SER in the News

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The following is a selection of recent media articles about the School for Environmental Research and our researchers. For more information please follow the links, or contact SER's Media Officer Gill Ainsworth.

2008

4 Nov: International waters threaten marine turtles (Country Hour)

The Territory's closest neighbours such as Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea might just be our worst enemy when it comes to looking after our marine turtles. Six of the seven marine turtle species in the world, are found right here in the Top End, but they also like to migrate where they become an easy target for international fishermen.

Releasing 14 years of research, Karen Edyvane from Parks and Wildlife says more needs to be done to protect the turtles. "Not only do we need to be working very closely with Indigenous communities but we also need to be working very closely with Western Australia, Queensland and neighbouring countries.
"In the Territory, the turtles are already protected...and what we really need to protect is the nesting habitats and try and reduce the major threats to turtle populations."

Dr Karen Edyvane is an Adjunct Professorial Fellow with SER.

21 Oct: 40 scientists write: Climate disaster, an urgent challenge (Crikey)

A statement prepared by Dr Barrie Pittock PSM (former leader, Climate Impact Group, CSIRO, IPCC Lead Author, and author of "Climate Change: Turning Up the Heat"), and Dr Andrew Glikson (Earth and paleoclimate research scientist, former Principal Research Scientist, AGSO; Visiting Fellow, Australian National University) has been endorsed by 40 leading environment scientists including from CDU's School for Environmental Research.

read this article>>

15 Oct: Water quality say (Katherine Times)

KATHERINE locals are being invited to have their say in regard to the Water Quality Monitoring Framework being set up the Katherine and Daly River regions. Public meetings will be held in late October and early November to consult community members on what they see as risks to water quality, what they think should be monitored and at what locations. Director of Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge, Associate

Professor Michael Douglas, said community input was vital to the project.

"The ideas of the community and stakeholders are needed so that the framework is locally relevant and captures the values and uses that the community wants to protect now and for future generations," he said. "The framework, through public consultation, will identify what level of protection people want for their water resources so they can be appropriately managed in the future."

The Framework will provide resource managers with information and a set of practical steps for planning and implementing water quality monitoring in the Katherine and Daly rivers. To get involved in the project, call Lyz Risby at Charles Darwin University on 8946 7449.

9 Oct: Top End river monitoring 'to protect them from agriculture' (ABC Online)

Preparations are being made for a program to monitor the water quality of the Katherine and Daly River catchment areas. Public meetings are being held over the next month so that the community, government and other organisations can have a say on the plans. Charles Darwin University researcher, Simon Townsend, says people will be asked what they think are the risks to water quality and what areas should be monitored. "The framework seeks to identify how we use the rivers, what we value in them, identify what the issues are that may affect water quality in the Daly River and its catchment, that's both water based and land based, and then think through how do those issues affect the water quality."

He says water quality monitoring programs will help ensure the region is not degraded by any future agricultural development. "With the decline of agriculture, especially irrigated agriculture in southern Australia, there's greater interest in developing agriculture here in northern Australia, and that the Daly River is one of those sites in the focus of developers. "So this provides a good backdrop, a good starting point, to ensuring that that development is undertaken in a way that maintains the water quality of the Daly River."

6 Oct: Water catchment monitoring in the Daly (NT News)

Planning has begun to monitor water quality in the Katherine and Daly River Catchment. The Water Quality Monitoring Framework will provide resource managers with a practical set of steps to implement water programs. Public meetings will be held in the region in October and November to gather information from the community. Director of Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge, Associate Professor Michael Douglas, said changes in land use could affect water quality. To get involved, call 8946 7449.

23 Sept: Global warming could save endangered sharks (ABC Radio)

Conservationists fear Australia's grey nurse shark could become extinct by 2050. But Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw is one of a grou pof scientists who think global warming could help save them: "This is probably one of those one in a hundred examples where climate change may actually be somewhat beneficial for this particular species.

read this article>>

5 Sept: Garnaut report emphasises retention of northern grasslands and forests to store carbon (ABC Rural)

Professor Ross Garnaut will today release a key report on carbon emission reductions needed to alleviate climate change, including better land management. Garnaut asserts the Govt needs to lift its focus on retaining natural grasslands and forests in the north, potentially planting vast tracts of lands to trees to store as much carbon as possible. But CEO of the Tropical Savanna Cooperative Research Centre Dr David Garnett says there are huge gaps in the research. He says the north will continue to enjoy good rains, and there is logic to the Garnaut suggestion, but he disputes the suggested land use in the north.

Dr Steven Garnett, Director of the School for Environmental Research at Charles Darwin University, joins the discussion. Garnett says Northern pastoralists can better manage their land to store more carbon, and if they can be paid for managing their land well to store carbon, they won't be pushed to overgraze. He says there is a responsibility to look after the savanna and also a commercial incentive.

3 Sept: Survival in the grasslands (The Australian)

A scientific study of wildlife in the Kimberley's grassy expanses is unlocking the secrets of survival v species extinction. Small mammals and some birds have almost disappeared in many parts of northern Australia, says Sarah Legge, an animal ecologist who spends her days measuring the destructive effects

of fire, feral predators and out of- control weeds.

That's the bad news. But the three-year research program Dr Legge has led at Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary, 350km northeast of Derby, has also produced good news. Dr Legge and her team have discovered that by bringing such threats under control through careful land management, such as fire control and de-stocking of cattle, the fate of some endangered species can be reversed. The results were spectacular, much better than we ever expected," she says. "The number of mammals increased in every habitat type."

Much of Dr Legge's work is being funded by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, a not-for-profit conservation agency that owns Mornington and 18 other sanctuaries across Australia. But she has also received funds from an Australian Research Grant under the Linkage scheme, which supports partnerships between industry and academe.

Dr Legge is an adjunct staff member of Charles Darwin University and the Australian National University.

read this article>>

16 July: Whale sharks, Ningaloo and Bajo fishermen

Natasha Stacey was interviewed on ABC Perth local radio morning show (720 AM) on joint CDU/AIMS research on whale shark research management in Indonesia in response to The Australian article (see article below).

http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/720_mornings/index.html

14 July: Hunters can turn saviours of graceful whale shark (The Australian)

The number of whale sharks arriving in Australia is in sharp decline as they come under heavy attack from the north. But there is now hope that Indonesian hunters could help, not harm, the graceful creatures. In 2005, a whale shark fitted with a satellite tag was tracked leaving Ningaloo Reef, off Western Australia, passing close to West Timor and beyond. It surfaced at a tiny, remote island called Moa, in the eastern Indonesian archipelago. At 9.30am the whale shark was happily diving. At 10am, fish scientist Mark Meekan observed the tag making straight to a beach and heading ashore. Dr Meekan thinks the animal was probably harpooned and eaten. Little is understood about the world's largest fish, but what is known is that the whale sharks that drop in on Ningaloo Reef, off Western Australia, are doing it hard.

read article >>

link to whale shark report >>

24 June: Top End 'a disaster for agriculture' (The Age)

Northern Australia's future lies in Aboriginal land and sea management - not relocating farmers from parched southern states, a forum in Darwin has heard. Environmental scientist Stephen Garnett, from Charles Darwin University, dismissed the notion the Top End could become "the food bowl of Asia". "We can make thousands and thousands of mahogany food bowls but we can't fill them with anything but woodchips," he told the ABC's North Australia forum. "We need to recognise the increasing importance of indigenous people in the north's future and support the emerging home-grown industry sector of land management where we have a natural advantage," Prof Garnett said. follow link to read article >>

24 June: Water in the North: prospects and pitfalls (Radio National)

A forum from the Darwin Convention Centre entitled 'Water in the North: Prospects and Pitfalls' discusses the state of water resources in the north of Australia and whether the abundant supply of northern water can sustain a substantial increase in food production in the tropics. It is important to avoid the same mistakes that have severely degraded water resources in the south, and discuss whether transporting northern water to the south is a realistic proposition. Forum members are Ken Matthews, Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Water Commission, Joe Ross, Chairman of the Indigenous Water Policy Group and Stephen Garnett, Director of the School for Environmental Research at Charles Darwin University.

16 June: Call for huge NT feral animal cull (ABC Rural)

An environmental economist says 830,000 large feral animals in the Northern Territory need to be culled, within the next two years. Dr Adam Drucker says most of the current populations of feral camels, horses, donkeys and buffalo should be shot, to meet the Territory's resource management goals. He says a tenfold increase in funding is required to carry out the proposed aerial cull, but the benefits will outweigh the cost.

"If we look at some of the benefits, in terms of reduced competition with cattle on pastoral properties and even start to count some of the reduction in methane emissions through reducing feral animal numbers, it seems there are fairly large net benefits to a controlled program of this type."

13 June: Territorians angry about climate (Country Hour)

Did you know that people in the Territory, emit twice as much carbon as the average person across Australia? That's partly because we have a lot of land and a small amount of people, but it's also because we have a heaps of fires, and we use use air conditioners and fuel.

Prof Stephen Garnett, director of the School for Environmental Research at Charles Darwin University helped put together the 80 page discussion paper updating the NT Government's first climate change strategy, originally released in 2006. It outlines the threats and opportunities in climate change, current policies and how the NT could be adapted in the future. Prof Garnett agrees the public hasn't done a lot to change their behaviour when it comes to climate change, and he believes it's up to the government to introduce policy to do this.

12 June: Feral animals and Carbon credits (ABC Darwin)

The NT Govt has released a discussion paper this week which will be debated in a public meeting tonight and while it says savanna burning is the biggest contributor to the NT in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, feral animals are bad as well. Prof Garnett is working on a new plan to sort out this problem.

"Feral animals, especially buffalo, produce a lot of methane gas and they should be culled" Garnett says. Culling feral buffaloes and camels will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He suggests a feral animal cull in remote parts of the NT be funded by carbon offset credits.

link to NT Climate Change Issues Discussion Paper >>

2 June: Water in the Top End (2UE Sydney)

Bocking speaks with Dr Adam Drucker, Charles Darwin University about water in the Top End. According to the Chairman of the Australian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage about 70 percent of Australia's stream flow runoff occurs in the north and only one percent of it is used. Drucker says what is available for agricultural development in the NT is more limited than what the numbers imply - environmental stewardship payments and payments for environmental services essentially pay for things like biodiversity conservation, changed fire management regimes and invasive species management. An NT gas plant offsets its emissions by paying Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land to undertake a fire management regime to reduce carbon emissions. Drucker says the WA Government convened an expert panel to look at transporting water from the Kimberleys to Perth. It was found that a tanker scheme would have cost five times as much as desalination.

20 May: Hobbit Discovery Seminar (ABC Drive)

A brand new species of human was found on Flores, an island off Indonesia. Scientists say it dated back 18,000 years ago. On Monday 26th May the archaeologist who led the research team, Prof Mike Morwood, will give his first public lecture in the NT at the Charles Darwin University. Morwood says his talk will cover the history of the findings and more recent research on the new species.

20 May: Australia admits mistake over fishing arrests (Australia Network)

More than 50 Indonesian fishermen are back in their villages today after being wrongfully detained by Australian authorities. Dr Natasha Stacey, a Darwin antropologist discusses the problem of reduced livelihood possibilities facing the Bajo people, Indonesia's coastal nomadic fishermen.

To listen to the interview follow link >>

7 May: Whale Shark Seminar (Territory Talk FM)

Dr Natasha Stacey and Johanna Karam, researchers from the School for Environmental Research will present a seminar this Friday at 1pm dicussing Traditional Ecological Knowledge of whale sharks: Collaborating with Bajo Fishermen of Eastern Indonesia for Whale Shark Conservation.

For more details please see http://www.cdu.edu.au/ser/StaceyAbstract08.html

18 April: 2020 Summit (Stateline)

This weekend a thousand people from around the country are converging on Canberra for the PM's 2020 Summit. Sceptics fear it will be an unwieldy talk-fest but the Govt has promised every new idea will get genuine consideration. About 30 Territorians will be there. They include Stephen Garnett, Professor of Tropical Knowledge at Charles Darwin University.

Garnett says his message will be that sustainability is about the economy. He says there is a lot of good willed people taxing themselves but the govt needs to make tough economic decisions.

10 April: Biodiversity conservation works... but more is needed (BirdLife International)

Conservation efforts have slowed the rate that species are slipping towards extinction, argues a paper published online today in Conservation Biology by scientists from BirdLife International and Cambridge University. Direct conservation action has saved 16 bird species from extinction since 1994 and has substantially slowed the rate of population decline for an additional 33 Critically Endangered bird species.

31 March: Debate on Gamba grass ban (ABC 1)

Farming and environmental groups are at odds over whether an imported grass should be declared a weed. Gamba grass is widely used by cattle graziers but scientists fear it is damaging the country's biodiversity. Mcfadyen says if it keeps getting planted it will be a disaster like the cane toad. Garnett says when it was bought in from Africa they wanted a plant that would grow vigorously and now it is out of control. Weed experts have given petitions to both the NT and Fed Govt's calling for the rest of Aust to follow WA's lead and outlaw the grass.

5 March: Bamboo and Poverty Reduction in China (CIFOR website)

Since October 2006 Australia's Nick Hogarth has been based in China, seeking to understand the relationship of forests and forest-products to the livelihoods of the rural poor. His research is part of CIFOR's Poverty and Environment Network (PEN) project and focuses specifically on the case of bamboo in Tianlin County, Guangxi Province, with the aim to determine its potential as a natural resource for economic development and poverty alleviation.

view article>>

28 February: NT in 20 years time? (NT Country Hour)

Where do you think the Territory will be like in 20 years time? That's the question answered in a new book being launched today in Darwin. It draws together ideas from four experts including co-author and Professor Stephen Garnett who's in charge of the school for environmental research at Charles Darwin University. He says they came up with seven scenarios to try and imagine what the future looked like. These looked at degeneration, the Territory as a northern ricebowl, an industrial powerhouse and chronic underdevelopment. He says there have identified a number of major drivers which will influence the future of the NT: population, social function, property rights, Commonwealth policy, the global economy, resource use, oil futures, climate change, invasive organisms and technological innovation. "It's not about making predictions, it's about what could happen under particular policy settings." view article>>

The book, called Future Options for North Australia is available at the Charles Darwin University bookshop.

28 February: Breakthrough made in Top End mosquito control (ABC News)

Scientists say they have made a breakthrough in the modelling of mosquito outbreaks in northern Australia. A powerful new mathematical model has been created as part of a three year collaborative study by Charles Darwin University, the Bureau of Meteorology, the Department of Defence and the Territory Government. CDU's Professor Corey Bradshaw says the forecasting tool will help control plague numbers of biting insects such as mosquitoes. view article>>

26 February: Researcher warns of need to reduce feral buffalo numbers (ABC News)

Northern Territory researchers are warning that feral buffalo need be controlled to reduce the threat of exotic animal diseases across northern Australia. Dr Clive McMahon from Charles Darwin University is developing a management plan to control the estimated 80,000 feral swamp buffalo of the Arnhem land plateau. He says despite an eradication campaign, feral buffalo are still a problem. "Buffalo are increasing in the Top End, and while (we were) very, very successful in eradicating animals over large areas there were areas that weren't effected or weren't controlled. It's from those stocks of animals that were left that this new population has grown." Dr McMahon says buffalo pose an underestimated threat to agriculture and a potential outbreak of new exotic animal diseases could cost taxpayers more than $20 billion. view article>>

25 February: Researchers call for help in endangered shark study (ABC News)

Researchers are appealing to Territory fishermen to be on alert for rare and endangered river sharks. Dr Iain Field is leading a collaborative shark study by the Australian Institute of Marine Science and Charles Darwin University. He says he's eager to hear from fishermen who may have caught or sighted the threatened northern river and spear tooth sharks. view article>>

23 February: Amphibians run out of space (New Scientist)

It’s no longer a mystery why amphibians are marching towards extinction. Loss and degradation of habitat is by far the most important factor in their alarmingly rapid decline, according to the largest global analysis to date. About a third of the world’s amphibian species are threatened with extinction, and almost half of all known species are dwindling. Researchers have identified various threats, but until now the relative importance of each has not been clear. view article>>