Author: Neville

Restoring Australia’s vast green corridors

Adrienne Francis, ABCUpdated December 3, 2012, 7:49 pm

tweet

Email
Print

ABC © Enlarge photo

A peak environment organisation is urging private land managers across the southern tablelands of New South Wales and the ACT to sign up to a tree corridor restoration program.

to regenerate their land for the past 17 years.

The organisation’s capital regional initiative chief executive Jason Cummings says regeneration efforts are already evident across large parts of the ACT and southern tablelands.

“People will fly into Canberra and see big new patches of native vegetation in the landscape,” he said.

“They will piece by piece see the recovery of our landscapes on the southern tablelands.

“Our vision is that the future won’t be bare areas in the landscape but it will actually be treed back to woodland like it once was.”

More than 50 private land holders across the ACT and southern NSW to re-introduce grassy box gum woodlands.

The initiative includes Canberra’s Mulligans Flat Sanctuary, private land adjoining the sanctuary and the Murrumbidgee River catchment.

Mr Cummings says more than 95 per cent of grassy box gum woodlands have been cleared across south eastern Australia, allowing invasive weeds such as African Lovegrass to flourish in some areas.

“What we are actually doing is starting to put back a nationally threatened ecosystem,” he said.

“To promote connectivity in the landscape so that birds and other animals have the ability to move around the landscape as the climate changes.”

As part of the initiative, land managers are paid to remove grazing livestock from paddocks larger than 20 hectares while native trees and shrubs establish.

Mr Cummings says eligible land managers across a range of land tenures are paid $50 per hectare for five years to exclude livestock.

“That then allows stock to be reintroduced on a rotational grazing basis,” he said.

Landholders to the north and south of Canberra are being encouraged to sign up to the program which is funded by the Federal Government’s $946 million biodiversity fund.

Today, Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke is visiting Canberra’s Mulligan’s Flat Woodland Sanctuary for the first time.

“This is very special,” he said.

“We are leading the way in the country developing these progressive restoration programs that bring agricultural productivity and biodiversity conservation together.
“This model has been picked up in southern Western Australia and this is the most cost effective way of restoring landscapes at scale.”

ScienceDaily: Earth Science News

Record high for global carbon emissions

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 01:40 PM PST
Global carbon dioxide emissions are set to rise again in 2012, reaching a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes – according to new figures from the Global Carbon Project. The 2.6 per cent rise projected for 2012 means global emissions from burning fossil fuel are 58 per cent above 1990 levels, the baseline year for the Kyoto Protocol. This latest analysis shows the biggest contributors to global emissions in 2011 were China (28 per cent), the United States (16 per cent), the European Union (11 per cent), and India (7 per cent).

1
Tipping points near
No alternative to atmospheric CO2 draw-down
The scale and rate of modern climate change have been underestimated. The release to date of a
total of over 500 billion ton (GtC) of carbon through emissions, land clearing and fires, has
raised CO2 levels to 397-400 ppm and near 470 ppm CO2-e [a value including methane] at a rate
of ~2 ppm CO2 per year [1] (Figures 1 and 2). These developments are shifting the Earth’s
climate toward Pliocene-like (5.2 – 2.6 million years-ago [Ma]; +2-3oC) conditions and possibly
mid-Miocene-like (~16 Ma; +4oC) conditions [2], within a couple of centuries
a geological
blink of an eye.
The current CO2 level generates amplifying feedbacks from the ice/water transformation and
albedo loss, methane release from permafrost, methane clathrates and bogs, from droughts and
loss of vegetation cover, from fires and from reduced CO2 sequestration by warming water.
With CO2 atmospheric residence times in the order of thousands to tens of thousands years [3],
protracted reduction in emissions, either flowing from human decision or due to reduced
economic activity in an environmentally stressed world, may no longer be sufficient to arrest the
feedbacks.
Four of the large mass extinction events in the history of Earth (end-Devonian, Permian-Triassic,
end-Triassic, K-T boundary) have been associated with rapid perturbations of the carbon, oxygen
and sulphur cycles, on which the biosphere depends, at rates to which species could not adapt
[4].
Since the 18th century, and in particular since about 1975, the Earth system has been shifting
away from Holocene (10,000 years to the present) conditions, which allowed agriculture,
previously not possible due to instabilities in the climate and extreme weather events. The shift is
most clearly manifested by the loss of polar ice [5] (Figure 3). Sea level rises have been
accelerating, with a total of more than 20 cm since 1880 and about 6 cm since 1990 [6] (Figure
4).
For temperature rise of 2.3oC, to which the climate is committed if sulphur aerosol emission
discontinues (see Figure 1), sea levels would reach Pliocene like levels of 25+/-12 meters, with
lag effects due to ice sheet hysteresis.
With global CO2 levels at 400 ppm, the upper stability limit of the Antarctic ice sheet, current
rate of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, cement production, land clearing and fires of
~9.7 GtC in 2010 [7] , global civilization is at a tipping point, facing the following alternatives:
1. With carbon reserves sufficient to raise atmospheric CO2 levels to above 1000 ppm
(Figure 5), continuing business-as-usual emissions can only result in advanced melting of
2
the polar ice sheets, a corresponding rise of sea levels on the scale of meters to tens of
meters and continental temperatures rendering agriculture unlikely.
2. With atmospheric CO2 at ~400 ppm, abrupt decrease in carbon emissions may no longer
be sufficient to prevent current feedbacks (melting of ice, methane release from
permafrost, fires). Attempts to stabilize the climate would require global efforts at CO2
draw-down, using a range of methods including global reforestation, extensive biochar
application, chemical CO2 sequestration (using sodium hydroxide, serpentine and new
innovations) and burial of CO2 [8]
As indicated in Table 1, the use of short-term solar radiation shields such as sulphur aerosols
cannot be regarded as more than a band aid, with severe deleterious consequences in terms of
ocean acidification and retardation of the monsoon and of precipitation over large parts of the
Earth. Retardation of solar radiation through space sunshades is of limited residence time and
would not prevent further acidification from ongoing carbon emission.
Dissemination of ocean iron filings aimed at increasing fertilization by plankton and algal
blooms, or temperature exchange through vertical ocean pipe systems, are unlikely to be
effective in transporting CO2 to relatively safe water depths.
By contrast to these methods, CO2 sequestration through fast track reforestation, soil carbon,
biochar and possible chemical methods such as “sodium trees” and serpentine (combining Ca
and Mg with CO2) (Figure 6) may be effective, provided these are applied on a global scale,
requiring budgets on a scale of military spending (>$20 trillion since WWII).
Urgent efforts at innovation of new CO2 draw-down methods are essential. It is likely that a
species which decoded the basic laws of nature, split the atom, placed a man on the moon and
ventured into outer space should also be able to develop the methodology for fast sequestration
of atmospheric CO2. The alternative, in terms of global heating, sea level rise, extreme weather
events, and the destruction of the world’s food sources is unthinkable.
Good planets are hard to come by.
Andrew Glikson
Earth and paleoclimate science.
3 December, 2012
3
[1] IPCC AR4 http://www.ipcc.ch/ ; Global Carbon Project http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/
; State of the planet declaration http://www.planetunderpressure2012.net/
[2] Zachos, 2001 cmbc.ucsd.edu/content/1/docs/zachos-2001.pdf; Beerling and Royer, 2011
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v4/n7/fig_tab/ngeo1186_ft.html; PRISM USGS Pliocene
Project http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eespteam/prism/
[3] Eby et al., 2008. geosci.uchicago.edu/~archer/reprints/eby.2009.long_tail.pdf
[4] Keller, 2005; Glikson, 2005; Ward, 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Under-Green-Sky-
Warming-Extinctions/dp/B002ECEGFC#reader_B002ECEGFC
[5] Loss of polar ice http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011GL046583.shtml
[6] CLIM 012 Assessment Nov 2012; http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/sealevel-
rise-1/assessment, Rahmstorf et al., 2012, http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-
9326/7/4/044035/article.
[7] Raupach, 2011, www.science.org.au/natcoms/nc-ess/documents/ GEsymposium.pdf)
[8] Geo-engineering the Climate? A Southern Hemisphere perspective. AAS conference
www.science.org.au/natcoms/nc-ess/documents/GEsymposium.pdf
4
Figure 1.
Part A. Mean CO2 level from ice cores, Mouna Loa observatory and marine sites;
Part B (inset). Climate forcing 1880 – 2003 (Hansen et al., 2011)
http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/ha06510a.html . Aerosol forcing includes all aerosol effects,
including indirect effects on clouds and snow albedo. GHGs include O3 and stratospheric H2O,
in addition to well-mixed GHGs.
.
5
Figure 2.
Relations between CO2 rise rates and mean global temperature rise rates during warming periods,
including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Oligocene, Miocene, glacial terminations,
Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles and the post-1750 period.
6
Figure 3
Greenland (a) and Antarctic (b) mass change deduced from gravitational field measurements by
Velicogna (2009) http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/ha05510d.html
7
Figure 4
From Rahmstorf et al., 2012. Sea level measured by satellite altimeter (red with linear trend line;
AVISO data from (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) and reconstructed from tide gauges
(orange, monthly data from Church and White (2011)). Tide gauge data were aligned to give the
same mean during 1993–2010 as the altimeter data. The scenarios of the IPCC are again shown
in blue (third assessment) and green (fourth assessment); the former have been published starting
in the year 1990 and the latter from 2000. http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/4/044035/article
8
Figure 5.
CO2 emissions by fossil fuels (1 ppm CO2 ~ 2.12 GtC). Estimated reserves and potentially
recoverable resources are from Energy Information Administration (2011) and the German
Advisory Council on Climate Change (2011). From Hansen 2012
www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/…/20120130_CowardsPart2.pdf
9
Figure 6
A schematic representation of various geoengineering and carbon storage proposals.
Diagram by Kathleen Smith/LLNL
https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2008/NR-08-05-04.html

Coal deal would have been scrapped: ICAC

By Sam McKeith, AAPUpdated December 3, 2012, 6:55 pm

tweet

Email
Print

A mining company would have scrapped a proposed $500 million coal deal in the NSW upper Hunter if it had known the Obeid family was involved, a corruption inquiry has heard.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is examining former Labor minister Ian Macdonald’s decision in 2008 to issue mining exploration licences in the Bylong Valley and how Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid gained from it.

It has been alleged the Obeids stood to make millions of dollars out of a mining deal between Cascade Coal and White Energy linked to the sale of a mining exploration licence in the coal-rich region.

The inquiry has been told White Energy agreed to buy the assets of Cascade for $500 million in November 2010 but the deal fell through.

Graham Cubbin, a non-executive director at White Energy at the time, told the ICAC on Monday that he would have been “very worried” if he had known the Obeids were involved.

“There would have been a lot of adverse publicity, and I think that would have meant the end of the transaction,” Mr Cubbin said.

He said his reputation would have been “trashed” if he had gone ahead with the deal and the state government had not granted a mining lease over the critical Mt Penny tenement.

“There was too much downside risk for White Energy,” he said.

The inquiry was also shown minutes from a March 2011 meeting involving Mr Cubbin and Cascade investor, Richard Poole, at which Mr Poole allegedly stated he was not aware of any payments being made to Eddie Obeid or entities associated with him.

Earlier, former Obeid family lawyer, Sevag Chalabian, said Mr Poole told him to disguise the Obeid’s involvement in the Bylong Valley.

“He was the one who was telling you that the Obeids’ interests had to be carefully disguised?” counsel assisting the commissioner, Geoffrey Watson SC, asked.

“Yes,” Mr Chalabian replied.

Mr Watson suggested that the Obeids’ interests had to be masked because otherwise the state government might set aside the exploration licence.

The inquiry heard that Mr Poole told Mr Chalabian that a complex installation of trusts and corporate entities was needed “so no one could find the Obeid name”.

Mr Chalabian said that despite the involved corporate arrangements there was a deal for $60 million between Cascade and the Obeids.
He agreed with Mr Watson’s suggestions that the Obeids currently held 717,000 shares in Cascade.

It’s the end of the world as we know it

Date December 3, 2012 – 12:00AM 81 reading now
Comments 563
Read later

Ben Cubby

Environment Editor

View more articles from Ben Cubby

Follow Ben on TwitterEmail Ben

inShare.
Pin It
Email article
Print
Reprints & permissions

.

.

‘Unrecognisable planet’ by 2100

Global temperatures could increase by up to six degrees by the end of the century as worldwide carbon emissions continue to grow.
Autoplay OnOff
Video feedback
Video settings

THE world is on track to see “an unrecognisable planet” that is between 4 and 6 degrees hotter by the end of this century, according to new data on greenhouse gas emissions.

As United Nations climate negotiations enter their second week in Doha, Qatar, an Australian-based international research effort that tracks greenhouse gas output will release its annual findings on Monday, showing emissions climbing too quickly to stave off the effects of dangerous climate change.

The new forecast does not include recent revelations about the effects of thawing permafrost, which is starting to release large amounts of methane from the Arctic. This process makes cutting human emissions of fossil fuels even more urgent, scientists say.

“Unrecognisable” … the planet may get up to 6 degrees warmer by the end of the century. Photo: Paul Jones

The new data from the Global Carbon Project found greenhouse gas emissions are expected to have risen 2.6 per cent by the end of this year, on top of a 3 per cent rise in 2011. Since 1990, the reference year for the Kyoto Protocol, emissions have increased 54 per cent.

Advertisement

It means that the goal of the Doha talks – to hold global temperature rise to 2 degrees – is almost out of reach. That goal requires that emissions peak now and start falling significantly within eight years.

“Unless we change current emissions trends, this year is set to reach 36 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuels, we are on the way to an unrecognisable planet of 4 to 6 degrees warmer by the end of this century,” said the executive director of the Global Carbon Project, Dr Pep Canadell.

The big thaw … Melting Arctic permafrost. Photo: Supplied

“Unless the negotiators in Doha wake up tomorrow and embrace a new green industrial revolution to rapidly change our energy systems, chances to stay below global warming of 2 degrees Celsius are vanishing very fast, if they are not already gone.”

Emissions are growing in line with the most extreme climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to a paper in the journal Nature Climate Change that explains the Global Carbon Project’s findings.

The trajectory means a temperature range of between 3.5 and 6.2 degrees by the year 2100, with a “most likely” range of between 4.2 and 5 degrees.

Although the climate has changed due to natural influences in the past, human emissions superimposed on top of natural variation is now driving change 20 times faster, according to NASA estimates. Civilisation evolved in a more moderate environment.

The new data is beginning to confirm what scientists had been warning people about for decades, said Andy Pitman, director of the Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of NSW.

“There are papers that should come with a warning: ‘do not read this if you are depressed’, or ‘please have a stiff drink handy as you read this’. [This] paper is one such example,” Professor Pitman said.

The greenhouse gas emissions path the world is taking “is not a tenable future for the planet – we cannot be that stupid as a species,” he said.

Matthew England, a colleague of Professor Pitman and fellow author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, said: “While the science is clear that emissions reductions are required urgently, each year we are emitting more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This is like a smoker ramping up the number of cigarettes smoked each day despite grave warnings to stop smoking altogether – sooner or later this catches up with you.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-20121202-2ap4l.html#ixzz2DyRko9IP

Temps set to soar as emissions grow: report

AM
By environment reporter Sarah Clarke and wires
Updated 3 hours 0 minutes ago

Video: Carbon reduction targets becoming harder to hit (ABC News)

Related Story: The Drum: One step forward, two steps back on climate

Related Story: UN warns permafrost is melting

Map: Australia
The latest snapshot from climate scientists has found the planet is on track for a 4 to 6 degree Celsius temperature rise by the turn of the century.

Audio: Listen to Sarah Clarke’s report (AM)

As United Nations climate talks enter their final week in Doha on the Persian Gulf, scientists are increasing the pressure on governments to do more to cut the discharge of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

The Global Carbon Project report, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, has calculated that emissions rose by 3 per cent last year, and 2.6 per cent this year, despite the weak global economy.

Pep Canadell from the CSIRO was one of the lead authors of the report, and says the growth in emissions is shocking.

“Our analysis showed that by the end of this year, 2012, global emissions from fossil fuels are set to reach an unprecedented amount of 36 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide,” he told AM.

“Just to put this thing in perspective, this is 58 per cent over 1990, which is the Kyoto Protocol reference year, and growing at about three times faster than they were growing during the 90s.”

We asked our readers for their reflections on the report’s findings. Read what they had to say.

He says on current trends, governments globally will have no chance of averting dangerous climate change.

“We are now following perfectly on track of the emissions path that will take us to anywhere between 4 and 6 degrees by 2100, if we don’t do anything different from what we are doing now,” he said.

That figure is at least double the 2 degree target set by UN members struggling for a global deal on climate change.

According to the study, a few big developing nations are fuelling the emissions growth.

China’s carbon emissions grew 9.9 per cent in 2011 after rising 10.4 per cent in 2010, and now comprise 28 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions, compared with 16 per cent for the United States.

Video: Carbon emissions: the global spectrum (ABC News)

Dr Canadell says he is surprised by this year’s emissions growth, given the US and Europe are in financial turmoil.

“Of the growth we’ve seen specifically last year, in 2011, 80 per cent came from the growth in emissions in China and the rest [was] split among the rest of the emerging economies in the developing world,” he said.

“We have seen some decline in Europe and the US and we are wondering if this decline may disappear… as these regions move out of the economic crisis that still is underway.”

Globally, the improvement in the carbon intensity of economies, a measure of carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product, has stalled since 2005, according to the study, which analysed data from the US government, the United Nations and statistics from oil company BP.

Emissions in 2011 from coal totalled 43 per cent, oil 34 per cent, with gas and cement production making up the rest.

The authors say while it was technically still possible to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, emissions growth would have to rapidly come to a halt and then fall quickly.

“Unless large and concerted global mitigation efforts are initiated soon, the goal of remaining below 2 degrees Celsius will soon become unachievable,” they said.

Each year of 3 per cent emissions growth made achieving the temperature limit even less likely and ever more costly.

It would require a rapid shift to greener energy and even net negative emissions in the future, where more CO2 is taken out of the air than added.

ABC/wires