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Great Barrier Reef report warns of cumulative effect of development
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on November 1st, 2013
Guardian: The health of the Great Barrier Reef is declining and requires an urgent "net benefit policy" to ensure development along the Queensland coast does no further damage to the vast coral ecosystem, according to a major government assessment.
The Great Barrier Reef strategic assessment warns that the reef faces numerous threats, including erosion of water quality, a plague of crown-of-thorns starfish and climate change, which is described as the "most serious long-term risk facing the reef".
The...
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A week is long time in Australian climate change politics
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on October 25th, 2013
Guardian: It was the week where climate change roared back to the top of the national agenda, but not quite in the manner that advocates for rapid action to reduce emissions would have preferred.
Tony Abbott and his environment minister, Greg Hunt, made strenuous efforts to downplay any connection between climate change and the New South Wales bushfires, only for the UN climate change chief, a former US vice-president, and even the government's own scientists to express their dissent.
Here's a look back...
Australia: Climate change linked to bushfire risk says Environment Department website
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on October 25th, 2013
Guardian: Tony Abbott's insistence that any link between climate change and bushfires is "complete hogwash' is contradicted by information published on the Department of Environment's own website, it has emerged.
In an interview with News Corporation columnist Andrew Bolt, Abbott rubbished claims that climate change was influencing the New South Wales bushfires, adding that people who make such claims are "desperate to find anything that they think might pass as ammunition for their cause'.
Earlier this...
UN climate chief says Australian Direct Action ‘a lot more expensive’ than pricing carbon
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on October 22nd, 2013
Guardian: The Australian Coalition government is set to pay a "high political price" for its Direct Action climate change plan, according to the United Nation's climate chief.
Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the government's approach could be "a lot more expensive" than pricing carbon and called for rapid cuts in emissions to avoid the kind of "doom and gloom" represented by the New South Wales bushfires.
"What the new government in Australia...
Floods could have catastrophic impact on Australia’s east coast
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on October 11th, 2013
Guardian: A repeat of the worst floods charted over the past 150 years, potentially exacerbated by climate change, would have a “catastrophic impact” on coastal communities on the eastern seaboard of Australia, a new study has warned. Bureau of Meteorology research of a 1,500km stretch of Australia’s east coast, reaching from Brisbane south to Eden, found that more than 600 people died from floods between 1860 and 2012. In total, 253 major floods occurred in this time, caused by tropical cyclones and locally...
Australia: Competing visions for future of the Great Barrier Reef up for debate
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on October 9th, 2013
Guardian: Environmentalists and the mining industry have set out competing visions for the future of the Great Barrier Reef ahead of a summit that will aim to set Queensland's priorities for the next 30 years.
The Queensland Plan, an initiative of the state government, will be finalised at a two-day meeting in Brisbane starting on Wednesday. More than 600 delegates from a range of community and business groups are attending the gathering.
The plan, which the government said would help "define a long-term...
United Kingdom: Coal seam gas opponents to challenge federal approval of Santos project
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on October 4th, 2013
Guardian: Anti-coal seam gas campaigners are gearing up to launch legal action over the decision by the federal government to approve an exploration project in the Pilliga forest in New South Wales.
The federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, has decided that the Santos-led development does not require full assessment under the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Hunt has, however, added several conditions for the coal seam gas pilot project, requiring that construction...
Australia: Green group launches new bid to block Tarkine mine
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on October 3rd, 2013
Guardian: Environmentalists have launched another legal bid to block mining in the Tarkine region of Tasmania, claiming that the government has failed to properly consider the impact on species including the Tasmanian devil.
The Save the Tarkine group has lodged a case in the federal court to challenge the decision to grant environmental approval for Venture Minerals' proposed mine at Riley creek, in the north-west of Tasmania.
Tasmania's planning authority dismissed an appeal by Save the Tarkine last...
Australia: ‘Mega-mines’ in Queensland’s Galilee basin would guzzle water, report says
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: Nine planned "mega-mines" in the Galilee basin region of Queensland would drain the area of 1,354bn litres of water, equivalent to two-and-a-half times the volume of Sydney harbour, threatening the future of dozens of farming communities, a new report has found.
The study, undertaken by the anti-mining network Lock the Gate and overseen by Tom Crowthers, former general manager of water planning and allocation for the Queensland government, says the mines could cause "unacceptable impacts" on the...
Australia: Cape York mining plan threatens world heritage bid
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on September 20th, 2013
Guardian: A Queensland government plan to open up Cape York to development is "insane" and risks destroying landscapes that are currently being considered for world heritage listing, environmentalists claim.
The Cape York Statutory Regional Plan aims to "ensure the long-term viability" of the region through agriculture, mining and tourism.
The Queensland government said that plan, to be released next year, will balance environmental protection with opportunities for development.
However, the Wilderness...