News

Last week, Environment Minister Greg Hunt caved to mining interests and approved the massive dredging and dumping project in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area at Abbot Point.

It’s a decision that stings, but the fight isn’t over. Here’s what we do next.

Minister Hunt has approved the dredging and dumping, but the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority still has to issue a permit to allow the dumping to occur in the Marine Park.

The Reef Authority is the government body tasked with protecting the Reef. In their own words, their “fundamental obligation is to protect the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the World Heritage Area”. It’s up to us to hold them to this promise.

The Authority is already under huge pressure from the mining industry to approve the dumping. This means it’s our job to show them there will always be more support for protecting the Reef, than for destroying it.

Right now, there’s a last-minute opening for a full-page ad in tomorrow’s Courier Mail. If we can raise enough money, we can put a direct, powerful message in Queensland’s most read paper, where the authority is headquartered.

Can you chip in to run a full-page ad asking the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to stand up against the dumping project that threatens our Reef?

http://www.getup.org.au/help-run-this-ad

Here’s what we know: the decision the Reef Authority makes now will determine the health of the Reef in years to come.

Minister Hunt has approved the project without even knowing where the dumping will occur. Without knowing where the dump site is, there is no way the environmental impact on the Reef and its fragile ecosystem can be accurately assessed. This is our best chance to pressure our independent Reef Authority to protect Reef waters from the dumping of toxic sludge.

Click here to see a draft of the ad and help remind the Reef Authority to stand true to its promise to be a guardian of our Reef.

http://www.getup.org.au/help-run-this-ad

The Great Barrier Reef is a national and international treasure and we can’t sit back as politicians and coal barons decide to trash it. There’s no way we will stop fighting after one setback.

Act on this window of opportunity now, and stay ready for the fight ahead.

Thanks for everything.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

In the current issue of Earth’s Future, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, Michigan State University scientists are proposing alternatives that will halt and hopefully reverse the unsustainable use of water drawdown in the aquifer. The body of water, also known as the High Plains Aquifer, spans from Texas to South Dakota and drives much of the region’s economy.

“Already, there are regions in Texas and Kansas where farmers can’t pump enough water to meet the demands of their crops,” said Bruno Basso, co-author and MSU ecosystem scientist. “If current withdrawal rates continue, such depletion will expand across extensive portions of the central and southern areas served by the aquifer during the next few decades.”

Despite the widespread, rapid decline of the water table, the number of irrigated acres across the region continues to increase. The situation isn’t completely dire, though, as the National Science Foundation-funded research revealed. Basso, David Hyndman and Anthony Kendall, MSU colleagues and co-authors, offered some policy solutions to avert some aspects of this water crisis.

Federal crop insurance could be changed to allow substantial water reductions, especially crops categorized as fully irrigated. An example of such a sustainable model was recently proposed by the governor of Kansas. It could save significant amounts of water, and it could be adopted regionally.

Another sustainable approach would be to adopt wholesale precision agriculture strategies. These would allow farmers to identify which areas in fields need more water and fertilizer. New precision agriculture strategies combine GPS technologies with site-specific management to apply optimal amounts of water and nutrients, which will increase farmer’s profitability and reduce environmental impact.

“When you have a cut in your hand and need disinfectant, you don’t dive into a pool of medicine, you apply it only where you need it and in the quantity that is strictly necessary; we can do the same in agricultural now,” said Basso, part of MSU’s Global Water Initiative.

Lastly, policies should address the issue in terms of crop yield ­- more crop per drop of water. Selecting crops with higher density can increase yield and decrease groundwater evaporation. Upgrades in irrigation systems can reduce water loss from 30 percent to almost zero. And careful water management can stop excess water from flooding fields and leaching valuable nutrients from the soil.

Simply put, the current water management strategies of the High Plains Aquifer are unsustainable. For the region to maintain this water source, there has to be a complete paradigm shift, Basso added.

“We emphasize the critical role of science as a foundation for policies that can help mitigate the disaster that is occurring across this region,” Basso said. “Policies solidly grounded in science are critical to ensure long-term sustainability and environmental integrity for future generations.”

Around 400 delegates from over 100 governments, scientific organizations, civil society and the private sector, attended the second meeting of the Platform in Antalya, Turkey. IPBES Member Governments present at the meeting adopted a very ambitious initial work programme for the Platform for the next five years, and demonstrated strong commitment to its implementation by already pledging more than half (US$ 25.4 million) of the total US$ 43.5 million required, in what will be remembered as the “Antalya consensus.”

IPBES was established to assist governments and the public to better understand the trends and challenges facing the natural world and humanity in the 21st century, and thus promote human wellbeing and sustainable development through the sustainable use of biodiversity.

The first assessment, to be available as early as December 2015, will look at pollination and food production. Studies show that some three-fourth of the world’s crops depend on pollination by bees and other pollinators for optimum production. However, more information is needed in order to fully understand how pollination underpins food production and assess the effectiveness of current policies.

A second assessment will focus on the status of land degradation and restoration worldwide, as well as the effect this has on biodiversity, ecosystem services and human wellbeing. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, land degradation over the next 25 years may reduce global food production by up to 12 percent, resulting in an increase of as much as 30 percent in global food prices.

Over the next five years, the sub-regional, regional and global scale assessment and capacity building activities undertaken by IPBES will strengthen the science-policy interface at all levels.

In doing so, IPBES will contribute to the objectives of the strategic plans of the biodiversity-related multilateral environmental agreements.

The Platform will also support work on the integration of indigenous and local knowledge in scientific processes, and on valuation and accounting of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Overall, this work will require contributions from thousands of scientists from around the globe in the fields of natural and social sciences, and indigenous and local knowledge. They will work together to synthesize cutting-edge scientific information and produce tools in order to support the creation of the best possible policies.

Malaysian Zakri Abdul Hamid, the first Chair of IPBES, noted that, in addition to its recognition of indigenous knowledge, a distinguishing characteristic of the IPBES is its mandate to build the capacity of developing countries to conduct biodiversity science.

“There’s an old saying: We measure what we treasure,” said Dr. Zakri. “Though we profess to treasure biodiversity, most nations have yet to devote or acquire the resources needed to properly measure and assess it along with the value of ecosystem services. Correcting that is a priority assignment from the world community to IPBES.”

“The UN’s 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, now under consideration, are expected to include biodiversity-related targets for achievement by 2030, together with indicators of progress,” added Dr. Zakri, also recently appointed to the UN Secretary-General’s new 26-member Scientific Advisory Board. To be effective, obviously, it is vital that nations have the tools and personnel to establish authoritative scientific baselines and collect ongoing data to know whether headway is being made or not.”

The second session of the Plenary of IPBES also adopted a collaborative partnership arrangement with the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme. The arrangement is intended to provide a framework for collaboration between the four UN bodies and IPBES, recognizing the anticipated roles of each of them in providing specific support to IPBES.

The partnership agreement and the full participation of the UN bodies in IPBES will improve the dialogue between policy-makers and the scientific community on the critical role of biodiversity and ecosystem services. By representing the environment, the sciences, education, food and agriculture, development, and capacity-building, they will bring a range of expertise to support decision and policy-making.

The meeting announced that a French national, Anne Larigauderie, formerly Executive Director of DIVERSITAS and Head of Science in Society at the International Council for Science (ICSU) has been appointed as the Head of the IPBES Secretariat in Bonn, Germany.