Urban flooding is a serious and growing development challenge. It is a global phenomenon which causes widespread devastation, economic damages and loss of human lives. The occurrence of floods is the most frequent among all natural disasters globally. In 2010 alone, 178 million people were affected by floods. The total losses in exceptional years such as 1998 and 2010 exceeded $40 billion. Cities and Flooding: A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century provides forward-looking operational assistance to policy makers and technical specialists in the rapidly expanding cities and towns of the developing world on how best to manage the risk of floods. It takes a strategic approach, in which appropriate risk management measures are assessed, selected and integrated in a process that both informs and involves the full range of stakeholders.
The Australian Government is developing a strategy to restore and manage ecological connections in the Australian landscape. The National Wildlife Corridors Plan Advisory Group has prepared a Draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan. The Advisory Group is seeking public comments and consulting with key stakeholders before preparing a final plan for consideration by the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Have your say – comments close 20 April 2012.
Courtesy of Biosecurity Queensland, the key to Environmental Weeds of Australia is now available for free online. This interactive identification and information resource for over 1000 invasive plants is an invaluable resource for all those involved with research, training and management of environmental weeds in Australia, especially State and local weed control officers, Bushcare and Landcare volunteers.
On 29 February 2012, the Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC) launched the IS rating scheme for the design, construction and operation of Australian infrastructure, with the IS rating tool now available for use.
Released in early March 2012, FOODmap is a comprehensive comparative analysis of food distribution channels for major categories within the Australian food industry, from food producer to consumer. It summarises the key features of a food industry that continues to undergo change, with significant opportunities and challenges at a category level.
An understanding of cause and effect is central to decision-making in environmental management. It matters most where decisions may be subject to challenge or where restoration budgets are tight and managers are looking for the best value. The new Eco Evidence software from the eWater CRC facilitates causal assessment for environmental management, and offers a mechanism to make best use of the extensive pool of published research. You can search and access a reusable knowledge bank of atomised pieces of evidence, relevant to specific cause-effect associations, extracted from scientific papers. Eco Evidence helps answer cause-effect questions, make assessments, plan for restorations, and carry out critical reviews on a specific topic of interest.
The new Coastal Research Webportal is a free resource developed for local councils and researchers to access current and previous research projects, find related publications, and access links to a range of available data and metadata. The Google maps interface allows exploration of research at local, regional and national scales. If you’re working in coastal research, you can add your research to the webportal.
The Australian Government has transferred heritage-listed bushland at Malabar Headland in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, honouring a commitment made by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Member for Kingsford Smith Peter Garrett in August 2010 to create a 70-hectare coastal National Park – see media release.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has announced Council’s Creek Rangers are celebrating an exciting discovery this month, with a platypus spotted swimming through a south Brisbane urban waterway – see media release.
The streams and rivers running through many of our cities are getting sick: not just from the pollution and waste carried by stormwater into gutters and drains, but from another, unexpected source – the concrete pipes and infrastructure carrying the water. Ian Wright profiles this problem in the ECOS Magazine article Concrete pushing urban water quality ‘over the edge’?