The United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, and people all over the world are working to safeguard this irreplaceable natural wealth and reduce biodiversity loss. Now is the time to act.
Coastcare Week 2009 will be celebrated on December 7-13 and will promote the dedicated volunteers and outstanding Coastcare projects around Australia, in particular how groups are battling the impact of climate change.
On 22 and 23 October, 2009 celebrations were held at Kowanyama to recognise the Kowanyama Peoples' Part A native title determination and the handover of Errk Oykangand National Park to its traditional owners.
Landcare Week 2009 (7-13 September) is quickly approaching. Make a PlaceStory to show your Landcare group's activities to celebrate 20 years of the Landcare movement.
What to share your photos of Australia's environment? Create a Flickr account and join NRM Australia to show and share your images with other group members.
The World Agroforestry Centre has recently published Landcare: local action - global progress. This is an anthology from 28 authors documenting Landcare experiences from around the world.
Can the arts make a difference to the environment? Healthy Environment Leadership Mentoring program (HELM) thinks they can. Expressions of interest are now open for $13 000 mentorships for young and emerging artists to use their creative talents to tackle our largest challenges; from climate change to conservation.
A number of really useful tools have been added to the website to let you comment on stories, communicate with members and share stories with others. Click on a Project in the Featured Projects - there are tabs to communicate about the project. Now, click on a Story in that project to see the list of tabs below the storyviewer.
At Feral Arts we have taken on suggestions made at recent workshops and have updated the PlaceStories software to version 3.2.6. This PlaceStories version now includes some handy tools to make your enjoyment of making digital stories even better.
A water scientist has told a parliamentary committee in South Australia that parts of the Murray-Darling should be allowed to die to save other parts of the river system.
The Queensland Rural Women's Network (QRWN) are about to get their first hands on experience with the PlaceStories system in a workshop in Goomeri later this month.
Releasing the 2009 World Disasters Report in Australia, Red Cross says 2008 was one of the deadliest years in recent history with 225,842 natural disaster fatalities, and again Asia Pacific was the hardest hit region on earth.
The South Australian Environment Department says it is bracing for acidification in the Lower Lakes and Coorong region to worsen over the next year. The department is taking community submissions on how to spend $200 million in Federal funding on improving the environment in the region.
Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, today announced the appointment of the Chair and Members of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA).
Learn how to produce digital stories to promote your work in natural resource management (NRM). Two-day PlaceStories workshops will be held throughout May in most NRM regions in South Australia. View the calendar for details.
Feral Arts has created a Flickr Group - NRM Australia for those people interested in sharing their images and discussing natural resource management issues in Australia.
The draft Caring for our Country Monitoring Evaluation Reporting and Improvement (MERI) Strategy has been prepared by the Australian Government to articulate clear requirements for achieving the aims of Caring for our Country.
More than 200 agricultural and environmental science jobs will be lost across Australia, following a $16million federal budget cut to two government research agencies according to the Canberra Times.
A group of representatives from the Gulf of Carpentaria is asking the Queensland Government for $75 million in flood recovery funding. Earlier this year, the region was hit with the second biggest floods on record, leaving large areas underwater for two months and cutting off the towns of Normanton and Karumba.
Vancouver City Council has voted unanimously to phase out the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities. This is a new milestone in the international struggle against the commodification of water according to Maude Barlow, senior advisor on water to the President of the United Nations General Assembly and national chairperson of the Council of Canadians.
Caring for our Country has received more than 1300 applications. Applications seeking a total of $3.4 billion are vying for the $450 million available to protect Australia's environment.
Murray inflows between January and March were the lowest in 117 years and the outlook for the next three months is also looking bleak. That’s the grim news in the latest Drought Update issued by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson has accused Queensland Premier Anna Bligh of "urinating on the rights" of Aboriginal people and treating them "much worse than even (Joh) Bjelke-Petersen would have done".
In dead water: merging of climate change with pollution, over-harvest, and infestations in the world’s fishing grounds is a recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). .
Opportunity to enter the 2009 Riversymposium Young Water Scientist Award is now open to any young scientist currently undertaking postgraduate research on water through any recognized institution within Australia.
One of Australia's leading ecologists has called for governments to give the Landcare movement a boost. There's widespread fear that Landcare is dying, with a lack of certainty over funding under the new Caring for our Country system.
There is concern about a large algal bloom moving down the Murray. An official with Victoria's Lower Murray Water Corporation says the outbreak of blue-green algae in the river is the worst he has seen.
NGOs have lashed out at what they see as a lack of progress at the World Water Forum in Instanbul in mid-March, saying not enough countries are signing up to an international treaty that could secure water supplies in many parts of the world.
Peak water is a new concept that indicates the era of easy access to water is coming to an end. Professor Malin Falkenmark of the Stockholm International Water Institute believes it reveals a rethink is needed.
The Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council, on behalf of the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments, is inviting public comments on the draft Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010–2020.
Are you interested in freshwater photography? Have a look at Mark Godfrey's slide show where he takes you on a tour of some of his favorite freshwater photos ... and tells you the story behind the image and of the skill and technique each photographer used to capture nature's beauty.
Not sure how the Australia Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) applies to farms and farming activities and the steps to take to ensure compliance?
Community groups, catchment authorities and individuals working on restoration of rivers, lakes and wetlands across Australia and around the world are invited to submit their applications for International Riverfoundation’s prestigious Riverprize now!
Rangelands 2008 — Taking the pulse, is the first time that disparate datasets have been brought together at a national and regional scale to report change in Australia's rangelands.
On World Wetlands Day (2 February 2009) the Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Hon Peter Garrett MP released the Ramsar Snapshot Study Report.
What are the real implications for Queensland’s coastal environments? How do we know our management practices are the most effective solution to identified problems and who do we turn to for guidance and information? All of these issues and more will be discussed at the Queensland Coastal Conference 2009.
The shipping company responsible for an oil spill off the south-east Queensland coast says the tank that leaked could have been carrying more than 500,000 litres of fuel.
International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater.
How can you make a PlaceStory about Earth Hour? Given the Earth Hour concept is to turn off all lights for one hour from 8.30pm on 28 March it is difficult to make a visually appealing PlaceStory about darkness. Have a go, be creative and celebrate 2009 Earth Hour with a PlaceStory. All published PlaceStories will be forwarded to the WWF, coordinators of Earth Hour.
Around 20 tonnes of fuel oil leaked into the sea off North Stradbroke and Moreton islands after a cargo ship was holed as it lost part of its load in rough seas whipped up by Cyclone Hamish.
Research presented on 10 March, 2009 at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen shows that the upper range of sea level rise by 2100 could be in the range of about one meter, or possibly more.
Australia Council played host as the Community Arts and Cultural Development sector gathered in Sydney to honour its annual award winners and launch the KP11 Exhibition.
If you want information on the Australian Government's Exposure draft of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation visit the Department of Climate Change.
Entries are invited for the 2009 Banksia Awards. Since 1989 the Banksia Awards have recognised many valuable Australians for their tireless efforts in making a positive difference to our environment. Who should you nominate?
Of course, PlaceStories is not a competition. It’s about working together towards the common goals of sustainable natural resource management and communication within the Landcare community.
On the other hand, have you seen how many stories NSW groups have posted in the last few weeks.
Marine researchers monitoring green sea turtle hatchlings at Heron Island off Gladstone in central Queensland say hot weather could see the threatened species become extinct.
New figures released by the Queensland Government show the rate of tree clearing in the state fell by 37% in the six months following the introduction of a ban on broadscale tree clearing in December 2006.
Every year, from Perth to Penrith, hundreds of thousands of Australians get stuck in and clean up their local environment by collecting and removing rubbish on Clean Up Australia Day - Sunday 1 March.
The Ideas Festival (25-29 March), a five-day festival of ideas, innovation and invention at Brisbane's Cultural Centre, South Bank, is Queensland’s leading open public ideas event. It is open to all and mostly free. Program is now available at Ideas Festival website.
Natural resource management groups across Australia now have extra time to lodge investment proposals for 2009-10 under Caring for our Country. The new closing deadline for applications is Friday 3 April 2009.
The main cause of our droughts and flooding rains has been traced to the waters of the Indian Ocean, according to a new report from the University of NSW which could overturn decades of weather research. Sydney Morning Herald, Environment writer, Ben Cubby reports.
Grow Local SEQ is a regional strategy under development by Queensland Conservation. A full day Forum takes place at the Griffith Ecocentre on Friday 27 February to discuss this strategy and a whole-of-region approach to local food production programs.
Biofuels do have a part to play in the switch to a more sustainable transport system but the production and supply chain needs to be refined to get the most out of them.
In October 2008, Connecting Up Australiainvited Australian charities and nonprofits to take part in a survey about their information technology usage. This is a similar survey to one they conducted as a part of the National Nonprofit ICT Coalition (NNIC) project in 2006. Over 1,000 organisations of all sizes and from all over Australia recorded their information.
Life on the Edge is a fun and practical initiative by Coastcare to encourage all Australians who use and love our incredible coast to give back to local volunteer groups who look after the coast.
The Center for Rural Strategies PlaceStories system is going through a major upgrade. This new offers a wide range of integrated communications features for CRS members.
Places in the upcoming PlaceStories training workshop are filling fast. The one day workshop is a hands on digital media experience in which participants create and publish their own digital story using the PlaceStories software system.
Collective State Communications Coordinator and NRMQLD PlaceStories Administrator, Natasha Wright was the winner of the 2008 Landcare Leadership Bursary announced at the Queensland Landcare Conference held in Monto, September 08.
We would like you to join Landcare Queensland PlaceStories today by creating an account, joining communities, and installing and using the PlaceStories software available on this website.
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