Australia has isolated sustainable development projects, like Adelaide’s Bowden precinct that got Princes Charles’ attention in 2015, but lacks an overarching commitment to sustainability.
AAP
The challenges we face demand profound changes in our thinking and priorities. Replacing the Productivity Commission with a National Sustainability Commission would help us make this paradigm shift.
One of the several precious giant tortoises recently found on Volcano Wolf, Galápagos Islands.
Luciano Beheregaray
When 100-year-old giant tortoise Lonesome George died in 2012, the world thought his species was lost forever. We went to the Galápagos Islands looking for ‘extinct’ tortoises – and we found them.
Fragments of woodland surrounded by cleared land in south west Australia.
Google Earth
Australia may have reputation for vast areas of wilderness, but in reality the continent’s ecosystems have been chopped and diced. Now we need to protect what’s left.
Zoos provide succor for species having a tough time of it in the wild.
B. A. Minteer
Today, many zoos promote the protection of biodiversity as a significant part of their mission. As conservation “arks” for endangered species and, increasingly, as leaders in field conservation projects…
The grey-faced sengi, found only in remote East African forests, is related to elephants.
Francesco Rovero
Kakadu National Park, Western Australia’s Shark Bay and Queensland’s wet tropics are among the world’s most important protected areas for conserving species, according to a study published today in the…
Mink may look cute but they’re causing havoc in Scotland.
John McAvoy
Efforts to curb invasive mink are taking a modern turn in Scotland, where a project is providing spotters with an app to log the movements of their targets. MinkApp enable volunteers to upload information…
We all know that weather is not the same as climate, but it is surprising how our perceptions of global warming vary according to what we see outside our window. In the UK for example, last year’s washed-out…
Public attitudes are shifting against government shark culling programs.
Athel D'Ombrain Collection, University of Newcastle
The great shark debate continues in Australia as summer approaches. Shark bites on bathers and surfers are a particularly sensitive reality. These are personal and community-wide tragedies that implore…
The environment is more than a passive background to human dramas.
George Lenard
Over the past couple of decades, India’s vultures have been all but wiped out. They have been poisoned by a veterinary drug given to cattle whose carcasses they then eat. While medicinal for cattle, the…
It appears that biodiversity increases during warmer periods in Earth’s history.
Dom Dada/Flickr
In 2008, I and my colleagues published a study which appeared to confirm that current global warming could cause large losses of species and a loss of biodiversity. Four years later and a new approach…
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University