Great Barrier Reef: Severe Coral Bleaching Hits Two-Thirds Of Reef, Aerial Surveys Show

ABC News


Aerial survey shows extent of coral bleaching

Two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef has now been devastated by severe coral bleaching, with damage occurring further south this year, Queensland scientists say.

Two of the world's leading experts on coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef said aerial surveys they conducted this year along the reef's entire length showed an accelerated rate of bleaching in the central section.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies undertook the aerial surveys in both 2016 and 2017.
In 2016, bleaching was most severe in the northern third of the Reef, while one year on the middle third has experienced the most intense coral bleaching.

The main areas of coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017. (Supplied: ARC Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies)

Dr James Kerry from James Cook University in north Queensland, who was one of the scientists involved in the surveys, said the latest damage had occurred in a stretch from Cooktown to Townsville.
"Last year we saw severe bleaching in the northern third, and this year we have seen severe bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef from about Cooktown down to Townsville, so we are calling that the central third," he said.
"So about two-thirds of the reef now in the past 12 months have had a fairly serious bleaching event."
He said there was little doubt that bleaching was being caused by record-breaking temperatures driven by global warming.
"It is fair to say that this is extremely concerning for the long-term health of the reef," he said.
"It is facing a number of stresses, but I think the outside stress is coral bleaching, and we have now seen two major events in two years, which we have never seen before - that is unprecedented."
He said it was the fourth time the Great Barrier Reef had bleached severely.
"In 1998, 2002, 2016, and now in 2017 - bleached corals are not necessarily dead corals, but in the severe central region we anticipate high levels of coral loss," he said.

"It takes at least a decade for a full recovery of even the fastest growing corals, so mass bleaching events 12 months apart offers zero prospect of recovery for reefs that were damaged in 2016."

Coupled with the 2017 mass bleaching event, Tropical Cyclone Debbie struck a section of the Great Barrier Reef in March.
Scientists said the intense, slow-moving system was likely to have caused varying levels of damage along a path up to 100 kilometres in width.
Researchers said any cooling effects related to the cyclone were likely to be negligible in relation to the damage it caused, which unfortunately struck a section of the reef that had largely escaped the worst of the bleaching.

Footage shows areas of the Great Barrier Reef in the Whitsundays devastated by Cyclone Debbie (ABC News)

Links

• Cyclone Debbie leaves Whitsundays reefs in ruins
• Experts call for Australia to take lead on saving Great Barrier Reef
• Extreme heat pushes parts of Great Barrier Reef beyond recovery
• Coral Crisis: The Great Barrier Reef Needs Us To Speak Up
• Shed A Tear For The Reefs
• Coral Reefs' Only Hope Is Halting Global Warming, Study Says
• Year-On-Year Bleaching Threatens Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage Status
• Great Barrier Reef Bleached For Unprecedented Second Year Running
• 'Significant Event': Coral Bleaching Returns To The Great Barrier Reef
• Images Of New Bleaching On Great Barrier Reef Heighten Fears Of Coral Death

'Barbaric': Adani's Giant Coal Mine Granted Unlimited Water Licence For 60 Years

Fairfax - Peter Hannam

The proposed Adani coal mine, which will be Australia's biggest, has been granted unlimited access to groundwater by the Queensland government in a move farmers fear will drain huge amounts of water from the Great Artesian Basin.
According to a copy of Adani's water licence signed last Wednesday and obtained by Fairfax Media, the $16 billion Carmichael mine merely needs to monitor and report the amount of water it extracts under a permit that runs until 2077.


Great Barrier Reef's coral crisis

The Great Barrier Reef is on track for another year of coral decline, this year affecting prime tourism areas.

The mine – one of nine proposed for the Galilee Basin west of Rockhampton – can conduct its own review of its groundwater model without independent or government oversight.
There are also no impact levels specified that will trigger a halt to mining, and the company is able to offset any significant water loss elsewhere, the licence shows.
"It's bloody-minded and barbaric," said Bruce Currie, a grazier who lives in the region and has joined legal action against Galilee mines. "This is going to definitely impact on the integrity of [the Great Artesian Basin]."
According to a supplementary environmental impact statement, the mine will draw 26 million litres of water a day from its pits by 2029 as it ramps out annual production to as much as 60 million tonnes.
"In granting this licence, the Department of Natural Resources and Mines has carefully considered a broad range of information," a spokesperson said, adding modelling shows that as much as 4.55 gigalitres of groundwater could be taken per year.
"Adani will also need to establish make-good agreements with groundwater users who could potentially be affected by changes to water availability or quality," the spokesperson said. Some 100 conditions are in place to ensure water resources are protected.

Nine coal mines are planned for Queensland's Galilee Basin. Photo: Glenn Hunt

The licence, though, would not be subject to the new Water Act Referral Panel set up to ensure "the sustainable management of water in Queensland".
The opening of mining in the Galilee Basin is shaping up to be one of country's big environment battles. Proponents say it will generate exports and bring jobs to a depressed part of the state, and even reduce carbon emissions if it displaces the use of dirty coal in India or elsewhere.

Protesters gathered as Adani's local mining chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj spoke at a business lunch in Brisbane last week. Photo: Supplied

Opponents, though, argue the coal is largely poor quality and the basin will require huge subsidies to become viable. Burning the fuel will also release a "carbon bomb" that will contribute to harming the Great Barrier Reef, which is already being hammered by unprecedented coral bleaching blamed on global warming.
Fairfax also sought comment from Adani Mining, the local subsidiary of the Indian company.

Limited scrutiny
Unlike other controversial mines, such as the New Acland coal mine planned for the Darling Downs, Adani's water usage is not subject to public submissions and appeals, said Jo Bragg, chief executive of Queensland's Environmental Defenders Office.
Groundwater evidence is often the most controversial feature and public scrutiny is often the most significant aspect of any review, Ms Bragg said. "It's a matter of grave concern that there's not that opportunity."
It was "absolutely anomalous" that the Carmichael mine – which will dwarf New Acland's output of about 7.5 million tonnes a year – should go through with a less vigorous process for its water licence, she said.
Carmel Flint, a campaigner for anti-mining group Lock the Gate, said the open-ended water licence for Adani amounted to a "free kick" to take water from important aquifers such as the Dunda Beds and Clematis Sandstone formations.
Water from the Great Artesian Basin "is just essential for farming communities", Ms Flint said. "Without the water, their businesses are basically finished."
Mr Currie, who runs about 1700 head of cattle "in a good season" over his 25,000-hectare property, said Adani was "the linchpin" to the basin's mines.
If it proceeded, "a lot of the others will go ahead", worsening the groundwater disruption, he said.

Links

• The $6b-a-year asset that is dying on our watch
• Great Barrier Reef tourism on the rocks 
• Adani coal mine: green groups fume over plan for $1b federal loan
• 'Irreversible consequences': Adani coalmine granted unlimited water access for 60 years
• Anti-Adani activists vow 'direct action' against mine contractor Downer
• Adani mine leases and national parks in doubt after native title court decision
• Most Australians oppose government's $1bn Adani loan for coal railway line
• Adani coalmine activists gear up to fight: ‘This will dwarf the Franklin blockade’
• Voters near proposed Adani mine oppose public loan for rail line, poll finds
• Barnaby Joyce endorses loan for Adani's Carmichael coalmine
• Adani Carmichael mine: Australia Institute demands answers from Turnbull in full-page ad
• Opposition to public funding for Adani rail link outweighs support, poll finds

Australia's Politicians Have Betrayed The Great Barrier Reef And Only The People Can Save It

The Guardian - David Ritter

The big lie propagated by government and big business is that it is possible to turn things around for the reef without tackling global warming

How did the Great Barrier Reef reach 'terminal stage'?

Once upon a time, in the distant 60s and 70s, the Great Barrier Reef faced imminent destruction. Tenement applications for drilling and mining covered vast swathes of the reef, with both government and industry enthusiastically backing the plans for mass exploitation.
In the face of the reef’s impending doom a motley collection of ordinary Australians shared a common determination that something had to be done. But the odds didn’t look good. The poet turned campaigner Judith Wright wrote that “if it had not been for the public backing for protection of the reef that we knew existed, we might have given up hope”.
The optimism of the poet was well founded. First in the hundreds, then in the tens of thousands, a people’s movement grew to defend the reef. Everyday Aussies turned activists and campaigners. Scientists and lawyers came forward with vital expertise. At a crucial moment the Queensland Trades and Labour Council approved a total black-ban by all affiliated unions on oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef.
As hard as is now to believe, the Murdoch-owned Australian opined that the ban would have an unprecedented measure of public support and would probably succeed. It deserved to. Only finally did the politicians follow the will of the people. Through the power and determination of the Australian people, the greatest marine park in human history was established and the Great Barrier Reef lived to fight another day.

Two-thirds of Great Barrier Reef hit by back-to-back mass coral bleaching

Inherently democratic in its size and closeness to the shore, the Great Barrier Reef is truly the people’s reef. Looking back on the first great struggle for the reef between the Australian people and the fossil fuel industry, Wright wrote that “if disasters in the shape of weather, accident and climate change lie ahead, the work done already has shown what can be done to shield it from such dangers and has proved that people will agree, in the event, to supplying the help it needs”.

Unhappily, those disasters are now upon us. Global warming brought the great bleaching of 2015-16 and the dreadful and unprecedented sequel over the summer that has just finished. Our reef is in dire trouble.
But while the people’s reef is grievously wounded, it is still very much alive. And life fights for life. Innumerable animals are now doing what creatures do, navigating the hazards of life as best they can to survive and reproduce in the warming waters. Given time and the right conditions, the people’s reef can recover and life will flourish again.
So how this time around do we supply the help the reef needs? The big lie propagated by Australian government and big business is that it is possible to turn things around for the reef without tackling global warming. As scientists have made clear, it isn’t – we have to stop climate pollution to give our reef a chance.
It is true that Australia can’t save the reef alone because climate change is a global problem. But that does not mean we are powerless to act and we should not be deterred. Because when you love something deeply – as we Australians cherish our people’s reef – then you do all that is within your power to save that thing which you hold so dear. And there is much that is within our power to do.
So what is to be done? The answer does not lie in false techno-fixes or the faux-democratic farrago of the government-business funded Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef. Australia’s greatest contribution to global warming is through our coal, exported and burned in foreign power stations. So our most determined Australian efforts to save the reef must be directed to closing down the coalmining industry, while ensuring decent new jobs and fair transitions for all affected workers and communities.
Again, the balance of power seems loaded against us. First the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, and now the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, have betrayed both the reef and the trust of the Australian people by snivelling across the seas, pledging allegiance to the Carmichael coalmine. All too often, the rest of big business is complicit in the crisis by explicitly or tacitly supporting the coal industry. Financial institutions such as CommBank continue to invest in the fossil fuel projects that are bringing disaster to the reef.
But, once we are roused, never underestimate the power and determination of the Australian people to defend our iconic animals and the natural beauty of our lands and seas. The extraordinary success of the Stop Adani Roadshow – which sold out across the eastern Australian capital cities reaching an audience of thousands – is just a glimpse of the popular will to fight the coal industry for the future of our reef.
We have the opportunity to write our own story, not of despair but of defiance. If we, the people of Australia, stand determined together against coalmining and the rest of the fossil fuel industry then the future of our reef is not bleak but hopeful.
The roadmap to full recovery for our reef will be decades or even centuries in the making. And it is going to get worse before it gets better. But we, the Australian people, can again agree to supply the help it needs, to give the reef we love the best chance of future flourishing. Now is the time to get involved.

Links

• Great Barrier Reef at 'terminal stage': scientists despair at latest coral bleaching data
• It’s either Adani or the Great Barrier Reef. Are we willing to fight for a wonder of the world?
• This mortal coral: new bleaching at the Great Barrier Reef – in pictures
• Cyclone Debbie leaves Whitsundays reefs in ruins
• Experts call for Australia to take lead on saving Great Barrier Reef
• Extreme heat pushes parts of Great Barrier Reef beyond recovery
• Coral Crisis: The Great Barrier Reef Needs Us To Speak Up
• Shed A Tear For The Reefs
• Coral Reefs' Only Hope Is Halting Global Warming, Study Says
• Year-On-Year Bleaching Threatens Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage Status
• Great Barrier Reef Bleached For Unprecedented Second Year Running
• 'Significant Event': Coral Bleaching Returns To The Great Barrier Reef
• Images Of New Bleaching On Great Barrier Reef Heighten Fears Of Coral Death

New Study Links Carbon Pollution To Extreme Weather

The Guardian - John Abraham

Human activities are altering the jet stream, which leads to extreme weather patterns getting stuck in place

Parts of Lismore, Australia affected by floodwaters on April 2, 2017. Photograph: Jason O'Brien/Getty Images

It was only a few weeks ago that I wrote about changes to extreme weather in a warming world. That prior article dealt with the increase of extreme precipitation events as the Earth warms. I termed the relationship a thermodynamic one; it was driven by local thermodynamic processes. But extreme weather can also occur because of large-scale changes to the atmosphere and oceans. This issue is the topic of another just-published paper that makes a convincing case for a whole new type of influence of humans on extreme weather. In a certain sense, this study confirms what was previously reported here and here. With the march of science, the tools, methods, and evidence get better each year.
Before getting into the study, a little background. The jet stream(s) are high-speed rivers of air that flow in the upper atmosphere. There’s more than one jet stream; they blow west to east and they mark the separation of zones of different temperatures. A good primer on jet streams is available here.
If you were to stand at the northern pole and travel southwards, you would experience a gradual increase in temperature. However, when you reached the first jet stream (the Polar Jet), temperatures would rapidly become warmer. That is, the Polar Jet separates two different temperature air regions. Typically, if you are north of the jet stream, you are in a colder zone whereas if you are south of the stream, it is warmer. Sometimes, the jet streams undulate as they encircle the planet and these undulations move. So, sometimes you happen to be in a position north and sometimes south of the stream, even though your location is fixed.

Diagram of undulating jet streams. Illustration: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The interface between warm and cold temperatures creates a lot of weather-pattern changes. In addition, if the undulations of the streams become fixed, it means your weather patterns will get stuck. For instance, you could find yourself in an upward undulation for weeks or longer and experience warm and potentially dry weather. Alternatively, if your location is north of a stuck jet undulation, you may experience persistent cold weather. Perhaps even more importantly, these stuck waves can become larger in their magnitude.
So, scientists really want to know what affects these undulations – both their magnitudes and their persistence. We also want to know whether these undulations will change in a warming planet. This is precisely where the new study comes in. The researchers used both weather observations and climate models to answer these questions. What they found was very interesting.
Using measurements, the authors documented what conditions led to extreme weather patterns that persisted for extended durations. They found that many occur when the jet stream becomes stationary with the undulations stuck in place. They also saw that under certain situations, the jet stream undulations do not dissipate in time; they become trapped in a wave guide.
Interestingly, this pattern of a stuck jet stream would occur when the number of undulations was between six and eight. When these circumstances all lined up, according to study co-author Stefan Rahmstorf:

the same weather persists for weeks on end in one region, then sunny days can turn into a serious heat wave and drought, and lasting rains can lead to flooding

And this is also how humans come into the story. As humans emit greenhouse gases, the planet warms. We know that, we predicted it, and it is occurring. However, the warming is not uniform. The Arctic, for instance, is warming more rapidly than the rest of the planet. As a result, the temperature difference between the Arctic and the rest of the world is reducing. It is this temperature difference that maintains the jet stream patterns. As stated by lead author, Michael Mann:

The warming of the Arctic, the polar amplification of warming, plays a key role here. The surface and lower atmosphere are warming more in the arctic than anywhere else on the globe. That pattern projects onto the very temperature gradient profile that we identify as supporting atmospheric waveguide conditions.

The authors compared the observations to computer models and they found similar patterns. The authors went on to say in a press release:

Using the simulations, we demonstrate that rising greenhouse gases are responsible for the increase ... We are now able to connect the dots when it comes to human-caused global warming and an array of extreme recent weather events.

This is really where the science is. We know humans are causing climate change and we know that weather will change as this process evolves. What we really want to know is how human-caused climate change will influence extreme weather. It’s extreme weather like droughts, floods, heat waves, etc. that cause high social and economic costs. These authors have concluded a convincing study that connects the dots. Perhaps the study is best summarized by Michael Mann, who said:

We came as close as one can to demonstrating a direct link between climate change and a large family of extreme recent weather events.

Links

• Inconceivable! The latest theatrical House 'Science' committee hearing
• Scientists understood the climate 150 years ago better than the EPA head today
• Trump has launched a blitzkrieg in the wars on science and Earth’s climate
• PBS is the only network reporting on climate change. Trump wants to cut it

'Disaster Alley': Cyclone Debbie Shows How Climate Change Will Test Australia's Military

Fairfax - Peter Hannam

As Rockhampton residents braced for a nine-metre-high major flood this week, efforts were bolstered by some of the 1600 Australian Defence Force troops deployed to help cope with Cyclone Debbie and its aftermath.
In the past fortnight, the military dispatched helicopters, four landing craft, two larger naval ships and conveys of heavy vehicles to deliver water, medicine and other emergency supplies after the category four storm hit.

Cyclone Debbie by the numbers
Since Cyclone Debbie struck in late March, extreme weather has wreaked a path of destruction across Queensland and New South Wales.

"Only the military has the large-scale capability of relief response," Michael Thomas, a retired army major, said.
It's a capability that has been tested in recent years, whether from category five Cyclone Winston that smashed Fiji last year or the huge El Nino which brought severe drought to Papua New Guinea.
And the challenge might have been made even tougher had Cyclone Ernie – which rapidly intensified this week into a category five tempest – not turned away from the Australian continent when it formed off the WA coast this week. A weaker but still dangerous cyclone is heading towards Vanuatu this weekend.
"Disaster relief is increasing in frequency and scope and scale," said Mr Thomas, who will publish a book on the US and Australian readiness for climate change in June.

'Disaster alley'
Australia lies in the midst of what Sherri Goodman, a former Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for environmental security in the US, dubs "disaster alley".
The region is home to large and swelling populations in coastal and delta regions exposed to cyclones and other extreme weather. These events are predicted by scientists to worsen with global warming.

An Australian Army Mercedes Benz G-Wagon disembarks landing craft at the Keppel Bay Marina, Yeppoon, Central Queensland, bound for Rockhampton. Photo: Abis Bonny Gassner

Ms Goodman, who met senior Australian military members during a visit this week to Canberra, noted admiral Samuel Lockler III, the former head of the US Pacific Command, had described climate change as the biggest long-term security threat in the region.
"The Australian military and the Department of Defence are very interested to be leaders" on this issue, she said. "They know it's the right thing to do."

Taking direction: The Australian Defence Force deployed about 1600 troops to help communities with Cyclone Debbie's aftermath. Photo: Australian Defence Force

Fairfax Media sought comment from the ADF.
Ms Goodman coined the phrase "threat multiplier" a decade ago as the Pentagon stepped up efforts to focus on planning for the consequences of a warming world.

The Australian Defence Force aircraft on hand to assist with the ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie's clean-up. Photo: Australian Defence Force

Among the challenges is the vulnerability of military assets themselves, such as naval bases that are at risk from rising sea levels and storm surges, she said.
Armed forces must also prepare for greater instability as fragile nations become more unstable through crop failure or forced migration within and across borders.

Sherri Goodman, a former Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for environmental security in the US, says Australia lies in "disaster alley". Photo: Wilson Centre

And militaries such as Australia's will need to be ready to divert more personnel and equipment to meet disaster relief needs both at home and abroad, Ms Goodman said.

'Significant impacts'
David Titley, a retired US admiral, said regions between 30 degrees north and south of the Equator are among the most vulnerable on earth to climate change.
"[It's] where precipitation is likely to decrease, temperatures will increase in some places to near lethal levels, and potentially stronger tropical cyclones will come ashore on an ever-higher sea level," Admiral Titley said.
"Much of Australia is poleward of 30 degrees South, so there will likely be significant impacts to your country - but there will be large impact throughout South and Southeast Asia," he said.
Mr Thomas, who last year inaugurated a week-long climate change and security course at the Australian Defence College, said Cyclone Debbie also served as a reminder that military bases "are not islands".
They remain reliant to varying degrees on civilian infrastructure such as electricity, water and sewerage systems that could be disrupted by big storms.
Similarly, their staff, whether civilian or military, "have to be able to get to the bases" – something that's not always possible when bridges or roads are damaged or destroyed by extreme weather, he said.

Links

• White House proposes steep budget cut to leading climate science agency
• Taking aim at climate change: Australia's military sees rising risks
• Super typhoons becoming more powerful and more frequent, new study finds
• Exploring The Security Risks of Climate Change
• Centre for Defence & Strategic Studies

Australia Is Sleepwalking Into A Climate Security Nightmare

Huffington Post - Rob Sturrock

We are missing a singular opportunity to ready ourselves against domestic climate security threats.

Events such as Cyclone Debbie remind us of the destructive impact extreme weather has on our communities and livelihoods.  POOL New / Reuters

Australia is sleepwalking into a new and uniquely 21st century security challenge -- the far-reaching impacts of climate change. It is unlike any previous security challenge we've come across. We're living with this threat now, and will be for generations.

Recently, US filmmakers released an aptly titled documentary, 'The Age of Consequences', which was also aired on Four Corners in March. It serves as another reminder of how far behind Australia really is in dealing with this challenge. The film catalogues in high definition the many security ramifications of a changing climate, as told by former US military and senior policy experts from across the political spectrum. One can only hope that our local politicians digest its sober warnings.

The arguments in the film are not new. Over the past decade, the evidence has mounted that climate change is a direct threat to our peace, prosperity and health, as well as a phenomenon exacerbating geopolitical instability in our region. Australia's future is one of increasingly extreme weather and more natural disasters, both in terms of frequency and severity.
This is not a theoretical threat, it is affecting our communities today. Events such as Cyclone Debbie -- during which the army was deployed to offer assistance -- remind us of the destructive impact extreme weather has on our communities and livelihoods, with the present damage bill likely to run into the billions of dollars. Last year we also saw properties on Sydney's northern beaches unexpectedly get much closer to the shores of the Pacific.

An inground pool sits amongst the rocks after a severe storm at Collaroy on Sydney's northern beaches on June 6, 2016. AFP/Getty Images

Internationally, Australia resides in the region worst affected by climate change; a region that is already facing instability due to booming populations, resource insecurity and some of the highest levels of natural and humanitarian disasters. Seven out of 10 of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate change are in the Asia–Pacific, and Asia has approximately 90 percent of the world's risk of tropical cyclones.
Our region is already adjusting to a more fluid and contested geopolitical order. This task is compounded due to the increasingly scarce food, energy and water situation aggravated by climate change. Emerging superpowers will be jostling for resource security alongside developing nations with fragile economies and equally fragile governments. It doesn't take much imagination to understand how, for example, extended droughts in wheat-producing countries could lead to supply shortages, increases in grain prices, greater food insecurity, and ultimately intensified social and political unrest in volatile parts of the world. Indeed, this has already happened in North Africa and the Middle East.

These challenges are great but they are manageable so long as Australia acts decisively and urgently.

We can add to this complex security situation the risk that international climate governance may unravel, courtesy of a retreating United States and the self-serving 'America First' rhetoric of the Trump Presidency. A vacuum on climate leadership would be a disaster for the international community. At best China will fill this breach which would, in turn, offer a new leadership dynamic in the region to which we will need to adjust.
These challenges are great but they are manageable so long as Australia acts decisively and urgently. Instead of acting as the evidence has mounted, Australia has endured a costly, lost decade of action on climate security. It's been a period of torpor created by ideological gridlock and opportunistic denialism. Ten years of federal policies totaling little more than piecemeal and low-key responses to a great and profound challenge.
Our long national sleepwalk on climate security policy must end. We are missing a singular opportunity to ready ourselves against domestic climate security threats. We must also offer to the region a strong, positive role on climate adaptation and preparation. If we do not, we leave ourselves more insecure and vulnerable as a result.
Firstly, we need a plan of action -- a comprehensive climate security strategy from the Federal Government. A genuine bright spot in recent years was the acknowledgement of climate security concerns in the Defence White Paper 2016. However more sophisticated policy must build upon the White Paper's foundations. The US Department of Defense has done the hard work of producing detailed strategies and roadmaps over recent years. They empower the public service and armed services to plan and prepare for their coming security environment with confidence. In our Federal Government, a climate security strategy should be put together via an advisory council comprising the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Environment and Defence.

The next decade of climate security policies must be a vast improvement on the previous one.

Australia also has a constructive role to play in collaborating within our region on building climate resilience. Utilising the ADF, Australia can offer leadership that encourages cooperation on defence preparedness for climate-induced crises. This includes identifying likely humanitarian flashpoints in the region, such as population displacement in Bangladesh or extreme heat fatalities and power outages in India and Pakistan. Executing effective joint responses to humanitarian and natural disasters will be pivotal in coming years. Australia should be at the forefront of this preparatory work.
Finally, Australia should work closely with its neighbours to invest in their climate adaptation capacity, such as improving the resilience of communities particularly vulnerable to climate change. Australia has large reserves of soft power, and could better utilise these reserves by addressing climate change through well-financed aid and development programs. Australia improves its own security position by making the region more able to withstand incoming climate security threats.
For all our sakes, the next decade of climate security policies must be a vast improvement on the previous one. Otherwise the consequences of our inaction will be measured not just across years, but generations.

Links

• The Age Of Consequences
• The longest conflict: Australia’s climate security challenge
• Debbie downgraded to tropical low as Queenslanders face monster clean up
• Damage bill for Cyclone Debbie to run into the billions
• Sydney storm: erosion swallows 50 metres of Collaroy, Narrabeen beaches

Adani Mine Railway Loan Would Breach Government's Policy, Says Legal Group

The Guardian - Helen Davidson

Complaint lodged over prospect of Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding 400km rail line

Environmental Justice Australia says government should not provide $1bn loan to build rail line from Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine. Photograph: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images

A $1bn federal loan to builders of a railway line between the proposed Adani coalmine and the coast would be a direct breach of government policy, a legal group has claimed.
Environmental Justice Australia has lodged a formal complaint with the Productivity Commission over the prospect of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding the 400km rail line.
It is believed two companies – an Adani-related entity and the rail company Aurizon – have made rival bids for $1bn in government loans.
But EJA said government funding of the line would be a clear breach of competitive neutrality principles and potentially against the criteria of the “developing the north” white paper.
Competitive neutrality principles require governments not to use their legislative or fiscal powers “to advantage their own businesses over the private sector”, according to government agreements.
“We submit that for the Adani and Aurizon proposals there is no ‘market failure’ and Naif support would encroach upon the domain of the private sector in breach of competitive neutrality principles,” said the complaint, filed on behalf of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
“We also submit that the Naif is non-transparent, ineffective, inefficient and has an inadequate governing framework.”
EJA based its complaint on a report by the Productivity Commission into the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation in 2012. It said said the commission found Efic should cease supporting onshore resource projects and related infrastructure because the private sector was already active in that market.
It also suggested the framework of Efic and Naif were similar, in that it had a “market gap” not “market failure” mandate.
The Naif’s mandate also dictates it must only fund projects which the board is satisfied would not otherwise receive financing.
An EJA lawyer, David Barnden, said the same finding should apply to the rail line. “Whether it’s Adani or Aurizon you’ve got a mature market where private sector is best placed to understand these risks,” he said.
“Our argument is this is a mature financing market, where there’s no market failure. The information is out there, the players know about the risk.”
EJA said there was a clear demarcation between what the government and private business should do in the “developing the north” white paper.
Naif’s mandatory criteria also includes the requirement that the funded project be of benefit to the public and “serve or have the capacity to serve multiple users”.
While Adani’s proposal for the rail line is believed to be for its sole use transporting coal between the Carmichael mine in the Galilee basin and the coastline for export, Aurizon’s has reportedly scoped for a multi-use line – albeit with Adani as the sole operator initially.
Barnden said this did not affect the group’s complaint, and suggested Aurizon would have difficulty justifying a proposal for a multi-user line because the Abbot Point terminal on the coast only had capacity for Carmichael.
“I think we’re reasonably confident that the commission will make findings which would lead to recommendations to the minister to not finance or not provide financial support to large private infrastructure projects in Australia.”
The minister for resources and northern Australia has been contacted for comment.

Links

• Adani coal mine: green groups fume over plan for $1b federal loan
• 'Irreversible consequences': Adani coalmine granted unlimited water access for 60 years
• Anti-Adani activists vow 'direct action' against mine contractor Downer
• Adani mine leases and national parks in doubt after native title court decision
• Most Australians oppose government's $1bn Adani loan for coal railway line
• Adani coalmine activists gear up to fight: ‘This will dwarf the Franklin blockade’
• Voters near proposed Adani mine oppose public loan for rail line, poll finds
• Barnaby Joyce endorses loan for Adani's Carmichael coalmine
• Adani Carmichael mine: Australia Institute demands answers from Turnbull in full-page ad
• Opposition to public funding for Adani rail link outweighs support, poll finds