(Press-News.org) Australia’s environmental laws are failing to stop high rates of tree clearing to make way for agriculture, development and mining, according to University of Queensland research.
PhD candidate Hannah Thomas from UQ’s School of the Environment led a team which used satellite mapping and land clearing data to analyse vegetation loss across northern Australia, including Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
“We mapped clearing greater than 20 hectares and then investigated which national or state and territory laws were likely to apply,” Ms Thomas said.
“Of the 1.5 million hectares of land clearing we examined, 65 per cent was potentially non-compliant with at least one law.
“And only 19 per cent of compliant clearing had been formally assessed and approved, with the remainder cleared under specific exemptions.”
The researchers found the clearing deemed potentially non-compliant most likely required assessment under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999, but this did not occur.
Ms Thomas said exemptions, where clearing was allowed to proceed without assessment, were mainly the result of State laws.
“Queensland had by far the highest rates of deforestation with 75 per cent of cases exempt from assessment under the state’s main vegetation management law,” Ms Thomas said.
“In contrast, most clearing in the Northern Territory was assessed, although approval was almost always the outcome.
“In those cases, development of the agricultural and mining sectors across northern Australia was driving the clearing, and particularly linked to pasture development for beef cattle.”
Professor Martine Maron said reducing tree clearing rates was critical considering Australia agreed at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, and prevent further extinctions.
“There is an urgent need to reduce land clearing rates in northern Australia if we are to meet our international commitments,” Professor Maron said.
“The cumulative impacts are severe and worsening, especially combined with the numerous smaller impacts that our study’s conservative 20-hectare threshold didn’t capture.
“Australia must ensure existing laws are applied, and support land managers to keep and care for forest and woodland on their properties.”
The research was supported by WWF-Australia and is published in Conservation Biology.
More images and video available via Dropbox.
END
Environmental laws failing to slow deforestation
2024-08-21
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Mother’s gut microbiome during pregnancy shapes baby’s brain development
2024-08-21
A study in mice has found that the bacteria Bifidobacterium breve in the mother’s gut during pregnancy supports healthy brain development in the fetus.
Researchers have compared the development of the fetal brain in mice whose mothers had no bacteria in their gut, to those whose mothers were given Bifidobacterium breve orally during pregnancy, but had no other bacteria in their gut.
Nutrient transport to the brain increased in fetuses of mothers given Bifidobacterium breve, and beneficial changes were also seen in other cell processes relating to growth.
Bifidobacterium breve is a ‘good bacteria’ that occurs naturally in our ...
Humpbacks are among animals who manufacture and wield tools
2024-08-21
In a study published today in Royal Society Open Science, researchers at the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) at UH Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) and Alaska Whale Foundation (AWF) consider a new designation of the humpback whales they study: tool wielders. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble-nets” to hunt, but they have learned that the animals don’t just create the bubble-nets; they manipulate this unique tool in a variety of ways to maximize their food intake in Alaskan feeding grounds. This novel research demystifies a behavior key to the whales’ survival and offers a compelling case for including humpbacks among the rare ...
UTA federal research expenditures doubled in 2023
2024-08-20
In 2023, federally sponsored research at The University of Texas at Arlington accounted for $77 million in expenditures, with about $40.7 million spent on research-related goods and services in Texas. That more than doubles the total for 2022, when federally sponsored research at UTA contributed $38 million to the economy.
The $77 million is a portion of UTA’s $122 million in total research expenditures from all sources last year. This number includes federally sponsored research awards as well as those from local and state governments, private institutions, and other sources. Overall, UT Arlington and its 270,000 alumni contribute $29 billion ...
Researchers teaching artificial intelligence about frustration in protein folding
2024-08-20
Scientists have found a new way to predict how proteins change their shape when they function, which is important for understanding how they work in living systems. While recent artificial intelligence (AI) technology has made it possible to predict what proteins look like in their resting state, figuring out how they move is still challenging because there is not enough direct data from experiments on protein motions to train the neural networks.
In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Aug.20, ...
Novel molecular imaging tool objectively measures and diagnoses smell disorders
2024-08-20
Reston, VA (August 20, 2024) -- A new fluorescent imaging probe can for the first time objectively and non-invasively measure loss of smell, clinically known as anosmia. Targeting the olfactory nerve, the new tool has potential to eliminate biopsies used to diagnose certain anosmia conditions and to aid in the development of therapeutic interventions. This research was published in the August issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
Research shows that an estimated 13.3 million adults in the United States have a vast range of smell disorders and that ...
Tiny killers: How autoantibodies attack the heart in lupus patients
2024-08-20
New York, NY—August 20, 2024—Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients suffering from lupus, an autoimmune disease in which our immune system attacks our own tissues and organs, the heart, blood, lung, joints, brain, and skin. Lupus myocarditis--inflammation of the heart muscle-- can be very serious because the inflammation alters the regularity of the rhythm and strength of the heartbeat. However, the mechanisms underlying this complex disease are poorly understood and difficult to study.
A long-standing question about lupus is why some patients develop myocarditis while others remain unaffected. And why the clinical manifestations of affected ...
Study: Temporarily removing firearms from people at risk of harm saves lives
2024-08-20
DURHAM, N.C. – An estimated one life was saved for every 17 times an extreme risk protection order removed guns from people who presented a risk of harming themselves or others, according to a Duke Health-led analysis of the laws in four states.
Extreme risk protection orders -- known as ERPOs or “red flag laws" -- are civil court orders that temporarily prevent people from accessing firearms after a judge determines that they pose an imminent risk of harming themselves or others. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have enacted ERPO laws, mostly in ...
Study finds Americans want pandemic-era ease of applying for Medicaid
2024-08-20
More than 23 million Americans who were granted Medicaid coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic lost their coverage starting in March 2023 after the pandemic was declared no longer a public health emergency. Many likely will not successfully re-enroll on their own given Medicaid’s administrative burden—the frustrations and challenges people often encounter in seeking or complying with coverage.
Now, a study of the so-called Medicaid Great Unwinding by Dr. Simon F. Haeder with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, ...
It only takes 15 minutes to change your health
2024-08-20
Corporate Cup, lunchtime yoga, or even ‘walk and talks’, organisations come up with all sorts of wellness initiatives to encourage people to be more active in the workplace. But before you duck and hide, new research shows that all it takes is 15 minutes and a touch of gamification to put you on the path to success.
Assessing results from 11,575 participants, across 73 Australian, New Zealand, and UK companies, University of South Australia researchers found that a gamified workplace wellness program – the 15 Minute Challenge* - leads to substantial increases in physical activity levels, with 95% of participants meeting (36%) or exceeding (59%) ...
Nadia Drake joins SETI Institute Board of Directors as observer
2024-08-20
August 20, 2024, Mountain View, CA –The SETI Institute announced that Dr. Nadia Drake is joining the SETI Institute's Board of Directors as an observer. The SETI Institute's board guides its strategic direction, finances, and various committees. As a journalist, Drake will be an active, non-voting member, bringing her broad expertise to the team.
"I am thrilled by this appointment to the SETI Institute's board, which comes at an exciting time for the SETI Institute and for the search for life beyond Earth," said Drake. "For most of my career as a science journalist, I've covered astrobiology ...