by major oil companies, such as the American giant, ExxonMobil, which stated in the lead up to the South Korean summit: “The issue is pollution. The issue is not plastic.”

The problem with this perspective is that it obscures the fact that plastics are petrochemical products: substances which are ultimately derived from oil and gas.

Indeed, the future of fossil fuels is increasingly tied to the future of plastics. It has been estimated that by 2040, plastics will account for as much as 95% of net growth in oil demand.

This is perhaps why 220 fossil fuel lobbyists attended those recent treaty discussions, outnumbering all other delegations. It could also explain why Saudi Arabia, home to one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies, led the opposition to any global limits on plastic production.

At the core of capitalism

The problem we confront is not simply the presence of an oil lobby, it is the systemic role that plastics play within capitalism.

Plastics, and the wider petrochemical industry, played a crucial part in the transformation of global capitalism from the mid-20th century onwards.

As I explore in my book, Crude Capitalism, the things we used to need to build and make things previously relied on sourcing naturally occurring, labour-intensive goods like timber, cotton or metals. But the invention of plastics and other synthetic materials separated commodity production from nature.

Close up of pipes heading towards an oil refinery in background.
More plastic in the pipeline. Kodda/Shutterstock

Oil became more than a fuel – it was the substance that came to dominate our lives. A petrochemical shift to the rise of an oil-dominated world. With capitalism untethered from natural cycles, there was a radical reduction in the time taken to produce commodities and an end to any limits on the quantity and diversity of goods produced.

Along with this, consumption habits became centred around notions of disposability and obsolescence. Plastics made the essential features of contemporary capitalism possible: a drive to limitless growth, continual acceleration of production and consumption, and the frenzied expansion of markets.

The emergence of fast fashion is just one example. Alongside poorly paid garment workers in countries such as Bangladesh, really cheap clothing was only made possible through the massive expansion of polyester production (a kind of plastic), which freed the industry from its dependence on supplies of wool and cotton.

The consumption of plastics looms large in today’s ecological crisis. And having become so accustomed to thinking about oil and gas as primarily an issue of energy and fuel choice, perhaps we have lost sight of how much of our lives depend upon the products of petroleum.

These synthetic materials drove a post-war revolution in productivity, bringing labour-saving technology and mass consumption. It is now almost impossible to identify an area of life that has not been radically transformed by the presence of plastics and other petrochemicals.

Plastic products have become normalised as natural parts of our daily existence. And it is this paradox which must be fully confronted if we are to move beyond fossil fuels.The Conversation

Adam Hanieh, Professor of Political Economy and Global Development, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Whalesong patterns follow a universal law of human language, new research finds

A humpback whale mother and calf on the New Caledonian breeding grounds. Mark Quintin
Jenny AllenGriffith UniversityEllen GarlandUniversity of St AndrewsInbal ArnonHebrew University of Jerusalem, and Simon KirbyUniversity of Edinburgh

All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a language is twice as frequent as the second most frequent, three times as frequent as the third, and so on. This is known as Zipf’s law.

Researchers have hunted for evidence of this pattern in communication among other species, but until now no other examples have been found.

In new research published today in Science, our team of experts in whale song, linguistics and developmental psychology analysed eight years’ of song recordings from humpback whales in New Caledonia. Led by Inbal Arnon from the Hebrew University, Ellen Garland from the University of St Andrews, and Simon Kirby from the University of Edinburgh, We used techniques inspired by the way human infants learn language to analyse humpback whale song.

We discovered that the same Zipfian pattern universally found across human languages also occurs in whale song. This complex signalling system, like human language, is culturally learned by each individual from others.

Learning like an infant

When infant humans are learning, they have to somehow discover where words start and end. Speech is continuous and does not come with gaps between words that they can use. So how do they break into language?

Thirty years of research has revealed that they do this by listening for sounds that are surprising in context: sounds within words are relatively predictable, but between words are relatively unpredictable. We analysed the whale song data using the same procedure.

Photo of a humpback whale breaching from the water.
A breaching humpback whale in New Caledonia. Operation Cetaces

Unexpectedly, using this technique revealed in whale song the same statistical properties that are found in all languages. It turns out both human language and whale song have statistically coherent parts.

In other words, they both contain recurring parts where the transitions between elements are more predictable within the part. Moreover, these recurring sub-sequences we detected follow the Zipfian frequency distribution found across all human languages, and not found before in other species.

Whale song recording (2017) Operation Cetaces916 KB (download)

A chart showing the different frequencies of sound in whale song.
Close analysis of whale song revealed statistical structures similar to those found in human language. Operation Cetaces

How do the same statistical properties arise in two evolutionarily distant species that differ from one another in so many ways? We suggest we found these similarities because humans and whales share a learning mechanism: culture.

A cultural origin

Our findings raise an exciting question: why would such different systems in such incredibly distant species have common structures? We suggest the reason behind this is that both are culturally learned.

Cultural evolution inevitably leads to the emergence of properties that make learning easier. If a system is hard to learn, it will not survive to the next generation of learners.

There is growing evidence from experiments with humans that having statistically coherent parts, and having them follow a Zipfian distribution, makes learning easier. This suggests that learning and transmission play an important role in how these properties emerged in both human language and whale song.

So can we talk to whales now?

Finding parallel structures between whale song and human language may also lead to another question: can we talk to whales now? The short answer is no, not at all.

Our study does not examine the meaning behind whale song sequences. We have no idea what these segments might mean to the whales, if they mean anything at all.

Photo of whale backs and tails visible above the surface of the sea.
A competitive pod of humpback whales on the New Caledonian breeding grounds. Operation Cetaces

It might help to think about it like instrumental music, as music also contains similar structures. A melody can be learned, repeated, and spread – but that doesn’t give meaning to the musical notes in the same way that individual words have meaning.

Next up: birdsong

Our work also makes a bold prediction: we should find this Zipfian distribution wherever complex communication is transmitted culturally. Humans and whales are not the only species that do this.

We find what is known as “vocal production learning” in an unusual range of species across the animal kingdom. Song birds in particular may provide the best place to look as many bird species culturally learn their songs, and unlike in whales, we know a lot about precisely how birds learn song.

Equally, we expect not to find these statistical properties in the communication of species that don’t transmit complex communication by learning. This will help to reveal whether cultural evolution is the common driver of these properties between humans and whales.The Conversation

Jenny Allen, Postdoctoral research associate, Griffith UniversityEllen Garland, Royal Society University Research Fellow, School of Biology, University of St AndrewsInbal Arnon, Professor of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Simon Kirby, Professor of Language Evolution, University of Edinburgh

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Millions of animals die on roads – does this make driving morally wrong?


Diego ExpositoUniversity of Sheffield

Imagine one morning, you are deciding whether to drive to work or catch the train. Eventually, you decide to drive. On your way to the office, a squirrel crosses the road leaving you no time to react, and you run it over. Did you do anything wrong by deciding to drive instead of taking the train?

Ethical debates about the morality of driving tend to stop at the possible harm to humans. This is surprising, considering the decades of work in animal ethics and the fact that around 223 million birds and mammals are killed on Europe’s roads each year.

Researchers in moral philosophy like myself analyse the extent to which our actions are right or wrong. One way to evaluate actions like driving is to ask whether it is morally justified to subject others to a certain risk. Driving fits this kind of reasoning because when we decide to drive, we are not certain that we will kill someone (human or non-human), but we know our action will put others at some risk of harm.

So, how much risk is permissible? There are two factors moral philosophers often use to assess this. The first is the extent to which the action that puts others at risk is part of a fair social system of risk-taking – in other words, a social arrangement in which people exchange risks but also benefits that everyone can access. The second concerns whether such a system works to the advantage of all those who participate in it.

Driving can be considered a social system of risk-taking, and it would be considered morally acceptable if everyone can drive or be driven by other people, and if the system of driving ultimately benefits those who are put at risk by it.

Some philosophers believe that in the case of humans, this line of reasoning makes driving morally acceptable. But what if we extend it to include animals?

A car through a deer’s eyes

Cats, dogs and other domestic animals may ride in cars but most wild animals will not, so they do not meet the first factor. The sheer number of animals that end their lives as roadkill indicates that driving does not work to their advantage. For most animals, cars are a threat rather than a benefit.

Driving, in this case, would not be morally acceptable according to the ethical test we set for our fellow humans.

A person behind the wheel of a car.
Car travel has contributed to the decline of some species. Natalya Ugryumova/Shutterstock

This may lead us to consider our risk of killing animals before we drive – including the road we will use, the season, or the speed we will drive at. It may even tell us that driving is morally impermissible.

One way to deny this would be to say that to forgo driving is too costly. For many people, driving is not an activity they can choose to do or not, but a basic need on which people depend for going to (or finding) a job, buying groceries, or visiting friends and family.

But even if we think these costs are important, what about the serious costs to animals? When we consider both of these factors, some tentative conclusions emerge.

Situations in which driving imposes a high risk of harm to animals, while not driving causes little cost to humans, probably make driving unacceptable. Take this scenario: your route to work during summer crosses congregations of house sparrows during the season in which they breed. Luckily, there is a convenient alternative.

Then there are situations in which driving imposes almost no risk to animals, but not being able to drive deeply affects people – such as a drive to the other side of a city to buy food, during which few wild animals are likely to cross your path. In such cases, driving is probably permissible.

But what about the various situations that sit between these two scenarios? In a lot of cases, driving is not necessary but may be more convenient than using public transport. Also, much of our driving is not done for essential activities but for things we generally enjoy.

Finding clear criteria that determine when it is morally acceptable to drive is the matter that ethicists should try to elucidate. All I can say is that all sets of costs and risks need assessing, and driving must be viewed as an activity subject to ethical reflection.

Drivers will need to decide, balancing the risk of harm they might impose on others by driving with the disadvantages of choosing not to drive. It should not come as a surprise, however, if we find that much of our driving is morally unjustified.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.The Conversation


Diego Exposito, PhD researcher in Politics, University of Sheffield

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The world wildlife trade regulator is 50 – here’s what has worked and what needs to change

Vicuña are no longer globally threatened, thanks, in part, to protection under the Cites convention. ecuadorplanet/ShutterstockCC BY-NC-ND
Dan ChallenderUniversity of Oxford and Michael 't Sas-RolfesUniversity of Oxford

Have you ever bought a souvenir from a local market on holiday? Or tried to travel overseas with a guitar? If so, you may have been stopped at the airport if your item contains animal or plant parts. This is because most countries, and also the EU, implement Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Cites is the main global agreement regulating international wildlife trade to ensure the protection of the 41,000 species covered by the convention. Under Cites, trade measures are established for species to ensure that international trade is legal and ecologically sustainable. For most species (96%), this comprises close regulation of trade. For more threatened species (3%), commercial international trade in wild animals and plants is banned (the remaining 1% refers to a third category of species protected in at least one country).

Under Cites, countries must prohibit international trade in violation of the convention. They are also encouraged to restrict or prohibit the collection of – and domestic trade in – Indigenous species included under Cites. Crucially, countries must enact laws to implement the convention. By design, Cites relies mainly on state-led law-enforcement to achieve its goals.

This year, as Cites marks its 50th anniversary, our new study evaluates the convention’s effectiveness. It asks whether it solves the problem for which it was designed, as well as outlining how it could be more effective.

Taking stock

Cites has had several successes. It can boast an effective system of international cooperation among 184 countries and the EU. Much international trade in Cites-listed species is legally permitted and has been determined to be sustainable. The convention has helped raise the profile of, and catalysed conservation action for, species threatened by international trade, such as pangolins and seahorses.

The convention has also supported the recovery of species, such as crocodiles and vicuña, a member of the camel family that lives in South America. Since 2010, Cites has generated awareness of, and coordinated action to address, illegal wildlife trade, most notably through the establishment of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime.

pangolin in a cage
Commercial, international trade in wild pangolins is prohibited under Cites. Afrianto Silalahi/ShutterstockCC BY-NC-ND

However, there are some major problems with the Cites approach. Illegal or unsustainable wildlife trade involving thousands of Cites-listed species occurred in at least 162 signatory countries from 2015 to 2021. This includes countries such as the US that are well resourced to deter it. A predominant focus on state-led law enforcement is therefore proving ineffective in many instances.

We find that many law enforcement agencies are not well enough resourced to deter illegal collection and trade of species. Simply creating laws does not necessarily mean that people or businesses will comply with them.

Also, regulating or prohibiting international wildlife trade does not necessarily reduce the threat to the species concerned. These measures may signal scarcity and lead to price increases, which could accelerate over-exploitation by incentivising speculative collection and stockpiling. In this context, there is much room for improvement.

What needs to change

Deciding on appropriate Cites trade measures for species relies primarily on biological criteria, such as population size. Typically, that process does not involve consultation with the people extracting or trading wildlife. Nor does it really consider insights from the social sciences, including economics, on the likely impact of trade measures on wildlife and people. Decisions by the world’s governments to establish these measures are therefore highly uncertain.

To better prevent species from being overexploited for international trade through Cites, countries need to have a greater understanding of how different species are traded. This would enable them to identify the most appropriate combination of rights, rules and decision-making procedures along supply chains, and then pre-test and implement interventions specific to these systems.

Countries therefore need to analyse how species are traded. This would include looking at the relevant property rights and other laws that affect people involved in the trade, as well as understanding factors such as incentives for people to harvest species, the extent to which trade contributes to peoples’ income, and market size for traded species and products.

Countries could then reconfigure rights and rules so that they are aligned along supply chains. This is needed to avoid creating loopholes and facilitating illegal trade. Where trade (both within countries and between countries) is taking place, these arrangements should support it to be legal and sustainable. That’s the ultimate aim of Cites. The relevant actors, including collectors and traders should also be consulted – or better yet involved in co-designing regulations – so that the rules are legitimate to them.

The most appropriate interventions will depend on each country’s analysis of its own trading situation and their role in the trade of given species. They may include devolving land or use rights to Indigenous peoples so that they manage and can benefit from the species. Or interventions may be programmes to reduce consumer demand or develop responsible markets for wildlife products as appropriate.

The approach we propose in our study has the potential to reduce reliance on state-led law enforcement along international supply chains. Pluralist regulatory approaches, including self-regulation, community monitoring or the engagement of appropriate third parties, could be used to support compliance with new rules at each stage of supply chains. Where property rights are appropriately assigned, clear and enforceable, this could mean less reliance on state law-enforcement. This is because local people with a sense of ownership of wildlife are more likely to help protect it rather than overexploit it.

How could Cites be more effective? By understanding the dynamic trade systems for species in greater detail. Then, identifying the most appropriate combination of rights, rules and decision-making procedures to achieve sustainability throughout supply chains. And, finally, integrating Cites trade measures within these broader systems.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
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Dan Challender, Senior Research Fellow, Conservation Science and Policy, University of Oxford and Michael 't Sas-Rolfes, Oxford Martin Fellow, Research Associate, Illegal Wildlife Trade, University of Oxford

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

To keep your cool in a heatwave, it may help to water your trees

Gena Melendrez/Shutterstock
Gregory MooreThe University of Melbourne

Heatwaves are among the world’s deadliest weather hazards. Every year, vast numbers of people are killed by heat stress and it can worsen health problems such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease.

Unfortunately, the bitumen roads, brick and concrete structures and roofing tiles in cities can absorb and retain vast amounts of heat, much of which is released after the sun has set. This creates what’s known as the urban heat island effect. In fact, temperatures can be significantly higher in cities than in surrounding or rural areas.

Trees and greenspace can drive down urban temperatures – but they must be able to draw water from the soil to achieve these massive cooling effects.

In other words, it can sometimes be helpful to water your trees during a heatwave.

A woman waters her trees in her garden.
Trees need to be able to access water in the soil to achieve transpiration. Tirachard Kumtanom/Shutterstock

How trees keep us cool (and no, it’s not just about shade)

Trees reduce urban temperatures in two significant ways. One is by the shade they provides and the other is through their cooling effect – and no, they’re not the same thing.

Water is taken up via a plant’s roots, moves through the stems or trunks and is then misted into the air from the leaves through little holes called stomata. This is called transpiration, and it helps cool the air around leaves.

A diagram shows how transpiration happens.
Transpiration helps cools the air around a plant’s leaves. grayjay/Shutterstock

Water can also evaporate from soil and other surfaces. The combined loss of water from plants and soil is called evapotranspiration.

The cooling effects of evapotranspiration vary but are up to 4°C, depending on other environmental factors.

Watering your trees

If heatwaves occur in generally hot, dry weather, then trees will provide shade – but some may struggle with transpiration if the soil is too dry.

This can reduce the cooling effect of trees. Keeping soil moist and plants irrigated, however, can change that.

The best time to irrigate is early in the morning, as the water is less likely to evaporate quickly before transpiration can occur.

You don’t need to do a deep water; most absorbing roots are close to the surface, so a bit of brief irrigation will often do the trick. You could also recycle water from your shower. Using mulch helps trap the water in the soil, giving the roots time to absorb it before it evaporates.

All transpiring plants have a cooling effect on the air surrounding them, so you might wonder if trees have anything special to offer in terms of the urban heat island effect and heatwaves.

Their great size means that they provide much larger areas of shade than other plants and if they are transpiring then there are greater cooling effects.

The surface area of tree leaves, which is crucial to the evaporative cooling that takes place on their surfaces, is also much greater than many other plants.

Another advantage is that trees can be very long lived. They provide shade, cooling and other benefits over a very long time and at relatively low cost.

Not all trees

All that said, I don’t want to overstate the role of urban trees in heatwaves when soils are dry.

Some trees cease transpiring early as soils dry, but others will persist until they wilt.

Careful tree selection can help maximise the cooling effects of the urban forest. Trees that suit the local soil and can cope with some drying while maintaining transpiration can provide greater cooling

And, of course, it is important to follow any water restriction rules or guidelines that may be operating in your area at the time.

Trees keep us cool

Despite the clear benefits trees can provide in curbing heat, tree numbers and canopy cover are declining annually in many Australian cities and towns.

Housing development still occurs without proper consideration of how trees and greenspace improve residents’ quality of life.

It is not an either/or argument. With proper planning, you can have both new housing and good tree canopy cover.

We should also be cautious of over-pruning urban trees.

A child lays his or her hand on the bark of a tall tree.
Trees help us when we help them. maxim ibragimov/Shutterstock

Trees cannot eliminate the effects of a heatwave but can mitigate some of them.

Anything that we can do to mitigate the urban heat island effect and keep our cities and towns cooler will reduce heat-related illness and associated medical costs.The Conversation

Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Rare, almost mythical Australian tree kangaroos can finally be studied, thanks to new tech

Tree kangaroos are easily spotted with thermal drones. Emmeline Norris
Emmeline NorrisJames Cook University

Bennett’s tree kangaroos, one of Australia’s most mysterious marsupials, have long eluded researchers. Our new study, published in Australian Mammalogy today, has achieved a breakthrough: using thermal drones to detect these rare animals with unprecedented efficiency.

Tree kangaroos are found only in the tropical rainforests of Australia and New Guinea. Unlike their ground-dwelling relatives, they spend their lives in treetops, feeding on leaves and vines. Their dependence on rainforest trees makes them vulnerable to deforestation and climate change.

Alarmingly, 12 of the 14 species of tree kangaroos are listed as threatened. Yet we know little about their numbers or habits due to difficulties studying them in dense rainforest.

Our new findings mark a significant step forward, offering hope for improved conservation of these elusive, near-mythical creatures. Thermal drones, which detect animals by their body heat, may help to unravel the mysteries of tree kangaroos and guide efforts to protect them.

Rugged, dense rainforests

Bennett’s tree kangaroos inhabit Australia’s most rugged and densely vegetated rainforests north of the Daintree River in Far North Queensland. They rarely descend from their vine-covered treetop roosts, which can be up to 40 metres high.

Traditional survey methods like spotlighting (that is, methodically using flashlights) or handheld thermal cameras (using infrared sensors to detect warm bodies) often fail to detect tree kangaroos, as these tools are limited to what can be seen from the ground.

As a result, there have been no systematic surveys of Bennett’s tree kangaroos. Population estimates rely on outdated observations and anecdotal evidence, leaving their conservation status unclear.

We need robust population estimates to detect shifting population trends and prevent population declines. This requires new monitoring methods to help us find these elusive animals.

Hotspots in the treetops

Thermal drones are just what they sound like – drones equipped with infrared cameras that detect heat signatures from the air.

Warm-blooded animals like tree kangaroos stand out against the cooler rainforest background, even when partially hidden by foliage. This technology offers a powerful advantage over traditional methods, allowing researchers to scan large areas from above and see past vegetation.

In our study, we conducted three drone flights at the Daintree Rainforest Observatory, Cape Tribulation, during the morning and evening.

To our surprise, we detected six Bennett’s tree kangaroos in under an hour of flight time – an unprecedented result. These included a solitary animal, a pair, and a group of three, all consistent with known home range sizes for the species.

By comparison, traditional ground surveys often require several nights of survey effort to spot a single animal. The drones not only made detection easier but also allowed us to closely observe the animals’ behaviour, such as feeding on specific plant species, without disturbing them.

Side-by-side comparison of the same image in colour and in thermal view, with three tree kangaroos clearly visible (circled in yellow) in the thermal image. Emmeline Norris

Shedding light on a hidden species

Our findings suggest Bennett’s tree kangaroos are thriving in Cape Tribulation’s lowland rainforest.

While this is encouraging, further systematic surveys are needed to assess how population density varies with forest type, elevation and other factors.

Another intriguing discovery was the tree kangaroos’ diet. Using the drone’s colour zoom camera, we identified the vines and leaves they were eating. Mile-a-minute vine (Decalobanthus peltatus) and fire vine (Tetracera daemeliana) were popular choices on the menu.

These observations deepen our understanding of the species’ habitat needs and could inform future conservation efforts.

Conservation research methods must prioritise minimising stress on wildlife. The tree kangaroos showed no signs of disturbance, continuing to forage after briefly pausing to look at the drone.

This non-invasive approach is a promising alternative to traditional methods, like radio tracking (where a tag is attached to the animal), which can disrupt natural behaviours.

Dense green foliage with a sleepy looking orange animal in the middle.
A Bennett’s tree kangaroo peeks at the thermal drone through the vines. Emmeline Norris

Craning for a better view

Despite showing promise, drone-based wildlife monitoring has its challenges. Regulations require drone operators to maintain visual line of sight with their drone. This can be difficult in a rainforest due to the height and density of the canopy.

To overcome this, we remotely operated our drone from a 47-metre-high canopy crane designed for research. This extra height allowed us to maintain a clear view while surveying a larger area.

A distant view of rainforest treetops with a tall crane in the middle.
The 47-metre high canopy crane at the Daintree Rainforest Observatory, Cape Tribulation. Emmeline Norris

However, canopy cranes are rare – there’s only one in tropical Australia. Expanding this approach will require alternative strategies, such as using mountaintops or canopy walkways as vantage points.

Our study is just the beginning. The next step is designing methods to estimate population densities more accurately – not only for Bennett’s tree kangaroos but also other tree kangaroo species in the remote mountains of New Guinea. By identifying individual tree kangaroos based on their unique fur markings, we aim to also study their social structure and sex ratios.

Thermal drones have the potential to revolutionise conservation efforts for hard-to-study wildlife. They offer a powerful tool to monitor populations and guide management decisions.

For the rare and remarkable Bennett’s tree kangaroo, this technology could make the difference between obscurity and security.The Conversation

A high view of a platform where people in safety gear stand operating drones.
The study authors flying drones from the upper platform of the canopy crane. Emmeline Norris

Emmeline Norris, PhD Candidate, Conservation Biology, James Cook University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Climate-affected produce is here to stay. Here’s what it takes for consumers to embrace it

Joanna Dorota/Shutterstock, Zoom Team/Shutterstock, The Conversation
Liudmila TarabashkinaThe University of Western AustraliaKenneth Kaysan Khayr (Fu Xian) HoEdith Cowan University, and Rajesh RajaguruUniversity of Tasmania

The economic cost of food waste in Australia is staggering. It’s estimated $36.6 billion is lost to the economy every year. Much of our fresh produce never even makes it to stores, rejected at the farm gate due to cosmetic reasons, such as its appearance, size or ripeness.

We’ve known about this problem for a long time, which has given rise to the “ugly” food movement. Once-rejected produce has been rebranded as “wonky” in the UK, “inglorious” in France, “naturally imperfect” in Canada or an “odd bunch” in Australia.

While the existence of these campaigns is commendable, there’s another major marketing challenge if we want to reduce food waste - acceptance of climate-affected produce.

Broadly speaking, this refers to produce affected by extreme or moderate weather events. Droughts are an example of such climate events, predicted to become more intense and frequent as a result of global climate change.

Climate-affected produce resembles “ugly” food as it is often smaller, misshapen or has surface imperfections.

Imperfect looking pears on a white background
Climate-affected produce often has a lot in common with ‘ugly’ fruit, but may also differ in taste and texture. Alexey Borodin/Shutterstock

But in contrast to “ugly” food, the taste and texture of climate-affected produce can be quite different.

Under the effects of drought, apples may become sweeter and more granular, chillies hotter and onions more pungent. In the case of mild or moderate droughts, such produce is still edible.

Our recent research points to some uncomfortable truths. Many consumers prefer to avoid climate-affected produce altogether. And when price is a factor, they won’t choose it without a discount.

But our research also offers suggestions on how purchases of such produce could be encouraged – including marketing messages that highlight the “resilience” of climate-affected produce.

Our research

We carried out two discrete choice experiments with consumers who buy fresh fruit and vegetables. One sample was drawn from among Australian students, the other from members of the wider Australian population.

Participants were shown eight different apple options simulating a shopping environment, which were described with a range of different attributes including firmness, sweetness, appearance and size.

The apples were also labelled with a price tag and information on whether they were sold at a supermarket or farmers’ market. All climate-affected apples were presented with a “resilience” message: “resilient apple – survived the drought”.

We sought to examine how produce’s “organoleptic” properties – the way it impacts our different senses – as well as levels of empathy toward the farmers impact consumers’ willingness to choose climate-affected produce, and how much they’d pay for it.

A small, imperfect apple next to a large red apple
Drought can make apples sweeter, smaller, and less firm. The Conversation, Natthapol Siridech/Shutterstock, PickPik

A preference for perfect

We found when an apple’s firmness, size and aesthetics were important and empathy towards farmers was low, consumers tended to avoid climate-affected produce. They instead chose unaffected alternatives at higher prices (no such effect was observed for sweetness).

This finding might not be surprising, but it’s still cause for concern. If farmers cannot repurpose climate-affected produce into spreads, jams, smoothies or animal feed, it can’t enter supply chains and may end up as waste.

Previous campaigns for “ugly” fruit and vegetables may not offer much help with this problem, either. These campaigns emphasise the unaffected taste and texture of the produce. Marketing climate-affected produce needs a different approach.

Otherwise, we expect a discount

When price was important to consumers, they chose climate-affected produce, regardless of their levels of empathy toward farmers. But they were only willing to pay discounted prices for it.

That might seem like a more positive outcome. But consumer expectations that climate-affected produce will always be discounted may disadvantage farmers with lower profit margins and diminish its value as a still-usable resource.

toddler girl sitting in the shopping cart next to an aisle of apples
Getting climate-affected (but still edible) produce into supply chains can help reduce food waste. Ekaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock

The power of “resilience” messaging

Importantly, we found when the “resilience” message resonated with consumers, they were more inclined to consider climate-affected apples. This was true even when their empathy towards farmers was low.

This suggests that when empathy fails, leveraging marketing messages that highlight “resilience” could be another avenue worth exploring.

Our research team is now exploring what types of “resilience” messages can encourage purchases of climate-affected produce.

Australians have been conditioned for many years to expect only aesthetically pleasing fruit and vegetables.

Given extreme weather events are unlikely to become less frequent in the future, climate-affected produce is likely here to stay. If we want consumers to embrace it, we need to have uncomfortable conversations around its different taste and texture, and rethink what we’re willing to accept.The Conversation

Liudmila Tarabashkina, Senior Lecturer, The University of Western AustraliaKenneth Kaysan Khayr (Fu Xian) Ho, University Lecturer in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Edith Cowan University, and Rajesh Rajaguru, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Tasmania

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Pet flea treatments may be harming wildlife – but owners can help

Cannelle Tassin de MontaiguUniversity of Sussex

Toxic substances used in flea and tick treatments pet owners give to their dogs and cats have been detected in birds’ nests, according to new UK research.

Fipronil and imidacloprid, two common insecticides distributed by vets in pipettes to kill or stunt fleas, were previously found in nearly all English rivers. These chemicals are known to harm aquatic insects, which has repercussions for the species that eat them. Birds are also known to ingest these insecticides in their food and water.

Our study now raises the risk of direct skin contact, as veterinary drugs were the most common insecticides colleagues and I found in bird nests. How do they get there – and what are they doing?

Many birds, including garden visitors such as blue tits and great tits, nest in tree hollows and nest boxes. To keep their eggs and chicks warm, these birds line their nests with soft materials such as fur. In fact, around 74% of European bird species use fur as nest insulation.

Across the UK, pet owners and wildlife enthusiasts leave brushed pet fur outside for birds to collect. But with around 80% of the country’s 22 million cats and dogs receiving regular flea and tick treatments, this well-meaning act can inadvertently expose birds to harm.

previous study in the Netherlands found that insecticides used in flea treatment were appearing in birds’ nests. The study I led with colleagues is the first to identify the problem in the UK.

Banned on farms, used in homes

We examined 103 nests of blue tits and great tits and found the residue of 17 out of 20 insecticides commonly used as flea treatments in the UK. The most prevalent were fipronil, which we found in every single nest, imidacloprid and permethrin, which were both detected in 89% of nests.

All three of these chemicals are banned for use as pest control on EU farms due to their harmful effects on wildlife. Studies have shown that these insecticides can damage the nervous and reproductive systems of birds, and threaten their overall health. Yet they remain widely used in veterinary medicine.

We collected nests months after the breeding season, and so the concentrations of chemicals we found are likely to be lower than what was present in the nests during spring, when birds gather material for nests. This suggests that eggs and chicks were exposed during the whole breeding season.

The nests we found with higher concentrations of insecticides contained more unhatched eggs and dead chicks. Other factors could explain these deaths, such as predation. But the known dangers of these chemicals should make us question their wider impact on the environment. While more research is needed to fully understand their risks, the evidence already suggests that exposure could be harming nestlings, which are at a critical stage of development.

A hand applying a pipette of flea treatment to a dog's fur.
Flea and tick treatments either kill insects or halt their development. Nick Alias/Shutterstock

Scientists and conservation groups are urging the UK government to conduct a more thorough environmental risk assessment of veterinary treatments, particularly those used on dogs and cats.

Public awareness will also be key to addressing the problem. Many pet owners do not know that their routine flea treatments affect wildlife. Small changes could help reduce this impact. For example, year-round flea treatment is not necessary, particularly in winter when fleas and ticks are less active.

If treatment is required then tablets could be a better choice as they do not involve direct skin contact for birds and would not wash away every time a pet swims or is bathed either. They may be excreted in faeces and contaminate the soil, however – that’s why a thorough environmental risk assessment is necessary.

Pet owners who enjoy helping birds can still leave out fur as nesting material, perhaps by saving the brushed fur from untreated pets during winter and putting it out the following spring.

As awareness of this issue grows, pet owners, scientists and policymakers can ensure that veterinary treatments do not come at the cost of the UK’s wildlife.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.The Conversation


Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, Research Fellow, Ecology & Evolution, University of Sussex

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How citizen science is shaping international conservation

Testing the River Gade in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Earthwatch EuropeCC BY-NC-ND
Sasha WoodsEarthwatch Institute (Europe) and Stephen ParkinsonUniversity of Nottingham

Citizen science is a powerful tool for involving more people in research. By influencing policy, it is transforming conservation at global, national and local levels.

Citizen science actively encourages non-scientists to be a part of the scientific research process. Sometimes the terminology gets confusing. We say “non-scientists” but through taking part in citizen science projects, people become scientists – they’re just not professionally involved in the research.

It’s also worth noting that the “citizen” in citizen science is completely unrelated to ideas of national citizenship. Put simply, it’s science by the people for the people.

Citizen scientists can take part in every stage of the research process. Depending on the project, participants can write the research questions, choose the methods, collect the data, analyse and interpret the results, and share the research as widely as possible. By broadening people’s understanding of scientific problems and solutions, citizen science can act as a powerful catalyst for change.

It is already making an impact across lots of disciplines, including conservation, by addressing barriers to policy change such as lack of evidence and low levels of public engagement and input. While it’s not yet common for citizen science to directly influence policy, in our research we’ve seen how citizen science can shape policy at every scale: through promoting policy, monitoring progress towards policy or advocating for policy enforcement.

At a local level, citizen science can influence policy and transform conservation science. The clean air coalition of western New York is a group of citizens concerned about smells and smoke, and their connection to chronic health problems in the community. The group collected samples in 2004 to determine what was in the air and presented this data to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

In response, the DEC monitored air pollutants in four locations in the city of Tonawanda for a year between 2007 and 2008 – an investigation which formed the basis for compliance monitoring and regulatory actions. As a direct result of citizen science, the Tonawanda Coke Corporation agreed to improve its operations, monitor for leaks and upgrade pollution controls. By December 2019, levels of carcinogenic benzene had dropped 92% since the end of DEC’s sampling in 2008.

Citizen science can also run at the national level. For example, the annual Big Butterfly Count, run by the Butterfly Conservation charity, encourages people in the UK to advocate for conservation policy by counting butterflies.

Over 25 days in July and August 2024, 85,000 volunteers recorded their sightings, with alarming results. Average butterfly numbers were at their lowest in the survey’s 14-year history.

The charity and its citizen scientists called on the UK government to ban pesticides that can harm butterflies and bees. And on January 23 2025, the government confirmed that, for the first time in five years, an emergency application for the use of a neonicotinoid pesticide on sugar beet in England will not be granted.

The government highlighted that the decision was “based on robust assessments of environmental, health and economic risks and benefits” and, although not explicitly stated, it is clear that citizen scientists contributed to those assessments.

Going global

Citizen science also contributes data to international conservation policies. For example, the UN incorporates citizen science data into two of its largest environmental policy frameworks: the sustainable development goals (SDGs) – a set of targets to end poverty, protect the environment, and promote prosperity for all people – and the Kunming-Montreal agreement, which aims to halt and reverse biodiversity decline.

As part of our work at the European branch of the Earthwatch Institute research organisation, we’re involved with a global water quality monitoring project called FreshWater Watch. This project has successfully engaged communities and governments in Sierra Leone and Zambia to collect data on the proportion of rivers and lakes with good water quality within a country. Over time, this indicator can be used to measure progress towards the SDG for clean water and sanitation.

woman in blue raincoat hold jar of water by river
A volunteer tests water quality at Faendre Reen near Cardiff. Earthwatch EuropeCC BY-NC-ND

Currently, only five of the 231 indicators used to measure progress for the SDGs include citizen science data. But recent research suggests such projects could contribute to up to 33% of these indicators and over half of the 365 indicators for the global biodiversity framework.

And even where citizen science data is not used in official monitoring towards policy, it can still transform conservation science by educating people and empowering them to advocate for change.

The Great UK WaterBlitz is a national example of this. WaterBlitzes are four-day campaigns in which volunteers assess the water quality of local rivers, ponds and lakes, using simple-but-reliable testing kits for nitrates and phosphates.

Nitrates and phosphates occur naturally in the environment and are essential for plant growth. But high concentrations found in sewage and agricultural runoff trigger a process called eutrophication: an overgrowth of algae which leads to increased levels of bacteria and, therefore, decreased oxygen concentrations, which harms aquatic plants and animals.

river with wooden bridge, hand holds vial of pink liquid and colour chart for testing water quality.
Citizen scientists used these simple testing kits to assess water quality. Sasha Woods/Earthwatch EuropeCC BY-NC-ND

Our team has used such testing kits in river catchments for over 10 years, but recently expanded to a UK-wide campaign. In September 2024, we ran our largest event to date, with 4,500 participants investigating 2,300 locations. This created a national snapshot of freshwater health at a granular scale, which we have used to highlight pollution hotspots to the Environment Agency (EA).

Although this data is not yet used for official monitoring or the development of conservation policy, its contribution to improving water ecosystems is increasingly acknowledged. As the EA’s deputy director for monitoring, insight and innovation told the Guardian: “The Environment Agency values the contribution of England’s growing network of citizen scientists and welcomes the Great UK WaterBlitz and other initiatives that complement our own research, monitoring and assessment work.”

Despite demonstrating valuable contributions to research – particularly by providing robust datasets – citizen science still faces multiple challenges. The engagement, motivation and retention of volunteers is resource-intensive, and citizen science is not particularly well funded.

And even though citizen science methods are frequently validated by laboratory scientists, policymakers can still be hesitant to integrate this into their monitoring frameworks, due to often unfounded concerns about the data’s quality and reliability.

But citizen science is already influencing conservation. This will only increase as policymakers recognise it as a legitimate and valuable scientific approach. And because there are citizen science projects all over the world, anyone can be a part of this positive change.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.The Conversation


Sasha Woods, Director of Science and Policy, Earthwatch Institute (Europe) and Stephen Parkinson, PhD Candidate, Circular Economy, University of Nottingham

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Electric vehicle batteries can last almost 40% longer in the real world than in lab tests

AU USAnakul/Shutterstock
Hussein DiaSwinburne University of Technology

When we see “tested under laboratory conditions”, we often assume real-world conditions will lead to faster degradation of a product.

But experts from Stanford University have found the opposite is true for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Their new research shows traditional laboratory testing leads to faster degradation, while real-world use gives substantially more battery life, extending the lifespan of the entire EV. Researchers found the stop-start way we drive and the variable rate the battery discharges power actually prolongs battery life by up to 38% compared to traditional tests.

This is good news for EV drivers – and for efforts to electrify transport. This extra battery life would translate to more than 300,000 more kilometres an EV could drive before needing battery replacement, the researchers say.

Longer-lasting batteries would reduce the total cost of EV ownership – and benefit the environment by getting more use out of each battery.

How do we usually test battery degradation?

Common battery chemistries such as lithium-ion will degrade over time. As lithium ions shuttle back and forth across the electrode, some will be diverted or trapped. As batteries age, they don’t hold as much charge.

So how do you measure this?

When you make an EV battery, you don’t want to spend 20 years testing its longevity before release. To test batteries more quickly, researchers have tended to estimate battery degradation rates by using a constant rate of battery discharge. Studies of EV battery degradation are normally done in a laboratory environment under controlled conditions.

In the lab, researchers subject the battery to rapidly repeated charge-discharge cycles. Power is discharged at a constant rate. Observing the gradual drop in capacity gives us the degradation levels over time. This is how we get estimates such as “retains 80% capacity in ten years time”.

But while this method is widely used, it has limitations. Discharging power at a constant rate is not how we really drive. We might accelerate fast to get onto the freeway, spend lots of time accelerating and braking in stop-start traffic, or do a quick run to several shops. Plus, much of the time the battery is not being used. Instead of a constant drain on the battery, it’s a mix.

What the Stanford researchers have done is test EV batteries in realistic ways, imitating the way we actually drive. This is known as “dynamic cycle testing”.

Mimicking real world use

To replicate real-world usage and driving patterns, the Stanford team designed different discharge patterns for EV batteries, some based on real driving data. The researchers then tested 92 commercial lithium-ion batteries for more than two years across the different profiles.

The results showed batteries tested using real life scenarios degraded substantially slower than expected and had higher battery expectancy than those tested under lab conditions. Even better, the more realistic the battery use, the slower the battery degraded.

Battery researchers have long assumed rapid acceleration is bad for battery life. But this isn’t the case. Short acceleration and regenerative braking – where EVs charge their batteries during braking – were actually associated with slower battery degradation rates.

Is this backed up in practice?

A number of other recent studies have looked at how batteries perform in practice using data from EVs in operation, including commercial vehicles. These studies also found correlations between real-world use and lower battery degradation rates.

A 2024 report by GEOTAB researchers used telematic remote monitoring to get data from 10,000 EVs. The study found improved battery technology is leading to slower degradation. Newer EVs lose about 1.8% of their health per year – a sharp drop compared to the 2.3% degradation rate in 2019.

Several factors influenced battery longevity other than use patterns. One of these is worth noting – frequent use of DC fast chargers by high-use vehicles is linked to faster battery degradation. The effect is more notable in hot climates. By contrast, slower “level 2” charging is better for battery longevity. Overall, the researchers found the best way to prolong battery life was to keep charge between 20% and 80%, reduce exposure to extreme temperatures and limit fast charging.

man charging EV in car park.
You can prolong battery life still further by avoiding overuse of DC fast chargers and extreme temperatures. Halfpoint/Shutterstock

Another 2024 report analysed the batteries of 7,000 EVs used intensively over 3-5 years. The report found lower degradation rates than expected.

This report found most batteries still had had good capacity (more than 80%) even after propelling vehicles more than 200,000 km. Factors such as use patterns, advances in cell chemistry and optimised battery management were also found to influence battery ageing.

What does this mean for the EV transition?

These results suggest EV owners may not need to replace expensive battery packs for several additional years. Over the lifetime of an EV, this means lower operating costs.

The findings are also encouraging for fleet operators. Batteries in high-mileage commercial EVs should remain reliable even after heavy use.

Car manufacturers and technology providers can benefit by updating their EV battery management software to take these findings into account. This would help to increase battery longevity under real-world conditions.

Fewer battery replacements will mean fewer batteries to recycle. Once removed from the vehicle, EV batteries can be used to store energy for homes or businesses for years. These findings suggest a longer and more reliable second life for the batteries.

In recent years, the electric vehicle transition has hit a couple of speedbumps. Cost-of-living pressures and uncertainty about charging have seen more Australians take up hybrids than pure electric vehicles.

These findings may help reassure drivers interested in electric vehicles but unsure about battery lifespan.The Conversation

Hussein Dia, Professor of Future Urban Mobility, Swinburne University of Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The 30-plants-a-week challenge: you’ll still see gut health benefits even if you don’t meet this goal

Plant foods can have many benefits for our health. marilyn barbone/ Shutterstock
Aisling PigottCardiff Metropolitan University

The more plants you include in your diet, the more health benefits you’ll notice. This is why public health guidelines have long encouraged people to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

But the 30-plants-a-week challenge circulating online suggests that, instead of only aiming to eat five servings a day, we should instead aim to eat 30 different plant foods per week to improve our health. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, wholegrains, herbs and spices would all count as a plant serving.

Some advocates of the approach have even created some ground rules and have generated a points system that gives a point to each different type of plant you consume. However, not every plant counts as a full point. For instance, herbs and spices only count as one-quarter of a plant point. Refined plant products, such as fruit juices or processed wholegrains (such as white bread), don’t count at all.

Current NHS dietary recommendations around fruits and vegetables (such as the five-a-day message) place the emphasis on quantity – ensuring people eat enough fruit, vegetables and wholegrains to get all the essential nutrients and fibre their body needs. But, the 30 plants approach shifts the focus to diversity – arguing that eating a wide variety of plant foods provides greater health benefits than eating the recommended amount of only a few select fruits and vegetables.

So does eating 30 plants a week offer any additional health benefits over eating five servings a day?

Exploring the science

The 30 plants a week challenge is based on the American Gut Project – a citizen science study of 10,000 participants from across the US, UK and Australia. The findings suggest that people who eat a greater variety of plant-based foods each week have a more diverse gut microbiome compared to those who eat fewer plants. The gut microbiome refers to the trillions of bacteria, viruses, fungi and microorganisms that live in our digestive tract.

Research shows a more diverse microbiome is associated with a lower risk of chronic disease, better immune function and even improved mental health.

So in simple terms, it looks like the more plant diversity we eat, the more diverse the population of microbes living in our gut are. This leads to better overall health.

But does eating 30 plants really provide a greater number of benefits compared to current public health messages? These recommend we eat at least five portions of fruit and veg daily, choose wholegrain carbohydrates and limit refined sugar, processed meats and foods as much as possible.

Incidentally, research shows that following these recommendations also leads to a more diverse gut microbiome and better health outcomes compared to those who do not meet recommendations.

So, it looks like following either current public health recommendations or the 30 plants diet will improve microbial diversity and have benefits for health. While 30 is a meaningful and realistic target, it’s important to recognise that small, sustainable changes can also have a lasting health impact.

Diet changes

Like any trend, the 30 plants message isn’t without its drawbacks. One major concern is accessibility. Buying 30 different plant foods each week can be expensive – which could exacerbate existing health inequalities.

A woman's hands hold a bowl containing a plant-based meal.
The 30-plants-a-week challenge has benefits and limitations. Kulkova Daria/ Shutterstock

There are ways around these limitations, such as buying in bulk and freezing portions, using canned and frozen fruits, veggies, pulses and lentils and meal planning to reduce food waste.

However, these solutions often require extra resources such as storage, cooking space and time – which may not be possible for everyone.

There’s also a risk that the message could oversimplify the complexity of public health guidance – potentially overlooking the importance of individual nutrients and overall dietary balance.

On the other hand, there’s a strong argument that the 30 plants per week challenge is simply the same, old public health advice packaged in a slightly different, more engaging way. As a dietitian, I quite like that.

Current public health messages around food, nutrition and lifestyle are not landing. Despite the evidence for these guidelines, rates of lifestyle-related health problems are increasing. It’s not that these recommendations don’t work – it’s that as a population we struggle to follow them.

The 30-plants-a-week challenge is a positive message that encourages adding more variety – rather than restricting foods. If people are encouraged to eat more plant-based foods, they may naturally displace less nutritious choices – which is a win for health.

If you’re thinking of trying the 30-plants-a-week challenge, here are some easy ways to increase variety in your diet:

  1. Swap your carbs: Swap white bread, rice or pasta for wholegrain bread, rice or pasta. You can also consider alternative wholegrain carbohydrates such as quinoa or wholegrain couscous.
  2. Include nuts and seeds: Easily overlooked, but an effortless way to add diversity. A small handful is a portion.
  3. Add pulses and lentils: Add lentils to a meat dish (such as spaghetti bolognese) for extra protein and more plant points.
  4. Buy tinned and frozen foods: Stock up on frozen berries, mixed vegetables, canned beans and chickpeas to make plant variety easier to achieve and more affordable.

The challenge to eat 30 different plants is an exciting and positive way to potentially encourage nutritious choices. However, we don’t yet fully understand its acceptability or impact on food choices in real-world settings. While the scientific evidence strongly supports the benefits of plant diversity for health, it would be valuable to gather more research on its practical effectiveness before incorporating it into public health messaging.The Conversation

Aisling Pigott, Lecturer, Dietetics, Cardiff Metropolitan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Week One February 2025 (January 27 - February 2)

Please Remember to leave water out for wildlife on hot days

With the BOM forecasting heatwave conditions to return over the weekend and into next week please remember to put out bowls of water in shady positions for wildlife. For lizards and smaller birds a shallow dish with some sticks or twigs via which to get out again are best. If you have a birdbath, these too are best placed out of the sun so the water doesn't overheat.

Photo: Bush Turkey dug itself a cooling dirt pit under the hedge in the PON yard on Tuesday January 28 2025 when Sydney temperatures hit 40+ degrees. The baby Bush Turkey seen a in December has grown and it too was spending time in the shade.

 

Wildlife killed by Same roaming dog Pair Again: 2025 Review of NSW Companion Animals Act to Commence following Dog Attack Inquests    

Dogs killing wildlife at: North Narrabeen-Elanora-Ingleside-Warriewood - January 2024

Residents have reported that a pair of dogs witnessed killing a water dragon in 2023 are once more on the loose in North Narrabeen, Elanora and Ingleside. 

On Wednesday January 15 2025 one of the pair was seen with another dead water dragon dangling from its mouth.

One resident stated they 'had seen these two killing wildlife in November 2023 as well, so repeat offenders'. 

Another witness stated 'they caused havoc February to March 2023, were seen killing a water dragon and chasing down wallabies, trashed a couple of nurseries in Ingleside, attacked chooks and native ducks. And that's only what people saw. '

Another resident stated; 'These dogs have been a menace for years - it’s time these dogs were sorted out  - they’ve killed so much wildlife.'

The photograph sent into the news service in 2023 shows this is the same pair of dogs in that new image of January 15.

Chasing macropods can cause stress myopathy, a fatal condition that causes muscle tissue to break down.

All native birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals (except the dingo) are protected in New South Wales by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act). This includes eggs and young ones.

However, wildlife continues to be attacked and/or killed in this area. Photographs, videos and emailed reports come in to the news service on a daily basis of dogs offleash across all public spaces and in wildlife preservation areas (WPA's).

Visit: 
The latest available official number of dog attack incidents reported by the northern beaches council to the Office of Local Government (NSW Gov.) from 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2024 (1st Quarter 2024/25) records 53 attacks. Of those on people, 5 were serious (required medical treatment and/or hospitalisation) and there were 15 less serious attacks, and 39 animals were attacked by dogs. The NBC LGA records forwarded to the NSW OLG states it has 74,025 microchipped dogs registered in the area.

In comparison Central Coast Council recorded 58 attacks on people, with 11 requiring medical attention or hospitalisation, 34 people  recorded as reporting to their council what was deemed a 'less serious attack', and 56 animals attacked. The CC LGA records it has 162,490 microchipped dogs registered for the LGA.

Shoalhaven City Council, the council area where 90 year old Ada "Sally" Holland died after she was attacked by a pack of unregistered dogs on a south coast beach, recorded 68 attacks of which 6 were people and serious and required medical treatment and/or hospitalisation, and 37 'less serious attacks' on people and 68 animals attacked as well. That council records 60,512 microchipped and registered dogs.

The Quarterly NSW Report of all Dog attack incidents reported by all councils from 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2024 (1st Quarter 2024/25) records 1,358 attacks on people.

These figures also record the victims as:
Adult 739
Child (Child is up to 16 years) 115
Dog 688
Cat 64
Livestock 235
Other (animal) 202

The injuries on people that were more serious record:
Medical treatment required 197
Hospitalisation 69

The Number of injuries on animals records 1188 in total for the first quarter of 2024-2025, and:
Medical treatment required 212
Hospitalisation 72
Deaths 383


Young Wallaby in Warriewood. Photo: by Kevin Murray, March 2022.

young Eastern Water Dragon at Irrawong Falls. Photo: by Joe Mills, January 2025.

In June 2024 the New South Wales coronial inquiry into dog attacks found the death of Ada Holland could have been prevented if the council had responded appropriately to another attack by the same dogs a week earlier.

On the 29th of March 29, 2020, a Sunday, Ada was walking on Collingwood beach with her daughter, Gloria Holland, when a group of three dogs attacked them.

Magistrate Forbes found Ms Holland had a heart attack after suffering "extreme injuries" in the "brutal attack" and could not be revived.

Gloria was also seriously injured and required 38 stitches while another lady, Carol Evans, was also injured and required 120 stitches.

"Her children and friends have been severely traumatised and are left bereft by her unnecessary and savage death," Magistrate Forbes told the court.

On Friday, January 17 2025, Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes delivered the findings of the inquest into the death of the "very cherished" five-week-old baby who died in July 2021 at Kariong on the Central Coast from "fatal injuries", including puncture wounds to his chest by an American Staffordshire terrier.

The inquest heard that around a month before the baby's death, a council ranger was called to the home because a neighbour's Cocker Spaniel was found dead in the yard. A hole was found under a fence between the two properties, but it was unclear whether the Cocker Spaniel had been dragged under the fence or was attacked after making its way beyond its home yard.

The ranger from the Central Coast Council who attended observed traits of the attacking animal including yellow eyes, white tips on its toes and its build, which made her suspect the dog was part Pit Bull. The Pit Bull is deemed in Australia, American Staffordshire Terriers are not. The council gave the owner one month to provide proof the dog was not a restricted breed or cross breed and sent a notice of intention to declare it a restricted breed.

Coroner Forbes made 10 recommendations, including:
  1. The Minister and the OLG review the adequacy of the penalties for non-compliance with registration and identification requirements for dogs in the CA Act and the Regulation.
  2. The Minister and the OLG, in consultation with councils, develop and implement a Statewide public awareness and education campaign to educate dog owners and the community generally about the risks posed by dogs and how safely to interact with them.
  3. The Minister and the OLG, in consultation with councils and other stakeholders, introduce a licensing requirement for dog ownership, which may involve particular licence conditions calibrated for particular breeds of dogs and with applicants being required to undergo education with respect to safety and risk management.
  4. The Minister and the OLG examine the adequacy of the maximum penalties for the offences provided by ss 12A, 13, 14, 16 and 17 of the CA Act.
  5. The Minister and the OLG amend s 16 of the CA Act to delete subsection (2)(b).
  6.  The Minister and the OLG amend s 18 of the CA Act to broaden the scope for exercise of that power.
  7. The Minister and the OLG amend: (a) the interim control obligations and interim powers enlivened under ss 36 and 58B of the CA Act upon the giving of a notice of intention to declare a dog (i) dangerous or menacing or (ii) restricted; and (b) s 58(4) so as to make clearer its intended operation.
  8. The Minister and the OLG introduce a general power in the CA Act for an authorised officer to direct an owner or person in control of a dog to secure the dog with a muzzle and / or lead for a specified period.
  9. The Minister and the OLG amend s 58C of the CA Act (a) regarding the prohibition on an authorised officer making a restricted dog declaration if the owner provides a written statement by an approved breed assessor or approved temperament assessor; and (b) to require breed and/or temperament assessors to provide an outline of the assessment carried out (including, for the temperament assessment, where, over what duration, and in what conditions).
  10. To the extent not already done, the Minister and the OLG investigate, or continue to investigate, facilitating reasonable access to DNA testing in NSW to assist breed identification of dogs.
In 2025 the NSW Government is reviewing the Companion Animals Act and Regulations. The 2025 CA Review will take a broad-based approach considering: responsible ownership of companion animals, compliance, and enforcement role of councils and the important consideration of the issues relating to the rehoming of companion animals.

The 2025 CA Review will include extensive consultation with key stakeholders, including NSW Local Councils, pet owners, breeders, veterinarians, rehoming and rescue organisations, animal welfare organisations, Department of Primary Industries in regional development, NSW Police, and NSW Department Communities and Justice.

A discussion paper to initiate the review is expected to be published in early 2025 for public comment. The paper will invite feedback on the three key focus areas relating to the management of companion animals.

The review is scheduled to commence at the conclusion of the series of dog attack inquests that Deputy State Coroner Forbes has been conducting and at the conclusion of the relevant Parliamentary Inquiries.

The timing of the review has been specifically set to allow those conducting the review to benefit from the findings from the inquests into dog attacks and the Parliamentary Inquiries.

This week the report of a dog attack on 4-year-old Lucia while playing on a beach near Perth has reminded people of what can happen when dogs are allowed offleash in public spaces. The dog grabbed Lucia by the neck and shoulder, repeatedly dragging her under the water.

Lucia was unresponsive and covered in blood from large puncture wounds to her neck and back by the time a stranger managed to help her mother Natalie and two siblings get the dog off her. She was airlifted to Perth to undergo surgery.

Her mother Natalie states the incident has left her family traumatised and is sharing her story, hoping it will serve as a warning to other parents about the unpredictability of dogs around children.

Although Lucia is now back at home, recovering, and her family is trying to come to terms with what they witnessed, the unprovoked attack on the little girl has left scars that may not heal.

"She cannot be around our family pet now. She doesn't want to go to the beach or be around dogs anymore," Natalie told the ABC.

"That beach is where most of our family holiday memories are. It should be a safe place. It's going to be a bit of a road to turn it back into that, from a place of fear."

This most recent unprovoked dog attack on a small child has renewed debate about dogs being allowed offleash in public spaces, including public beaches where young and small children will be present.

The south end of Mona Vale beach, currently the subject of a Plan of Management the council is seeking feedback on, which has been re-written from Pittwater Council days ostensibly to allow dogs offleash in this space, has already been the site of an attack on a child in July 2022. The owner of that dog ran away after the child was attacked.

Weeks before another toddler playing on the sand at south Mona Vale beach was run over by a large dog, the child's mother told by that pet owner to 'not come there as this was now a dog beach' and to walk her child right along the beach to the north end if she wanted the child to be able to paddle on hot days.

The south end of Mona Vale beach is NOT currently an area where dogs are allowed. There is a dog offleash area above the beach on Mona Vale Headland Park ( Robert Dunn Reserve).


The dog in W.A., a Rottweiler, was euthanised after the attack. Although not on the list of restricted breeds in Australia, Lucia's mum Natalie has spoken in support of others who have stated this breed should be added to that list. 

Dog breeds banned in Australia include: 
  • American Pit Bull Terrier: Also known as the pit bull terrier
  • Dogo Argentino
  • Fila Brasileiro
  • Japanese Tosa
  • Perro de Presa Canario: Also known as the Presa Canario
These breeds are prohibited from being owned, bred, or imported across Australia to reduce the risk of dog attacks and protect people and other animals. State and territory governments enforce strict regulations to ensure compliance. 

In NSW, any dog declared by an authorised officer of a council, under division 6 of the Companion Animals Act 1998, to be a restricted dog, is also then a restricted dog. If you own a restricted dog and it attacks or injures a person or an animal without being provoked, you must report it to your local council within 24 hours of the attack or injury.

However, hunting dog breeds are allowed - when used for stalking deer and pigs, or when targeting native or non-indigenous 'game' birds.  The NSW DPI, under its Native Game Bird Management Program, allows 'licensed, responsible volunteer hunters to help landholders manage the impacts of native game birds over their agricultural lands'.

In 2023-2024 there were 29, 266 native birds 'harvested' to benefit ricegrowers, almost double the previous years' deaths [1.]

The latest available reported numbers included 10,053 of the species Black Duck or Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa), a bird which has a songline that traditionally runs through Pittwater.

The Northern Beaches Council was contacted to query what action it has taken between 2023 and now to address these two dogs hunting, chasing, attacking and killing local wildlife, and whether the dogs' owner was fined for the wildlife killed in 2023. A spokesperson for council stated:

''Council is aware of several complaints regarding these dogs and have confirmed the owner’s identity. 
 
In March 2023 reports were made to Council about a brown poodle allegedly attacking a water dragon on private property (?) in Ingleside and in addition a duck being killed at a nursery on Powderworks Road, Ingleside. The matter was investigated and there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the owner at this time. 
 
A second complaint has been received this week regarding allegations of two dogs attacking wildlife on Powderworks Road. This matter is currently under investigation by Council to confirm the dogs identity, their owners and the allegations made. 

Residents are encouraged to contact Council directly about these alleged incidents if they haven’t already to assist staff with their investigations, especially if they have witnessed them first-hand.''

The most recent attack on wildlife in the North Narrabeen-Elanora-Ingleside-Warriewood area was reported to the council, as had those that had been witnessed previously by others.

The news service chose not to run the images of the two dogs sent in in 2023 and in January 2025 so as NOT to make them targets - all dogs are hunters; it's built into their DNA - responsible pet ownership to ensure they do not chase wildlife is what is required, under law, of all pet owners in NSW.

Both are larger dogs, one black - which looks like a labradoodle - one dark brown - which looks like a curly haired retriever.

If you have seen a dog attack a person or animal, or you have been attacked by a dog yourself, report it to your local council. This advice stands for attacks that happen in public and private settings.

If the attack happened outside local council hours, you may call your local police station. Police officers are also authorised officers under the Companion Animals Act 1998. Authorised officers have a wide range of powers to deal with owners of attacking dogs, including seizing dogs that have attacked.

You can report dog attacks, along with dogs offleash where they should not be, to the NBC anonymously and via your own name, to get a response, at: https://help.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/s/submit-request?topic=Pets_Animals

If the matter is urgent or dangerous call Council on 1300 434 434 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

If you find injured wildlife please contact:
  • Sydney Wildlife Rescue (24/7): 9413 4300 
  • WIRES: 1300 094 737
  
  
Black duck having a bird bath in Careel Creek, Pittwater; part of its traditional and ancient range.

Report updated Tuesday 21 January 2025
1. NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Native Game Bird Management Program. Retrieved from DPI webpage: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/hunting/game-and-pests/native-game-birds

 

Breeding time for Little Penguins: Boaters urged to stick to speed limit - NSW Maritime Blitz 2025

🐧 Say hello to Manly's newest (and cutest) residents - Little Penguins! 

It's breeding season for these endangered guys, so boaters lets keep them safe by:
  • Keep speed to under four knots when entering North Harbour, Manly
  • Be extra careful at dawn and dusk
  • Don’t anchor in seagrass beds
  • Don’t bring dogs or cats onto beaches
To learn more visit: https://bit.ly/4g0HUbg

NSW Maritime 
January 16, 2025

NB: there is also a colony of Little Penguins on Lion Island and a colony of seals at Barrenjoey. Residents have reported vessels speeding on the Pittwater estuary during January 2025.


NSW Maritime on water safety Blitz 2025

In the first education and safety blitz of 2025, NSW Maritime officers hit the water to remind jetskiers of their responsibilities during Operation Cool Your Jets.

Across Saturday and Sunday (January 11-12), officers conducted nearly 2000 vessel safety checks statewide, including around 600 jetskis, with Port Stephens, Forster, Botany Bay, Lake Illawarra, Jervis Bay and the Murray River among the jetski hotspots targeted by patrols.

Officers issued 95 penalty notices and 256 official warnings over the weekend, with a quarter of those offences relating to jetskis.

Top offences related to licensing and registration (32 per cent), lifejackets (26 per cent) and safety equipment (15 per cent) breaches.

Top locations for offences were along the Murray River around Mulwala (43 offences), Forster (25 offences), around Tuggerah (22), and Brisbane Waters (20) on the Central Coast, and near Moama (20).

NSW Maritime Cool Your Jets Campaign Coordinator Jay Ruming said while the vast majority of riders are doing the right thing, there are some who are continuing to be a danger and a nuisance to other riders, swimmers, boaters, residents and marine life.

“It’s the school holidays, the weather is hot, and we’re seeing huge volumes of jetski riders right across the state,” Mr Ruming said.

“Most of these riders are behaving in a manner that doesn’t put lives at risk or discourages people from enjoying our waterways at the best time of the year to do so. 

“Unfortunately, a small minority of these riders continue to do the wrong thing on our waterways through aggression, recklessness or inexperience.”

The operation comes at a time when the popularity of jetskis is booming, with more than 92,000 riders currently licensed in NSW – a 43 per cent increase from the same time five years ago. Maritime officers are reminding riders to look out for their mates and loved ones following a spate of incidents involving crashes with riders known to one-another.

“Our data tells us that jetskis are heavily over-represented in serious injury incidents. People involved in an accident on a jetski have a 50 per cent likelihood they’ll suffer a serious injury.”

Since the start of summer there have been ten jet-ski related incidents, with one of those crashes leaving a jetskier with a double pelvic fracture, another with broken limbs and a third rider with serious facial and spinal injuries after he was knocked unconscious.

Key safety advice for new and experienced operators includes making sure riders and their passengers are always wearing a lifejacket, making sure their licence and registration is up to date, and maintaining a safe distance from other waterway users.

Mr Ruming said it is crucial jetskiers know the rules and abide by them to avoid a potentially hefty fine, licence suspension, or worse, a serious crash.

“It’s important jetskiers know they need to stay at least 30 metres away from other vessels, objects or the shore when travelling six knots (11km/h) or more. They also, where possible, need to stay at least 60 metres away from people or dive flags” Mr Ruming said. 

In addition to compliance checks, NSW Maritime officers responded to several incidents over the weekend, including the rescue of a family whose kayaks capsized at Windang south of Wollongong, and the joint agency response to a vessel fire on the Parramatta River. 

NSW Maritime has introduced a wave of new initiatives for the 2024-25 boating season aimed at improving the safety of all waterway users.

For more information on rules around riding jetskis or personal watercraft (PWCs) can be found on the rules sticker required to be on all registered jetskis in NSW, and in the online rules handbook for riders

Caladenia callitrophila - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Critically endangered 

Caladenia callitrophila D.L.Jones, an orchid – proposed Critically endangered species listing - Preliminary Determination open for comment until 28 February 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 319KB)

Caladenia callitrophila is endemic to the southern Riverina region of New South Wales (NSW). It is currently known to exist in three small, isolated subpopulations located within state forests between the towns of Berrigan and Balldale at altitude range of 120-170 m ASL (Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The subpopulations are separated by 16-50 km of cultivated farmland. This species occurs in woodland of Callitris glaucophylla (white cypress pine), Eucalyptus melliodora (yellow box) and Eucalyptus microcarpa (western grey box), with a grassy and sparsely shrubby understorey, on red-brown sandy or sandy-loam soils. Most of the plants have been found in 3-4 m tall white cypress pine regrowth (G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021).

There is a very low number of mature individuals of Caladenia callitrophila. The total number of C. callitrophila flowering plants recorded during the 2020 season, after good winter rain, was around 183 flowering plants, with the majority of those (>90%) occurring at one site (G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021; DCCEEW unpubl. data). Following the much drier winter of 2023 only 14 flowering plants were recorded (DCCEEW unpubl data; L. Carrigan unpubl data; G. French unpubl data).

It is difficult to estimate the current total population size of C. callitrophila as plants observed flowering in one season that did not reemerge in the following season are not necessarily dead. Some may remain dormant underground, a common ecological strategy observed in orchids with a similar life history (Dixon and Tremblay 2009). Emergent numbers fluctuate primarily due to rain and soil moisture, and the underground population is probably capable of persisting for some years without emergence (Dixon and Tremblay 2009). However, given the season in 2020 was considered a year with good conditions for flowering, the population size is likely no more than 250.

Little is known of the specific details of the biology of Caladenia callitrophila however it is believed to be very similar to other spider orchids. Caladenia species are deciduous and die back to a dormant, fleshy tuber over summer (NSW DEC 2004; Dixon and Tremblay 2009). In Caladenia, tubers are generally replaced annually by a single daughter tuber on a vertical dropper, but few species appear to reproduce vegetatively by this means (Jones 2021). The tuber sprouts following sufficient late autumn/winter rains, with a single leaf developing above ground. Once the leaf is fully extended, a single flower may be produced. C. callitrophila flowers in September to October if conditions are suitable and flowers persist for about a month depending on the seasonal conditions (NSW DEC 2004; Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The prominent calli on the labellum of C. callitrophila suggest that is likely pollinated by nectar-foraging thynnid wasps (Zaspilothynnus sp.) (Reiter et al. 2019).

Acacia chrysotricha - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Critically endangered 

Acacia chrysotricha Tindale, a tree – proposed Critically endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 298KB):

Acacia chrysotricha was found to be eligible for listing as Critically Endangered under the IUCN Criteria B1ab(iii).

The main reasons for this species being eligible are: 1) Acacia chrysotricha has a very highly restricted Extent of Occurrence (EOO) of 28 km2, 2) Acacia chrysotricha is known from a single threat-defined location; and 3) continuing decline has been observed and is expected to continue in the quality of habitat due the combined effects of weed invasion and logging activities. 

Acacia chrysotricha Tindale (Figure 1; Newry golden wattle, Bellinger River wattle) is a conventionally accepted species (CHAH 2006) in the Fabaceae family. Acacia chrysotricha is described in PlantNET (2004) as an “Erect tree usually 6–15 m high; bark finely or deeply fissured, grey to red-brown; branchlets ± terete with low ridges, densely yellowish-hairy at first, later the hairs greyish or fawn. Leaves ± sessile on pulvinus, with petiole to 0.1 cm long above pulvinus; rachis 5–14 cm long, densely hairy, circular jugary glands irregularly present at the lowest 1–3 pairs and/or upper 1–3 pairs of pinnae, interjugary glands absent or rarely an odd one present; pinnae 8–18 pairs, 1–4.7 cm long; pinnules mostly 12–25 pairs (6 or more on basal pinnae),oblong to narrowly oblong, elliptic-oblong or ± lanceolate, recurved when dry, mostly 3–4.5 mm long and 1–1.5 mm wide, with fine white or golden hairs mainly on margins and midvein. Inflorescences in axillary and terminal racemes and panicles; peduncles 3–6 mm long, golden-hairy; heads globose, 15–30-flowered, 4–7 mm diam., bright yellow. Pods straight to slightly curved, ± flat, mostly barely to slightly constricted between seeds, 3–10 cm long, 4–6 mm wide, firmly papery thinly leathery, with long fine hairs; seeds longitudinal; funicle ± encircling the seed. Flowering July-August”.

The first collection of Acacia chrysotricha was made in 1910. It was first described by Tindale in 1966 based on the following type specimen: “Connell's Creek, on Compt. 24 of Newry SF, just south of Urunga, on a side gully 40 to 50 ft. high, 8 inches indiam. at the base, one tree 70 ft. high, 12 inches in diam., A. Floyd 7.1961 (NSW 34451), located in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, Sydney" (Hunter 2017). The name “Newry golden wattle” refers to the golden hairs on the branchlets (PlantNET 2004). It can be distinguished from similar co-occurring Acacia species (e.g., A. mearnsii and A. oshanesii) by features such as the colour and fissuring of the bark, densely hairy branchlets, shorter petiole length, position of jugary and interjugary glands, typically fewer pairs of pinnae and pinnules and the bright yellow flowers (PlantNET 2004).

Acacia chrysotricha trees are typically described as growing approximately 6 to 20 m tall (PlantNET 2004; Richards 2011), however, a few individuals have been observed with estimated heights as tall as 25–40 m in undisturbed habitats (Smith 2012).

Acacia chrysotricha fruit. Image Credit: Gavin Phillips/DCCEEW

Caladenia rileyi - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Caladenia rileyi D.L.Jones, an orchid – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

Preliminary determination (PDF 280KB)

Conservation assessment report using the common assessment method (PDF 340KB)

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extracts from the Preliminary determination (PDF 280KB):

The main reasons for this species being eligible are (i) it has highly restricted geographic distribution (EOO is 327 km2 and AOO is 36 km2); (ii) it has low population size (plausibly less than 2 500 mature individuals); (iii) it is severely fragmented and has a small number of threat based locations; (iv) there is a continuing decline in the area, extent and/or quality of habitat and the number of mature individuals due to threats from habitat loss and destruction, forestry activities, herbivory (grazing and browsing), weed incursion, and climate change.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Caladenia rileyi D.L.Jones (family Orchidaceae) was described by (Jones 2021) as “Leaf linear-lanceolate, 40–100 x 6–8mm. Flower stem 80–250mm tall, wiry, 1–flowered. Flowers 40–50mm across, yellowish-green with red central stripes;sepals and petals with thickish brown clubs 6–25 x 3 mm, petal clubs shorter than sepals. Dorsal sepal erect, 40–55 x 2–3 mm, incurved. Lateral sepals obliquely deflexed, 40–55 x 3–3.5 mm, more or less parallel. Petals obliquely deflexed, 30–40 x 1.5–2mm. Labellum delicately hinged, 17–20 x 18–20 mm, pale green with a white central patch and maroon apex; basal margins with 4–6 pairs of erect combteeth to 6mm long; midlobe margins with 5–8 pairs short blunt teeth to apex; tip recurved. Basal calli c.4mm long. Lamina calli to 3mm long, maroon, in 4 crowded rows onto base of maroon patch. Column 12–14 x 5.5–6.5 mm, transparent with pink to red flecks and striae; basal glands obovoid, c.3 mm long, yellow with a reddish basal stalk shiny. Flowers: September to October.”

2. Caladenia rileyi is endemic to the southern inland plains of New South Wales (NSW) and is restricted to a small area near the town of Narrandera, at 100-200m elevation (Copeland and Backhouse 2022). The species is currently known to exist in only four subpopulations, all located on crown land. Two of these subpopulations are in state forests, one is a Travelling Stock Reserve (TSR) north of Narrandera, and one is found along a roadside site just east of Narrandera. These four sites are small and isolated patches of habitat (10-55 km apart), separated from one another by cultivated farmland. This species grows in woodland habitats dominated by  Callitris glaucophylla (white cypress pine), with a sparse understory of grasses and forbs on red-brown sandy soils or sandy clay loams (Jones 2021). Caladenia rileyi has been recorded in Callitris glaucophylla - Eucalyptus melliodora (yellow box) woodlands, Callitris glaucophylla – Allocasuarina verticillata (drooping sheoak) woodlands and woodlands dominated by a mixture of Callitris glaucophylla, E. dwyeri (Dwyer’s red gum) and Acacia doratoxylon (currawang) (ALA 2024; G. Robertson in litt. Feb 2021).

3. The habitat of this species may occur within 'Inland Grey Box Woodland in the Riverina, NSW South Western Slopes, Cobar Peneplain, Nandewar and Brigalow Belt South Bioregions’ an Endangered Ecological Community (EEC) under the NSW BC Act (NSW SC 2011). This EEC most likely corresponds with Plant Community Type (PCT) ‘Western Grey Box - White Cypress Pine tall woodland on loam soil on alluvial plains of NSW South Western Slopes Bioregion and Riverina Bioregion (PCT 80). This species may also occur in PCT ‘Dwyer's Red Gum - White Cypress Pine - Currawang shrubby woodland mainly in the NSW South Western Slopes Bioregion’ (PCT 185), but may not be restricted to these specific PCTs (NSW DPE 2023).

Eucalyptus oresbia - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl, a tree – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

Preliminary determination (PDF 311KB)

Conservation assessment report using the common assessment method (PDF 929KB)

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 311KB):

Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl as was found to be Endangered in accordance with the following provisions in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017: Clause 4.2(1 b)(2 c) and Clause 4.3(b)(d)(e i,iii) because: 1) the species is suspected to have undergone a large population reduction of >50% over a three generation period of 306 years due to historical clearing for agriculture and pine plantations; 2) the species has a highly restricted area of occupancy (44 km2 ) and extent of occurrence (420 km2); 3) the species is known from 3–4 threat-defined locations; and 4) continuing decline is inferred in the area, extent and quality of habitat and the number of mature individuals due to conflicting land uses such as plantation forestry and agriculture in prime E. oresbia habitat, adverse fire regimes, the maintenance of tracks and trails, and the invasion of weeds such as blackberry and radiata pine.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Eucalyptus oresbia J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl (family Myrtaceae) is described by Hunter and Bruhl (1999) as a “Tree to 30 m tall. Bark smooth white, yellow or cream, rarely grey, sock absent or rarely present on younger trees to 1 m. Juvenile stems and branchlets usually strongly quadrangular. Leaves: seedling leaves ovate to elliptic, 3–10 cm long, 1–3.5 cm wide, plane, opposite, apex acute to obtuse, base rounded or ± caudate, petiolate at first and then a few pairs sessile, concolorous; intermediate leaves ovate to lanceolate, 12–18 cm long, 3–6.5 cm wide, sub-opposite to alternate, apex acute to acuminate, ± hooked, base rounded to ± oblique; adult leaves lanceolate, falcate or ± plane, 9.5–18 cm long, 1.2–2.2 cm wide, alternate, conspicuously glossy and dark green, margins entire, apex acuminate and often hooked, base attenuate, acute or oblique, petiole terete to flattened, barely channelled above, 1–2 cm long; venation 30–45° to midrib, intramarginal vein 0.5–2 mm from the margin, midrib channelled above.

Inflorescence of axillary umbellasters. Flowers 6–7 per axil; peduncle 8–17 mm long, 2–5 mm wide; pedicel distinct in bud and fruit, 3–5 mm long in buds, 2–4.5 mm long in fruit; buds obloid to clavate, bulbous above and below the suture,± 1-ribbed, 6–9.5 mm long; calyptra peaked hemispherical, acutely obconical or ±rostrate, 2.5–5 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide; hypanthium 2.5–5 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide; style terete, 3–4 mm long; stamens with filaments 3.5–5 mm long, anthers dorsifixed, parallel, dehiscence longitudinal, 0.4–0.6 mm long, white, oil gland orbicular and abaxial. Fruit cupular, ± 1-ribbed, 4.5–8 mm long, 5–8 mm wide, often splitting on one side; disc level to descending, c. 1 mm wide; valves 3, ± level. Seeds red-brown to black. Cotyledons bilobed.”

2. Eucalyptus oresbia is a range-restricted species endemic to several small, disjunct sites near the town of Nundle on the New South Wales (NSW) Northern Tablelands (Hunter and Bruhl 1999; OEH 2021). Eucalyptus oresbia is currently known from four disjunct sites. The core area is around the type locality at Hanging Rock, due east of Nundle, with smaller outlying stands known from the Scotts Creek area near Murrurundi to the south, in the Dungowan Dam catchment area northeast of Nundle, and in Ben Halls Gap National Park southeast of Nundle. Given the minimum distance between these sites is approximately 11 km, each is considered a separate subpopulation per the IUCN (2024) definition.

3. The minimum estimated population size of Eucalyptus oresbia is 6,458-6,708 mature individuals. Approximately 92-96% of the known population occurs within the Hanging Rock subpopulation, and less than 1% of the known individuals occur on lands managed for conservation in the Ben Halls Gap and Dungowan Dam subpopulations.

Eucalyptus oresbia. Image Credit: Gavin Phillips/DCCEEW

Tasmannia purpurascens - NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee Preliminary Determination: Endangered

Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm., a shrub – proposed Endangered species listing – Preliminary Determination open for comment until 17 April 2025.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee assesses which species are eligible for listing as threatened.

The exhibition of the Preliminary Determination provides an opportunity for the community to comment or provide additional information relevant to the assessment.

Have your say on the Preliminary Determination.

Extract from the Preliminary determination (PDF 338KB):

Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm. was found to be Endangered in accordance with the following provisions in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017: Clause 4.3(b)(d)(e i,iii) because: 1) the species has a highly restricted geographic range with an area of occupancy (AOO) of 240–248 km2 and an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 550–1,199 km2; 2) it occurs in three threat-defined locations; and 3) there is an estimated and inferred continuing decline in the area, extent and quality of habitat and number of mature individuals due to habitat clearing, fragmentation, and degradation; dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection; habitat degradation from feral animals; invasion by Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) and Rubus spp. (blackberry); and adverse fire regimes, particularly high frequency fire and high severity fire.

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Tasmannia purpurascens (Vickery) A.C.Sm. (family Winteraceae) is a “shrub 1– 3 m high, apical buds and stems purplish. Leaves oblanceolate to ± obovate, mostly 8–18 cm long, 30– 50 mm wide, apex obtuse, glabrous, both surfaces green and purplish towards base; secondary veins forming angles of c. 45° with midvein; ± sessile, gradually tapered to base. Petals usually 2, 8–12 mm long, white. Carpels 2– 9 per flower. Ovary c. 2 mm long; stalk of carpel much shorter than the ovary. Berries ovoid to oblong, 10–15 mm long, blackish purple; usually 2–6 develop, each on stalk 1– 4 mm long, peduncle 20–40 mm long.” (Harden 1990).

2. The majority of Tasmannia purpurascens records are in the Barrington Tops and Gloucester Tops area of the NSW Northern Tablelands. The species is also recorded in Ben Halls Gap Nature Reserve (NR), approximately 40 km to the northwest. The distribution of T. purpurascens occurs on the traditional lands of the Geawegal and Kamilaroi peoples (AIATIS 2023).

3. The population size of Tasmannia purpurascens is estimated to exceed 100,000 individuals (OEH 2021). The species is dioecious (Smith 1969; Falster et al. 2021) but the proportion of males and females is unknown, as is the proportion of mature individuals. Tasmannia purpurascens is common on the Barrington Plateau (M. Saunders pers. obs. November 2023). There is no long-term monitoring information available for this species and there is no information on long-term population trends. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs across an estimated 1–3 subpopulations, as per the IUCN (2024) definition.

4. Tasmannia purpurascens has a highly restricted geographic range. The extent of occurrence (EOO) was calculated at 550–1,199 km2 and is based on a minimum convex polygon enclosing all mapped occurrences of the species, the method of assessment recommended by IUCN (2024). The area of occupancy (AOO) is estimated to be 240–248 km2 and was calculated using 2 x 2 km grid cells, the scale recommended by IUCN (2024).

5. Tasmannia purpurascens typically occurs in in tall, moist eucalypt, subalpine woodland, and cool temperate rainforest (OEH 2019; PlantNet 2023) at elevations ranging from 1,050–1,560 m above sea level. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs on freely draining soil with good moisture retention but can also grow on heavier soils (Casey 1983).

6. Tasmannia purpurascens is dioecious (Smith 1969; Falster et al. 2021) and flowers from October to November (Falster et al. 2021; OEH 2021; PlantNet 2023). Tasmannia purpurascens fruits from February to June (FOA 2022), with fruit maturing over several months, based on what is known about Tasmannia lanceolata (Read 2017). Tasmannia purpurascens seeds are dormant at the time of release. In situ fruit burial studies of Tasmannia stipitata, with which T. purpurascens co-occurs, have shown the species has a delayed germination of at least 2 months (Campbell et al. 2012) and up to 10 months (Campbell et al. 2016), suggesting T. purpurascens is likely to have similar delayed germination under real world conditions with the environmental conditions required to break dormancy and promote germination remaining unknown.

7. Tasmannia purpurascens is exposed to a broad range of threats, including habitat clearing, fragmentation, and degradation; dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection; habitat degradation from feral animals; invasion by Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) and Rubus spp. (blackberry); and adverse fire regimes, particularly high frequency fire and high severity fire. Hybridisation with sympatric Tasmannia taxa is also occurring and appears to be an important evolutionary process among other taxa in the genus (Worth et al. 2010). Threats are concentrated in the Barrington Tops area, with Bens Halls Gap NR currently only affected by low densities of feral herbivores. ‘Clearing of native vegetation’, ‘Infection of native plants by Phytophthora cinnamomi’, ‘Predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs (Sus scrofa)’, ‘Habitat degradation and loss by feral horses (brumbies, wild horses), Equus caballus Linnaeus 1758’, ‘Invasion and establishment of Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom)’, ‘Loss and degradation of native plant and animal habitat by invasion of escaped garden plants, including aquatic plants’, and ‘High frequency fire resulting in the disruption of life cycle processes in plants and animals and loss of vegetation structure and composition’ are listed as Key Threatening Processes under the Act.

8. Tasmannia purpurascens occurs at three threat-defined locations as per the IUCN definition (IUCN 2024), due to the most serious plausible threats which result in the lowest number of locations being dieback from Phytophthora cinnamomi infection and adverse fire regimes.

9. Habitat disturbance, fragmentation, and degradation from logging operations has resulted in an estimated and inferred loss of mature individuals and a significant decline in habitat quality and extent. Targeted surveys undertaken in logging compartments in 2023 inferred logging to have resulted in or contributed to a circa 77–100% decline in the number of individuals (in all age classes) at 5–21 years after the logging events (NSW DCCEEW 2024).

Tasmannia purpurascens. Image Credit: Matt Saunders

Centennial Coal's plan to dump millions of litres of toxic wastewater into Sydney’s water catchment every day 

January 31 2025 

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental organisation, is calling on the State government to reject Centennial Coal’s proposal to dump millions of litres of toxic wastewater into Sydney’s drinking water catchment. 

The proposal was submitted to the Department of Planning earlier in January 2025, outlining the company’s plans to discharge up to 42 ML of wastewater every day into Thompsons Creek Reservoir. Thompsons Creek Reservoir is a popular fishing spot and outflows through the Blue Mountains World Heritage area and into Warragamba Dam. 

Centennial mining operations are adjacent to the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area, a place with 80 rare and threatened species and 16 threatened ecological communities. Intensive mining methods have destroyed aquifers, resulting in drying out of endangered upland peat swamps. 

“Centennial’s water issue is a crisis of their own making, resulting from damaging aquifers in their underground mining operations. Now they want to pollute World Heritage streams and force the people of Greater Sydney to drink the mess,” said NCC Senior Climate Campaigner Jacqui Mills. 

“The water that Centennial wants to offload is laced with heavy metals and brine. 

“Sydneysiders are lucky to drink some of the most pristine water in the world, thanks to the beautiful forests of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area that filter our water. 

“We can’t let mining companies like Centennial use our drinking water as a dumping ground.  

"We know this application is the tip of the iceberg, and the enormity of this environmental disaster will slowly be revealed as Centennial plans to discharge polluted water from its currently flooded mine and disrupts more groundwater resources with continued mining." 

“Centennial’s destructive mining has damaged groundwater flows under the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area bordering the Blue Mountains World Heritage area, resulting in massive water inflows into underground mines.   

“They are manufacturing a crisis moment with excess water not able to be sent to the Mount Piper power station for use in cooling towers whilst the station is offline for periods this year.   

“The real issue here is that Centennial Coal has not adopted technology to clean the wastewater of heavy metals and salt toxic to aquatic life in this sensitive area. 

“Instead, they intend to dilute dirty water with treated water prior to discharge to the dam. Experts have warned this approach would exacerbate pollution load. It’s simply not good enough.  

“The Independent Planning Commission must refuse permission, and the NSW Environment Protection Agency must do what it takes to make Centennial clean up its act.  

“We urgently need a public inquiry into the damaging mine wastewater from Centennial’s underground coal mines in the Gardens of Stone region.” 

Centennial has a bad environmental track record. Over a 23-year period, Centennial has been found to have breached its environmental licence more than 1400 times across 7 coal mine sites in the Greater Blue Mountains region. 

This includes a Centennial Clarence coal mine spill into the World Heritage area that resulted in the single largest fine ever imposed by the EPA at that time (2017), totalling $1,050,000. In addition, a $1,450,000 fine was imposed on Centennial Springvale and Angus Place collieries in 2011, the largest issued under section 486DA the Commonwealth EPBC Act 1999 at the time. 

A marine heatwave in northwest Australia is killing huge numbers of fish. It’s heading south

Ningaloo Reef is facing the heat. James C. Farr/Shutterstock
Sina PinterThe University of Western AustraliaMatt RaysonThe University of Western Australia, and Nicole L. JonesThe University of Western Australia

Tens of thousands of fish have died off northwestern Australia, as a large and long-lasting marine heatwave intensifies.

The fish kill at Gnoorea Beach near Karratha is concerning our team of scientists, as the hot mass of water heads south towards Ningaloo Reef and the seagrass gardens in Shark Bay. That’s because we’ve seen this before. An enormous marine heatwave in 2010-11 devastated fisheries and ecosystems further down the WA coast.

This marine heatwave began in September, with temperatures up to 3°C warmer than usual off Broome. There’s no end in sight.

The heatwave comes as oceans worldwide experience recordbreaking heat, driven by climate change. More than 90% of all heat trapped by greenhouse gases goes into the oceans.

The fish kill is a visible way to glimpse a disaster often out of sight and out of mind. But these marine heatwaves do much more, from wiping out seagrass meadows and kelp beds to trashing fisheries.

Up to 30,000 dead fish have washed up around Gnoorea Beach near Karratha. WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

How bad is this marine heatwave?

Marine heatwaves are periods of at least five consecutive days when ocean temperatures are significantly higher than the long-term average for the region and season.

Since September 2024, temperatures off Australia’s northwest coast have been high enough to be considered a heatwave.

In late December, the area of hotter water expanded southward along the Pilbara coast and became more intense. Temperatures hit 4–5°C above normal at the surface. Our research group has gathered data from satellite measurements, which tells us it’s hotter than usual. Data from autonomous ocean gliders also show unusual levels of heat as far down as 200 metres.

In January, this heatwave has become bad enough to be classified in some areas as a severe marine heatwave.

There’s no relief in sight yet. The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts marine heatwave conditions to continue through February.

figure showing intensity of marine heatwave in northwest Western Australia
On the left, the marine heatwave on the Northwest Shelf is visible in dark red. On the right, the intensity of the heatwave is shown over time on the Northwest Shelf and further south in Central Western Australia. Author providedCC BY

Will it be worse than the 2010 heatwave?

The current marine heatwave is, so far, the second-worst in Western Australia’s recorded history.

Over the 2010–11 summer, a severe marine heatwave devastated seas off the state. Temperatures hit up to 5°C above average, peaking in February and March.

The worst-hit areas were seas off the central West Australian coastline, leaving those to the north largely unaffected. But the heatwave stretched 2,000 kilometres, from the Pilbara all the way down to Denmark in the southwest.

The reason the 2010 heatwave spread so far south was due to the Leeuwin Current, which was stronger than usual due to weak southerly winds linked to a low pressure system off the coast.

figure showing the 2010-11 marine heatwave in Western Australia
The 2010-11 marine heatwave hit Central West Australian waters hardest. The Leeuwin Current ferried heat southward. Author providedCC BY

The heat led to local extinction of kelp species along a 100km stretch of coastline. Scallop and blue swimmer crab fisheries had to close. Seagrass meadows in Shark Bay collapsed. Tropical species were sighted in new areas. And coral bleached at Ningaloo.

By contrast, this current marine heatwave has concentrated on the northern coastline, but may spread south in coming weeks.

Unfortunately, there are strong similarities between the 2010–11 heatwave and this one. Both occurred during a La Niña year.

A similar low pressure system in December 2024 weakened southerly winds during this heatwave, though not as pronounced as in 2010-11. We can expect to see the Leeuwin Current intensify and carry more warm water than usual south, but perhaps not as far as in 2010–11.

Weather systems at present are developing slightly differently to 2010–11, but they could still lead to weaker southerly winds and produce a stronger current channelling heat.

What does this mean for ocean life?

Marine heatwaves at this size and intensity can profoundly damage marine ecosystems and fisheries. The Karratha fish kill is the most visible sign of ecosystem distress.

We have already seen signs of bleaching in the coral reefs of the Kimberley region, while corals are experiencing heat stress at world-famous Ningaloo Reef.

The heat is now affecting the Gascoyne region between Carnarvon and Exmouth, and is likely to head further south.

Damage from the heatwave could threaten valuable industries such as the rock lobster fishery and marine tourism on the Coral Coast.

bleached coral linked to marine heatwave.
Bleached corals in Cygnet Bay north of Broome. Photo taken on 16th January. Kayleigh FosteCC BY

More heatwaves will come

As the climate changes, modelling indicates marine heatwaves will hit more often and to intensify.

Worldwide, marine heatwaves have devastated ecosystems. One of the worst, the Pacific “blob” heatwave of 2014-2016, killed an estimated 100 million Pacific cod and four million birds from a single seabird species, as well as contributing to the starvation of about 7,000 humpback whales. The intense heat killed off cold-loving species and paved the way for tropical species to enter and even thrive.

Right now, 28% of the world’s oceans are in heatwave conditions, based on surface temperatures.

While there is a clear link between the 2010-11 marine heatwave and climate change, we cannot conclusively say this current heatwave off Western Australia is linked to climate change.

That’s because we don’t have enough data about what’s happening under the surface. Temperatures in the ocean vary greatly by depth, and a hot surface doesn’t always mean heat has reached deeper water.

So while we know a marine heatwave is in progress, we don’t know how bad it is or how far down the heat has reached in different regions. We need better ways to measure temperatures at depth, to be able to gauge how bad a heatwave is. Installing more temperature sensors along the WA coastline would allow us to better monitor and respond to temperature extremes.

The earlier we know about a heatwave, the more we can do to prepare. The 2010-2011 heatwave made many people aware of what damage heat can do to an ocean, as fishing boats sat idle and tourists steered clear of dying coral.

More, and worse, is likely to come. Better conservation and management of our oceans can help. But tackling the root cause of intensifying heat – unchecked greenhouse gas emissions – is still far and away the most important challenge.The Conversation

Sina Pinter, PhD Candidate in Ocean Dynamics, The University of Western AustraliaMatt Rayson, Senior Research Fellow in Oceanography, The University of Western Australia, and Nicole L. Jones, Professor of Physical Oceanography, The University of Western Australia

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

WA Government approves Woodside’s North West Shelf gas expansion 

December 13, 2024

The Western Australian Government’s approval to extend the operation of Woodside’s massive North West Shelf gas project for another half century is a reckless decision that jeopardises global efforts to combat climate change and flies in the face of the Australian Government’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, the Australian Marine Conservation Society said on December 13 2024.

The North West Shelf extension is a cornerstone of the Burrup Hub, which would be one of the dirtiest carbon polluting projects in Australia, projected to emit billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases over its lifespan. 

The final decision now lies with federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.

AMCS WA Director Paul Gamblin said: “The WA Government’s decision undermines Australia’s climate commitments and exacerbates the escalating impacts of climate change. It defies logic to expand a massive fossil fuel project for another half century when the world must drastically cut emissions to reach net zero by 2050. 

“Globally we are witnessing record high temperatures and devastating impacts on marine ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef is reeling from repeated coral bleaching events, and WA’s Ningaloo Reef has suffered bleaching in recent years. 

“Enabling this extension also puts Scott Reef – Australia’s largest offshore coral reef – at severe risk. Drilling would occur very close to this extraordinary marine wonder. Governments have come under intense pressure from pro-gas interests to allow drilling around this coral reef to feed vast quantities of fossil gas into its North West Shelf processing plant.

“Approval of Woodside’s Burrup Hub would risk further major damage to UNESCO World Heritage-nominated rock art on Murujuga from acid gas pollution.

“Corporate interests are once again taking precedence over environmental and cultural protection, and community wellbeing. The Albanese government now faces a critical test of its climate commitments: will it side with fossil fuel corporations or act decisively in the public’s interest? 

“This massive fossil fuel project is an environmental risk we simply cannot take. Allowing this project to proceed will lock Australia into decades of additional climate pollution, while the rest of the world moves towards renewable energy. It is time for our leaders to chart a sustainable course that prioritises our planet’s future.”

AMCS Patron Tim Winton and WA Director Paul Gamblin recently visited Scott Reef as part of an expedition to highlight the ecological significance of this region. The proposed Browse Basin (Scott Reef) project, which would feed the North West Shelf extension, includes drilling 50 gas wells dangerously close to this extraordinary coral ecosystem. 

WA Director Paul Gamblin and AMCS Patron Tim Winton. Photo: Nush Freedman photogarphy/ACMS

Monitoring the Common Murre Mass Mortality in Coastal Alaska

by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Sentinels of ocean health: counting a climate catastrophe

Common murres help us understand the health of Alaska's marine ecosystems – and sound a warning when there is trouble below the waves.  

Murres are especially sensitive to changes in their food supply because they must eat a significant portion of their body weight each day to survive and respond quickly to changes in food availability. These seabirds dive up to 200 meters deep to catch small schooling fish like capelin and sand lance. When schooling fish become scarce or scattered, common murres struggle to meet their high energy demands, making them good indicators of broader changes in ocean conditions.

Working with partners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, has recently published a comprehensive study of the Alaska death toll in common murres that resulted from a significant marine heatwave in 2014-16.

Through an analysis of long-term monitoring data covering two large Alaska ecosystems, we found that the mass mortality event was several times greater than initially estimated. About half of Alaska’s common murre population – around four million birds – perished, the largest single-species wildlife die-off ever documented in modern history.

This is the first study to show that the impacts of rising temperatures, due to climate change , can be swift, intense, and long-lasting, with no recovery in sight and potentially permanent ecosystem changes.

A common murre feeds a small fish to a chick. Photo By/Credit: Cornelius Nelo Schlawe/USFWS

Documenting an unprecedented event

A healthy murre colony overwhelms the senses. Thousands of black-and-white bodies crowd the cliffs, their constant cooing and grumbling creating a wall of sound. Birds move continuously — flying to and from fishing grounds, trading nest duties with mates, or bringing fish to chicks. But during the summers of 2015 and 2016, these typically bustling cliffs fell eerily quiet.

In late 2014, a major marine heatwave—a period of abnormally warm ocean temperatures—began in Alaska's waters. Known as “The Blob,” this warming persisted for two years, disrupting marine food webs. The impact became visible as more than 62,000 emaciated common murre carcasses washed ashore from California to Alaska – most washing up within the Gulf of Alaska. At the same time, biologists also recorded severely reduced numbers at every nesting colony they visited across the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, including 22 complete reproductive failures at colony sites between 2015 and 2017.

Biologists could only guess whether the birds had died, relocated, or simply lacked the energy to breed. In the years immediately following the heatwave, the murres did return and began to breed again – but in much lower numbers.

Studies show that only a fraction of birds that die at sea typically wash ashore. Biologists estimated in a 2020 paper that total mortality from the heatwave was 500,000 to approaching 1 million birds. 

“We knew right away this was a big, unprecedented die-off,” says Heather Renner, supervisory biologist, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. “However, we had no confident way to make a final estimate based on the carcasses alone. We needed colony population count data over several years to be able to determine how many birds were really lost.”

*Read more: "Extreme Mortality and Reproductive Failure of Common Murres Resulting from the Northeast Pacific Marine Heatwave of 2014-2016." PLOS ONE 15, no. 1 (January 15, 2020).

The network of warning signs

The staff at Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge work with partners to maintain a seabird monitoring network with more than 50 years of continuous data collection. Together, these sites span colonies ranging from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of birds across an enormous geographical area. This baseline data allows us to assess fluctuations as normal or unusual, and proved critical in understanding the dramatic loss of common murres.

In the years before the heatwave, common murre populations increased at some colonies and decreased at others. During the heatwave, all colonies suffered major losses. It was a remarkably clear, consistent signal at all monitored colonies within both the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea ecosystems.

In subsequent years, information collected by the monitoring network suggested that something fundamental had changed for common murres, and perhaps for the larger ecosystem.

Before and after comparison of a common murre colony in the Semidi Islands. The top photo shows the colony in 2014, the bottom photo shows the colony in 2021. Photo By/Credit: USFWS

Missing murres: studying the impacts

We were waiting for the birds to show back up.” Heather Renner

During the seven years of monitoring after the heatwave, biologists expected to see some recovery for the murres as ocean conditions stabilised and nest success could improve. Instead, their numbers have remained far lower than before across all colonies.

In response to the continued low populations at all of the known monitoring sites, refuge staff began working with a team of collaborators to analyse the monitoring data collected over the past 14 years. Research collaborators included:

  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Region Inventory and Monitoring Program
  • University of Washington
  • U.S. Geological Survey
  • Tern Again Consulting 

The team looked at data from 13 colony sites spread over two large ecosystems in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Monitoring and data collection contributors included:

  • Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
  • Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges
  • Togiak National Wildlife Refuge
  • Round Island, monitored by the State of Alaska, Department of Fish and Game
  • Middleton Island, supported by GulfWatch and the Institute for Seabird Research and Conservation

A climate tragedy emerges: four million murres lost

This research and analysis, recently published in the journal, Science, in December 2024 as "Catastrophic and persistent loss of common murres after a marine heatwave," details the full extent of the loss, a mortality four to eight times worse than the initial estimate.

About half of Alaska’s common murre population – around four million birds – died during the marine heatwave.

To understand the magnitude of this event: the murre die-off was approximately fifteen times larger than the number of seabirds killed during the Exxon Valdez oil spill, making it the largest single-species wildlife die-off ever documented.

This is the first study to show that impacts of rising temperatures, due to climate change, can be swift, intense, and long-lasting, with no recovery in sight and potentially permanent ecosystem changes. The sustained reduction in murre populations suggests a fundamental shift in carrying capacity—the ability to support healthy seabird populations. Smaller murre colonies may now face increased vulnerability to predators and environmental stresses, further complicating their recovery.

Common murre with a small fish perched with other murres on a cliff ledge. Photo By/Credit: Brie Drummond/USFWS

Falling dominoes: disrupting the marine ecosystem

The murre die-off was part of a larger disruption in the marine food web. Pacific cod populations crashed by 80%, leading to fishery closures, while other forage fish like capelin—a crucial prey species—declined dramatically. These cascading effects rippled through the ecosystem, impacting both wildlife and the fishing communities that depend on healthy marine resources. 

For Alaska Native communities, massive die-offs like this one may also disrupt a centuries-old cultural relationship with marine life. Murres have traditionally been an important subsistence resource in many coastal communities, both for meat and eggs, making their sustained low numbers a potential challenge for traditional harvesting practices and cultural connections.

However, the monitoring data also showed that some marine species, such as thick-billed murres, were more resilient during the die-off. The 2024 study theorizes that the heatwave affected the food web at pinch points critical to some species, rather than impacting all marine life consistently.

Looking Forward

The lasting loss of Alaska's common murres demonstrates both the vulnerability of marine ecosystems, due to climate change, and the critical importance of long-term monitoring in understanding these changes. 

Species populations naturally fluctuate over time. Our 50-year dataset allows us to distinguish between normal variations and significant changes that require action. While long-term monitoring may have long gaps between major discoveries like this one, without it, these critical ecological changes might go undetected and unexplained.

The refuge staff will continue to work with partners to maintain the long-term monitoring for key seabird species across coastal Alaska. With this information, we can provide:

  • Early warning of marine ecosystem changes
  • Data for wildlife management decisions
  • Understanding of climate impacts on marine systems
  • Support for coastal community planning
  • Context for fisheries management

Through careful and rigorous analysis of monitoring information, such as the recent study documenting the murre die-off, we strive to better understand and protect the ocean ecosystems that support both wildlife and human communities.

More about common murres

Monitoring:

During the summer months, common murres nest directly on cliff ledges, laying distinctively pointed eggs that resist rolling off—often alongside thick-billed murres and other seabird species. Common murres are ideal for long-term monitoring because they return to the same nesting sites each year and can be studied across an enormous geographic range. They are the only seabird species we can consistently monitor at all of our refuge study sites, making them invaluable for understanding broad-scale changes in ocean conditions.

Our core sites:

Eight long-term seabird monitoring locations across the expanse of the refuge, staffed seasonally by 2-3 field researchers who conduct systematic data collection over 3.5-month periods each summer. To monitor common murres, teams follow nest statuses and conduct counts on designated cliff plots using binoculars and spotting scopes throughout breeding season. They document population numbers, reproductive timing, nest survival rates, and chick diet composition.

Extended Network:

The refuge also conducts shorter boat-based surveys intermittently at 10-15 additional locations interspersed between long-term monitoring sites throughout the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. 

More about the 2014-16 marine heatwave event:

The 2014-2016 marine heat wave was an underwater heat dome—a vast area of unusually warm ocean temperatures that broke records dating back three decades. It was like having a heatwave on land that covered the entire West Coast and lasted for two years without reprieve. As climate change progresses, these marine heatwaves will likely increase in frequency, duration, and intensity.

_________________________________

Related: Shearwaters washing up on local beaches for third year in a row: Mass mortalities of Starving Birds attributed to Australia's Lose-Lose Policy on the Australian Environment - October 2024, Issue 636 of Pittwater Online News

Cheeseman T, Barlow J, Acebes JM, Audley K, Bejder L, Birdsall C, Bracamontes OS, Bradford AL, Byington J, Calambokidis J, Cartwright R, Cedarleaf J, Chavez AJG, Currie J, De Castro RC, De Weerdt J, Doe N, Doniol-Valcroze T, Dracott K, Filatova O, Finn R, Flynn KR, Ford J, Frisch-Jordán A, Gabriele C, Goodwin B, Hayslip C, Hildering J, Hill MC, Jacobsen JK, Jiménez-López ME, Jones M, Kobayashi N, Lammers M, Lyman E, Malleson M, Mamaev E, Loustalot PM, Masterman A, Matkin CO, McMillan C, Moore J, Moran J, Neilson JL, Newell H, Okabe H, Olio M, Ortega-Ortiz CD, Pack AA, Palacios DM, Pearson H, Quintana-Rizzo E, Barragán RR, Ransome N, Rosales-Nanduca H, Sharpe F, Shaw T, Southerland K, Stack S, Staniland I, Straley J, Szabo A, Teerlink S, Titova O, Urban-Ramirez J, van Aswegen M, Vinicius M, von Ziegesar O, Witteveen B, Wray J, Yano K, Yegin I, Zwiefelhofer D, Clapham P. Bellwethers of change: population modelling of North Pacific humpback whales from 2002 through 2021 reveals shift from recovery to climate response. Royal Society Open Science. 2024 Feb 28;11(2):231462. doi: 10.1098/rsos.231462. PMID: 38420629; PMCID: PMC10898971.

As the Black Summer megafires neared, people rallied to save wildlife and domestic animals. But it came at a real cost

Danielle CelermajerUniversity of SydneyAnna SturmanUniversity of SydneyBlanche VerlieUniversity of SydneyFreya MacDonaldUniversity of Sydney, and Natasha HeenanUniversity of Sydney

As the 2019-2020 megafires took hold across eastern Australia, many of us reeled at the sight of animals trying and often failing to flee. Our screens filled up with images of koalas with burned paws and possums in firefighter helmets.

The death toll was staggering, estimated at up to three billion wild animals killed or displaced. Millions more were severely injured. Tens of thousands of domesticated animals were killed or had to be euthanised.

In fighting these fires, authorities focused almost entirely on protecting human lives and property, other than targeted rescue efforts for the last remaining wild stand of Wollemi pine. The role of rescuing and caring for domesticated and wild animals fell almost entirely to community groups and individual carers, who stepped up to fill the gap at significant cost to themselves – financially, emotionally and sometimes even at a risk to their safety.

Our new research draws on more than 60 interviews with wildlife carers and groups in the Shoalhaven region south of Wollongong in New South Wales. These people spontaneously organised themselves to care for thousands of domesticated, farm and wild animals, from evacuating them from fire zones to giving them shelter, food, water and healthcare.

The lengths our interviewees went to were extraordinary. But these rescue efforts were largely invisible to authorities – and, as our interviewees told us, sometimes even condemned as irresponsible.

What did our interviews tell us?

The standard view in Australia is that only humans matter in the face of bushfires. But the way affected communities reached out to save as many animals as they could shows many people think we ought to be acting differently.

One interviewee told about screaming for “her babies” as Rural Fire Service firefighters evacuated her. In response, the firies searched the house for human babies to no avail. When they found out she meant her wombat joeys, they laughed in relief. But to our interviewee, the joeys were like her babies. The joeys were safe inside her house.

People cared for a wide range of species, from horses, chickens, bees and cows to native birds, possums, wombats and wallabies. Despite this, we found common themes.

Many people felt the system had let them down when it came to protecting animals. This is why many of them felt they had to take matters into their own hands to ensure that animals survived.

As one interviewee told us:

one thing that you have to realise, is people’s animals are their children, and they are their life. If you let someone think that their animal isn’t safe, they will put themselves in danger to try and get to that animal or save that animal […] That’s one thing the firies — you know, if they’re not an animal compassionate person, they don’t get that.

While some guidance on disaster preparation talks about how to protect pets such as cats and dogs, wildlife carers, farmers and horse owners often found themselves facing incoming fires with little or no information or support.

People also told us about a lack of information on how to care for different types of animals during disasters. Information was often nonexistent or hard to locate, making decision-making during the crisis very difficult.

As one farmer told us:

there’s not any information on realistically what you do with your animals in a case of […] a massive disaster. I mean, it’s like someone said about cutting the fences. But now you’ve got stocking cattle running through the bush and they don’t know where the fire’s going to turn or what’s going to happen.

The needs of animals differ significantly. It’s harder to find shelter for a horse than a smaller animal, for instance. Wildlife being cared for already need assistance, due to being orphaned, injured or ill. It’s harder to evacuate injured animals or joeys who need regular feeding than it is to evacuate healthy adult animals.

Our interviewees reported price spikes for transport, food, temporary fencing and medicines during the 2019-2020 emergency season. Caring for animals always comes with costs, but the cost burden intensified over the Black Summer and afterwards.

Caring for animals came with another cost too, to mental health. Many of our interviewees told us they still felt traumatised, even though our interviews were two or three years after the fires.

As one interviewee told us:

the people at Lake Conjola […] said it was like an apocalypse. They said there was dead birds dropping out of the sky. Kangaroos would come hopping out of the bush on fire […] I know it really heavily affected most people on the beach, the horrific things that they saw.

Despite facing a lack of formal support and with limited information, people organised themselves very quickly into networks to share access to safe land, transport, food, labour and information. Dedicated people set up social media groups to allocate tasks, call for help and so on. This unsung animal rescue effort was almost entirely driven by volunteers.

What should we do before the next megafires?

Australia will inevitably be hit by more megafires, as climate change brings more hot, dry fire weather and humidity falls over land.

What would it mean to include animals in our planning? To start with, more and better information for wildlife carers, farmers, pet owners and the wider community. It would mean directing more funds to animal care, both during and after disasters, and including animal care in local, state and federal disaster planning. It would mean improving communication networks so people know where to go.

To this end, we developed a new guide for communities wanting to be better prepared to help animals in the next disaster. We prototyped an app designed to help communities organise themselves in order to help animals during disasters.

The scale of the Black Summer fires found governments and communities largely unprepared. But we are now in a position to learn from what happened.

As authorities prepare for the next fires, they should broaden how they think about disaster preparation. Our research suggests disaster planning needs to take place at a community level, rather than a focus on individual households. And vitally, authorities need to think of communities as made up of both humans and animals, rather than just humans.The Conversation

Danielle Celermajer, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, University of SydneyAnna Sturman, Lecturer in Human Geography, University of SydneyBlanche Verlie, Horizon Research Fellow and Lecturer in Social Science, University of SydneyFreya MacDonald, Phd student in Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney, and Natasha Heenan, Casual Lecturer, Political Economy and Climate Policy, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Gene pools are getting dangerously shallow for many species. We found 5 ways to help

A golden bandicoot (Isoodon auratusColleen Sims/Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and AttractionsCC BY-SA
Robyn ShawUniversity of CanberraCatherine GrueberUniversity of Sydney, and Katherine FarquharsonUniversity of Sydney

Before species go extinct, their populations often shrink and become isolated. Healthy populations tend to have a large gene pool with many genetic variants circulating. But the path to extinction erodes genetic diversity, because a species’ gene pool shrinks as the population declines. Losing genetic diversity limits the ability of populations to adapt to threats such as disease and climate change.

So, what is the state of genetic diversity in animals, plants, fungi and algae worldwide? And how could focusing on this crucial level of biodiversity help build resilience in the face of global change? We explore these questions in our new study, published today in Nature.

Our team of 57 scientists from 20 countries trawled through more than 80,000 scientific articles across three decades to summarise evidence of genetic change in populations in 141 countries.

Alarmingly, we found genetic diversity is being lost globally across many species, especially birds and mammals. This loss was most severe in studies reporting changes in habitat, new diseases, natural disasters, and human activities such as hunting or logging.

But there’s hope. Our study suggests conservation strategies can help maintain or even increase genetic diversity.

A white fox sitting on the snow in the daytime.
Isolated populations of the endangered Scandinavian arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) have become inbred. Jonatan Pie, Unsplash

What is genetic diversity and why does it matter?

At the core of every cell lies a copy of the instruction manual for living things. This is the genetic code, made up of DNA molecules. But its sequence varies enormously, separating a moth from a tree from a bacterium. Even within a species, we see distinct genetic differences between individuals. These genetic differences contribute to differences in their traits, which is why we get individuals who are taller or shorter, faster or slower, bolder or more cautious.

This genetic diversity stems from mutations. Often, these mutations are not helpful. But at times, they can enable populations to adapt to change.

For example, golden kelp (Ecklonia radiata) likes colder water. But in a population, some individuals will have mutations suited for warm water. When a devastating marine heatwave hit the West Australian coast in 2011, individuals with warm-water mutations were more likely to survive and reproduce. This genetic diversity enabled the kelp population to adapt to the warmer conditions.

This is why genetic diversity is so important – it gives species more resilience in a rapidly changing world. This priority has been recognised in Australia’s Strategy for Nature, and in goals and targets discussed at the United Nations biodiversity summit COP16.

How can we safeguard or restore genetic diversity for threatened species?

To answer this question, we used a technique called meta-analysis to look for patterns. From more than 80,000 published articles, we identified 882 studies which measured changes in genetic diversity over time. These studies came from right around the globe and across the entire “tree of life”.

They show there are many ways to conserve genetic diversity. Here are five promising strategies to help keep species resilient.

Room of scientists on computers reading scientific articles
Scientists from 20 countries came together to read thousands of papers and collect data on genetic diversity during in-person and online workshops. Robyn Shaw

Action 1: Adding individuals

Adding individuals to an existing population is known as supplementation. Our research found supplementation was the only action linked to a significant increase in genetic diversity, especially in birds.

Supplementation can help reduce the harmful effects of inbreeding, which is common in small, isolated populations. For example, conservationists working to safeguard New Zealand’s South Island robins (Petroica australis) moved female birds between isolated islands. The offspring of parents from different islands had stronger immune systems, higher survival rates, and improved reproductive health compared to their inbred counterparts.

Supplementation is key for boosting genetic diversity, improving population health and building resilience.

Action 2: Population control

Doing the opposite – removing individuals – can actually improve outcomes for the population as a whole in some circumstances, by, for instance, reducing competition.

But genetic diversity results varied a lot in studies using population control. So how can this strategy be used effectively?

In one case, conservationists in the United States used population control of coaster brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in a hatchery to prevent any single family from breeding too much. This meant multiple genetic lineages were maintained, increasing genetic diversity.

Action 3: Restoration

Ecosystem restoration can include planting trees, rehabilitating wetlands or restoring natural patterns of fire and water. We found genetic diversity was often maintained over time when ecological restoration was used.

Restoration efforts, alongside supplementation, are important to the survival of the greater prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), which had lost much habitat. Researchers report restoring and expanding suitable habitat is proving crucial to sustain genetic diversity and achieving long-term recovery.

Two greater prairie chickens, with the male displaying for the female
Found in the US and Canada, greater prairie-chickens are known for their courtship dance. Danita Delimont/Shutterstock

Action 4: Control of other species

Feral, pest or overabundant species can outcompete, eat, or graze on species under threat. Controlling these species was linked to maintenance of genetic diversity in the studies we analysed overall.

For example, control of red fox numbers helped the Arctic fox(Vulpes lagopu) recover in Sweden. The technique reduced competition over resources such as food while new foxes from Norway were added to the wild population. Inbreeding was reduced, and survival improved.

Action 5: Conservation introductions and reintroductions

Establishing new populations at new sites is known as a conservation introduction, while a reintroduction means restoring populations where they previously existed.

We found mixed results for genetic diversity when these actions were reported. So, what factors contribute to success?

In Western Australia, a large number of golden bandicoots (Isoodon auratus) from a robust island population were reintroduced to three sites. After six generations, genetic diversity at these sites remained similar to the original source population. Success came from careful planning to ensure the new populations had a large gene pool to start from.

Overall, our study revealed many cases of genetic diversity loss. But we also found evidence that conservation action – especially supplementation – can improve the genetic health of a species.

Two people among plantings of _Banksia brownii_ in a coastal setting.
Researchers, conservation managers and volunteers helped grow seedlings and establish new populations of the critically endangered feather-leaved banksia near Albany in Western Australia. David Coates

What can you do?

Supporting genetic diversity can be done at home.

If you have a garden, you can plant native species to support habitat connectivity.

Growing heirloom vegetables and rare fruit trees, or breeding heritage chooks can maintain genetic diversity in our food system.

Join community or botanic garden groups, or work with conservation groups to improve habitat or bolster numbers of threatened species.

While enjoying nature, avoid accidentally moving plants, seeds, or soil to new areas to reduce the spread of pests and diseases.

These small actions add up, helping to safeguard biodiversity at all levels – including genetic diversity.The Conversation

Robyn Shaw, Research Fellow in Conservation Genomics, University of CanberraCatherine Grueber, Associate Professor in Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, and Katherine Farquharson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Bioinformatics, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Sydney Wildlife (Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Services) Needs Volunteers: New course starts in February

As you know our work doesn't stop. 
We had the introduction of our new computer system which we all had to learn and get used to during a very busy time of the year! And everyone nailed it.

Now down to business; We need you!! Our next Rescue and Care Course is starting in February and we are desperate for members all over Sydney. Wouldn't it look great on your resume if you are looking for a job? ‘Volunteer at Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Services’ the skills you learn are endless! 

I could write a list as long as my arm the suburbs we need members in. So if this is something you have ever thought about, dreamt about or even had a discussion with your neighbour about now is the time! 

Follow the link and sign up: 

Maybe you cant have animals in your residence but have a car. We also need transporters to transport animals to carers from vets email info@sydneywildlife.org.au

Don't have a car, can't keep animals at home? Sign up for our volunteer rescue line. This is run 24/7 by volunteers. One overnight shift a week (5pm-9am) could be your volunteer hours if Centrelink require you to volunteer. 

These shifts can be done from your own home so you can still feed the kids, pop them to bed, jump in to bed yourself and just answer the phone if it rings between those times or do set hours a week during the day. Contact Carolyn for a chat at 

An egg-cellent beach activity

Shark and skate egg cases come in all different shapes, colours and sizes, and they are all unique to the species. Only the Draughtboard Shark (Cephaloscyllium laticeps) lays eggs of this particular shape and size.


After hatching, the egg cases wash up on beaches, where they may be mistaken for seed pods or other marine creatures.

So while you're at the beach this summer, the CSIRO want you to record your sightings of shark egg cases for The Great Eggcase Hunt Australia.

The CSIRO have teamed up with The Shark Trust, so it's easy to record your sightings via their app or website. It would be a jaws-ome help to their work.

Find out more about the hunt and download the app at: https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2023/march/great-eggcase-hunt

Draft Plan of Management for Dogs offleash On South Mona Vale Beach Open for feedback

The Northern Beaches Council announced on Wednesday December 11 2024 that it is placing its draft Plan of Management (PoM) for the southern end of Mona Vale Beach on exhibition for feedback.

Feedback closes on Sunday February 9 2025. The document is available here  (PDF: 4.06MB)

The adoption of this PoM would amend Pittwater Council’s Ocean Beaches Plan of Management (2005) (Ocean Beaches PoM) as set out in Appendix 9, pursuant to section 41 of the Local Government Act. The effect of the amendment is that the Ocean Beaches PoM would no longer apply to Mona Vale Beach (southern end).

The NSW Government (via Crown Lands, Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure) recently transferred the management of Crown Land at Mona Vale Beach and at Palm Beach to the Northern Beaches Council and gave consent for the draft PoM for South Mona Vale Beach to be publicly exhibited.

The State Government, which requires this document to be made, states, 'Plans of management are legal documents we develop and maintain to guide how Crown land will be sustainably managed. They provide a wealth of information about that site, including social, environmental, and economic values, set objectives and performance targets for community land, and provide for active land management and use, including the issuing of tenures over the land.'

The draft PoM, among other aspects of these standard documents, has ostensibly been prepared to include a proposal for a dog off-leash area.  

That does not mean residents of Pittwater should focus solely on that primary reason in any feedback provided. This is an opportunity to scrutinise how the Northern Beaches Council states it will protect coastal vegetation and wildlife habitat, support the ongoing use by the whole of the community of the foreshore (beach) area, and how it will assess whether it is meeting the criteria within its own PoM.

For instance, page 20 of the Draft POM records;

The NSW Biodiversity Values (BV) Map is facilitated by the NSW State Government and identifies land with high biodiversity value, particularly sensitive to impacts from development and clearing. On the 27 October 2023, the BV Map was updated to include the addition of revised habitat mapping for a number of threatened species. As a result, a portion of vegetation within the PoM is now identified on the BV Map (see Figure 7).

A draft PoM for Governor Phillip Park, another public whole of community (and whole of world) public space, which also includes a proposal for a dog off-leash area trial at Palm Beach (north) and has again been drafted primarily for the same reason, is also being developed by the Northern Beaches Council and this draft POM is expected to be prepared by mid-2025. 

The Northern Beaches Council has stated it will then seek the Department’s and then the Northern Beaches Council Councillors approval to also publicly exhibit this draft PoM.  

Dogs are currently prohibited at the southern end of Mona Vale Beach and on the beach at Palm Beach, however, dogs are seen on both beaches, and every other beach across the LGA, all day every day. 

The Northern Beaches Council has stated this restriction will remain in place unless the Northern Beaches Council adopts the draft PoM, amends the existing prohibition, and designates a part of the beach as an area for dogs to be off-leash under section 13(6) of the Companion Animals Act 1998.

Following public exhibition of the draft PoM, feedback will be reviewed, and the outcome of the public exhibition and any final draft POM will be reported to a Council meeting for Northern Beaches Council Councillors to approve. 

The land is a combination of escarpment and restored coastal vegetation leading down to partially vegetated foredune and beach and ocean. 

The land and beach is used by families with toddlers and young children, for surfing, swimming, and less strenuous activities such as just sitting and enjoying the view.

The area provides feeding and nesting habitat for aquatic and land-based birds and animals, environmental conservation and dune stabilisation within the dune areas. 

Those who enjoy strolling, running, passive and active beach and ocean activities and who contribute as volunteer bush revegetation and regeneration workers are the current every day and regular users of South Mona Vale Beach. 

The Northern Beaches Council said in a release it is yet to make a decision about proceeding with dog off-leash area trials at both locations as various processes must be completed before the Northern Beaches Council is in a position to do so. 

However, as both this and the PoM being drafted for Governor Phillip Park, and the REF that preceded these, were drafted specifically to permit dogs offleash in both these public spaces and wildlife habitat, and the Northern Beaches Council is again topping the state for dog attack statistics that resulted in the deaths of wildlife and hospitalisation of residents and visitors, and residents have reported to the news service again this week being attacked while using the ocean rock pools, beaches and public paths across the Local Government Area, the only fly in that ointment may turn out to be Mr. or Mrs. 'I'll Sue this ******** Council'.

Is this an area where those who have big dogs that need a kilometre or two to run fast in, more space than their backyards provide and as long as the whole of Mona Vale beach, where other users won't mind sitting and swimming in dog urine and faeces? 

Having your children run over, mauled and scarred for life or being told 'get out of here if you don't like it, this is a dog beach' looks set to be on its way, and has already been happening, at south Mona Vale beach.

Dog parks that include water features and large areas for furry darlings to romp are a success in Western Sydney areas, and have proved a lot less expensive than all the processes followed here has now accrued, in more than just financial costs, to our community.

''In the meantime, please only exercise your dog at approved locations across the area otherwise you may be subject to a $330 fine for contravening the dog off-leash rule or for being the owner of dog in prohibited public space.'' the Northern Beaches Council release states in closing

The 'you may be fined' under the Northern Beaches Council contrasts in messaging to the 'You Will Definitely Be Fined and/or Prosecuted' that occurs in other LGAs. But as a high amount of community reports on how the Northern Beaches Council is trying to rein in what has become a serious problem across the LGA come in every week, the 'may' has become 'will' again here too. Following advice by others to 'do what you want where you want and when you want' is leading to an insurmountable financial burden and absolute heartbreak for some.

It's heart-breaking hearing their stories of what happens when you ignore the law, NBC signage and rules, and follow that advice. And heart-breaking hearing of the trauma undergone and pain experienced by those who end up in hospital because someone has followed that advice.

Feedback closes on Sunday February 9 2025. The PoM document is available here  (PDF: 4.06MB)  The Northern Beaches Council webpage to provide feedback is at: yoursay.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/mona-vale-beach-south-plan-management

For those who wish to address more than the stated main reason for this new PoM; the habitat, other potential uses and other items drafted into the PoM, and use the emailing or writing option and format, rather than the 'yay' or 'nay' 1 minute survey on the NBC webpage, those addresses are:

Email: council@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

In writing: marked 'Mona Vale Beach (southern end) Plan of Management', Northern Beaches Council, PO Box 82, Manly NSW 1655.

The Northern Beaches Council also states it is providing:

Come and chat Pop-up event

Sunday 19 January 2025 12:00 pm to 02:00 pm, at Village Park, Mona Vale 

Come and chat with the Project Team at our stall at the Australian Made Markets

Book a call

Click the button (here) to book a call to chat with the project team. If none of the times available suit you, call 1300 434 434 to arrange another time.

Mon 13 Jan, 2 - 5pm

Wed 15 Jan, 8.30 - 11.30am

Wed 5 Feb, 11.30 - 2.30pm

Thur 6 Feb, 8.30 - 11.30am.

The whole of the 2023-2024 dog attack statistics for the Northern Beaches Council LGA were released in November 2024, and are available in: 

Australia Post urges councils to take strong action as dog attacks on Posties continue: Northern Beaches Council Dog Attack Numbers for 2023/24 Higher than LGAs with more than twice the number of registered dogs


North Palm Beach; dogs are taken into this area despite clear signage this is a no dogs area

Dogs on South Mona Vale Beach, Saturday December 15:image supplied

Dogs on Turimetta Beach, December 2024: Image supplied

Dogs on Narrabeen beach, December 2024: Image supplied



Dog attacking formerly resting seal at Long Reef Aquatic Reserve (a WPA). Photos supplied

Plastic Bread Ties For Wheelchairs

The Berry Collective at 1691 Pittwater Rd, Mona Vale collects them for Oz Bread Tags for Wheelchairs, who recycle the plastic.

Berry Collective is the practice on the left side of the road as you head north, a few blocks before Mona Vale shops . They have parking. Enter the foyer and there's a small bin on a table where you drop your bread ties - very easy.

A full list of Aussie bread tags for wheelchairs is available at: HERE 


Volunteers for Barrenjoey Lighthouse Tours needed

Details:

Stay Safe From Mosquitoes 

NSW Health is reminding people to protect themselves from mosquitoes when they are out and about this summer.

NSW Health’s Acting Director of Environmental Health, Paul Byleveld, said with more people spending time outdoors, it was important to take steps to reduce mosquito bite risk.

“Mosquitoes thrive in wet, warm conditions like those that much of NSW is experiencing,” Byleveld said.

“Mosquitoes in NSW can carry viruses such as Japanese encephalitis (JE), Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE), Kunjin, Ross River and Barmah Forest. The viruses may cause serious diseases with symptoms ranging from tiredness, rash, headache and sore and swollen joints to rare but severe symptoms of seizures and loss of consciousness.

“People should take extra care to protect themselves against mosquito bites and mosquito-borne disease, particularly after the detection of JE in a sentinel chicken in Far Western NSW.

The NSW Health sentinel chicken program provides early warning about the presence of serious mosquito borne diseases, like JE. Routine testing in late December revealed a positive result for JE in a sample from Menindee. 

A free vaccine to protect against JE infection is available to those at highest risk in NSW and people can check their eligibility at NSW Health.

People are encouraged to take actions to prevent mosquito bites and reduce the risk of acquiring a mosquito-borne virus by:
  • Applying repellent to exposed skin. Use repellents that contain DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Check the label for reapplication times.
  • Re-applying repellent regularly, particularly after swimming. Be sure to apply sunscreen first and then apply repellent.
  • Wearing light, loose-fitting long-sleeve shirts, long pants and covered footwear and socks.
  • Avoiding going outdoors during peak mosquito times, especially at dawn and dusk.
  • Using insecticide sprays, vapour dispensing units and mosquito coils to repel mosquitoes (mosquito coils should only be used outdoors in well-ventilated areas)
  • Covering windows and doors with insect screens and checking there are no gaps.
  • Removing items that may collect water such as old tyres and empty pots from around your home to reduce the places where mosquitoes can breed.
  • Using repellents that are safe for children. Most skin repellents are safe for use on children aged three months and older. Always check the label for instructions. Protecting infants aged less than three months by using an infant carrier draped with mosquito netting, secured along the edges.
  • While camping, use a tent that has fly screens to prevent mosquitoes entering or sleep under a mosquito net.
Remember, Spray Up – Cover Up – Screen Up to protect from mosquito bite. For more information go to NSW Health.

Mountain Bike Incidents On Public Land: Survey

This survey aims to document mountain bike related incidents on public land, available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K88PSNP

Sent in by Pittwater resident Academic for future report- study. The survey will run for 12 months and close in February 2025.

Report fox sightings

Fox sightings, signs of fox activity, den locations and attacks on native or domestic animals can be reported into FoxScan. FoxScan is a free resource for residents, community groups, local Councils, and other land managers to record and report fox sightings and control activities. 

Our Council's Invasive species Team receives an alert when an entry is made into FoxScan.  The information in FoxScan will assist with planning fox control activities and to notify the community when and where foxes are active.



marine wildlife rescue group on the Central Coast

A new wildlife group was launched on the Central Coast on Saturday, December 10, 2022.

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast (MWRCC) had its official launch at The Entrance Boat Shed at 10am.

The group comprises current and former members of ASTR, ORRCA, Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace, WIRES and Wildlife ARC, as well as vets, academics, and people from all walks of life.

Well known marine wildlife advocate and activist Cathy Gilmore is spearheading the organisation.

“We believe that it is time the Central Coast looked after its own marine wildlife, and not be under the control or directed by groups that aren’t based locally,” Gilmore said.

“We have the local knowledge and are set up to respond and help injured animals more quickly.

“This also means that donations and money fundraised will go directly into helping our local marine creatures, and not get tied up elsewhere in the state.”

The organisation plans to have rehabilitation facilities and rescue kits placed in strategic locations around the region.

MWRCC will also be in touch with Indigenous groups to learn the traditional importance of the local marine environment and its inhabitants.

“We want to work with these groups and share knowledge between us,” Gilmore said.

“This is an opportunity to help save and protect our local marine wildlife, so if you have passion and commitment, then you are more than welcome to join us.”

Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast has a Facebook page where you may contact members. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076317431064


Watch out - shorebirds about

Summer is here so watch your step because beach-nesting and estuary-nesting birds have started setting up home on our shores.
Did you know that Careel Bay and other spots throughout our area are part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP)?

This flyway, and all of the stopping points along its way, are vital to ensure the survival of these Spring and Summer visitors. This is where they rest and feed on their journeys.  For example, did you know that the bar-tailed godwit flies for 239 hours for 8,108 miles from Alaska to Australia?

Not only that, Shorebirds such as endangered oystercatchers and little terns lay their eggs in shallow scraped-out nests in the sand, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Threatened Species officer Ms Katherine Howard has said.
Even our regular residents such as seagulls are currently nesting to bear young.

What can you do to help them?
Known nest sites may be indicated by fencing or signs. The whole community can help protect shorebirds by keeping out of nesting areas marked by signs or fences and only taking your dog to designated dog offleash area. 

Just remember WE are visitors to these areas. These birds LIVE there. This is their home.

Four simple steps to help keep beach-nesting birds safe:
1. Look out for bird nesting signs or fenced-off nesting areas on the beach, stay well clear of these areas and give the parent birds plenty of space.
2. Walk your dogs in designated dog-friendly areas only and always keep them on a leash over summer.
3. Stay out of nesting areas and follow all local rules.
4. Chicks are mobile and don't necessarily stay within fenced nesting areas. When you're near a nesting area, stick to the wet sand to avoid accidentally stepping on a chick.


Possums In Your Roof?: do the right thing

Possums in your roof? Please do the right thing 
On the weekend, one of our volunteers noticed a driver pull up, get out of their vehicle, open the boot, remove a trap and attempt to dump a possum on a bush track. Fortunately, our member intervened and saved the beautiful female brushtail and the baby in her pouch from certain death. 

It is illegal to relocate a trapped possum more than 150 metres from the point of capture and substantial penalties apply.  Urbanised possums are highly territorial and do not fare well in unfamiliar bushland. In fact, they may starve to death or be taken by predators.

While Sydney Wildlife Rescue does not provide a service to remove possums from your roof, we do offer this advice:

✅ Call us on (02) 9413 4300 and we will refer you to a reliable and trusted licenced contractor in the Sydney metropolitan area. For a small fee they will remove the possum, seal the entry to your roof and provide a suitable home for the possum - a box for a brushtail or drey for a ringtail.
✅ Do-it-yourself by following this advice from the Department of Planning and Environment: 

❌ Do not under any circumstances relocate a possum more than 150 metres from the capture site.
Thank you for caring and doing the right thing.



Sydney Wildlife photos

Aviaries + Possum Release Sites Needed

Pittwater Online News has interviewed Lynette Millett OAM (WIRES Northern Beaches Branch) needs more bird cages of all sizes for keeping the current huge amount of baby wildlife in care safe or 'homed' while they are healed/allowed to grow bigger to the point where they may be released back into their own home. 

If you have an aviary or large bird cage you are getting rid of or don't need anymore, please email via the link provided above. There is also a pressing need for release sites for brushtail possums - a species that is very territorial and where release into a site already lived in by one possum can result in serious problems and injury. 

If you have a decent backyard and can help out, Lyn and husband Dave can supply you with a simple drey for a nest and food for their first weeks of adjustment.

Bushcare in Pittwater: where + when

For further information or to confirm the meeting details for below groups, please contact Council's Bushcare Officer on 9970 1367 or visit Council's bushcare webpage to find out how you can get involved.

BUSHCARE SCHEDULES 
Where we work                      Which day                              What time 

Avalon     
Angophora Reserve             3rd Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Dunes                        1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 
Avalon Golf Course              2nd Wednesday                 3 - 5:30pm 
Careel Creek                         4th Saturday                      8:30 - 11:30am 
Toongari Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon (8 - 11am in summer) 
Bangalley Headland            2nd Sunday                         9 to 12noon 
Catalpa Reserve              4th Sunday of the month        8.30 – 11.30
Palmgrove Park              1st Saturday of the month        9.00 – 12 

Bayview     
Winnererremy Bay                 4th Sunday                        9 to 12noon 

Bilgola     
North Bilgola Beach              3rd Monday                        9 - 12noon 
Algona Reserve                     1st Saturday                       9 - 12noon 
Plateau Park                          1st Friday                            8:30 - 11:30am 

Church Point     
Browns Bay Reserve             1st Tuesday                        9 - 12noon 
McCarrs Creek Reserve       Contact Bushcare Officer     To be confirmed 

Clareville     
Old Wharf Reserve                 3rd Saturday                      8 - 11am 

Elanora     
Kundibah Reserve                   4th Sunday                       8:30 - 11:30am 

Mona Vale     
Mona Vale Beach Basin          1st Saturday                    8 - 11am 
Mona Vale Dunes                     2nd Saturday +3rd Thursday     8:30 - 11:30am 

Newport     
Bungan Beach                          4th Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
Crescent Reserve                    3rd Sunday                      9 - 12noon 
North Newport Beach              4th Saturday                    8:30 - 11:30am 
Porter Reserve                          2nd Saturday                  8 - 11am 

North Narrabeen     
Irrawong Reserve                     2nd Saturday                   2 - 5pm 

Palm Beach     
North Palm Beach Dunes      3rd Saturday                    9 - 12noon 

Scotland Island     
Catherine Park                          2nd Sunday                     10 - 12:30pm 
Elizabeth Park                           1st Saturday                      9 - 12noon 
Pathilda Reserve                      3rd Saturday                      9 - 12noon 

Warriewood     
Warriewood Wetlands             1st Sunday                         8:30 - 11:30am 

Whale Beach     
Norma Park                               1st Friday                            9 - 12noon 

Western Foreshores     
Coopers Point, Elvina Bay      2nd Sunday                        10 - 1pm 
Rocky Point, Elvina Bay           1st Monday                          9 - 12noon

Friends Of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment Activities

Bush Regeneration - Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment  
This is a wonderful way to become connected to nature and contribute to the health of the environment.  Over the weeks and months you can see positive changes as you give native species a better chance to thrive.  Wildlife appreciate the improvement in their habitat.

Belrose area - Thursday mornings 
Belrose area - Weekend mornings by arrangement
Contact: Phone or text Conny Harris on 0432 643 295

Wheeler Creek - Wednesday mornings 9-11am
Contact: Phone or text Judith Bennett on 0402 974 105
Or email: Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment : email@narrabeenlagoon.org.au

Gardens and Environment Groups and Organisations in Pittwater


Ringtail Posses 2023

‘I was shocked’: a scientist tracking koalas films startling behaviour between young males

Darcy Watchorn
Darcy WatchornDeakin University

It’s a cold, drizzly night in a forest west of Melbourne. I’m sitting on a damp log, clutching a thermos of lukewarm tea and watching a koala snooze on a branch above me. Suddenly, it lifts its head. I sit up straight, pen poised to record what happens. But the koala simply yawns and resumes the blob position. I sigh and take another sip of tea.

Why am I doing this? To research the social behaviour of koalas and hopefully learn more about what they do at night, when they are most active.

After many nights, and many sips of tea, I witness something truly unexpected: male koalas engaging in affectionate behaviours with each other, such as play and grooming. I was shocked. Adult koalas are normally solitary, so observations such as this are exceedingly rare.

My new research paper presents these findings. It provides the most detailed account of these behaviours to date, and offers a unique glimpse into how social dynamics between koalas may change when they are forced to live in close quarters.

two koalas holding onto a tree trunk
An adult female koala (right) and her very large joey (left) on a tree in Cape Otway, Victoria Darcy Watchorn

Why are these behaviours so surprising?

Most animals exhibit some type of social behaviour. These can include mating, vocalising to communicate, or defending their territory. But some highly social, group-living animals – such as wolvesprimates and dolphins – will also display friendly and peaceful acts between individuals, such as grooming each other and playing.

These are known as “affiliative” behaviours, and they are key to social relationships between animals, and to maintaining complex social hierarchies.

Adult koalas, though, are generally solitary (except, obviously, when mating). They are usually widely spread over an area and rarely come face-to-face, instead interacting over long distances by vocalising and leaving their scent.

And when male koalas do physically interact, it is usually a violent affair. More than once, I’ve seen male koalas scratched and bloodied — missing chunks of fur and even a claw — after fighting with a rival male.

That’s why my observations of affection between young male koalas were so surprising.

What I saw after dark

Over three painstaking weeks, I studied a koala population in the woodlands of Cape Otway, southern Victoria. Each night, I went out between 9pm and 2am to track and observe the males. I used a red-light spotlight to avoid disturbing them. If I saw something interesting, I filmed it. You can watch the video below.

After two weeks, I observed three males engaging in unexpected “affiliative” behaviours. They were grooming each other, sniffing each other’s genitals and vocalising to each other in soft, high-pitched calls, similar to the sounds baby koalas make.

They also appeared to be playing. They would gently — but perhaps provocatively — bite one another on the arm and ear, a bit like cheeky puppies do.

These interactions weren’t brief, either. I watched the koalas for two hours before finally giving in to sleep. When I went back at lunchtime the next day, they were still at it.

What’s behind these affectionate behaviours?

This type of social interaction between wild koalas had only been observed once before, more than 30 years ago, in a high-density koala population on French Island off Victoria.

Like that earlier observation, the koalas I recorded were young adult males, roughly aged between three and five years. Hormonal activity can surge at this life stage, leading to an increase in social behaviours such as play and boldness.

But if the affectionate behaviours were solely the result of teenage hormones, you’d expect it to be observed more often in many koalas in this age group. But that’s not the case.

Instead, these behaviours are most likely a result of the large koala populations.

Typically, fewer than two koalas are found per hectare. At Cape Otway, there were 15 koalas per hectare. This number can reach up to 20 in parts of South Australia and Victoria.

This high density means the home ranges of koalas are more likely to overlap and their interactions will be more frequent. It also means competition for food, space and mates can be especially high.

So young males might use affectionate behaviours — such as grooming and playing — to reduce conflict and manage stress. It may help individuals become familiar with their neighbours, establish hierarchies and avoid aggressive encounters.

Genetics may also play a role. Like many high-density koala populations, this population had low genetic diversity, meaning there was a high degree of relatedness among individuals.

Low genetic diversity can be a big problem for species overall. But it does mean some animals might identify their relatives, and tolerate being close to them.

The causes of low genetic diversity in high-density koala populations are complex. The species was almost hunted to extinction. This meant a vastly reduced number of koalas could pass on their genes to the next generation. To make matters worse, habitat destruction can prevent koalas from dispersing over a wide area.

truck loaded with koala skins
This truckload of koala pelts was taken during the 1927 open season in Queensland. State Library of QueenslandCC BY-ND

The complex reality of koala conservation

Koalas are listed as endangered in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT. But high-density koala populations, such as the one I observed in Cape Otway, also present major conservation challenges.

Too many koalas feeding in an area puts pressure on preferred tree species. This can result in mass tree death, and habitat loss for koalas and other species. In some cases, koalas can starve.

Unfortunately, there are no quick and easy solutions to this issue. Moving koalas from crowded areas to places where they are endangered often isn’t possible, due to differences in climate and the unique gut bacteria koalas need for their local food trees.

Other interventions, such as fertility control, can be effective. But this takes many years of intensive effort and significant funding, making it vulnerable to budget cuts and shifting priorities.

Some experts say culling could be used to control koala numbers and conserve the surrounding habitat, as it is for kangaroos. However, this is likely to draw widespread public opposition.

These complex challenges offer an unexpected silver lining, however. As my experience shows, high-density koala populations provide unique opportunities to observe rare social behaviours in this iconic species. All you need is curiosity, a big cup of tea, and patience.The Conversation

Darcy Watchorn, Threatened Species Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science Department, Zoos Victoria, and Visiting Scholar, School of Life & Environmental Science, Deakin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Global wildlife trade is an enormous market – a look at the billions of animals the US imports from nearly 30,000 species

U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents inspect a shipment of reptiles at the Port of Miami. U.S. GAO
Michael TlustyUMass BostonAlice Catherine HughesUniversity of Hong Kong, and Andrew RhyneRoger Williams University

When people think of wildlife trade, they often picture smugglers sneaking in rare and endangered species from far-off countries. Yet most wildlife trade is actually legal, and the United States is one of the world’s biggest wildlife importers.

New research that we and a team of colleagues published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that, over the last 22 years, people in the U.S. legally imported nearly 2.85 billion individual animals representing almost 30,000 species.

Some of these wild animals become pets, such as reptiles, spiders, clownfish, chimpanzees and even tigers. Thousands end up in zoos and aquariums, where many species on display come directly from the wild.

Medical research uses macaque monkeys and imports up to 39,000 of them every year. The fashion trade imports around 1 million to 2 million crocodile skins every year. Hunting trophies are also included in wildlife.

An illustration shows the number of species of different types of animals traded
How many species are legally traded worldwide? Benjamin Marshall, et al., 2024, PNASCC BY-SA

The largest number of imported species are birds – 4,985 different species are imported each year, led by Muscovy ducks, with over 6 million imported. Reptiles are next, with 3,048 species, led by iguanas and royal pythons. These largely become pets.

Not all wildlife are wild

We found that just over half of the animals imported into the U.S. come from the wild.

Capturing wildlife to sell to exporters can be an important income source for rural communities around the world, especially in Africa. However, wild imported species can also spread diseases or parasites or become invasive. In fact, these risks are so worrying that many imported animals are classed as “injurious wildlife” due to their potential role in transmitting diseases to native species.

Captive breeding has played an increasingly dominant role in recent years as a way to limit the impact on wild populations and to try to reduce disease spread.

However over half the individual animals from most groups of species, such as amphibians or mammals, still come from the wild, and there is no data on the impact of the wildlife trade on most wild populations.

Trade may pose a particular risk when species are already rare or have small ranges. Where studies have been done, the wild populations of traded species decreased by an average of 62% across the periods monitored.

Sustainable wildlife trade is possible, but it relies on careful monitoring to balance wild harvest and captive breeding.

Data is thin in many ways

For most species in the wildlife trade, there is still a lot that remains unknown, including even the number of species traded.

With so many species and shipments, wildlife inspectors are overwhelmed. Trade data may not include the full species name for groups like butterflies or fish. The values in many customs databases are reported by companies but never verified.

A primate with a long, pink face and light-colored hair.
Macaques, used in medical research, are the most-traded primates globally, according to an analysis of U.S. Fish and Wildlife data. DavidvrajuCC BY-SA

In our study, we relied on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Law Enforcement Management Information System, a wildlife import-export data collection system. However, few countries collate and release data in such a standardized way; meaning that for the majority of species legally traded around the world there is no available data.

For example, millions of Tokay geckos are imported as pets and for medicine, and are often reported to be bred in captivity. However, investigators cannot confirm that they weren’t actually caught in the wild.

Why tracking the wildlife trade is important

Biodiversity has a great number of economic and ecological benefits. There are also risks to importing wildlife. Understanding the many species and number of animals entering the country, and whether they were once wild or farmed, is important, because imported wildlife can cause health and ecological problems.

Wildlife can spread diseases to humans and to other animals. Wild-caught monkeys imported for medical research may carry diseases, including ones of particular risk to humans. Those with diseases are more likely to be wild than captive-bred.

A mink standing in water surrounded by snow.
The most-traded mammals worldwide are minks, which are valued for their fur but can spread viruses to humans and other species. About 48 million minks are legally traded annually, about 2.8% wild-caught and the majority raised, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife data. Colin Canterbury/USFWS

Species that aren’t native to the U.S. may also escape or be released into the wild. Invasive species can cause billions of dollars in damage by consuming and outcompeting native wildlife and spreading diseases.

We believe better data on the wildlife trade could be used to set management goals, such as harvest quotas or no-take policies for those species in their country of origin.

What’s next

The researchers involved in this study come from institutes around the world and are all interested in improving data systems for wildlife trade.

Some of us focus on how e-commerce platforms such as Etsy and Instagram have become hotspots of wildlife trade and can be challenging to monitor without automation. Esty announced in 2024 that it would remove listings of endangered or threatened species. Others build tools to help wildlife inspectors process the large number of shipments in real time. Many of us examine the problems imported species cause when they become invasive.

In the age of machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data, it’s possible to better understand the wildlife trade. Consumers can help by buying less, and making informed decisions.The Conversation

Michael Tlusty, Professor of Sustainability and Food Solutions, UMass BostonAlice Catherine Hughes, Professor of Landscape Ecology, University of Hong Kong, and Andrew Rhyne, Associate Professor of Marine Biology, Roger Williams University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

You don’t have to be a net zero hero – how focus on personal climate action can distract from systemic problems

Tint Media/Shutterstock
Sam IllingworthEdinburgh Napier University

Campaigns and social media often encourage people to make eco-friendly choices like using less plastic or driving less. While these actions are important, focusing so much on what people do can distract from the much larger role that businesses and governments play in causing and solving environmental problems.

For example, some campaigns promote a “net zero hero” narrative that implies that people should take the lead in fighting climate change by changing their behaviour, recycling more, taking fewer flights or eating less meat.

While personal actions can help, there’s a danger this way of thinking can put too much responsibility on consumers. These individual actions are not enough to solve the problem.

By focusing so much on personal responsibility, we risk ignoring the systemic changes needed to address the climate crisis. These include switching to renewable energy on a large scale, enforcing strict industrial regulations and redesigning cities to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Without these bigger steps, taken by governments and large organisations, we can’t make real progress in tackling climate change.

Energy companies and trade groups have been particularly good at shifting blame to consumers. They promote products and habits that claim to lower personal carbon footprints while lobbying against strong environmental laws that would require real emission cuts from industries.

Fossil fuel companies have known about climate change science since the 1950s but funded misinformation campaigns to delay action and shift blame to individuals.

Indeed, the carbon footprint calculator itself was developed in 2004 by a public relations firm working for BP. The tool encouraged individuals to calculate their personal impact on the environment, focusing on activities like driving, energy use, and diet.

According to reports on the campaign’s origins, this approach was part of a deliberate strategy to shift public attention away from the significant environmental harm caused by corporations, particularly the fossil fuel industry.

Despite this narrative, many corporations have failed to address their own emissions. A recent study found that only 60% of companies met their 2020 emissions targets, and 31% failed to report any outcomes.

This lack of accountability highlights how many major companies neglect their responsibilities, raising serious concerns about their commitment to 2030 climate goals.

These tactics maintain the status quo and creates a cycle of guilt and failure for consumers. Many people feel overwhelmed, leading to demotivation and even climate anxiety.

Similar strategies have been used in other industries. For instance, the tobacco industry blamed smokers for health issues, focusing on personal choice while downplaying nicotine addiction and resisting health regulations.

The real meaning of a carbon footprint.

Shifting the focus

In my research into climate communication, I see how stories of guilt resonate with communities already facing misplaced blame. For example, in workshops with groups affected by austerity, people often felt guilty for not helping others more.

Over time, they realised this was due to failures in governance, not personal shortcomings. They saw a similar pattern in the climate crisis, learning to separate personal guilt from the larger roles of corporations and governments.

placard with green text, planet not profit
Collective action will drive systemic change. John Gomez/Shutterstock

As a climate researcher and communicator, my job is to help move the conversation from personal guilt to shared responsibility and accountability. This shift empowers people as citizens, not just consumers, to demand action from leaders and industries.

Understanding that while personal responsibility is meaningful, the real power to create change lies with corporations and governments is vital. We need systemic change, not consumer guilt.

To tackle the climate crisis, we must make personal choices that reflect care for the environment. But we must also work together to demand that companies and governments adopt sustainable practices, for example through voting for leaders who prioritise environmental reform. The path to a sustainable future is collective action – not carrying the weight of guilt alone.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.The Conversation


Sam Illingworth, Professor of Creative Pedagogies, Edinburgh Napier University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Weighing the green cost: How nickel mining in Indonesia impacts forests and local communities

Michaela Guo Ying LoUniversity of KentJatna SupriatnaUniversitas Indonesia, and Matthew StruebigUniversity of Kent

Indonesia produced nearly four times the amount of nickel in recent years compared to a decade earlier — following the global push for a low-carbon revolution that drives the mining for the mineral essential for electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, and stainless-steel production.

This boom, however, takes a toll on nickel-rich regions like Sulawesi, threatening a one-of-a-kind biodiversity hotspot, known as ‘Wallacea’.

Our recent study raises questions about the sustainability of nickel mining practices as we highlight its environmental and social impacts in Sulawesi, based on data from 7,721 villages.

Sulawesi’s forests and biodiversity at risk

Our study shows that between 2011 and 2018, villages near nickel mines experienced deforestation at nearly double the rate of non-mining areas. The loss is attributable to land acquisition needed to mine the mineral.

Deforestation will not only worsen global warming but also destroy habitats and threaten wildlife populations. Among the species potentially affected are Sulawesi’s 17 primate species, such as Celebes crested macaque and Peleng tarsier—all of them are endemic to the island. If this trend continues, it could set back efforts to both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and conserve biodiversity.

A video showcasing the Peleng tarsier, one of 17 endemic primates threatened by nickel-driven deforestation.

The costs and benefits to local communities

Our research reveals that unsustainable nickel mining practices have increased the pollution and the frequency of mining-related disasters, such as landslides and flash floods. They directly impact local communities that rely on agriculture, fishing, and other natural resource-based livelihoods.

The effects of nickel mining, however, are nuanced. Environmental damage and land acquisition have triggered conflicts. But while social well-being declined in areas near nickel mines, the impact varied significantly across regions, and was positive in some areas.

This implies that communities across Sulawesi can experience both positive and negative impacts. In villages with high poverty levels, for example, the environmental and health impacts of mining have been particularly severe. In these villages, adverse health effects are more likely to occur due to limited resources and capacity to cope with pollution associated with mining activities.

However, our study also shows that these poorer regions have also gained the greatest benefits from mining, including improved infrastructure and living conditions. Revenue from mining has likely added to investments into public goods, such as improving water systems and transportation networks.

More information is needed to understand what is driving this variation, but it underscores the precarious balance posed by nickel mining. While it provides vital development opportunities, it also threatens vulnerable ecosystems and exposes communities to significant environmental and health risks. Achieving progress without deepening hardship remains a complex challenge for sustainable development in Indonesia and other nickel producing countries.

Towards sustainable nickel mining

Tackling these challenges requires a just and sustainable approach to nickel mining. If the harm continues, it could undermine efforts to conserve Sulawesi’s unique biodiversity. That’s why protecting its ecosystems is critical.

Several recommendations have been proposed by other academics and actors, three of which we emphasise through our mining evaluation:

1. Strengthening environmental and social standards

Governments and mining companies must follow strict environmental and social standards to minimise harm to ecosystems and communities. This includes strict regulations on deforestation and water management, along with protections for workers and affected communities.

For mining companies, frameworks like the OECD Due Diligence Guidelines can ensure that businesses carry out the necessary protocols to identify, prevent, and account for adverse impacts that result from their mining practices. At the same time, state actors should continue to fulfil their obligations to protect and respect the rights of those affected by mining.

2. Ensuring community participation

Local communities must be central to decision-making around mining projects. Inclusive consultation and consent processes can help mitigate harm and ensure that mining operations do not harm those who rely on the environment for their livelihoods.

Involving communities in decision-making helps mining companies build trust and share benefits. As one case study has shown in Sulawesi, engaging local populations in evaluating the nickel production process can lead to corrective actions. Community feedback can ensure that mining projects not only achieve compliance but also align with the aspirations and well-being of affected communities.

3. Establishing robust monitoring and accountability

Regular monitoring and evaluation of mining operations, from start to finish, is crucial — not just for nickel but other mining commodities too. Companies should be held accountable for environmental damage and social harm, while successful practices should be highlighted to serve as models for the industry. Independent oversight by NGOs and local groups can boost transparency, ensure accountability, and promote best practices.

Time is crucial. With the low-carbon transition speeding up, swift action is needed to prevent environmental and social harm worldwide.

By reforming nickel mining practices, Indonesia can play a vital role in building a just, sustainable, low-carbon future, and provide a model for other countries.

This is a chance to balance economic prosperity, environmental protection, and social equity — ensuring the green energy transition’s benefits outweigh its costs.The Conversation

Michaela Guo Ying Lo, Postdoctoral Researcher in Environment, Conservation, and Development, University of KentJatna Supriatna, Professor of Conservation Biology, Universitas Indonesia, and Matthew Struebig, Reader in Conservation Science, University of Kent

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Does your school have enough trees? Here’s why they’re great for kids and their learning

Getty Images
Margaret StanleyUniversity of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau and Abigail CunninghameUniversity of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Do schools and trees mix? You may have memories of shady playing areas and shelter belts by playing fields, but our recent study suggests this is increasingly an exception rather than a rule.

Trees are often seen as a health and safety risk, whether from branches or the whole thing falling, or from children falling out of them. Many schools have banned pupils from climbing trees as a result.

Beyond that, trees are often seen as an optional “nice to have”. New Zealand’s current education minister criticised extensive landscaping and bespoke design when announcing a review of school properties in early 2024.

But the benefits of trees and other vegetation in urban areas are well known, and increasingly important as housing density increases. Schools can play a significant role in encouraging the growth of “urban forests”.

Unfortunately, there are also large differences in tree canopy cover in New Zealand cities (and elsewhere in the world), with low socioeconomic areas often having low tree canopy cover.

This matters because trees and nature in general provide us with enormous health and wellbeing benefits, regardless of socioeconomic standing.

Natural benefits

Very little is known about green spaces on local school grounds. So, our research set out to survey the quantity and quality of green spaces in 64 urban primary schools in Auckland.

We conducted the survey in the context of several known factors about the role and place of nature in education:

Because schools are fairly evenly distributed throughout cities, and can have a large spatial footprint, there’s also an opportunity to enhance wider native biodiversity, create ecological corridors and maintain cultural connections.

Fields but few trees

Unfortunately, our survey found the green spaces of most Auckland primary schools are dominated by sports fields.

While it’s good news that children have access to these, adding trees and shrubs around the edges of the fields could provide many benefits without compromising existing play spaces.

Native biodiversity was also lacking. In fact, 33% of school ground contained environmental weeds, such as woolly nightshade. There were also many more introduced plant species than native species, and most schools lacked a shrub layer.

Urban green spaces in general tend to favour single trees with mown lawn underneath. But birds feed in different layers of vegetation and need that shrub layer and some vegetation complexity.

The most common native tree by far was pōhutakawa. But planting a monoculture of pōhutakawa is a big risk if a disease (such as myrtle rust) has a big impact on that species.

Diversity is key. Planting other native species such as pūriri, karaka, rewarewa or tītoki would increase plant diversity, attract native birds and other species, as well as provide sun shade.

Room for improvement

There was some good news, however. Of the 64 schools surveyed, 36% had a forest patch. This gives the children access to an outdoor learning resource that may be lacking from their immediate neighbourhood.

It was heartening to find every school had at least one species associated with weaving, with both harakeke and tī kōuka present at 83% of schools.

We know young Māori in cities are at risk of losing cultural knowledge and opportunities for cultural practices, so the availability of key weaving species is an excellent opportunity for schools and their whānau.

If this was a report card, Auckland’s school green spaces would not be high-achieving. But there are plenty of opportunities to improve. Adding more diversity, more native plants, and planting trees around the edges of sports fields will provide a wealth of benefits to both children and the city’s overall biodiversity.

Using outdoor spaces for learning will increase natural and cultural connections and improve children’s wellbeing. That is much more than a “nice to have”.The Conversation

Margaret Stanley, Professor of Ecology, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau and Abigail Cunninghame, Research Assistant, Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Suffocating seas: low oxygen levels emerging as third major threat to tropical coral reefs

Corals in low-oxygen seawater may not show visible signs of stress. Mike Workman/Shutterstock
Jennifer MallonNova Southeastern UniversityAdrian Michael BassUniversity of Glasgow, and Maggie D. JohnsonKing Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Coral reef research has focused on the twin evils birthed by record-high greenhouse gas emissions: warming oceans and increasingly acidic seawater. These global threats are caused by seawater absorbing the excess heat and carbon dioxide that fossil fuel burning has added to the atmosphere. But there is another consequence that is seldom discussed.

Globally, oceanic oxygen is being depleted because seawater holds less oxygen as it heats up. In the warm coastal waters where tropical coral reefs grow, the immediate effects of low oxygen concentrations can be catastrophic. Short-term hypoxia events are increasingly reported in which dissolved oxygen levels suddenly plummet – often triggered or exacerbated by chemical pollution running off the land, like nutrient-rich fertilisers – which can kill entire coral communities and decimate reefs within days.

Corals are animals, and like other aquatic animals, they breathe in oxygen from the water to fuel their metabolism. Thanks to a symbiotic relationship with microscopic algae, corals also turn the Sun’s energy into food – oxygen is the byproduct.

Oxygen levels on coral reefs naturally fluctuate in a daily cycle, with dissolved oxygen peaking around noon and gradually falling as the light fades. At night when photosynthesis stops, corals continue to respire (consume oxygen), and seawater oxygen is depleted.

This cyclic rise and fall in oxygen means that some corals have already evolved strategies to withstand changes in dissolved oxygen. When the amount of oxygen available to corals falls below this natural range, corals can get stressed and their normal biological processes are disrupted, in many cases leading to death.

Just like us, corals need oxygen to survive. But I (Jennifer Mallon) discovered that the effects of low oxygen on corals are not always obvious to the naked eye, and that juvenile corals may be especially vulnerable.

Hard to spot signs

To understand the effects of low oxygen levels on corals I travelled to the Smithsonian Marine Station in Florida, as part of a research project led by the University of Florida’s Andrew Altieri and the Smithsonian’s Maggie Johnson and Valerie Paul.

At the Smithsonian, 24 climate-controlled seawater tanks simulate varying levels of deoxygenation already present on coral reefs around the world, ranging from severe deoxygenation, which our research observed on the Caribbean coast of Panama, to normal conditions, such as those replicated in aquariums around the world.

Glass containers containing coral fragments under lamps.
Researchers recreated environmental conditions for corals in the lab. Jennifer Mallon

While some corals, like the Caribbean staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis), died within a few days of severe deoxygenation, other important reef-building species such as the mountainous star coral (Orbicella faveolata) survived, demonstrating that tolerance of low oxygen was different between species.

When we studied the corals that survived deoxygenation, we discovered that hypoxic stress may not always be visible. Even when exposed to deoxygenation for two weeks, some corals showed no signs of bleaching, which is when the colourful algae depart and corals turn a ghostly white. More detailed measurements revealed something worrying: despite outward appearances, low oxygen exposure had impaired coral metabolism, potentially stunting their growth and reef-building abilities.

Existing methods for measuring coral health in the field are mainly visual, and include assessments by trained divers who search for signs of paling or bleaching corals. The hypoxic stress responses we saw in our experiment could be going under the radar.

Baby corals at risk

We also wanted to know how deoxygenation affects a coral’s ability to breed.

Coral sexual reproduction is already a tricky business. Spawning events, when corals release egg bundles into the water, occur just a few nights a year, and the resulting larvae are highly vulnerable. Few survive the multi-day swim to the reef where they settle and metamorphose into juvenile corals.

On modern Caribbean reefs, wild juvenile corals are rare. People involved in restoring reefs help corals to sexually reproduce in the lab and rear the juveniles in order to later transplant them onto the reef.

Juvenile corals often settle in reef crevices where they are exposed to lower oxygen levels for longer than in open water, because less water flows over them. When we incubated coral larvae in deoxygenated water throughout the settlement process, we found that initial rates of larval survival and settlement were not significantly affected.

Things changed once the larvae had settled and begun to form juvenile corals. Early-stage juvenile corals, known as primary polyps, lack symbiotic algae to help them meet their nutritional needs via photosynthesis and so rely on respiration for energy. Without enough oxygen, they cannot respire properly and begin to die off.

Yellow coral at night surrounded by small, pink globules.
A coral spawning event off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Coral Brunner/Shutterstock

Coral conservation in breathless waters

Our research can help those involved in restoring reefs understand the oxygen needs of corals, as well as highlight a previously overlooked threat.

Even corals that survive deoxygenation show signs of a weaker metabolism that will make it harder to conserve healthy reefs, as restoration relies on healthy coral growth to regenerate what is damaged.

As a next step, field measurements of coral metabolism will be carried out on Florida’s barrier reef tract when oxygen levels are predicted to drop during the warm summer months, to capture the real impact of deoxygenation on coral health.

Dissolved oxygen data has not always been collected as part of reef monitoring, even during warm water bleaching events when oxygen is low. As the climate crisis worsens, it will be imperative to do more of this monitoring in tropical coastal waters. Further research into how distinct coral species respond to hypoxia is also essential for targeted conservation strategies.

By confronting the silent threat of deoxygenation head on, we can safeguard the future of coral reefs and the countless marine species that depend on them.The Conversation

Jennifer Mallon, Postdoctoral research fellow, Nova Southeastern UniversityAdrian Michael Bass, Associate Professor of Biogeochemistry, University of Glasgow, and Maggie D. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Marine Science, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Here’s what ‘deep listening’ can tell us about the natural world and our place in it

Jakub Maculewicz, Shutterstock
Monty NixonUniversity of Canberra

Have you ever taken the time to stop and listen to nature? Deeply, quietly and patiently?

If not, don’t worry, there’s still time to learn. Deep listening is a skill that can be developed.

There’s much more to it than simply recognising the call or song of a particular species. To listen deeply to nature is to become aware of behaviours, relationships and patterns of interaction between multiple species, and to learn from what we hear.

This is what Indigenous people have been doing for many thousands of years, in Australia and overseas.

Under the supervision and guidance of Indigenous knowledge holders of Karulkiyalu Country, my PhD research, explores ways to embed this Indigenous approach to deep listening in Australia’s education system.

The project builds on previous work showing positive results for student and teacher wellbeing, as well as an increased understanding of and desire to care for the natural world.

A bird resting on a branch, singing with its mouth wide open
The Rufous whistler is an Australian virtuoso. Andrew Skeoch

What is deep listening?

If you’d like to try deep listening, take some time to visit a natural place and find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. Turn off your electronic devices.

Close your eyes, and extend your sense of hearing into the landscape around you. Try focusing your listening in each direction, then above and even below. How far you can hear?

At first you will hear the voices of individual creatures, perhaps one then another. After a while, you may begin to notice interactions and patterns of communication between them. Be curious. Does one respond to another? How, and why?

Hearing all the interconnected activity going on around you in that moment can help you comprehend the living system as a whole.

A man sitting on the ground behind a microphone in a bush setting, wearing headphones while recording the sounds of nature
Acoustic ecologist Andrew Skeoch recording the sounds of nature in the Australian bush. Andrew Skeoch

What can we learn from nature by listening?

People often simplify complex relationships down to perceptions of either cooperation or competition.

But listening to nature affirms that cooperative partnerships play a far greater role than meets the eye. Relationships between species that accommodate each other’s needs are ubiquitous throughout the biosphere.

For instance, multiple species of birds forage efficiently and safely in mixed flocks, by communicating and alerting each other to information about food and threats. This practice of foraging collectively is so worthwhile it’s encountered the world over.

Listening to the animated twittering of these flocks – which continually communicates and affirms each bird’s location – reminds us how beneficial cooperation can be. More importantly, cooperation is most advantageous when it embraces diversity.

Addressing the existential threats facing humanity will require cooperation and collaboration on a massive scale. Many of these threats are interlinked. They tend to resist independent solutions and need to be tackled together.

So there is an urgent need to embrace and celebrate our differences. Listening to mixed-species flocks reminds us that diversity can be a source of great strength.

Lessons about competition

Listening can also tell us about competitive interactions, particularly between members of the same species.

In the morning twilight of the breeding season, songbirds join the dawn chorus – singing with repertoire and behaviours not heard at other times of day or year. It’s also clear they are listening to each other.

At dawn, songbirds use formal vocal interactions to negotiate their most essential relationships. These include defining home ranges, establishing and maintaining pair bonds, acknowledging neighbours and affirming community identities.

In this way, the dawn chorus is a sonic expression of a widespread principle in nature: that while the potential for competition exists, life-threatening aggression is risky, inefficient and costly.

Many animals have developed specialised behaviours to sort out their relationships and status while minimising the risks of serious harm. For instance “boxing” kangaroos engage in scrapping or sparring rather than injurious fighting.

While these physical behaviours are found widely throughout the animal world, songbirds have evolved their own trick: they use song to negotiate their interactions. Listening to them singing at dawn reminds us that competitive behaviours and aggression are not advantageous. Negotiation, mutual acknowledgement and respect are more successful ways of living.

Two male kangaroos face off in a boxing match, standing up on their hind legs with their tail for balance while throwing punches at one another,
Boxing kangaroos negotiate their status without causing injury. victoriam, Shutterstock

Educational possibilities from listening

Learning through deep listening was integral to the education system in Australia for thousands of years. It allowed First Nations peoples to understand the ecological community around them and how to live with these groups of species.

In this education system, Country and Earth-Kin, (such as plants and animals) were both central knowledge holders and teachers. Humans (primarily grandparents) provided support for childrens’ learning from these knowledge holders. In this way children came to know, understand and care for land.

People and Country flourished through this way of learning. Australia became home to the longest continuing cultures in human history.

Research is demonstrating how this old teaching and learning method can work in modern schooling. More than 120 educators across the ACT are involved in the Country as Teacher project. Cultivating a practice of deep listening to Earth-Kin and Country helped teachers and students develop an improved sense of wellbeing, as well as knowledge and understanding of the places they live.

The research argues that teachers first need to cultivate their own practice of listening. Then they can embed this process in their approach to education. By slowing down, developing nuanced awareness, following curiosity, listening empathically to other beings and opening to being affected emotionally, teachers can cultivate their own deeper sense of care, appreciation and understanding. From their personal listening journey, educators can then facilitate these experiences for their students.

Deep listening to Earth-Kin or Country as Teacher offers an old and new pathway to return to a valuable and important way of being for our schools and society.

This path offers us the chance to come to appreciate and care for the ecological communities of the Earth. Through listening we can learn the ways in which species across the Earth adapt, survive and thrive, providing guidance for our own cultures as we confront increasing social and environmental uncertainty.

This article was written in collaboration with acoustic ecologist Andrew Skeoch. The Conversation

Monty Nixon, PhD Student in Education, University of Canberra

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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While you sleep, these insects are working hard on the night shift to keep our environment healthy

photosounds/Shutterstock
Tanya Latty, University of Sydney

As night falls over Australia’s forests, grasslands and backyards, the hidden world of nocturnal insects stirs to life. In many ecosystems, overall insect activity actually peaks at night, especially in warmer regions of the world.

These nighttime creatures play essential roles in ecosystems, providing services such as pollination, waste decomposition, and pest control. Here are some of the remarkable insects that come out after dark – and why they matter.

Moths: the stars of the night shift

While their flashier daytime relatives, the butterflies, often steal the spotlight, moths are the hidden stars of the night shift.

An estimated 22,000 species of moth call Australia home, and most are nocturnal, although some are diurnal (day active) or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk).

Many species feed on flower nectar using their long, straw-like mouthparts, transferring pollen between flowers as they go.

In the Snowy Mountains, for instance, scientists found moths carry pollen from 19 different plant species.

While some moths feed on a wide variety of plants, others have evolved highly specialised relationships with specific flowers.

For instance, more than 500 species of leaf flower trees (Phyllanthus) across tropical Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific are dependent on tiny leaf flower moths (Epicephala) for their pollination.

The trees’ flowers attract moths by producing nectar at night, when the moths are most active.

The larvae of moths, caterpillars, also play a vital role in ecosystems. For example, the larvae of Mallee moths (Oecophoridae) feed on dry leaves in the leaf litter, making them essential for the decomposition of tough, dry plant material.

Without their tireless work breaking down organic matter, leaf litter can accumulate to problematic levels.

Although most caterpillars feed on plant material, some have unusual diets. Trisyntopa neossophila caterpillars, for example, feeds on the faeces of parrots nesting in termite mounds.

Some caterpillars are even predators. The larvae of the brown scale moth (Mataeomera coccophaga), for instance, eats scale insects.

Moths and their larvae provide a fat and protein-rich food source for many animals, including humans.

Once so abundant they famously blanketed the 2000 Sydney Olympics, large bogong swarms have become increasingly rare, putting at risk species that depend on them for essential nutrients.

Busy night beetles

Seeing the tiny, flashing lights of fireflies dancing through the darkness on a summer night is a magical experience.

Fireflies are actually beetles in the family Lampyridae, and 25 species call Australia home.

Each firefly species uses its own distinctive flash pattern to communicate with potential mates.

When large numbers of the same species gather, they can synchronise their light pulses, creating a breathtaking light show.

The fireflies’ distinctive light is produced through a biochemical reaction involving a molecule called luciferin and an enzyme called luciferase. When these interact in the presence of oxygen, they emit light.

Adult fireflies do not eat but firefly larvae mostly eat snails, which helps keep snail populations under control.

Beetles in the scarab family are often active at night. Large numbers of Christmas beetles (Anoplognathus spp) flying around porch lights used to be a common sight, but numbers appear to be in decline.

Some native dung beetles, such as the five-horned dung beetle (Onthophagus pentacanthus), are also nocturnal. Hardworking dung beetles play a vital role by breaking down animal dung, helping to recycle nutrients and improve soil health.

Lacewings and mantisflies

Lacewings belong to an ancient group of insects (Neuroptera) named for the delicate, lace-like net pattern of veins on their wings.

Most adult lacewings are nocturnal predators, feeding on smaller insects using their hollow, scissor-shaped mouthparts to catch and suck the nutrients from their prey.

Several lacewing species are effective pest controllers and are used in agriculture to manage pests such as aphids and mealybugs.

Mantid lacewings, also known as mantisflies, resemble a strange hybrid between a mantis and a fly but are actually in the same group as lacewings.

The larvae of mantisflies are poorly studied, but most species are believed to be predators of insects, although some are predators of spider eggs. By eating other insects, mantisflies may play a role in controlling pest populations.

Protecting these night shift workers

Artificial lights at night are causing serious disruption to insects on the night shift.

Insects often become disoriented, flying in endless circles around bright lights, burning energy they cannot afford to lose. This confusion can lead to exhaustion or death.

Artificial lighting at night can also disrupt nocturnal insect reproduction. And, predators such as owls and bats may learn to hunt around artificial lights where prey becomes more concentrated and vulnerable.

The exact reasons why nocturnal insects are drawn to light remain unclear, but recent research suggests that some nocturnal insects use light to maintain stable, level flight by orienting their bodies so light hits their upper surface.

This system works well when the only lights present at night are the Moon and stars, but fails when artificial lights disrupt the night.

We can help protect nocturnal insects by:

  • turning off unnecessary outdoor lights at night, especially during summer when many insects are breeding
  • using motion-activated lights to reduce light pollution
  • reducing or eliminating the use of insecticides in our gardens.

Small changes can make a big difference to help protect the insects working hard overnight to keep our ecosystems healthy.The Conversation

Tanya Latty, Associate Professor, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Pittwater Reserves: histories + Notes + Pictorial Walks

A History Of The Campaign For Preservation Of The Warriewood Escarpment by David Palmer OAM and Angus Gordon OAM
A Saturday Morning Stroll around Bongin Bongin - Mona Vale's Basin, Mona Vale Beach October 2024 by Kevin Murray
A Stroll Along The Centre Track At Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park: June 2024 - by Kevin Murray
A Stroll Around Manly Dam: Spring 2023 by Kevin Murray and Joe Mills
A Stroll Through Warriewood Wetlands by Joe Mills February 2023
A Walk Around The Cromer Side Of Narrabeen Lake by Joe Mills
A Walk on the Duffy's Wharf Track October 2024 by Kevin Murray and Joe Mills
America Bay Track Walk - photos by Joe Mills
An Aquatic June: North Narrabeen - Turimetta - Collaroy photos by Joe Mills 
Angophora Reserve  Angophora Reserve Flowers Grand Old Tree Of Angophora Reserve Falls Back To The Earth - History page
Annie Wyatt Reserve - A  Pictorial
Aquatic Reflections seen this week (May 2023): Narrabeen + Turimetta by Joe Mills 
Avalon Beach Reserve- Bequeathed By John Therry  
Avalon Beach This Week: A Place Of A Bursting Main, Flooding Drains + Falling Boulders Council Announces Intention To Progress One LEP For Whole LGA + Transport Oriented Development Begins
Avalon's Village Green: Avalon Park Becomes Dunbar Park - Some History + Toongari Reserve and Catalpa Reserve
Bairne Walking Track Ku-Ring-Gai Chase NP by Kevin Murray
Bangalley Headland  Bangalley Mid Winter
Bangalley Headland Walk: Spring 2023 by Kevin Murray and Joe Mills
Banksias of Pittwater
Barrenjoey Boathouse In Governor Phillip Park  Part Of Our Community For 75 Years: Photos From The Collection Of Russell Walton, Son Of Victor Walton
Barrenjoey Headland: Spring flowers 
Barrenjoey Headland after fire
Bayview Baths
Bayview Pollution runoff persists: Resident states raw sewerage is being washed into the estuary
Bayview Public Wharf and Baths: Some History
Bayview Public Wharf Gone; Bayview Public Baths still not netted - Salt Pan Public Wharf Going
Bayview's new walkway, current state of the Bayview public Wharf & Baths + Maybanke Cove
Bayview Sea Scouts Hall: Some History
Bayview Wetlands
Beeby Park
Bilgola Beach
Bilgola Plateau Parks For The People: Gifted By A. J. Small, N. A. K. Wallis + The Green Pathways To Keep People Connected To The Trees, Birds, Bees - For Children To Play 
Botham Beach by Barbara Davies
Bungan Beach Bush Care
Careel Bay Saltmarsh plants 
Careel Bay Birds  
Careel Bay Clean Up day
Careel Bay Marina Environs November 2024 - Spring Celebrations
Careel Bay Playing Fields History and Current
Careel Bay Steamer Wharf + Boatshed: some history 
Careel Creek 
Careel Creek - If you rebuild it they will come
Centre trail in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Chiltern Track- Ingleside by Marita Macrae
Clareville Beach
Clareville/Long Beach Reserve + some History
Clareville Public Wharf: 1885 to 1935 - Some History 
Coastal Stability Series: Cabbage Tree Bay To Barrenjoey To Observation Point by John Illingsworth, Pittwater Pathways, and Dr. Peter Mitchell OAM
Cowan Track by Kevin Murray
Curl Curl To Freshwater Walk: October 2021 by Kevin Murray and Joe Mills
Currawong and Palm Beach Views - Winter 2018
Currawong-Mackerel-The Basin A Stroll In Early November 2021 - photos by Selena Griffith
Currawong State Park Currawong Beach +  Currawong Creek
Deep Creek To Warriewood Walk photos by Joe Mills
Drone Gives A New View On Coastal Stability; Bungan: Bungan Headland To Newport Beach + Bilgola: North Newport Beach To Avalon + Bangalley: Avalon Headland To Palm Beach
Duck Holes: McCarrs Creek by Joe Mills
Dunbar Park - Some History + Toongari Reserve and Catalpa Reserve
Dundundra Falls Reserve: August 2020 photos by Selena Griffith - Listed in 1935
Elsie Track, Scotland Island
Elvina Track in Late Winter 2019 by Penny Gleen
Elvina Bay Walking Track: Spring 2020 photos by Joe Mills 
Elvina Bay-Lovett Bay Loop Spring 2020 by Kevin Murray and Joe Mills
Fern Creek - Ingleside Escarpment To Warriewood Walk + Some History photos by Joe Mills
Hordern Park, Palm Beach: Some History + 2024 Photos of park from top to beach
Iluka Park, Woorak Park, Pittwater Park, Sand Point Reserve, Snapperman Beach Reserve - Palm Beach: Some History
Ingleside
Ingleside Wildflowers August 2013
Irrawong - Ingleside Escarpment Trail Walk Spring 2020 photos by Joe Mills
Irrawong - Mullet Creek Restoration
Katandra Bushland Sanctuary - Ingleside
Lucinda Park, Palm Beach: Some History + 2022 Pictures
McCarrs Creek
McCarr's Creek to Church Point to Bayview Waterfront Path
McKay Reserve
Milton Family Property History - Palm Beach By William (Bill) James Goddard II with photos courtesy of the Milton Family   - Snapperman to Sandy Point, Pittwater
Mona Vale Beach - A Stroll Along, Spring 2021 by Kevin Murray
Mona Vale Headland, Basin and Beach Restoration
Mona Vale Woolworths Front Entrance Gets Garden Upgrade: A Few Notes On The Site's History 
Mother Brushtail Killed On Barrenjoey Road: Baby Cried All Night - Powerful Owl Struck At Same Time At Careel Bay During Owlet Fledgling Season: calls for mitigation measures - The List of what you can do for those who ask 'What You I Do' as requested
Mount Murray Anderson Walking Track by Kevin Murray and Joe Mills
Mullet Creek
Muogamarra Nature Reserve in Cowan celebrates 90 years: a few insights into The Vision of John Duncan Tipper, Founder 
Muogamarra by Dr Peter Mitchell OAM and John Illingsworth
Narrabeen Creek
Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment: Past Notes Present Photos by Margaret Woods
Narrabeen Lagoon Entrance Clearing Works: September To October 2023  pictures by Joe Mills
Narrabeen Lagoon State Park
Narrabeen Lagoon State Park Expansion
Narrabeen Rockshelf Aquatic Reserve
Nerang Track, Terrey Hills by Bea Pierce
Newport Bushlink - the Crown of the Hill Linked Reserves
Newport Community Garden - Woolcott Reserve
Newport to Bilgola Bushlink 'From The Crown To The Sea' Paths:  Founded In 1956 - A Tip and Quarry Becomes Green Space For People and Wildlife 
Out and About July 2020 - Storm swell
Out & About: July 2024 - Barrenjoey To Paradise Beach To Bayview To Narrabeen + Middle Creek - by John Illingsworth, Adriaan van der Wallen, Joe Mills, Suzanne Daly, Jacqui Marlowe and AJG
Palm Beach Headland Becomes Australia’s First Urban Night Sky Place: Barrenjoey High School Alumni Marnie Ogg's Hard Work
Palm Beach Public Wharf: Some History 
Paradise Beach Baths renewal Complete - Taylor's Point Public Wharf Rebuild Underway
Realises Long-Held Dream For Everyone
Paradise Beach Wharf + Taylor's Wharf renewal projects: October 2024 pictorial update - update pics of Paradise Wharf and Pool renewal, pre-renewal Taylors Point wharf + a few others of Pittwater on a Spring Saturday afternoon
Pictures From The Past: Views Of Early Narrabeen Bridges - 1860 To 1966
Pittwater Beach Reserves Have Been Dedicated For Public Use Since 1887 - No 1.: Avalon Beach Reserve- Bequeathed By John Therry 
Pittwater Reserves: The Green Ways; Bungan Beach and Bungan Head Reserves:  A Headland Garden 
Pittwater Reserves, The Green Ways: Clareville Wharf and Taylor's Point Jetty
Pittwater Reserves: The Green Ways; Hordern, Wilshire Parks, McKay Reserve: From Beach to Estuary 
Pittwater Reserves - The Green Ways: Mona Vale's Village Greens a Map of the Historic Crown Lands Ethos Realised in The Village, Kitchener and Beeby Parks 
Pittwater Reserves: The Green Ways Bilgola Beach - The Cabbage Tree Gardens and Camping Grounds - Includes Bilgola - The Story Of A Politician, A Pilot and An Epicure by Tony Dawson and Anne Spencer  
Pittwater spring: waterbirds return to Wetlands
Pittwater's Lone Rangers - 120 Years of Ku-Ring-Gai Chase and the Men of Flowers Inspired by Eccleston Du Faur 
Pittwater's Great Outdoors: Spotted To The North, South, East + West- June 2023:  Palm Beach Boat House rebuild going well - First day of Winter Rainbow over Turimetta - what's Blooming in the bush? + more by Joe Mills, Selena Griffith and Pittwater Online
Pittwater's Parallel Estuary - The Cowan 'Creek
Pittwater Pathways To Public Lands & Reserves
Resolute Track at West Head by Kevin Murray
Resolute Track Stroll by Joe Mills
Riddle Reserve, Bayview
Salt Pan Cove Public Wharf on Regatta Reserve + Florence Park + Salt Pan Reserve + Refuge Cove Reserve: Some History
Salt Pan Public Wharf, Regatta Reserve, Florence Park, Salt Pan Cove Reserve, Refuge Cove Reserve Pictorial and Information
Salvation Loop Trail, Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park- Spring 2020 - by Selena Griffith
Scotland Island Dieback Accelerating: November 2024
Seagull Pair At Turimetta Beach: Spring Is In The Air!
Some late November Insects (2023)
Stapleton Reserve
Stapleton Park Reserve In Spring 2020: An Urban Ark Of Plants Found Nowhere Else
Stokes Point To Taylor's Point: An Ideal Picnic, Camping & Bathing Place 
Stony Range Regional Botanical Garden: Some History On How A Reserve Became An Australian Plant Park
Taylor's Point Public Wharf 2013-2020 History
The Chiltern Track
The Chiltern Trail On The Verge Of Spring 2023 by Kevin Murray and Joe Mills
The 'Newport Loop': Some History 
The Resolute Beach Loop Track At West Head In Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park by Kevin Murray
Topham Track Ku-Ring-Gai Chase NP,  August 2022 by Joe Mills and Kevin Murray
Towlers Bay Walking Track by Joe Mills
Trafalgar Square, Newport: A 'Commons' Park Dedicated By Private Landholders - The Green Heart Of This Community
Tranquil Turimetta Beach, April 2022 by Joe Mills
Turimetta Beach Reserve by Joe Mills, Bea Pierce and Lesley
Turimetta Beach Reserve: Old & New Images (by Kevin Murray) + Some History
Turimetta Headland
Turimetta Moods by Joe Mills: June 2023
Turimetta Moods (Week Ending June 23 2023) by Joe Mills
Turimetta Moods: June To July 2023 Pictures by Joe Mills
Turimetta Moods: July Becomes August 2023 by Joe Mills
Turimetta Moods: August Becomes September 2023 ; North Narrabeen - Turimetta - Warriewood - Mona Vale photographs by Joe Mills
Turimetta Moods: Mid-September To Mid-October 2023 by Joe Mills
Turimetta Moods: Late Spring Becomes Summer 2023-2024 by Joe Mills
Turimetta Moods: Warriewood Wetlands Perimeter Walk October 2024 by Joe Mills
Turimetta Moods: November 2024 by Joe Mills
Warriewood Wetlands - Creeks Deteriorating: How To Report Construction Site Breaches, Weed Infestations + The Long Campaign To Save The Warriewood Wetlands & Ingleside Escarpment March 2023
Warriewood Wetlands and Irrawong Reserve
Whale Beach Ocean Reserve: 'The Strand' - Some History On Another Great Protected Pittwater Reserve
Whale Migration Season: Grab A Seaside Pew For The Annual Whalesong But Keep Them Safe If Going Out On The Water
Wilshire Park Palm Beach: Some History + Photos From May 2022
Winji Jimmi - Water Maze

Pittwater's Birds

Attracting Insectivore Birds to Your Garden: DIY Natural Tick Control small bird insectivores, species like the Silvereye, Spotted Pardalote, Gerygone, Fairywren and Thornbill, feed on ticks. Attracting these birds back into your garden will provide not only a residence for tick eaters but also the delightful moments watching these tiny birds provides.
Aussie Backyard Bird Count 2017: Take part from 23 - 29 October - how many birds live here?
Aussie Backyard Bird Count 2018 - Our Annual 'What Bird Is That?' Week Is Here! This week the annual Aussie Backyard Bird Count runs from 22-28 October 2018. Pittwater is one of those places fortunate to have birds that thrive because of an Aquatic environment, a tall treed Bush environment and areas set aside for those that dwell closer to the ground, in a sand, scrub or earth environment. To take part all you need is 20 minutes and your favourite outdoor space. Head to the website and register as a Counter today! And if you're a teacher, check out BirdLife Australia's Bird Count curriculum-based lesson plans to get your students (or the whole school!) involved

Australian Predators of the Sky by Penny Olsen - published by National Library of Australia

Australian Raven  Australian Wood Duck Family at Newport

A Week In Pittwater Issue 128   A Week In Pittwater - June 2014 Issue 168

Baby Birds Spring 2015 - Rainbow Lorikeets in our Yard - for Children Baby Birds by Lynleigh Greig, Southern Cross Wildlife Care - what do if being chased by a nesting magpie or if you find a baby bird on the ground

Baby Kookaburras in our Backyard: Aussie Bird Count 2016 - October

Balloons Are The Number 1 Marine Debris Risk Of Mortality For Our Seabirds - Feb 2019 Study

Bangalley Mid-Winter   Barrenjoey Birds Bird Antics This Week: December 2016

Bird of the Month February 2019 by Michael Mannington

Birdland Above the Estuary - October 2012  Birds At Our Window   Birds at our Window - Winter 2014  Birdland June 2016

Birdsong Is a Lovesong at This time of The Year - Brown Falcon, Little Wattle Bird, Australian Pied cormorant, Mangrove or Striated Heron, Great Egret, Grey Butcherbird, White-faced Heron 

Bird Songs – poems about our birds by youngsters from yesterdays - for children Bird Week 2015: 19-25 October

Bird Songs For Spring 2016 For Children by Joanne Seve

Birds at Careel Creek this Week - November 2017: includes Bird Count 2017 for Local Birds - BirdLife Australia by postcode

Black Cockatoo photographed in the Narrabeen Catchment Reserves this week by Margaret G Woods - July 2019

Black-Necked Stork, Mycteria Australis, Now Endangered In NSW, Once Visited Pittwater: Breeding Pair shot in 1855

Black Swans on Narrabeen Lagoon - April 2013   Black Swans Pictorial

Brush Turkeys In Suburbia: There's An App For That - Citizen Scientists Called On To Spot Brush Turkeys In Their Backyards
Buff-banded Rail spotted at Careel Creek 22.12.2012: a breeding pair and a fluffy black chick

Cayley & Son - The life and Art of Neville Henry Cayley & Neville William Cayley by Penny Olsen - great new book on the art works on birds of these Australian gentlemen and a few insights from the author herself
Crimson Rosella - + Historical Articles on

Death By 775 Cuts: How Conservation Law Is Failing The Black-Throated Finch - new study 'How to Send a Finch Extinct' now published

Eastern Rosella - and a little more about our progression to protecting our birds instead of exporting them or decimating them.

Endangered Little Tern Fishing at Mona Vale Beach

‘Feather Map of Australia’: Citizen scientists can support the future of Australia's wetland birds: for Birdwatchers, school students and everyone who loves our estuarine and lagoon and wetland birds

First Week of Spring 2014

Fledgling Common Koel Adopted by Red Wattlebird -Summer Bird fest 2013  Flegdlings of Summer - January 2012

Flocks of Colour by Penny Olsen - beautiful new Bird Book Celebrates the 'Land of the Parrots'

Friendly Goose at Palm Beach Wharf - Pittwater's Own Mother Goose

Front Page Issue 177  Front Page Issue 185 Front Page Issue 193 - Discarded Fishing Tackle killing shorebirds Front Page Issue 203 - Juvenile Brush Turkey  Front Page Issue 208 - Lyrebird by Marita Macrae Front Page Issue 219  Superb Fairy Wren Female  Front Page Issue 234National Bird Week October 19-25  and the 2015 the Aussie Back Yard Bird Count: Australia's First Bird Counts - a 115 Year Legacy - with a small insight into our first zoos Front Page Issue 236: Bird Week 2015 Front Page Issue 244: watebirds Front Page Issue 260: White-face Heron at Careel Creek Front Page Issue 283: Pittwater + more birds for Bird Week/Aussie Bird Count  Front Page Issue 284: Pittwater + more birds for Bird Week/Aussie Bird Count Front Page Issue 285: Bird Week 2016  Front Page Issue 331: Spring Visitor Birds Return

G . E. Archer Russell (1881-1960) and His Passion For Avifauna From Narrabeen To Newport 

Glossy Black-Cockatoo Returns To Pittwater by Paul Wheeler Glossy Cockatoos - 6 spotted at Careel Bay February 2018

Grey Butcher Birds of Pittwater

Harry Wolstenholme (June 21, 1868 - October 14, 1930) Ornithologist Of Palm Beach, Bird Man Of Wahroonga 

INGLESIDE LAND RELEASE ON AGAIN BUT MANY CHALLENGES  AHEAD by David Palmer

Issue 60 May 2012 Birdland - Smiles- Beamings -Early -Winter - Blooms

Jayden Walsh’s Northern Beaches Big Year - courtesy Pittwater Natural Heritage Association

John Gould's Extinct and Endangered Mammals of Australia  by Dr. Fred Ford - Between 1850 and 1950 as many mammals disappeared from the Australian continent as had disappeared from the rest of the world between 1600 and 2000! Zoologist Fred Ford provides fascinating, and often poignant, stories of European attitudes and behaviour towards Australia's native fauna and connects these to the animal's fate today in this beautiful new book - our interview with the author

July 2012 Pittwater Environment Snippets; Birds, Sea and Flowerings

Juvenile Sea Eagle at Church Point - for children

King Parrots in Our Front Yard  

Kookaburra Turf Kookaburra Fledglings Summer 2013  Kookaburra Nesting Season by Ray Chappelow  Kookaburra Nest – Babies at 1.5 and 2.5 weeks old by Ray Chappelow  Kookaburra Nest – Babies at 3 and 4 weeks old by Ray Chappelow  Kookaburra Nest – Babies at 5 weeks old by Ray Chappelow Kookaburra and Pittwater Fledglings February 2020 to April 2020

Lion Island's Little Penguins (Fairy Penguins) Get Fireproof Homes - thanks to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Fix it Sisters Shed

Lorikeet - Summer 2015 Nectar

Lyre Bird Sings in Local National Park - Flock of Black Cockatoos spotted - June 2019

Magpie's Melodic Melodies - For Children (includes 'The Magpie's Song' by F S Williamson)

Masked Lapwing (Plover) - Reflected

May 2012 Birdland Smiles Beamings Early Winter Blooms 

Mistletoebird At Bayview

Musk Lorikeets In Pittwater: Pittwater Spotted Gum Flower Feast - May 2020

Nankeen Kestrel Feasting at Newport: May 2016

National Bird Week 2014 - Get Involved in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count: National Bird Week 2014 will take place between Monday 20 October and Sunday 26 October, 2014. BirdLife Australia and the Birds in Backyards team have come together to launch this year’s national Bird Week event the Aussie Backyard Bird Count! This is one the whole family can do together and become citizen scientists...

National Bird Week October 19-25  and the 2015 the Aussie Back Yard Bird Count: Australia's First Bird Counts - a 115 Year Legacy - with a small insight into our first zoos

Native Duck Hunting Season Opens in Tasmania and Victoria March 2018: hundreds of thousands of endangered birds being killed - 'legally'!

Nature 2015 Review Earth Air Water Stone

New Family of Barking Owls Seen in Bayview - Church Point by Pittwater Council

Noisy Visitors by Marita Macrae of PNHA 

Odes to Australia's Fairy-wrens by Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen and Constance Le Plastrier 1884 and 1926

Oystercatcher and Dollarbird Families - Summer visitors

Pacific Black Duck Bath

Painted Button-Quail Rescued By Locals - Elanora-Ingleside escarpment-Warriewood wetlands birds

Palm Beach Protection Group Launch, Supporters InvitedSaturday Feb.16th - Residents Are Saying 'NO' To Off-Leash Dogs In Station Beach Eco-System - reports over 50 dogs a day on Station Beach throughout December-January (a No Dogs Beach) small children being jumped on, Native birds chased, dog faeces being left, families with toddlers leaving beach to get away from uncontrolled dogs and 'Failure of Process' in council 'consultation' open to February 28th 

Pardalote, Scrub Wren and a Thornbill of Pittwater

Pecking Order by Robyn McWilliam

Pelican Lamps at Narrabeen  Pelican Dreamsong - A Legend of the Great Flood - dreamtime legend for children

Pittwater Becalmed  Pittwater Birds in Careel Creek Spring 2018   Pittwater Waterbirds Spring 2011  Pittwater Waterbirds - A Celebration for World Oceans Day 2015

Pittwater's Little Penguin Colony: The Saving of the Fairies of Lion Island Commenced 65 Years Ago this Year - 2019

Pittwater's Mother Nature for Mother's Day 2019

Pittwater's Waterhens: Some Notes - Narrabeen Creek Bird Gathering: Curious Juvenile Swamp Hen On Warriewood Boardwalk + Dusky Moorhens + Buff Banded Rails In Careel Creek

Plastic in 99 percent of seabirds by 2050 by CSIRO

Plover Appreciation Day September 16th 2015

Powerful and Precious by Lynleigh Grieg

Red Wattlebird Song - November 2012

Restoring The Diamond: every single drop. A Reason to Keep Dogs and Cats in at Night. 

Return Of Australasian Figbird Pair: A Reason To Keep The Trees - Aussie Bird Count 2023 (16–22 October) You can get involved here: aussiebirdcount.org.au

Salt Air Creatures Feb.2013

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Sea Birds off the Pittwater Coast: Albatross, Gannet, Skau + Australian Poets 1849, 1898 and 1930, 1932

Sea Eagle Juvenile at Church Point

Seagulls at Narrabeen Lagoon

Seen but Not Heard: Lilian Medland's Birds - Christobel Mattingley - one of Australia's premier Ornithological illustrators was a Queenscliff lady - 53 of her previously unpublished works have now been made available through the auspices of the National Library of Australia in a beautiful new book

7 Little Ducklings: Just Keep Paddling - Australian Wood Duck family take over local pool by Peta Wise 

Shag on a North Avalon Rock -  Seabirds for World Oceans Day 2012

Short-tailed Shearwaters Spring Migration 2013 

South-West North-East Issue 176 Pictorial

Spring 2012 - Birds are Splashing - Bees are Buzzing

Spring Becomes Summer 2014- Royal Spoonbill Pair at Careel Creek

Spring Notes 2018 - Royal Spoonbill in Careel Creek

Station Beach Off Leash Dog Area Proposal Ignores Current Uses Of Area, Environment, Long-Term Fauna Residents, Lack Of Safe Parking and Clearly Stated Intentions Of Proponents have your say until February 28, 2019

Summer 2013 BirdFest - Brown Thornbill  Summer 2013 BirdFest- Canoodlers and getting Wet to Cool off  Summer 2013 Bird Fest - Little Black Cormorant   Summer 2013 BirdFest - Magpie Lark

The Mopoke or Tawny Frogmouth – For Children - A little bit about these birds, an Australian Mopoke Fairy Story from 91 years ago, some poems and more - photo by Adrian Boddy
Winter Bird Party by Joanne Seve

New Shorebirds WingThing  For Youngsters Available To Download

A Shorebirds WingThing educational brochure for kids (A5) helps children learn about shorebirds, their life and journey. The 2021 revised brochure version was published in February 2021 and is available now. You can download a file copy here.

If you would like a free print copy of this brochure, please send a self-addressed envelope with A$1.10 postage (or larger if you would like it unfolded) affixed to: BirdLife Australia, Shorebird WingThing Request, 2-05Shorebird WingThing/60 Leicester St, Carlton VIC 3053.


Shorebird Identification Booklet

The Migratory Shorebird Program has just released the third edition of its hugely popular Shorebird Identification Booklet. The team has thoroughly revised and updated this pocket-sized companion for all shorebird counters and interested birders, with lots of useful information on our most common shorebirds, key identification features, sighting distribution maps and short articles on some of BirdLife’s shorebird activities. 

The booklet can be downloaded here in PDF file format: http://www.birdlife.org.au/documents/Shorebird_ID_Booklet_V3.pdf

Paper copies can be ordered as well, see http://www.birdlife.org.au/projects/shorebirds-2020/counter-resources for details.

Download BirdLife Australia's children’s education kit to help them learn more about our wading birdlife

Shorebirds are a group of wading birds that can be found feeding on swamps, tidal mudflats, estuaries, beaches and open country. For many people, shorebirds are just those brown birds feeding a long way out on the mud but they are actually a remarkably diverse collection of birds including stilts, sandpipers, snipe, curlews, godwits, plovers and oystercatchers. Each species is superbly adapted to suit its preferred habitat.  The Red-necked Stint is as small as a sparrow, with relatively short legs and bill that it pecks food from the surface of the mud with, whereas the Eastern Curlew is over two feet long with a exceptionally long legs and a massively curved beak that it thrusts deep down into the mud to pull out crabs, worms and other creatures hidden below the surface.

Some shorebirds are fairly drab in plumage, especially when they are visiting Australia in their non-breeding season, but when they migrate to their Arctic nesting grounds, they develop a vibrant flush of bright colours to attract a mate. We have 37 types of shorebirds that annually migrate to Australia on some of the most lengthy and arduous journeys in the animal kingdom, but there are also 18 shorebirds that call Australia home all year round.

What all our shorebirds have in common—be they large or small, seasoned traveller or homebody, brightly coloured or in muted tones—is that each species needs adequate safe areas where they can successfully feed and breed.

The National Shorebird Monitoring Program is managed and supported by BirdLife Australia. 

This project is supported by Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority and Hunter Local Land Services through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. Funding from Helen Macpherson Smith Trust and Port Phillip Bay Fund is acknowledged. 

The National Shorebird Monitoring Program is made possible with the help of over 1,600 volunteers working in coastal and inland habitats all over Australia. 

The National Shorebird Monitoring program (started as the Shorebirds 2020 project initiated to re-invigorate monitoring around Australia) is raising awareness of how incredible shorebirds are, and actively engaging the community to participate in gathering information needed to conserve shorebirds. 

In the short term, the destruction of tidal ecosystems will need to be stopped, and our program is designed to strengthen the case for protecting these important habitats. 

In the long term, there will be a need to mitigate against the likely effects of climate change on a species that travels across the entire range of latitudes where impacts are likely. 

The identification and protection of critical areas for shorebirds will need to continue in order to guard against the potential threats associated with habitats in close proximity to nearly half the human population. 

Here in Australia, the place where these birds grow up and spend most of their lives, continued monitoring is necessary to inform the best management practice to maintain shorebird populations. 

BirdLife Australia believe that we can help secure a brighter future for these remarkable birds by educating stakeholders, gathering information on how and why shorebird populations are changing, and working to grow the community of people who care about shorebirds.

To find out more visit: http://www.birdlife.org.au/projects/shorebirds-2020/shorebirds-2020-program