08/08/2018

State Government Confirms: ‘NSW Is Now 100 Per Cent In Drought’

NEWS.com.au - Megan Palin

THE entire state of NSW has been declared in drought as farmers battle the brunt of the crisis and some regions are put on extreme water restrictions, limiting residents to three-minute showers.
Drought ravaged north west NSW is battling through one of the worst dry spells in history. This aerial image shows wandering sheep looking for food at James Foster's property 90km west of Walgett. Picture: Sam Ruttyn. Source: News Corp Australia
THE entire state of NSW is now impacted by drought as extreme measures including water restrictions are tightened in a bid to combat the crisis.
According to the Department of Primary Industries, 61 per cent of NSW is either in drought or intense drought, while nearly 39 per cent is drought affected. “This is tough,” NSW Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said in a statement on Wednesday.
“There isn’t a person in the state that isn’t hoping to see some rain for our farmers and regional communities,” he said.
A drier-than-expected June and July has left many farmers with failing crops, a short supply of water and diminishing livestock feed. In some regions, water restrictions have been tightened to the point that residents can only do a maximum of two loads of washing a week and take three minute showers.
Drought conditions are affecting farmers in NSW. Cam Armstrong on a dried up dam on his sheep farm in Cassilis, NSW. Picture: Liam Driver. Source: News Corp Australia
Less than 10 millimetres of rain was recorded in the western, north west, and central areas of NSW over the past month and drier-than-normal conditions are forecast for the next three months across the majority of the state. The combined drought indicator — which takes in rainfall, soil water, plant growth and long term climate data — shows no part of NSW is recovering despite some recent rain.
“Producers are now faced with some very difficult decisions on whether to graze sown crops or rely on potential rainfall in the next two months in order to increase yield production,” Mr Blair said.
“Some areas of the state did receive some welcome rainfall this month that has provided a little relief for stock and domestic water; unfortunately though it will not even come close to the recovery needed for most farmers.
“The forecast suggests an increase of drier than normal conditions for the next three months across the majority of NSW but I want every farmer and community to know that we will stand with them through this challenging time and continue to make sure we have the right support available.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this week toured drought-stricken communities to announce $12,000 grants for each affected farming family. The NSW government has also doubled its funding commitments to struggling farmers with a total of $1 billion pledged towards the growing crisis.
On the more extreme end of the scale, residents in the small town of Murrurundi in the state’s Upper Hunter Region have been placed on level six water restrictions which limits them to two full washing loads of clothes a week and three-minute showers.
The restrictions are intended to buy residents another three or four months of water, with the town otherwise expected to completely run out within weeks.
Upper Hunter Shire Mayor Wayne Bedggood said the council was using the bought time to seek additional sources of water.
“After level six restrictions, we face emergency measures. Field work is underway to find new bore locations and we are seeking funds from the state government for new pipe infrastructure and — in the worst case scenario — to truck more water into town,” he said.
“Under the current weather conditions and infrastructure, the system would only provide sufficient potable water until the end of this year, so we need to find other sources, prior to the completion of the Scone to Murrurundi pipeline in 2020.”
State-owned corporation WaterNSW manages rivers and water supply systems, including 40 dams. Executive manager for systems operations Adrian Langdon told the ABC that the long-range forecast looked ahead three months and dry conditions were predicted to continue. He said without rain, there was not a lot WaterNSW could do to alleviate water scarcity in places like Murrurundi, the ABC reports.
“We’re reliant on other sources such as groundwater supplies and those types of things to support these communities,” Mr Langdon said.

Spotlight on NSW farmers’ mental health as drought grips State

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Abbott Policies Reduced Effectiveness Of Foreign Aid To Combat Climate Change

The Guardian - 

Exclusive: Government report says change in priorities from 2013 saw a loss of expertise and project oversight
Tropical Cyclone Pam rips through Kiribati in 2015. The island was a recipient of Australian foreign aid, which was cut by the Abbott government. Photograph: Mike Roman/Red Cross Australia/EPA
A decreased emphasis on climate change and cuts to the foreign aid budget under the Abbott government caused a loss of expertise, a lack of oversight and early closure of some projects, according to an internal government report.
Two-thirds of selected projects by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade achieved a modest or significant impact on climate outcomes, the evaluation said.
But despite Australia spending $599m on climate-related aid investments between 2010 and 2013, the report said that the resourcing of such projects then began to decline.
“From this time to the Paris Agreement at the end of 2015, Australia did not provide dedicated additional climate financing, with climate action subsumed into general aid programming.”
Although the report does not mention the 2013 election of the Abbott government, it says there was “a loss of climate-specific expertise from the aid program as funding and priorities changed”. It adds that programming choices were “decentralised to posts which also had to manage reductions in the broader aid program at this time”.
In some cases “climate change investments were rebranded in 2014 (for example, as food security, water security or disaster preparedness), as climate was de-emphasised in the Australian policy context”, it said.
“Staff and senior managers spent a considerable amount of time internally rebranding the work and many lost the ability to report on climate-related outcomes as these objectives and indicators were removed,” it said.
“Many other investments lost impetus and were closed early as staff incentives abated.”
The Abbott government cut foreign aid by a total of $11bn over the medium term, reducing Australia’s aid program to the lowest levels since the creation of a formal aid program more than 40 years ago.
At the Paris climate conference in December 2015, Malcolm Turnbull announced Australia would provide at least $1bn over five years to build climate change resilience and reduce emissions in developing countries.
The evaluation examined a sample of 26 projects valued at $641.2m that started between 2006 and 2014. It found that nine projects achieved or were likely to achieve “significant climate-relevant outcomes” and a further nine would achieve “modest” outcomes.
The remaining eight projects were either unlikely to or would not achieve climate outcomes or were not designed with climate outcomes in mind.
The report said the majority of investments “proved effective” but there was less evidence that the results would achieve climate outcomes because “monitoring and the subsequent reporting of climate change results was often inadequate and inconsistent”.
The department elevated climate change as a priority for aid in July 2016, but the report said its strategy and implementation plan was scheduled for completion this year.
In addition to completing this plan, the report recommended the department routinely collect information to track the effectiveness of its climate change investments and strengthen internal design and staff capacity for climate change projects.
In its response, the department said the report contained “valuable analysis and insights that can directly inform more effective climate change action”.
“The department agrees broadly with all the evaluation’s recommendations and with its conclusions.”
The Australian Council for International Development’s development economics adviser, Amrita Malhi, said the evaluation showed that up to 2013 DFAT’s efforts on climate change action were “bearing fruit” but then climate objectives were “stripped out and investments closed down”.
“After five years, it is only now that there are early signs of recovery and climate change is being considered as a more important component of the aid program,” she said. “Compared to our allies, like the UK, we are now playing catch-up.”

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Global Wind Energy Giants Blast Weak Emissions Target In National Plan

Fairfax - Cole Latimer | Peter Hannam

Two of the world's biggest wind turbine makers have weighed in against the National Energy Guarantee, calling for a more ambitious target because it may leave the electricity sector contributing only a tiny portion of Australia's Paris climate goal.
GE, the company that built the world's first ever coal-fired power station, said the Turnbull government's setting of an emissions reduction target of 26 per cent of 2005-levels by 2030 fell far short of what the power sector could deliver.
GE built the world's first coal-fired power station in the US, and owns three in Australia, but is now aggressively growing its renewable energy operations. Photo: Nick Moir

“The new target being set will see [the power sector] contribute about one-twentieth of the emissions reduction required to meet our Paris commitments," Steven Oswald, head of GE's Australian renewables, said. "It’s a sector that can do so much more."
John Titchen, managing director of the Australian operations of Chinese turbine giant Goldwind, echoed Mr Oswald's concerns, though placed the electricity industry at a slightly higher level at "less than a tenth" of the total contribution needed by Australia to meet its international commitments.
"So there's another more than 90 per cent of the task that is not really defined as to how it is going to be addressed," Mr Titchen told an energy summit in Sydney last week.
The two companies' position is more forthright than some of the industry groups, such as the Clean Energy Council, which generally support the policy while calling for more ambition.
The Turnbull government is pressing states and territory governments to sign off on the plan at a meeting in Sydney on Friday that it would then take to the federal Coalition partyroom for approval the following Tuesday.
Federal Environment and Energy Minister, Josh Frydenberg, dismissed these concerns.
"The report of the independent Energy Security Board makes clear that an additional 38 million tonnes of abatement will occur under the government's target, and that without a concrete mechanism in place there is no guarantee that emissions reduction will follow," he said.
Mr Titchen also questioned whether the power sector would even meet the 26 per cent reduction since the scheme only covers the eastern states that are part of the National Electricity Market. Generators in WA and the NT, supplying about 20 per cent of national demand, would be able to continue to increase emissions.
Both executives noted that the industry had rebounded after stalling in 2014 when the Abbott government reviewed the Renewable Energy Target, ultimately cutting the 2020 goal by about one-fifth to 33,000 gigawatt-hours of clean energy by the end of this decade.
Wind farms, like Silverton outside of Broken Hill, NSW, are springing up across Australia. Photo: Mick Tsikas
Mr Oswald said there were several "lost years...The target was compressed into the last three years of the scheme, which caused such an upswing" in the industry now.
He said the industry was now "broadly supportive of the framework of the National Energy Guarantee" but there remained concerns about any last-minute additions to the policy that could “soften the drivers to reduce emissions”.
Mr Titchen's worries including the difficulty any future government will have when it comes to lifting the emissions target – or other settings – in the future.
The course we set now "is the course we're going to live with for some period," Mr Titchen told the summit's dinner last week. "I'm not sure that we're going to make an easy correction if we don't get it right at this point."
GE and Goldwind are vying for bragging rights as the biggest suppliers of wind energy in Australia.
GE currently has the largest number of simultaneous wind farm construction projects in Australian history, with six projects comprising 311 turbines, that would generating 1.1 gigawatts, or the equivalent of the power needs of about 620,000 homes.
Goldwind's Stockyard Hill Wind Farm in Victoria will be the largest in the southern hemisphere and alone could supply about 390,000 homes. The company is on track to supply more than a million homes when current or completed projects are taken into account.

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