Australia has garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organisation to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change. UNESCO had recommended that its World Heritage Committee add the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem off the northeast Australian coast to the World Heritage in Danger list, mainly …

Lismore City councillors have agreed to hand over council-owned land on the North Lismore plateau to its traditional owners. Mayor Vanessa Ekins moved the motion to transfer the 37 hectares,  which was supported by the majority of her fellow councillors. The land is valued at $5 million and includes an area of environmental conservation and an old quarry site. “Handing the …

Reef tourism operators say they are bewildered by a draft recommendation to list the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”, saying the world’s largest living organism is “healthy” and “beautiful”. The World Heritage Committee, which sits under UNESCO, has proposed moving the reef to the list because of the impact of climate change, and will consider the decision at a meeting in …

Waterholes in the Red Centre have been transformed into a lush oasis for Australia’s iconic green and gold budgerigar. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Central Australia recorded the wettest summer in a decade, refilling water courses and replenishing native grasses. Tugan Woodley, specialist bird keeper at the Alice Springs Desert Park, said the conditions were perfect for budgies. “It’s ticking all the boxes; you’ve got water, …

Inaction on climate change is already costing Australia’s farmers countless dollars, and urgent political action is needed to avoid more extreme droughts, fires and floods, they say. Farmers’ pleas follow a week that saw the Coalition government dividing over comments made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the National Press Club event two weeks ago that he would like the nation to …

Last year was the Earth’s second hottest since records began, and the world should brace itself for more extreme weather events like the devastating bushfires that have hit much of Australia, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The Geneva-based WMO combined several datasets, including two from the US space administration NASA and the UK Met Office. These showed that the …

Firefighting associations across Australia are calling for a federal royal commission into the deadly bushfire crisis currently gripping Australia. Association secretaries from NSW, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia have called for urgent action which crosses state lines and provides more resources across the board. “There has been a complete failure federally to coordinate activity across various jurisdictions,” Stewart Little, …

Climate campaigners Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough have joined forces to push politicians and businesses to step up action on climate change after a year in which schoolchildren took to the world’s streets in protest. Swedish teen activist Ms Thunberg, who turns 17 this week, said 2019 had been “a very strange year” as millions of young people skipped school …

International climate talks that have gone on for two weeks have failed to reach an agreement on a key part of a deal that would help reduce global carbon emissions. Delegates have postponed a decision on global carbon markets which put a price on the emission of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Carbon markets allow one country to pay …

A teenager whose family home was destroyed in bushfires has delivered an impassioned plea to the Prime Minister to take action on climate change, saying “thoughts and prayers are not enough”. Shiann Broderick, 18, who lost her home in Nymboida in northern NSW, gathered along with about 500 protesters outside Liberal Party headquarters in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo. …