113 governments agree to conserve endangered sharks – Peter Garrett declines on behalf of Australia

Peter Garrett, what a disappointment he’s been as Environment Minister.

MANILA, Philippines, February 17, 2010 (ENS) - A landmark agreement to protect shark species threatened with extinction was reached Friday as 113 countries signed up to a United Nations-backed wildlife treaty to conserve migratory sharks.

Government representatives signed the shark protection agreement in Manila at a meeting of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, CMS, a treaty administered by the UN Environment Programme.

They agreed to include seven shark species in the agreement - the great white, basking, whale, porbeagle, spiny dogfish, shortfin and longfin mako sharks.

The sharks are to benefit from better international protection by fishing nations by reduction of illegal fishing and trade through the enforcement of existing laws. …

According to the 2010 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17 percent of world's 1,044 shark species are threatened with extinction. At present, human knowledge of about 47 percent of shark species is too limited to even assess if they are threatened.

UNEP cites studies showing that shark populations collapsed in both in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Mediterranean Sea by 90 percent, and by 75 percent in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean within the past 15 years.

The human appetite for shark fin soup and shark meat has led to the collapse of shark populations.

By signing the agreement, the delegates recognized that sharks are at risk of over-fishing, fisheries by-catch, illegal trade, habitat destruction, depletion of prey species, pollution with a high risk of mercury poisoning, boat strikes and the impact of climate change on the marine environment. ...

Nevertheless, Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett says his government will not adhere to the protection of the porbeagle, longfin mako and shortfin mako species under the CMS treaty, but instead would pass a law to remove these sharks from the country's list of protected species. …

Shark conservationists are worried about Australia's new shark policy.

"Australia is a longstanding signatory of the Convention for Conservation of Migratory Species and has committed to protect listed species with Australian legislation - applying the EPBC act to those species as they migrate through our waters," said Glenn Sant, who serves as Global Marine Programme leader of TRAFFIC and a vice-chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group.

"We are deeply concerned that the Australian Government has decided not to offer these species any increased protection despite the fact that they have been internationally listed under the CMS and recognized as globally Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List." …

113 Governments Agree to Conserve Endangered Sharks

Technorati Tags: fish decline,overfishing,ocean overexploitation,Australia

Marine scientists issue call to arms after devastating report

By DEBORAH SMITH, SCIENCE EDITOR
November 28, 2009

MORE than 70 Australian marine scientists have called for immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the release of the first report card on the impact of climate change on the marine environment.

Oceans around the continent have warmed and become more acidic and the East Australian Current has strengthened, bringing hotter, saltier water 350 kilometres further south than 60 years ago.

This has caused coral bleaching and is the likely cause of a 10 per cent reduction in growth rates of corals on the Great Barrier Reef, according to the report, Marine Climate Change in Australia, 2009 Report Card [pdf].

Other effects include a spread of destructive sea urchins in Tasmania, the death of sea turtles in Queensland and the spread of mangroves into freshwater wetlands in northern Australia. …

Marine scientists issue call to arms after devastating report

Technorati Tags: global warming,climate change,Australia,coral

Scientists to unlock Great Barrier Reef genome

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian scientists on Thursday announced a ground-breaking genome-mapping project that could help the Great Barrier Reef fight off the twin threats of climate change and toxic farm chemicals.

Geneticists said they would unlock the secrets of the colourful acropora millepora coral, one of the main components of the northeastern tourist attraction, the growth of which has slowed markedly in recent years.

"This gene-mapping project has both practical and scientific significance," said professor David Miller of Australia's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.

"It will help us to understand how corals build reefs -- and why they fail to do so when they are under stress." … the reef has come under growing threat from climate change and chemical run-off with Australia announcing a crackdown in January on farmers who let pesticides and fertilisers leak into the sea. …

Scientists to unlock Great Barrier Reef genome

Technorati Tags: coral,climate change,pollution,Australia,genetic engineering

Wong's challenge to Australia farmers

By Stuart Rintoul

WATER and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has told Victorian farmers there is "no escaping the scale of adjustment" that needs to be made in the Murray-Darling Basin food bowl.

Senator Wong said at a Victorian Farmers Federation meeting in Melbourne that unprecedented action was needed to restore the river system's health and that the federal government's accelerated water purchase program was "smoothing the transition" to new, lower limits on water use in the basin.

She said it would be "simply irresponsible" to ignore the possibility that climate change had already caused a "step-change" and regardless of whether or when the drought broke, farmers would be prudent to prepare for lower diversion limits.

"The challenge for irrigation operators is to modernise, rationalise and consolidate irrigation delivery systems to reduce system losses and ensure their ongoing financial viability in a future where there will be less water," she said.

Senator Wong's comments yesterday came as the Murray-Darling Basin Authority issued the key elements of the Basin Plan, which authority chairman Mike Taylor described as planning "at a scale and complexity that has never been undertaken anywhere else in the world". …

Wong's challenge to Murray farmers

Technorati Tags: Australia,drought,climate change,freshwater depletion

Green activists protest at Australia power plant

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Environmental activists tried on Thursday to disrupt operations at an Australian power station that provides 8 percent of the country's coal-reliant electricity market, in a protest against government climate policies.

Greenpeace said the dawn protest by around 14 activists at the Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria state was the latest part of an ongoing campaign to reduce Australia's carbon emissions.

"Australia is digging itself into a hole. By phasing out coal and investing in renewable energy, we can protect our environment and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs," said Greenpeace campaigner Simon Roz.

Hazelwood, in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, is a brown coal fueled power station with a 1,600 megawatt capacity, and supplies up to 25 percent of the state's base load electricity. The station relies on brown coal from the adjacent Morwell mine.

Majority owned by the UK-based company International Power and scheduled to be decommissioned by 2009 due to its excessive carbon dioxide emissions, the state government in 2005 extended its life until 2031.

A mine spokesman told Reuters the protest had "no impact whatsoever" on output and police removed the demonstrators, who chained themselves to a dormant digger with banners reading "coal - powering climate change." …

Green activists protest at Australia power plant

Technorati Tags: climate change,coal,Australia,activism

Australia's drought featured as an interactive media project

 

A drama series called Scorched, premised on a future scenario not terribly far off from possibility, features Australia's drought. It's a media project of giant proportions intended to drive audiences not only to watch, but also to interact. ...

Australia's Drought Featured as an Interactive Media Project

Technorati Tags: Australia,climate change,forest fire,drought

Climate models predicted Australian bushfires

 

AUSTRALIA may have just had a horrifying preview of what climate change has in store for its people. Even early warning couldn't stop last weekend's bush fires in Victoria claiming 170 lives and over 700 homes.

Climate models based on figures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predict more frequent - and more extreme - fires for southern Australia over the next few decades. Yet the role of climate change in recent fires has been downplayed, suggests John Handmer of the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre at RMIT University in Melbourne.

Certainly, last weekend's fires were unprecedented: "We had a record heatwave, the worse fire danger index on record, during a record-breaking drought," says Handmer. The fire danger index takes into account both temperature and humidity. Over 50 is extreme; on Saturday, the index is believed to have been 5 to 6 times higher.

The level of devastation raises questions about whether Australia should, like other fire-prone places such as southern California, evacuate its people rather than let them stay.

The fires also have worrying implications for drought-stricken Melbourne's water supply. For the first time in 70 years, fires encroached on the city's water catchment areas. As new trees grow, this could ultimately reduce the water run-off from the forest by up to 30 per cent, says Mark Adams at the University of Sydney.

Climate models predicted Australian bushfires

Technorati Tags: Australia,climate change,forest fire,bushfire,wildfire,drought

A dry continent demands creative solutions

BEFORE Melbourne's climate became hotter and drier, a cool December was considered a sign that the summer might be a fizzer. How times have changed. With Melbourne's catchments at a low 34.9 per cent many are now wishing for a season of long rainy summer days. Unfortunately, no one is predicting an end to the drought any time soon. Despite heavy rains in December and late November our water storages are 4.4 percentage points below what they were last year. September was the driest on record in central Melbourne.

The State Government's big-ticket responses to the water shortage — the desalination plant near Wonthaggi and the north-south pipeline from the Goulburn Valley to the city — will ease the pressure on Melbourne's water supplies, but may not solve the problem in the longer term. Both projects are controversial, but what is beyond argument is that more water is needed. Melbourne grew by more than 1000 people a week in the past 12 months. By the end of 2011, Melbourne should be receiving 240 gigalitres of extra water from new projects. Already policymakers and politicians are arguing whether this will be enough by 2030. It is not possible for future rainfall patterns to be predicted with any certainty, although the recent State of the Environment report by Sustainability Commissioner Ian McPhail strongly suggests the frequency of drought in Victoria will increase. Which means that the way we think about water needs to change.

Mr McPhail urged the Government to "engage with the community" about the water issue, including the possibility of "drinking purified recycled water" in the future. According to John Morgan, who was Melbourne Water managing director from 1995 to 1998, recycling water from the Carrum sewerage plant would be cheaper and more energy efficient than desalination. If the gloomier climate change prognoses are correct, the state will be forced to revisit the issue.

A dry continent demands creative solutions

Technorati Tags: global warming,Australia,drought