Ecos articles from June 2005

Ecos archives from June 2005

Old know-how used in new ways.(Editorial)(Editorial)
June 1, 2005... In the recent six months, there appears to have been a distinct increase in the number of announcements on new initiatives involving the application of Aboriginal knowledge to natural resource management scenarios. It seems to represent...

Blueprint planning for national coastal development.(coasts research coordinated)
June 1, 2005... Responsibility for Australia's increasingly pressured coastal strip is shared by numerous jurisdictions, including local, state and commonwealth governments. This has made fundamental strategic planning for its sustainable development difficult...

Woodshed to power Britain.(Tidal Delay[R]/Lloyd Energy Storage System)(Woodshed Technologies)(Lloyd Energy Systems)(SMEC Developments)(Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation)
June 1, 2005... Melbourne-based alternative technology company, Woodshed Technologies, was recently granted a UK patent for a novel marine tidal energy system that can provide dean, reliable electricity. Together with two other Australian companies, it intends...

Tasmania's tourism future brightens.(Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement)(government funding to increase reserves of old-growth forest)(increased protection of Tarkine and Styx valleys)
June 1, 2005... Tourism looks set to be a big beneficiary of Tasmania's new $250 million Community Forest Agreement package, announced by the Commonwealth and Tasmanian governments in May, to increase the state's reserves of old-growth forest. As well as...

Threatened whale sharks draw calls to end exploitation.(international marine conference)(communique to all governments to protect whale sharks)
June 1, 2005... Eighty marine science experts from 23 countries, who attended an international marine conference in Perth during May, have issued a plea for countries to work more vigorously at protecting the unique, migratory whale shark--the largest fish in...

Landmark guidelines for Indigenous involvement in NRM.(Guidelines for Indigenous Participation in Natural Resource Management)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... In March, to encourage Indigenous communities across Australia to get involved in regional natural resource management (NRM) planning and activities, the federal government launched Guidelines for Indigenous Participation in Natural Resource...

A new vision for regional management: the Wet Tropics Aboriginal Plan.(Caring for Country and Culture: The Wet Tropics Aboriginal Cultural and Natural Resource Management Plan)
June 1, 2005... Aboriginal, political and community leaders from throughout northern Australian gathered in Innisfail in April this year to launch Caring for Country and Culture: The Wet Tropics Aboriginal Cultural and Natural Resource Management Plan. The...

Misima Mines Ltd responds to island gold mine concerns.(Progress)(standard-setting operational and closure process used)
June 1, 2005... In issue 122 (page 4), Ecos reported on the concerns being raised by Australian-based mining watch group the Mineral Policy Institute (MPI) over handling of allegedly significant environmental and socio-political impacts arising during the...

A burgeoning role for Aboriginal knowledge.(Progress)(Dr Sue Jackson, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems)(Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization)(Interview)
June 1, 2005... Indigenous knowledge systems have developed over thousands of years through association with the variability of the environment. Their structures and application are quite unlike those of the modern scientific knowledge model. With such vast...

Cultural burning revives a Kakadu wetland.(Profile)(biodiversity reclaimation at Boggy Plain, Northern Territory)(Cover Story)
June 1, 2005... A powerful melding of traditional Aboriginal knowledge of land management and Western ecological science is producing outstanding results in a 'Burning for Biodiversity' project in Kakadu National Park. On a floodplain of the South...

Teamwork for a survey of sea country.(Progress)(Northern Australian Marine Biodiversity Survey)(Northern Australian coastal waters)
June 1, 2005... Australia's expansive northern marine environment is relatively unknown to modern science. Now the coastal waters stretching from Kakadu National Park, across Arnhem Land to the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait are under the...

The green frontier: RNAi biotechnology's promising applications.(ribonucleic acid interference)(benefits of genetical control measures)(Horizons in Livestock Science conference)
June 1, 2005... A new research tool for molecular genetics, hailed as the most important technology since the polymerase chain reaction in the early 1980s, is transforming research across the medical and biological sciences. Agriculture, the environment and...

Closing the loop? A review of recycling in Australia.(Progress)
June 1, 2005... How are we faring as a nation when it comes to domestic and industrial recycling? What are its real environmental and economic impacts and are these measured? More importantly, should we really be doing more of it, and do recent technological...

Garbage miners mean business.(Progress)(mining skills recover recyclable materials from residual waste)
June 1, 2005... The intractable garbage that doesn't go into kerbside recycling bins--officially known as 'residual waste'--is at the heart of the waste disposal crisis, as it mounts up at landfill sites. Now, an Australian resource company has applied its...

Metals: supremely recyclable.(Progress)(metals reprocessing)
June 1, 2005... Re-use and recycling can help minimise fresh raw material inputs, waste outputs, and the manufacturing energy demands for most materials. Researchers at CSIRO Minerals, Mr Terry Norgate and Dr John Rankin, say that metals are proving prime...

The Land of Flowers.(book)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2005... In the 1980s Irene Cunningham bought a small acreage 70 km north of Perth with the intention of running a few sheep, growing olives, grapes and tomatoes, and planting a cottage garden. But then her appreciation of the natural environment...

Leaders of sustainable solutions.(Solutions for a Sustainable Future)(book)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2005... Some world-leading innovators have recently emerged from the ranks of Australian companies and organisations seeking solutions to the current sustainability challenges. Solutions for a Sustainable Future showcases the expertise of many of...

Alternative leadership: the Rhineland philosophy.(Leadership for Sustainable Futures: Achieving Success in a Competitive World)(book)(Book Review)
June 1, 2005... The latest book by Professor Gayle Avery of the Macquarie School of Graduate Management is another challenge to the basic philosophy on which the Anglo/US way of doing business rests: short-term perspectives, shareholder value over the needs of...

A fish farming salinity solution.(Research)(New South Wales, Department of Primary Industries)
June 1, 2005... It is a little disturbing that the inland waters of the Murray-Darling river system are so saline in places that marine species can survive. However, Research Leader for Aquaculture with the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Dr Geoff...

Glacial retreat heralds changing Antarctic climate.(Research)(Brown Glacier retreating)
June 1, 2005... Research has shown that Brown Glacier on subantarctic Heard Island is retreating rapidly. It suggests that local climatic conditions are continuing to change rather than stabilise. Measurement of the basic physical characteristics of Brown...

Sponging off the natural north.(Research)(spongefarming)(Warruwi community, Goulburn Island)(Maningrida community, coastal Arnhem Land)
June 1, 2005... To meet strong global demand, researchers, Indigenous communities, governments and a private company are cooperating to set up a novel sponge-farming industry in the warm marine waters off Arnhem Land and Torres Strait. 'In the Northern...

Events calendar.(Calendar)
June 1, 2005... The National Conservation Incentives Forum Melbourne, 5-8 July. www.tfn.org.au 2005 Adelaide Festival of Ideas Adelaide, 7-10 July. www.adelaidefestivalofideas.com.au Oceans & the World's Future--16th CAETS...