Natural Capital Handbook
A practical guide to corporate natural capital accounting. 'As pressure increases to integrate nature protection and restoration into all aspects of policy and business operations, how can organisations better measure and report on their interactions with nature?' (CSIRO, Canberra) >
Climate-Smart Agriculture Toolkit
'Around the country, more and more farmers are seeing the changes and, with more to come, many people are trying to adapt.' (Farmers for Climate Action) >
Growing Vegetables in Jordan’s Sahara
The Sahara Forest Project. 'For some 200 years North Africa supplied around two-thirds of Rome’s total grain supply. This resulted in deforestation, increased salinity in the soil, and loss of minerals.' (Sahara Forest Project, Oslo, Norway} >
Maintaining Soils Sustainably
Ground truth: CSIRO launches national data and information tool for soil. The Australian National Soil Information System will be a valuable tool for farmers, policy makers and researchers in sustainably managing our soils. (CSIRO, Canberra) >
Drought-resilient Saltbush
Drought-resilient shrub goes east to support farmers in dry times. The elite variety of saltbush was developed over 15 years and will help farmers through poor seasons, building their resilience to drought. (CSIRO, Canberra) >
Murray River Choking on Sediment Build-Up
'The river’s regulated flow capacity through the Barmah–Millewa Reach is reducing due to the build-up of sand on the bed of the river from gold mining and land clearing practices upstream in the 1800s.' The Barmah–Millewa Program (Murray–Darling Basin Authority, Canberra) >
Improvements in Crop Yields
'Improvements in crop yields have been essential to feed a growing population while reducing the environmental impact of food production at the same time.' (Our World In Data, Oxford Martin School, Oxford University) >
Bushfire smoke - - and Floods
Bushfire smoke from the major fires of 2020 possibly contributed to the later floods. Abstract: 'The climate response to biomass burning emissions from the 2019–2020 Australian wildfire season is estimated from two 30-member ensembles using CESM2: one of which incorporates observed wildfire emissions and one that does not. In response to the fires, an increase in biomass aerosol burdens across the southern hemisphere is simulated through late 2019 and early 2020, accompanied by an enhancement of cloud albedo, particularly in the southeastern subtropical Pacific Ocean. In turn, the surface cools, the boundary layer dries, and the moist static energy of the low-level flow into the equatorial Pacific is reduced. In response, the intertropical convergence zone migrates northward and sea surface temperature in the Niño3.4 region cools, with coupled feedbacks amplifying the cooling. A subsequent multiyear ensemble mean cooling of the tropical Pacific is simulated through the end of 2021, suggesting an important contribution to the 2020–2022 strong La Niña events.' (Science Advances, American Association for the Advancement of Science) >
Address the Growing Urgency of Fungal Disease in Crops
'More political and public awareness of the plight of the world’s crops when it comes to fungal disease is crucial to stave off a major threat to global food security.' (Nature journal) >