Archived News for Green Sector Professionals - February, 2011
The Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, has approved funding of up to $68.5 million for five new biodiversity research hubs over the next four years under the Australian Government's National Environmental Research Program (NERP).
Within each hub, researchers from a number of institutions and disciplines will work with environmental managers, policy developers, community groups and industry across Australia to tackle Australia's priority environmental issues.
The research hubs are as follows:
- Professor Hugh Possingham of the University of Queensland, with funding up to $11 million, will lead a terrestrial hub to provide research on halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity across the nation.
- Professor Ted LeFroy of the University of Tasmania, with funding of up to $6 million, will lead a terrestrial research hub that supports regional biodiversity planning.
- Professor Nic Bax of the University of Tasmania, with funding of up to $11 million will lead a marine hub focussing on the tools environmental managers need to ensure the sustainable management of Australia's marine assets.
- Professor Michael Douglas of Charles Darwin University, with funding of up to $14.7 million, will lead a northern Australia hub which will undertake critical biodiversity research in northern Australia to address issues such as climate change and future sustainable development across the north.
- A research hub to focus on the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and tropical rainforests, with funding of up to $25.8 million. Eight lead researchers from four research institutions (James Cook University, Australian Institute of Marine Science, CSIRO and the University of Queensland) will be appointed to form a research team to work with regional stakeholders in tropical North Queensland, to address issues of development, climate change and effective management.
Mining by-products effective in fight against algal blooms
CSIRO research has shown that some mining by-products can be effective in preventing nutrients from entering river systems, thereby reducing the potential for algal blooms.