Past Programs
Endangered Species - 2005
Biodiversity Banking Part Two
17/12/2005
There's a new kid in town which is claimed will protect ecosystems, called Biodiversity Banking. It attempts to turn biodiversity into tradeable units which developers can buy or sell in exchange for clearing land. But there are problems.
Wielangta Forest
03/09/2005
The Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, the swift parrot and a stag beetle are the subject of an important environmental test case currently before the federal court.
All three endangered species are nationally listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. But when these rare and threatened species occur in a logging coupe, the national legislation doesn't apply. It's overridden by the state-based Regional Forest Agreements, and this is the point to be challenged.
Greens Senator Bob Brown is testing the laws governing endangered species in the Wielangta Forest on the East coast of Tasmania.
Dr Peter McQuillan is an entomologist and lecturer in ecology at the University of Tasmania.
Permafrost and the Troposphere
20/08/2005
A couple of highly significant studies came out last week that could shift our understanding of global warming. Research from Russia revealed that an area of Siberian permafrost spanning one million hectares is beginning to melt for the first time since the Ice Age 11,000 years ago. A million hectares of permafrost covers an area the size of France and Germany combined. So if it melts, what impact would that have on the climate?
And the other big news was in the troposphere, where new findings could quash the arguments of the climate sceptics.
With climatologist Dr Graeme Pearman.
Queensland Maps
13/08/2005
Until last year Queensland was clearing about 400,000 hectares of bush a year, the highest rate of clearing in the developed world. But that all came to an end when the Beattie government introduced new laws which guaranteed that almost all uncleared ecosystems would be protected by 2006.
This week the two scientists whose research underpinned that legislation were acknowledged with the $10,000 Eureka prize for environmental research.
Dr Rod Fensham is from the Queensland Herbarium.
Tree Kangaroos
06/08/2005
Tree Kangaroos are some of the more elusive marsupials in the tropical forests of Australia and New Guinea. Relatively little is known about their habits and as recently as the 1990s Tim Flannery discovered two new species and a couple of subspecies previously unknown to science.
Ecologist Dr Roger Martin attempts to unravel the origin of these marvellous creatures in his new book. He also looks at how to protect them in the wilds of Papua New Guinea, where they're highly endangered.
Lyre Birds Feral in Tasmania
30/04/2005
Lyre birds are much loved on the mainland, but they are a feral pest in Tasmania. They were introduced to the island 60 years ago and there could be 8,000 there now.
