Environment

Waves are forecast to become larger and more powerful and to shift direction if the climate continues to warm at its current rate, with southern Australia among the regions to be hardest hit globally, new research says. The study, led by scientists from Griffith University and published in Nature Climate Change on Tuesday, comes as meteorologists forecast a "quite rare event" later this week as a potentially damaging swell hits eastern Australia. A monster wave in January 2015 that washed a woman off Nobbys breakwall in Newcastle.Credit:Cordelia Troy Using about 150 model simulations, the researchers found about half the world's coastline was "at risk from wave climate change" by the final two decades of this century if greenhouse gas emissions remained at their current "business-as-usual trajectory". The wave changes, driven primarily by strengthening winds "might potentially exacerbate or even exceed in some coastal regions, impacts of future sea-level rise", the paper said...

Coastal NSW can expect unusually powerful swells late in the week, with hazardous and potentially damaging waves generated by a deep low in the Tasman Sea, the Bureau of Meteorology says. The bureau has issued a warning for gale force winds on Monday for Sydney's closed waters and the Eden Coast, and for strong winds for most of the rest of the NSW coast. Waves crash over the Wollongong breakwall in November 2015. Similar weather might well be on the way for the NSW coast later this week. Credit:Adam McLean While similar conditions are expected on Tuesday, the bureau is likely to raise the alerts to hazardous conditions on Wednesday and for damaging surf on Thursday, Jordan Notara, a forecaster, said. The combination of the deep low and a high pressure system is the source of the big swells. Wave heights for offshore Sydney will approach six metres on Thursday, "quite a rare event, particularly for August", Mr Notara said. Advertisement The record wave recorded for offshore ..

Australia's membership of the Pacific Island Forum should be "urgently reviewed" for possible sanctions or suspension over the Morrison government's pro-coal stance, says Anote Tong, a former president of Kiribati. Prime Minister Scott Morrison's resistance to demands by forum leaders at last week's gathering in Tuvalu for a global ban on new coal-fired power plants and coal mines has also drawn criticism from Rachel Kyte, a special United Nations representative, who described support for the fossil fuel as "reckless and cruel". Welcome mat to go?: Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrives at the Leaders Retreat during the Pacific Islands Forum last week in Funafuti, Tuvalu.Credit:AAP Mick Tsikas Mr Tong, who has been an advocate for low-lying nations facing catastrophe as sea levels rise, said Fiji was suspended from the forum in 2009 "for not adhering to the rules", and Australia's behaviour was hardly better. "It is supposed to be about the ..

Koala populations are facing increased threats across NSW with even the healthiest colonies at risk as critical habitat is destroyed, and the climate grows hotter and drier, a parliamentary inquiry has heard. Among the submissions to the inquiry in Sydney on Friday was an Office of Environment and Heritage document obtained under freedom of information laws. It showed "less than one per cent of identified koala habitat is protected" under new land clearing codes introduced by the Berejiklian government in 2017. Koalas face threats on multiple fronts, including in Sydney's south-west where even the state's healthiest population are facing loss of habitat and humans move in.Credit:Jessica Hromas "Koala populations in NSW are in crisis," said Jack Gough, a researcher at the Nature Conservation Council who obtained the document. "Koalas face a range of pressures – climate change, disease, cars and dogs – but the number one threat is habitat loss and fragmentation." The docume..

Prime Minister Scott Morrisons difficult week at the Pacific Islands Forum is only the first of many such diplomatic challenges Australia will face until it gets a comprehensive policy on climate change. Mr Morrison went to the meeting of the 18 island states hoping to counterbalance the growing influence of China in a region that is Australias backyard but instead he spent much of his time fighting over climate change with countries he says are part of Australias “family”. Pacific island leaders were not impressed by Mr Morrisons intransigence in fighting against the inclusion of calls for tougher action on climate change in the final communique. Enele Sopoaga, Prime Minister of Tuvalu, the host country whose low-lying atolls are already being washed away by the effects of climate change, said Mr Morrison was trying to save his economy but he was trying to save his people. Advertisement There was a spat after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Mr Morrison had to “answ..

An elephant was put on display at a Sri Lankan festival, but its old, bony frame was covered by a costume, wildlife advocates said. Images of 70-year-old elephant Tikiri's frail frame were shared on Facebook by the Save Elephant Foundation, a charity dedicated to protecting Asian elephants. Tikiri's frail frame was shown on Facebook by the Save Elephant Foundation in Thailand.Credit:Facebook, Save Elephant Foundation Tikiri was from the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy and was paraded during the Perahera Festival, one of the oldest Buddhist festivals in Sri Lanka held in July and August. "She is one of the 60 elephants who must work in the service of the Perahera Festival in Sri Lanka this year," the foundation wrote. Advertisement "Tikiri joins in the parade early every evening until late at night every night for ten consecutive nights, amidst the noise, the fireworks, and smoke. "She walks many kilometers every night so that people will feel blessed during t..

The justification for the $500 million Broken Hill water pipeline prioritised irrigators and all but ignored the environment, according to the project's business case that has finally been released by the government. The so-called Final Business Case for the Broken Hill Long-Term Water Supply Solution was handed to independent MP Justin Field after multiple "calls for papers" and requests since its proposal in 2016. The business case for the water pipeline linking Broken Hill to the Murray River shows Northern Basin irrigators were to be among the primary beneficiaries.Credit:ABC/Laura Brierley Newton While the report underscored the water security benefits for Broken Hill, it also highlighted how supplying water to the city from the Murray River would free up extraction for irrigators upstream. Instead of tapping the Menindee Lakes, the city has, since March, been drawing water from near Wentworth in the 270-kilometre pipeline. The project would avoid "costs of water embargoe..

Solar energy will soon become "like Wi-Fi or optical fibre" that consumers expect in virtually all buildings and even boats and caravans, according to the inventor of light-weight panels being introduced in Australia. Shi Zhengrong, once dubbed the "Sun King" when he became the world's first solar billionaire in 2006, says the weight of regular panels at about 20 kilograms per square metre restricted their use. His firm, SunMan, has ditched the glass and other materials, cutting weight by about three-quarters while maintaining standard electricity conversion efficiency rates of about 22 per cent. Shi Zhengrong, the founder and chief technology officer of Sunman – the company that has produced new light-weight solar panels that will slash power bills at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney.Credit:Renee Nowytarger "About 40 per cent of the commercial market cannot be served by conventional panels, but with our panels we can make this market possible," Dr Shi said. Regular pane..

Environmental organisation Greenpeace has applauded Wollongong City Council's decision to declare a climate emergency, calling it "huge stuff". Wollongong City Council's declaration brings the total number of NSW councils declaring or recognising climate emergencies to 16. The total was 17, with Wagga Wagga City Council also backing a motion, but this was later recinded amid community backlash against councillors. Wollongong is the 32nd Australian council to declare climate emergency.Credit:Peter Rae The City of Sydney council backed a similar motion in June to declare such an "emergency". Wollongong Councillor Ann Martin moved the motion, which was debated for more than an hour at the council meeting on Monday evening, calling on the council to recognise the community is in a state of climate emergency. Advertisement The end result was a vote in favour to support the motion, and also called for a report to look at the best ways Wollongong can combat climate change. Wo..

Authorities are preparing emergency response teams as scientists warn that fish kills are looming in the states waterways on a scale that could dwarf the mass die-offs last summer. Governments "hold grave concerns for communities and rivers across the northern basin which remain under considerable stress because of the drought," a Murray-Darling Basin Authority spokeswoman said. Carcasses after the second of three mass fish kill events in the Darling River at Menindee in January 2019.Credit:Nick Moir "Fish remain extremely vulnerable in the north and will remain so until significant inflows are received." NSW agencies including WaterNSW and the fisheries unit of the Department of Primary Industries are "preparing early for the carnage", said one official, who requested anonymity. "It's going to be messy." Advertisement Lee Baumgartner, a freshwater fish ecologist at Charles Sturt University who took part in one of several inquiries into last summer's mass fish kills at ..