This white paper examines the current challenges for clean energy infrastructure and identifies solutions that industrial clusters, transport and logistics industries, and the wider clean energy value chain can jointly explore in order to accelerate its deployment. Thirteen new industrial clusters from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, …
new South Wales (nsw) premier Morris Iemma, South Australian premier Mike Rann and Victorian environment minister John Thwaites have recently issued a paper that suggests a possible design for a national emission trading scheme that will cut Australia's greenhouse emissions by 60 per cent over the next 50 years. But …
Western Australia has now sought the help of its military force to stop invasion of toxic cane toads (Bufo marinus). In the absence of any natural predator these poisonous amphibians are growing in number and killing indigenous insects and animals. The Queensland government has already written to its federal counterpart …
The lack of focus on public health is a result of faulty planning in the initial years after independence when the colonial system, weighted heavily in favour of the privileged, was allowed to continue. In time-honoured style, moreover, the government set up a series of committees but the state of …
Victims of asbestos exposure have welcomed a recent amendment to a compensation law in Victoria, Australia. The earlier law said people who were not at work when they were exposed to asbestos had a cap on claims for lost earnings. But now asbestos victims are exempt from that legislation. "Lots …
The Australian federal government recently tabled the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) for amendment in parliament. The amendment seeks to place the financial resources of land councils under the control of the federal indigenous affairs minister, who will decide their level of funding, how they spend their money and …
short of gunnybags: The shortage of gunny bags at government wheat procurement centres in several districts of Pakistan has forced farmers to sell their produce to private buyers below the support price. The rates of wheat dropped from Rs 425 to Rs 380 in the open market after the government …
drainage problems: The Australian New South Wales Land and Environment Court has ordered Arenco Propriety Limited, a construction company, to pay around US $20,000 towards rehabilitation work at Bathurst mine after it pumped water into a stormwater drainage system in the area. It pumped 18,600 litres of water containing sediment …
This document contains the White paper presented at Workshop on climate change and disaster losses: understanding and attributing trends and projections at Hohenkammer, Munich during 25
Climatic changes, droughts, floods, heat/cold waves, pests, diseases and poverty dynamics is a complex phenomenon demanding multidisciplinary management of early warning systems, risk assessment, insurance and mitigation.
The quality of wines worldwide is being affected by climate change, claimed experts at a world conference recently. Increasing temperature will affect viticulture in many ways, they said at the first-ever World Conference on Global Warming and Wine, which was recently held in Barcelona. Some red wines may lose colour, …
coastal mangroves and green belts offer little or no protection against the power of a tsunami, according to a recent study. Conducted by the arc Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Australia, the University of Guam, and the Wildlife Conservation Society-Indonesia Programme, the study …
australian scientists have discovered a gene that could prevent frost damage to crops, thus saving billions of dollars a year worldwide. The anti-freeze' gene has been identified in the Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) by a team headed by German Spangenberg of La Trobe University in Victoria. It allows the …
The idea of individual species becoming extinct is quite familiar. It is, however, a poor reflection of our stewardship of the planet. Next to causing its extinction, the greatest crime that we could commit is to declare a species extinct, or pretend it is extinct, while it is on the …
Just before the Conference of Parties (COP) began, news had spread that the big seed companies were trying to slip in text in a resolution to dodge the moratorium on terminator seeds. These seeds are genetically altered to make them sterile and thus prevent reuse. Developing countries and civil society …
An environment ngo has asked the Environment Protection Agency of Queensland to reject the proposed sand mines on Melville Island, part of the Tiwi Islands. Matilda Minerals have proposed to sand mine the island for zircon and rutile. Peter Robertson, from the ngo Environment Centre Northern Territory, said that acid …
what an odour: A court in Tasmania recently fined a food packaging company for creating environmental nuisance. Classic Foods was charged after allowing wastewater to pool and stagnate, creating an offensive smell in the area. Some residents of nearby Edith Creek found the smell so bad they were forced to …
Armies of venomous cane toads (Bufos marinus) threaten to overrun large parts of Australia, reports a recent study in the science journal, Nature (Volume 439, 707 A, February 2006). Scientists of the University of Sydney, who conducted this study, say that the species
I mpressed by the uses of cow dung, researchers around the world are looking at excreta of other animals for their possible benefits. Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia recently found that a repellent made from tiger excreta can keep animals such as wild goats away for at …
