ENVIRONMENT
Environment topics: Sustainability
Feeding a hot, hungry world - agriculture in the face of climate change
Science for sustainable reefs
Making our mark – ecological footprints
Stormwater – helping to tackle Australia's water crisis
Feeding the future – sustainable agriculture
Carbon currency – the credits and debits of carbon emissions trading
Is Australian wildlife fair game?
Conservation genetics – molecular detectives at work
Integrated pest management – the good, the bad and the genetically modified
Sodicity – a dirty word in Australia
Cleaner production – a solution to pollution?
Monitoring the white death – soil salinity
Toxic algal blooms – a sign of rivers under stress
Enhanced greenhouse effect – a hot international issue
Local air pollution begins at home
Australia's threatened species
More food, cleaner food – gene technology and plants
Earth's sunscreen – the ozone layer
A plague on the pest – rabbit calicivirus disease and biological control
Feeding a hot, hungry world - agriculture
in the face of climate change
How will we feed the world's
population as the planet gets warmer? Climate change is predicted to cause
higher temperatures, altered rainfall patterns, and an increase in extreme
weather events, all of which will have a significant impact upon global
agricultural systems.
Science for sustainable reefs
Pollution, overfishing, coastal development and climate change are putting the world’s coral reefs under increasing pressure. With millions of people relying on them, how can science help make our reefs sustainable?
Sponsored by:
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The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies |
Making our mark – ecological footprints
Ecological footprints are being used to measure our impact on Earth and the results aren't good.
Sponsored by:
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Stormwater – helping to tackle Australia's water crisis
With reduced water supplies and a growing population, should Australians be letting stormwater go down the drain?
Sponsored by:
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Australian Research Council Linkage Learned Academies Special Project Grant |
Feeding the future – sustainable agriculture
With the population exceeding 6 billion and growing by about 6 million a month, the need to protect agricultural land and to increase food production has become critical. Does sustainable agriculture have the answers?
Sponsored by:
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CSIRO Division of Plant Industry | and the bequest of J S Anderson, FAA. |
Carbon currency – the credits and debits of carbon emissions trading
The Kyoto Protocol is the first step towards stabilising global emissions of carbon dioxide. But what is carbon emissions trading and will it limit the enhanced greenhouse effect?
Sponsored by:
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The Australian Greenhouse Office is the lead Commonwealth agency on greenhouse matters |
Is Australian wildlife fair game?
Is the growing commercial use of Australian wildlife compatible with good conservation?
Sponsored by:
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Conservation genetics – molecular detectives at work
The new science of conservation genetics is providing important clues in the fight against the extinction of species.
Sponsored by
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CRC for the Conservation and Management of Marsupials |
Integrated pest management – the good, the bad and the genetically modified
Twenty-five years ago cotton cultivation was abandoned in Western Australia's Ord River valley because of an uncontrollable infestation of two native caterpillars. Now researchers are trialling an integrated pest management strategy that could allow cotton to be grown there again.
Sponsored by:
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Bayer CropScience |
Sodicity – a dirty word in Australia
Soil sodicity hasn’t hit the headlines yet, but in terms of area and impact it far outweighs salinity as a problem in Australia.
Sponsored by:
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CRC for Soil and Land Management |  |
the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy |
Cleaner production – a solution to pollution?
What is cleaner production, and how can it help reduce pollution loads?
Sponsored by:
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Environment Protection Authority | |
the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy |
Monitoring the white death – soil salinity
New technology is being used to help monitor the extent of dryland salinity threatening large areas of Australia's agricultural zone.
Sponsored by:
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Land Monitor Project | |
the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy |
Toxic algal blooms – a sign of rivers under stress
Toxic algal blooms pose a serious threat to Australia's already embattled waterways and are the subject of much scientific research.
Sponsored by:
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Enhanced greenhouse effect – a hot international issue
The Kyoto Protocol put the enhanced greenhouse effect in the spotlight. But what is the enhanced greenhouse effect and what are we doing about it?.
Sponsored by:
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Local air pollution begins at home
Local air pollution is a major health threat. It ranges in scale from cigarette smoke in a house to the photochemical smog that can cover a city.
Sponsored by:
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Australia's threatened species
Even though many species in Australia have become extinct since European settlement, there are also success stories such as the recent propagation of the Wollemi pine.
Sponsored by: Anonymous donor
More food, cleaner food – gene technology and plants
Gene technology, also known as genetic engineering, involves manipulating or transferring genetic material within or between organisms. It has the potential to improve agricultural yields and reduce the application of pesticides.
Sponsored by:
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CSIRO Division of Plant Industry |
Earth's sunscreen – the ozone layer
Ozone acts as a shield, protecting all life on Earth from lethal radiation, so the destruction of the ozone layer is an extremely serious problem.
Sponsored by:
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the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy |
A plague on the pest – rabbit calicivirus disease and biological control
The accidental release of the rabbit calicivirus from Wardang Island in October 1995 is yet another development in the story of Australia's efforts to control pests.
Sponsored by:
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the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy |