Archived News for Green Sector Professionals - May, 2012

Research and demonstration grants totalling $72.5 million have been awarded as part of the first round of the Federal Government’s  Filling the Research Gap and Action on the Ground programs that are part of the $429 million Carbon Farming Futures program.

A record La Niña event coupled with tropical cyclone Tasha generated most of the record deluge of rain that devastated much of Queensland in December 2010, but a new study has found that record high sea-surface temperatures off northern Australia was also a significant contributor.

While it was thought that the twin impacts of the La Niña and the cyclone alone could explain why Queensland’s December rainfall was an all-time high at 154% above normal, the new calculations by climate researchers have revealed that evaporation from the warmer seas to the north and north-west of Australia probably contributed about a quarter of the total.

Sea-surface temperatures off northern Australia in the Indian Ocean, Arafura Sea and Coral Sea  were unusually warm at the time, in places as much as 2 degrees C, the study notes: analysing 30 years of historic measurements, the study identified a general warming trend there of at least 0.2 degrees C per decade.

“If the observed warming trend in the sea-surface temperatures continues, this result suggests that future La Niña events are more likely to produce extreme precipitation and flooding than is present in the historical record,” says Dr Jason Evans, of the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre. Dr Evans led the study, to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, with a French co-author, Dr Irène Boyer-Souchet.

“If the sea-surface temperature increases can be attributed to global warming, then the probability of La Niña events producing extreme precipitation responses similar to December 2010 will increase in the future.”

The researchers caution, however, that this was the strongest La Niña event during the satellite record and that equally extreme events may have occurred before the satellite record began.

The extreme December rains – coming after a wet spring - produced nine floods that affected almost 1,300,000 square kilometres of land, caused billions of dollars in damage, led to the evacuation of thousands of people, and resulted in 35 deaths.

La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean are well known to enhance Queensland’s rainfall. The heaviest falls occurred between December 23 and 28, 2010, when a moist easterly airflow covered most of Queensland and Cyclone Tasha made landfall south of Cairns. Large parts of eastern Queensland received more than 100 mm of rain and several stations set all-time daily records, with some receiving around 300 mm in one day.

Modelling reconstructions showed that on December 14, a low-pressure centre formed off the north-west coast of Australia and moisture-laden air was carried east to New Guinea then south into Queensland, contributing directly to heavy rain between December 23 and 26.

In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists have used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the last 1000 years.

The Federal Government has announced $20 million in grants to improve the energy efficiency at small and medium businesses and community groups.

The Federal Government will start paying out its new Household Assistance Payments, paying a total of $35 million to over 1.6 million Australian families over the coming months.

The Victorian Government has announced five new appointments to the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC).

Scientists have developed a new diagnostic tool that will enable better understanding of global climate patterns.

The development, by researchers from The University of Queensland, University of Canterbury (New Zealand) and Monash University, distinguishes between the causes of particles in glacial deposits – whether climactic or caused by rock avalanche – allowing for more accurate data to inform climate models.

Co-author of the study, UQ Professor James Shulmeister, says the development represents a breakthrough in the way climate change research is approached.

He says that while glaciers have been used as an early indicator of the extent and rate of global warming, there was previously an assumption that they always reflected climatic change.

“But there has been some debate on how much of the mountain glacier record represents climate change and how much relates to changes in glaciers resulting from rock avalanches onto the glaciers,” he said.

“Being able to determine whether a glacial advance is caused by a rock avalanche or by purely climatic factors enables us to ensure the climatic record from glacial deposits is accurate.

“Using this information we will be able to better understand our changing climate and inform the creation of climate models.”

The research, published in the April issue of the prestigious journal Geology, represents a major breakthrough in the fields of both landslide (rock avalanche) research and climate change from glaciers.

Lead researcher Dr Natalya Reznichenko says the cause of glacial deposits is more complex than originally thought and that some deposits that were previously identified as being of climatic origin are in fact the products of readvances triggered by the deposition of rock avalanche debris on glaciers.

“We discovered that during rock avalanches, intense fragmentation of rock generates extremely fine particles – much less than a thousandth of a millimetre across - that cluster together to form agglomerates,” she said.

“These agglomerates are completely absent from glacial deposits known to lack rock avalanche material.

The Victorian Government has appointed three members to the Sustainability Victoria (SV) Board. The new members are Mr Ron Lovett and Mr Tony Hinton. An existing member, Ms Suzanne Evans, has been reappointed to the board.

Curtin University researchers have used computational fluid dynamics and powerful supercomputers to create new models for understanding and predicting coral bleaching.

A new research cluster called the Methane Research Cluster has been formed to focus on reduction of livestock methane emissions in Australia, which accounts for  10 per cent of the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Australia has once again featured in the top 10 highest polluting countries after the WWF released its 2012 Living Planet Report, showing that Australia’s carbon emissions are the top contributors to securing the dubious honour.

New research from the UK and Australia suggests that the rate of acidification of the world’s oceans is having a bigger effect on the population of plankton than previously anticipated.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, has announced the appointment of Professor Veena Sahjwalla to the Climate Commission.

The Department of Environment and Conservation and WWF-Australia launched a community survey to locate populations of the quenda, also known as the southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus fusciventer), living in the greater Perth region.

DEC Swan Region ecologist Geoff Barrett said quendas were living all around us in remnant bushland across suburban Perth, and called on residents to report sightings as part of the survey.

“Quendas have all but disappeared from other Australian cities, yet can still be seen throughout the Perth metropolitan area,” Dr Barrett said.

“Numbers have fallen significantly since the 1960s, but they can still be found throughout much of the south-west of Western Australia.

“Quendas are native mammals about the size of a rabbit with brown to yellow-brown fur, a long pointed nose, very short ears and a short tail. They prefer to live near waterways where dense low vegetation persists.”

Quendas are under threat from habitat loss, vehicle strike and predation from cats, dogs and foxes.

WWF has welcomed ongoing funding for key environmental programs but warned that Australian species would continue to go extinct without increased investment in future budgets.

Australia has a terrible record of extinction, with at least 27 mammals and 23 birds lost. To halt extinctions future budgets would need to go beyond the current 0.5% expenditure to the environment.

WWF-Australia Director of Conservation Dr Gilly Llewellyn said she was disappointed the government had delayed by one year the promised increase in overseas development aid, and failed to implement rumoured cuts to diesel fuel rebate and accelerated depreciation.

“Failure to keep the promise to increase overseas development aid means that critical assistance for struggling communities to adapt to climate change and foster ecosystem resilience will not be forthcoming,” Dr Llewellyn said.

“The Government could have cut inefficient expensive fossil fuel subsidies and reinvested this money to assist our neighbours to adapt to and mitigate climate change.

“The Government has missed an opportunity to show real leadership at the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio, where on the agenda is calls to remove environmentally harmful subsidies.”

WWF welcomed new money to implement reforms to the Environmental Protection Act but remain concerned about the ‘cutting green tape’ rhetoric and warned state and federal governments not to confuse streamlining with delivering more effective regulation.

The Climate Commission has published a NSW specific section of its Critical Decade report, detailing the expected impacts of climate change on the state.

The Federal Government has appointed Dr Justin Lee as the country’s new Ambassador for Climate Change, after outgoing ambassador Louise Hand departs the role to take up her new appointment as High Commissioner to Canada.

The Australian Government is seeking public input to help develop a new strategy for the identification, management and celebration of Australia’s heritage.

Australia’s natural capital or environment assets are worth $4,574 billion and accounted for more than half of Australia’s total economic wealth in 2009-10 found the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The value of our natural capital in current price terms, trebled between 2000-01 and 2009-10, driven by rises in mineral commodities and land values.

The Australian Government will provide $37.8 million over four years to implement reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act).