Fight not over for Daintree
While Far North Queensland is one of the most popular ecotourism destinations in the world, the threat to the Daintree lower rainforest is ongoing. The area is under threat of housing development proposals and a gas-fired power plant. The Daintree is UNESCO heritage listed so why this is even possible?
Great Barrier Reef loses half its coral
The Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half of its corals since 1995 due to warmer seas driven by climate change, a study has found. Small, medium and large coral populations have all declined, largely because of bleaching events in 2016 and 2017.
Opportunity missed for green recovery
In the year of Australia’s worst bushfire crisis, the just-announced budget provides little in the way of new funding for environmental protection while throwing a lifeline to coal. Our world is facing irreversible destruction and still there’s no urgency in Australian climate policy.
Charities’ challenge to keep data secure
In light of the ransomware attack on cloud software provider Blackbaud – which has many not-for-profits as its clients – legitimate questions are asked about data protection and privacy, and how well protected the social good community is.
Pandemic affects women most
COVID-19 has left more women than men disadvantaged. A picture is emerging that shows unemployment, lowered incomes and underemployment, less secure work, greater household and family demands, and the crisis that is domestic violence.
Saving the reef means understanding it
The next federal budget will allocate $33.5 million to nature-tourism projects and reef conservation work. It’s welcome news for Great Barrier Reef which suffered its largest bleaching event in February. Now, the first step to conserving the Great Barrier Reef is understanding what lives there.
Wasteland or green haven?
We usually think of urban areas as a cause of species extinctions. A new analysis of 12 million (!) tree planting records has turned these assumptions on its head. Turns out urban areas aren’t quite the concrete wastelands we thought it was. Quite the opposite.
Affordable housing boost to economy
The government is urged to invest in social housing projects to get the economy back on the rails. During the GFC it kept tradies in jobs and offered many a secure roof over their heads. Now, new data shows that construction could start almost immediately on thousands of homes.
Week in environmental news
Some very important reports about the environment have just been published. Missed it? We nearly did too. With COVID, the US elections and the tensions with China all taking out the number-one spot for newspaper headlines, some other big stories were easily overlooked. Here, we look at some of them.
New Zealand failing wellbeing of its children
As regular visitors to New Zealand and with a deep and abiding love for our Pacific neighbours, a recent UNICEF report came as a shock. The report on child wellbeing had New Zealand a long way down the list (35 out of a total of 41) among the world’s wealthiest countries. What is happening?
Who will you give your dollar to?
The Royal Australian Mint is releasing a “donation dollar” coin designed to be given to charitable cause. It is the first Australian $1 coin to feature a colour other than gold and will be the first coin purposed for “giving” rather than “spending”.
Report finds 71 percent decline in koala numbers
“Seventy-one percent is an average so in some places we lost nearly all the koalas, which of course is devastating.” In total, 123 sites across six locations from Forster to Ballina were examined as part of the study.