Effects of climate change on biodiversity
This article Australia's climate change plan needed to aim higher was written byDr Barrie Pittock, PSM is the former leader of the CSIRO Climate Impacts Group, and lead author of the IPCC, and author of Climate Change: the Science, Impacts and Solutions (CSIRO Publishing, 2009).
The Logan and Albert Conservation Association is very disappointed with the Rudd government's current position. As an individual we can each exercise our power by joining a local action group whose collective power and pupose is to bring about national reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
The Australian Conservation Foundation ACF has extensive coverage of Climate Change issues, feature articles and reports which can be accessed from this page. The media release Households to foot the big polluters' carbon bill is a difficult pill to swallow. The analysis by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors reveals that "The corporate compensation expected to go to just one company, Rio Tinto, over two years is more than the Federal Government's entire renewable energy fund."
This is not aceptable for me. Is it acceptable for you? GetUp's Spot the difference! campaign is available here if you'd like to participate.
Healthy wetlands have many values for people and other species. However one littlle mentioned value which WetlandCare Australia remind us is their value as a storage or sink for the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
The world is putting too much emphasis on planting trees to reduce the effects of climate change, according to WetlandCare Australia. A report in New Scientist magazine on 3 May 2008 has identified that restoring drained peat wetlands is better at removing carbon dioxide from the air than planting trees.
World Environment Day on 5 June 2008 has the theme of kicking the CO2 habit for a low carbon economy.
"Reducing our use of coal and petroleum is the most important thing we can do, but its worth remembering that many wetlands are effective carbon sinks," said Alan Cibilic of WetlandCare Australia. "After all, most oil reserves came from coastal waters and lakes in the first place. Wetlands are amongst the most productive ecosystems on earth, and the story gets better. When wetland plants die they sink below the water table where there's little oxygen, so they don't easily rot. These anaerobic conditions are ideal for long term carbon sequestration."
The New Scientist report identifies that carbon does leak back into the atmosphere from wetlands, mainly as methane, which is around 25 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Mr Cibilic points out that even if that is significant, peat restoration is still likely to be more effective than tree planting.
Mr Cibilic said that one of the main benefits of restoring wetlands comes from reversing the effects of drainage - in drained wetlands the organic matter oxidises, or rots, as air gets into it, and this releases carbon dioxide.
WetlandCare Australia has highlighted the need for more funding to research carbon sequestration in wetlands, and is urging the inclusion of wetland sequestration in any future scheme to accredit the sequestration of carbon in soil.
"This would have the added benefit of giving wetland owners an alternative income stream. That way farmers could reduce grazing pressure on wetlands at the same time as they reverse drainage, further improving the productivity and habitat value of wetlands," said Mr Cibilic.
"Planting trees will help remove carbon dioxide, which is great, especially if you're also reinstating native ecosystems. But plantations on drained wetlands are definitely to be avoided. Restoring such wetlands will provide more long term benefits for the planet."
Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, yet their extent and health continues to diminish. Many wetlands have been degraded or destroyed completely in the past 200 years.
Wetlands are particularly vulnerable due to the pressures from unsustainable land use activities, and the increasing pressure of population and development along our waterways.
The benefits wetlands contribute to all of us are significant. In fact, the ecosystem services wetlands provide underpin much of our economic activity. The assumed to be "free" services provided by wetlands are taken for granted and include:
Healthier waterways
Flood detention basins which reduce the impacts of flooding
Fish nursery and habitat areas
Drought refuges for stock and wildlife
Nutrient capture and recycling
Filtering and capture of sediment
Significant habitat areas for wildlife - quality of life & ecotourism contribution
Great places to look at and visit - quality of life & ecotourism contribution
Waterway, riparian, and habitat connections between other natural areas - quality of life & ecotourism contribution
More imformation is available from the website http://www.wetlandcare.com.au
Brisbane Saturday 15 November 2008
12.30 - 4.00 pm Queens Park
Save our Reef, Save our Pacific Neighbours
State government was not present at the Brisbane community action event to hear and share citizens' concerns for the impacts of global warming.
Members of the Greens, Queensland Conservation Council and the World Wildlife Fund marched today with other residents from Brisbane and nearby areas in the Walk against Warming, in conjunction with walkers from every other Australian capital city. Walkers formed a large map of Queensland. See it here.
Queensland Conservation Council spokesman Toby Hutcheon said that a good outcome for us would be for the Rudd government to take a strong role in the lead-up to the UN climate negotiations in Poland.
Clean energy, strong climate targets, and a safe future. It was worth voting for, it's worth fighting for.
Logan and Albert Conservation supports this campaign
Dear Candidate,
Climate change is one of the most significant global threats facing humanity and is of major public concern in Australia. Yet we find that substantive action on climate change within the state of Queensland is sadly lacking.
The Queensland election is a significant opportunity to commit to developing and implementing legislative action that will begin to reduce our state's inexcusably large greenhouse gas footprint, contribute to protecting our natural and productive areas of significance such as the Great Barrier Reef, and commit to prioritising the food and energy security of current and future generations of Queenslanders. Read the whole letter here.
Julia Whitty writes in the November / December 2008 issue of MotherJones: NEWS:
The secret to cutting carbon? A dieting support group.
While she marvels, as I do at the incredible migratory feat of the bar-tailed godwit which "manages its hectic calendar and limited resources with a lithe professionalism that enables it to do what no other animal on earth can do-that is, to leave Alaskan shores and strike out over open water to fly nonstop for eight days and 7,200 miles without feeding or drinking before touching down in another hemisphere (New Zealand) during a different season (spring)", the question is for us the human species - can we too be small of footprint, capable of the long haul?
Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, a documentary filmmaker, and the author, most recently, of The Fragile Edge, a book on coral reefs. Read this thought provoking article here.
Deacons a leading Australian law firm states it is a leader in helping organisations meet the challenges that climate change presents as the global environmental and economic challenge of the 21st Century They are work ing with clients to: develop low emissions infrastructure including buildings, transportation and stationary energy infrastructure projects; negotiate low emissions and green energy contracts; navigate the emerging carbon trading markets; and better understand the climate change issues arising in relation to development projects.
Just as importantly, the firm has led by example on environment issues, establishing its first internal ‘green teams' in 2003 and, more recently, a dedicated sustainability team charged with reducing the firm's greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 per cent by mid-2008
Their speaking engagements, updates,news views and opinions are available here.
The South Australian Supreme Court has ruled that predicted sea level rises are a valid reason to reject beachfront housing developments, in a portent of how climate change could transform town planning along the nation's coastlines. This was reported in The Australian recently. The rejection of a subdivision on Yorke Peninsula, west of Adelaide, is likely to be repeated across the country as councils progressively write climate change provisions into their planning regulations. The South Australian Supreme Court cited local sea level rises of 30cm over the next 50 years in ruling yesterday against Northcape Properties' plans for 80 holiday homes at Marion Bay, 150km west of Adelaide. The changes - which the court ruled was expected, not merely a probability - would encroach on the proposal's "erosion buffer and coastal reserve".
The Australian understands the decision is the first of its kind across the nation, with no other court so pointedly referring to climate change and its effects. The story Coastal plan 'not on the sea level' reports.
In Victoria, GIPPSLAND council is facing a multimillion-dollar class action for damage already done to coastal property values as it weighs banning development in areas vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change. Read the story Coastal shire may face class action.
Experts warn that many Australian mammals are in danger of suffering the same fate as the Tasmanian Tiger, as changes in climate threaten to make many species extinct. Human activities in Australia are having a devestating impact on our native fauna as has been reported on recently on ABCs 7.30 Report. The country's leading experts agree it's likely more of our species are headed for the cupboard. A new report by the CSIRO says climate change will bring inevitable and unpalatable choices. Do or die for threatened species story in Sydney Morning Herald for March 31, 2008 sums up with ...
the report cites studies showing how some bird species are already adapting to climate change as they shift their migration and breeding patterns, potentially having cascading impacts on insect species and plant seeds.The forest kingfisher, for example, is now breeding twice a year rather than once. Some migratory birds are arriving earlier and leaving later. In Western Australia, tropical seabirds are pushing further south. This initial rich increase in some species as they adapt could result in pressure on others as competition for food increases.
While Australian plants and wildlife have adapted to change before and suffered extinction, the report finds the scale of changes from global warming are "unprecedented in their nature and rate [and] they may be outside any evolutionary coping range of many species".
Media release and links to the full report are here.
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