Top scientists agree to Labor request to study Darling River fish kill

Leading Australian scientists will conduct a study into causes of the huge fish kill on the Darling River and the wider issue of water mismanagement after accepting a request from Labor leader Bill Shorten.

Days after a mass fish kill in the Darling River at Menindee
 last week, hundreds of carcasses remain , stinking and rotting.

The Australian Academy of Science welcomed the opportunity to prepare the report by February 10 in time for Mr Shorten to present it to Parliament in its first week back.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Hannam - “Top scientists agree to Labor request to study Darling River fish kill.”

Australia among world's wildest places, needs immediate protection scientists say

A group of Australian scientists is calling on the United Nations to protect 100 per cent of the Earth's remaining wilderness areas, ahead of an international conference on biodiversity later this month.

More than 70 per cent of land on Earth has been modified.

Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have compiled the first comprehensive map detailing what is left of the world's pristine marine and terrestrial wilderness.

According to their results, which are published today in Nature, most of Earth's surface has been modified by human activities, and we are running out of time to save what is left.

Read the ABC News story by Nick Kilvert - “Australia among world's wildest places, needs immediate protection scientists say.”

Antarctica: Decline in biodiversity expected as climate change leads to growing ice-free areas

Areas of Antarctica that are permanently without ice could increase by up to 25 per cent by the end of the century because of climate change.

Ice-free land is home to 99 per cent of Antarctica's
 plants and animals, including penguins.

A study by Australian scientists has found "ice-free areas" will increase up to 17,267 square kilometres by the year 2,100 under a worst-case climate change scenario.

About 68,000 square kilometres — or less than 1 per cent — of the white continent is currently ice free, but that land is home to 99 per cent of Antarctica's terrestrial plants and animals.

They include penguins, seals and seabirds, but also unique species of lichen, moss, fungi and small invertebrates.

Any expansion of ice-free areas could have serious implications for biodiversity, according to Aleks Terauds, a lead researcher with the Australian Antarctic Division.

Read the ABC News story - “Antarctica: Decline in biodiversity expected as climate change leads to growing ice-free areas.”

Letter calls on politicians for climate change action

A signatory to an open letter calling for climate change action says regional Australia is going to bear the brunt of its damaging effects

.

More than 20 prominent Australian scientists, community and business leaders signed an open letter in The Age newspaper on Thursday to declare a climate emergency.

The letter was addressed to those appointed to the new Federal Parliament after the July 2 election and called for "an immediate ban on new coal and gas developments" and an "emergency-speed transition" to zero emissions.

Environment Victoria chief executive Mark Wakeham was one of the letter's signatories, who said climate change would devastate rural and regional communities unless political leaders take action.

He believes regional economies are already feeling the effects of a warming climate

Read the ABC News story - “Political leaders urged to take action on climate change and prevent devastation to regional economies.”

Yes, there's nothing new under the sun

Tom Arup.

Think global warming is a recent phenomenon? Well, climate scientists have some news for you.

An international team of researchers, including Australian scientists, have traced humanity's influence through greenhouse gas emissions on creating extreme weather events right back to 1937.

Climate scientists have in recent times become more confident in ascribing individual extreme weather to climate change, with the tendency having been to focus on recent, newsworthy events, including Australian heatwaves.

Read Tom Arup’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Scientists trace human influence on extreme weather events back to 1937.”