Info, news & views for anyone interested in biodiversity conservation and good environmental decision making
“Not one of over 1200 computer simulations provides a reasonable chance of global warming being under 1.5oC in 2100.”
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
In this issue of Dbytes
1. Rewilding should be central to global restoration efforts
2. New ‘Big Agenda’ for Nature faces many hurdles
3. The biodiversity crisis in numbers – a visual guide
4. Climate change: concern, behaviour and the six Australias
5. Three-year weather bill reaches $12.3 billion
6. Five key drivers of the nature crisis
7. How pastoral farming can help to avoid a biodiversity crisis
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1. Rewilding should be central to global restoration efforts
Rewilding should be central to the massive restoration efforts needed to overcome the global biodiversity crisis and enhancing the biosphere’s capacity to mitigate climate change. Key elements include large areas for nature, restoration of functional megafaunas and other natural biodiversity-promoting factors, synergy with major societal dynamics, and careful socio-ecological implementation.
https://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(20)30604-7
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2. New ‘Big Agenda’ for Nature faces many hurdles
The Albanese Government’s ‘Nature Positive Plan’ announced last week is a much-anticipated response to Professor Graeme Samuel’s 2020 Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The plan is packed with policy announcements, most of which stick close to Samuel’s recommendations. But the path of this big agenda stretches far over the political horizon and is littered with hurdles. Here are ten hurdles the minister will have to jump, just for starters.
https://sustainabilitybites.home.blog/2022/12/15/new-big-agenda-for-nature-faces-many-hurdles/
To see the Government’s plan for reforming our national environmental plan, see
Nature positive plan: better for the environment, better for business
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3. The biodiversity crisis in numbers – a visual guide
Changes in land and sea use, exploitation of natural resources, global heating, pollution and the spread of invasive species are the five main drivers of this loss of life, according to leading UN experts. One of the best sources about the decline of biodiversity is the Living Planet Index, a metric developed by researchers at the WWF and the Zoological Society of London to measure the abundance of animal life. It is made up of datasets from about 32,000 populations of 5,230 animal species. When populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles increase, so does the index. The opposite happens when populations decline.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/06/the-biodiversity-crisis-in-numbers-a-visual-guide-aoe
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4. Climate change: concern, behaviour and the six Australias
The Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub (MCCCRH) conducted a survey to better understand Australians’ climate change attitudes and behaviours, and whether these have changed over time. The survey included a range of questions relating to climate change behaviour, extreme weather events, policy, trust and voter perceptions. This report details the climate change concern and private and civic behaviours of the survey’s 3098 participants. Private behaviours centred around three themes: purchasing, fuel and energy, and waste. Civic behaviours related to engaging with politics, government and environmental groups and events. Demographic data was also collected to understand the relationship of respondents’ age, gender and finances with certain environmental behaviours.
Climate change: concern, behaviour and the six Australias (apo.org.au)
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5. Three-year weather bill reaches $12.3 billion
Since January 2020 almost 788,000 claims related to floods and storms declared Insurance Catastrophes or Significant Events have been received by insurers, meaning that in just three years one in 25 adult Australians has made an insurance claim because of this wild and wet weather. The cost of this year’s February-March floods has now reached more than $5.65 billion, surpassing the 1999 Sydney hailstorm in cost and making it the most expensive natural disaster in Australia’s history. The February-March floods have seen more than 237,000 claims lodged, and insurers have now paid out $3.54 billion and closed 69 per cent of claims from this event. The July severe weather that inundated parts of western Sydney and surrounds has resulted in almost 22,000 claims at a cost of $244 million.
Three-year weather bill reaches $12.3 billion – Insurance Council of Australia
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6. Five key drivers of the nature crisis
We look at the top five drivers of nature loss, identified by the recent Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment Report.
5 key drivers of the nature crisis (unep.org)
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7. How pastoral farming can help to avoid a biodiversity crisis
Participants are expected to adopt a global framework that sets out measures to safeguard biodiversity. One approach is to conserve 30% of the world’s land and sea area through protected areas and other conservation measures in areas of limited human activity. Some campaigners are calling for this target to be met by the end of the decade. But much of the land set aside for protection is occupied by indigenous people who may be excluded or displaced. Mobile pastoral farmers are one such group. Millions of pastoralists graze livestock across a variety of environments worldwide. Case studies from around the world indicate that including pastoral communities in conservation initiatives can help to address the tensions that emerge around protected areas, while improving biodiversity.
https://theconversation.com/how-pastoral-farming-can-help-to-avoid-a-biodiversity-crisis-195274
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About Dbytes
Dbytes is a weekly eNewsletter presenting news and views on biodiversity conservation and environmental decision science. ‘D’ stands for ‘Decision’ and refers to all the ingredients that go into good, fair and just decision-making in relation to the environment.
From 2007-2018 Dbytes was supported by a variety of research networks and primarily the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED). From 2019 Dbytes is being produced by David Salt (Ywords). Dbytes is supported by the Global Water Forum.
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