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Category Archives: Ecosystem Stress

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4 June 2015, Timberbiz, RET could revive timber in Victoria. The revised Renewable Energy Target (RET) currently before Parliament would provide a market for otherwise unsaleable timber, according to a document from Victoria’s state-owned forestry business, VicForests, obtained by the ABC. Source: ABC News. Environment Minister Greg Hunt introduced the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill and the legislation locks in the bipartisan deal for a new, lower, 2020 Renewable Energy Target. But, controversially, it reinstates the burning of native forest wood waste as a renewable energy source in the RET scheme. “There is no evidence that its eligibility leads to unsustainable practices or has a negative impact on Australia’s biodiversity,” Mr Hunt said when introducing the bill. “Using wood waste for generation is more beneficial to the environment than burning waste alone on the forest floor or simply allowing it to decompose and to produce methane a very high global warming potential gas.” The changes will help hardwood timber company Australian Solar Timbers (AST) build a two-megawatt power plant that will generate electricity onsite. AST chairman Douglas Head said timber for the plant in New South Wales’ Macleay Valley would come from existing sawmill waste that had little current value. “There is not one new tree that would be cut. Frankly you would not cut a tree to produce electricity alone. It’s got to be cut for some other high-value use,” he said. He said the wood by-products now potentially eligible for burning were “used sometimes as boiler fuels, potting mix, horse stable coverings and in the chicken industry — very low value”. The VicForests document says wood could be used as a brown coal substitute, but Nathan Trushell from VicForests downplayed the prospect of massive forest furnaces. “I think the stark reality for us is we would see some significant economic challenges with Renewable Energy Target credits or not,” he said. “I think if there is opportunity for us in that space, it’s really around small-scale local generation. I think for large-scale co-generation in coal-fired power stations the reality is timber is heavy and expensive to transport. “If we’re looking at our operations in East Gippsland we’re talking about several hundred kilometres to transport that material. I can’t see how economically that would stack up for us. Read More here

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2 June 2015, Climate News Network, Glacier loss raises high concern over water supplies: The glaciers of the Everest region of the Himalayan massif—home to the highest peak of all—could lose between 70% and 99% of their volume as a result of global warming. Asia’s mountain ranges contain the greatest thickness of ice beyond the polar regions. But new research predicts that, by 2100, the world’s highest waters—on which billions of people depend for their water supply—could be at their lowest ebb because of the ice loss. Many of the continent’s great rivers begin up in the snows, fed by melting ice in high-peak regions such as the Hindu Kush, the Pamir and the Himalayas. Joseph Shea, a glacial hydrologist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, Nepal, and French and Dutch colleagues report in The Cryosphere journal that they used more than 50 years of climate data and sophisticated computer models of predicted climate change to study the pattern of snowpack and seasonal melt in the Everest region. Read More here

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1 June 2015, The Diplomat, The world water crisis is both severe and entirely avoidable: With the approach of World Environment Day, on June 5, it is worthwhile to reflect on a major crisis that is now confronting the world but receiving inadequate attention. If current trends continue, the world will face a water crisis that will be unprecedented in human history. During the past decade, there has been extensive discussion on the adequacy of physical availability of water to meet escalating needs for various uses for an expanding global population and accelerating economic activities. However, inadequate attention has been paid to the rapid deterioration of water quality, which is further reducing a significant stock of water that can no longer be used without expensive and sophisticated treatment. Water, unlike oil or minerals, is a renewable resource. This means it can be used, treated properly, and then reused. This cycle with good management can continue indefinitely. It has been estimated that each drop of the Colorado River water is used seven times. With good management, there is no reason why this could not be increased to 20 or 30 times. The current overwhelming concern is that the world is going to run out of physical availability of water in the foreseeable future. We differ. Read More here

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29 May 2015, The Conversation, Australia reprieved – now it must prove it can care for the Reef: UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has decided not to add the Great Barrier Reef to the List of World Heritage in Danger, for now at least. In a draft decision released ahead of its annual meeting next month, it has welcomed Australia’s plan to save the Reef, but also demanded a progress report on its policies by the end of 2016, as well as a full update on the Reef’s conservation status by December 2019. The move draws a temporary line underneath an issue that has loomed large for the past three years, bringing Australia’s stewardship of the Reef uncomfortably into the international spotlight. Read more here

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