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Antarctica is a crucial regulator of the world's climate, and as environmental security permeates global security, using Antarctic science to better understand climate is becoming increasingly pressing. Although the Australian Government has recognised that climate change poses 'a current and existential national security' threat and has acknowledged Antarctica's importance regarding the earth's global climate system, the focus of Australia's intelligence community pertaining to Antarctica currently remains restricted to upholding the military-security and diplomatic goals of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). This current focus aims to hedge against the possibility of conflict on, or over, the frozen continent via 'working the ATS', however, this paper argues that Antarctic climate science holds a greater capacity to deliver security outcomes for Australia. Antarctic climate science offers opportunities regarding intelligence for Antarctica, that is, securing Australia's Antarctic interests, as well as regarding intelligence from Antarctica; by enhancing natural disaster preparedness, bolstering broader strategic planning, as well as furthering diplomacy and the legitimisation of Australia's leadership on, and over, the frozen continent. It is recommended that the Commonwealth Government establish a climate intelligence working group to ensure the utility of climate science to security and intelligence is realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian media reporting of climate change and renewable energy, along with public perceptions of the science and solutions of climate change, have shifted in ways that have increased pressure on politicians and policy makers. With the promotion of renewable energy central to ending Australia's heavy reliance on fossil fuels, it is critical to understand how this complex intersection of media and politics is evolving with regard to Australia's renewable energy options. Therefore, this paper examines Australian newspaper reporting of a pivotal moment in Australia's renewable energy discourse: the Australian Government's announcement, in March 2017 to expand the seventy-year-old Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme (known as Snowy 2.0), which marked a turning point in conservative energy policy. Qualitative content analysis reveals that, while political discourse delimited newspaper narratives, the sentiment of the framing was most strongly associated with the partisan alignment of the publishing organization. Regional influences also had a minor association with the framing of renewable energy. Through close analysis of this decisive moment in Australian media's political representation of renewable energy, this paper offers insights that can be used to inform media strategies for renewable energy policy in Australia, and to track changes in framing over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change introduces greater complexity to water resources planning, requiring techniques suited to increased future uncertainties. In Australia's Murray Darling Basin, governments formally recognised climate risk in 2002 and legislated science-based climate risk assessment in 2007. Since then, research has helped clarify the significance of climate change impacts on catchments, riverine ecosystems and water resources. This paper offers a review of climate risk assessments undertaken over the past two decades and outlines research needs and policy options while noting there are no simple solutions given the systemic nature of climate risks. Water resource planning and climate risk assessment need to handle non-stationarity and post-natural Anthropocene conditions. These methods should integrate biophysical and socio-economic modelling, increase stakeholder participation in developing and testing policy options and codify standards and procedures for transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As carbon emissions continue to rise, the need to adapt to climate impacts has become increasingly urgent. Planning and implementing climate adaptation is often left to local authorities and is fraught with the challenge of negotiating with multiple stakeholders holding differing interpretations of climate change. In such a space, local media has a critical role in communicating these differing perspectives within communities. In this article we explore the central role of a local newspaper in shaping public debate over the implementation of a climate adaptation plan in a coastal region of Australia. Rather than providing an arena for public discussion and constructive debate, we find that the newspaper adopted a clear position rejecting the need for changes in planning for anticipated climate impacts. We use the case study to explore how media discourse contributes to (i) the construction of an antagonistic debate undermining climate science, and (ii) strengthening the hegemony of economic value and property rights. In response, we suggest shoring up political alliances for climate change, including in the local media, as a basis for social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific warnings about impending climate disaster and experts' advocacy for more and better climate science have been largely unsuccessful for advancing evidence-based policy in Australia. Continuing expectations to the contrary stem from a reliance on the supposed ability of science to prime political understandings of climate change. This paper shows how scientists undermine this 'deficit model' ideal by conflating types and uses of evidence and expertise in policymaking. These tactics are unconvincing for conservative opponents, for whom climate science is far from the last word on what climate change means. This paper examines experts' rhetorical tactics through the eyes of conservative policymakers and, thereby, proposes a strategy more likely to effect resilient climate adaptation and mitigation policies in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper presents a study of atmospheric climate impacts on community-level sports clubs' (CLSC) in Australia and Canada, their vulnerability and resilience, and organisational responses. Design/Methods: A qualitative methodology was used with a multiple case research design. Data (interviews, documents) was collected from a sample of 23 CLSC organisations managing grass turf sport fields exposed to climatic extremes in temperate regions of both countries. Findings: CLSCs in both nations experienced vulnerability to climate impacts. Direct damage to playing fields resulted from extreme climate events. Indirect impacts include higher injury risks, interrupted and/or cancelled competitions, insurance risks, plus higher operating and capital costs. Adapted management was evident for water resources, playing turf, and organisational policies. Practical Implications: Provides insights into the changing practice of sport management at the community-level. Research Contribution: The results challenge the assumption that climate is a static and benign resource for sport. This study demonstrates impacts of climate extremes on sport in the northern and southern hemispheres, the potential for adapting sport management practices, and developing resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the response by the Australian political–military establishment to climate change through the lens of securitization theory. The research used mixed content analysis techniques to systematically examine more than 1500 speech-acts, policies and doctrinal articles between 2003 and 2013. It argues that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) was not a climate securitizing actor and that its response to climate change was mediated by the political partisanship surrounding broader national policy debates on climate change. The politicization of climate change made it increasingly difficult for the ADF to publicly adopt meaningful climate policies. It subsequently crafted a strategy that minimized any investment (resource or reputational) lest a change of government rendered them invalid or it drew unwanted criticism. At the very heart of this finding exists the challenge of an avowedlyapoliticalinstitution responding to what emerged in the Australian context as a politically partisan security issue. The more serious indictment concerned how national security policy (in the context of climate change as a security issue) became hostage to the politics of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tourism is widely acknowledged as a key contributor to climate change, but it remains unclear how the tourism industry has been planning for climate change in practice. This paper conducts the most comprehensive critical review of Australia's tourism policy and planning documents to date. The paper explores the complex challenges posed by climate change to tourism and how tourism policy has been adapting over a 15-year period. Drawing on a longitudinal data-set of 477 Australian tourism policy and planning documents at the national, state, regional and local level, this research analyses the strategic discourse on climate change using content analysis and bibliometrics. The findings reveal opportunities, challenges and strategies for the tourism industry to contribute to the sustainable management of climate change. Opportunities include developing more “green” products, while strategies include establishing and/or participating in collaborative climate change schemes and strengthening dialogue surrounding climate change to aid the implementation of sustainable practices. Future research should consider the broader policy-making environment, such as the stakeholders, power and interest dynamics when analysing tourism strategies in relation to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a growing focus on uncertainty as a distinct concept in the risk literature. This paper is concerned with how those involved in the design and implementation of climate change policy conceptualize risk and uncertainty. Based on interviews with policy and industry elites in Australia, China and the UK, it finds that participants did not distinguish between "risk" and "uncertainty" in their conceptualization of climate threats. For the majority of them, politics was the most significant source of risk and uncertainty in climate policy, but delegation of otherwise political decisions to the market was seen as the best solution. The conclusion suggests that the conceptual distinction between risk and uncertainty is less important, for policy and industry elites, than the need to develop mechanisms that account for both persistent scientific uncertainties as well as interpretive and moral ambiguities in climate policy design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change awareness has taken a dramatic turn in Australia, intensifying debate over the meaning of prolonged drought for rural futures, with critical implications for rural mental health. This paper is drawn from research on perceptions of Australian climate during a period of marked shift in public awareness of climate change (2004–2007). It utilises oral histories gathered in dryland farm communities of the semiarid Victorian Mallee at the edge of the nation's commercial cropping zone—in particular, the stories of women's health workers—to highlight the interdependency of environmental, economic, political and mental health concerns in rural and remote communities. Focusing on lived experience, the paper explores the narratives through which people have apprehended drought and climate change—in discourse of endurance, uncertainty and putative adaptation—revealing advocacy and local resolve in the provision of rural mental health services, and, fundamentally, a paradigm of embodiment in rural social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anticipatory governance is emerging in the literature and practice as a form of decision-making which attempts to deal with climate change complexities and uncertainties. Underpinning the anticipatory governance approach to decision-making is a three-step process which includes future analysis, flexibility of strategies and monitoring and action. This paper adopts the anticipatory governance and its three-step approach as a framework to investigate two Australian local government adaptation initiatives. It discusses the challenges local governments face in taking the lead through anticipatory governance to address climate change adaptation in their planning efforts. The paper aims to contribute analytical insights into adaptation planning at the local scale through anticipatory governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the research which investigates the thermal performance of Earthship, an autonomous, earth-sheltered housing concept that claims to require no active heating or cooling systems despite extreme climatic conditions. This research aims to test these claims through monitoring and thermal simulations. The study involves monitoring the indoor conditions in an Earthship home in New Mexico, USA and uses the measured data to calibrate a computer model used to simulate the thermal performance of the home for further analyses. The second part of the study compares Earthship thermal performance located in a temperate climate in Australia with that of buildings incorporating different wall construction materials such as strawbale, rammed earth, and brick veneer. Results from both these studies substantiate the claims. The effect of including a greenhouse, earth berm, and internal wall material is also explored and quantified. The paper concludes with a discussion of the scope for reducing home energy use through the use of Earthship design principles and construction methods and the viability for building these houses in the Australian suburbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of houses to suit the Australian environment has been a preoccupation from the first day that Europeans set foot on the shores of Port Jackson. Following WWII, a scientific approach to researching the relationship between building design and the climate commenced. From then and up to the present three periods of research can be identified. This paper concentrates on the first formative period between 1945 and 1972 when the thermal performance research work in Australia was dominated by two organizations, the Department of Works, Commonwealth Experimental Building Station (CEBS) located in Ryde, Sydney, and CSIRO, Division of Building Research (DBR) situated in Highett, Melbourne. During this period, thermal performance research conducted by these organizations was recognized throughout the world for its innovation. The paper summarizes the major work undertaken and how many of the concepts that informed this work are still with us today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local climate is a critical element in the design of energy efficient buildings. In this paper, ten years of historical weather data in Australia's eight capital cities were profiled and analysed to characterize the variations of climatic variables in Australia. The method of descriptive statistics was employed. Either the pattern of cumulative distribution and/or the profile of percentage distribution are presented. It was found that although weather variables vary with different locations, there is often a good, nearly linear relation between a weather variable and its cumulative percentage for the majority of middle part of the cumulative curves. By comparing the slopes of these distribution profiles, it may be possible to determine the relative range of changes of the particular weather variables for a given city. The implications of these distribution profiles of key weather variables on energy efficient building design are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetlands serve two increasingly critical functions in a climate-changed world, namely sequestering atmospheric carbon and moderating extremes in regional water cycles. These functions are particularly crucial in Australia, where climate change is likely to increase extreme weather events and impact water cycles. Yet despite multiscalar legal protections, Australia's total wetland cover is decreasing over time. We examine two contested wetland case studies and find that while legal mechanisms of protection exist in deliberative processes, good environmental outcomes are often undermined by the political mobility of competing commercial and industrial interests. Wetlands must be brought in from the periphery of social and political consciousness and placed at the heart of climate adaptation discourse and policy. Increasing the political mobility and agency of wetland protection has the capacity to simultaneously improve the environmental outcomes of deliberative processes and provide a legitimate pathway to greater regional climate resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at investigating the intradecadal and decadal signals of the sea level using 25 years of altimetry data around Australia. We have used the multivariable spectral analysis to extract six periodic signals at the 95% confidence level from altimetry-derived sea-level time series in the study area. They are signals with periods of 1, 1.5, 3, 4.3, 5.7 and 11.17 years, which can also be detected in the estimated power spectra from climate indices of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, Multivariate ENSO Index, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation. A parametric model including the detected periodic signals is used to estimate sea-level trends. The determined trends in the area are in a good agreement with recent studies that consider effects of climate indices through a multivariate regression model. The advantage of our model is to present more descriptive explanation of the sea level signals around Australia in terms of periodicity and spatial variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yalgorup Plain of southwestern Australia is underlain by two limestone formations and a linear quartz-sand formation containing limestone lenses. These limestones record carbonate deposition in seagrass banks during the Pleistocene; they are capped either by a prograding beach-ridge system of small cuspate forelands or a quartz-rich shore-parallel coastal barrier. The cuspate forelands formed behind protective offshore limestone reefs within a given Pleistocene wind-and-wave field, while the quartz-rich coastal dune barrier formed under enhanced swell conditions. These formations record three different Pleistocene interglacial depositional events, separated by unconformities, each linked to a distinct climate and mean sea level. Foraminiferal assemblages within the two limestones and within the limestone lenses of the quartz-sand formation faithfully record changes in minimum seawater temperature, reflecting these changes in climate. They indicate a cycle of warm–cool–warm water accumulation of carbonates. Such a record of both climate and sea level history for southwestern Australia is unique, contributing greatly to the Pleistocene coastal sedimentary history of limestones within southwestern Australia. These formations occur within the globally unique setting of Western Australia and are conserved within a National Park and represent an outstanding record of Quaternary coastal geomorphic development in terms of both carbonate and siliciclastic sedimentation linked to both climate and sea level changes. Given their array of lithofacies, environmental setting, sea level and climate changes, as well as their biostratigraphy reflecting these changes, these formations form a sedimentary 'package' that is of global geoheritage significance, with many of its inherent geological features also of global to national geoheritage significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International and Australian climate change adaptation research has identified conceptual frameworks, definitions and theories to support adaptation policy, planning and decision-making. However, there is more limited research on the practical experience and challenges of implementing adaptation. This article draws on the experience of 20 state, regional and local adaptation initiatives across a range of sectors, scales and locations in Australia, to identify the challenges faced by adaptation practitioners and decision-makers, and some emerging good practices. The review finds that many critical challenges to adaptation are common across the range of adaptation initiatives, and that there are significant interdependencies between these challenges. They should therefore be addressed in any significant adaptation initiative, at an early stage and as a related set of issues. The review also identifies potential national initiatives to enhance adaptation capabilities, and a number of policy issues beyond the jurisdiction of local stakeholders. These have been progressed as part of a broader agenda to support adaptation capability development within Australia, and to strengthen the linkages between adaptation practice, policy and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within most democracies there is an assumption that greater public participation and engagement in policy processes results in more effective policy measures. These assumed benefits include better framed and more robust policies and a more informed, articulate and engaged citizenry. Similar assumptions exist also in planning for climate adaptation where more public participation and engagement are seen as vital components of any adaptation strategy and policy development process. This article explores these assumptions and considers whether there is any evidence that the success of planning for unavoidable climate change is related to the extent of public participation. Using an evaluation framework based on three aspects of participation we critically review a set of climate adaptation policy instruments developed within each of the three levels of government in Australia but with a specific focus on the region of South East Queensland. 𢠣𷂖𠦘𧙥𠀧𢉩𣑸𵝈𠀦񥊒𥤙𱕴𡁆𣑐𶠇𱉃𠀓𶜹𤆑𢠣𰍀𠡄𠉇𡑂𙦂𳀡𤑱𡁀𶜹𦍷𥤨𰍀 𥤙𱕴𥔔𦁅𒊐𠡔𠆂𢤉𢞈𶠤𡉓𥌤𥤙𱕴𦚔𦕐𶜹𢤉𒊉𶜹𦍷𧥣𡅇񥊒𠆗𡑐𤁦𧙥𰚓𤝳𤈰𶜹𹙀𒊉𴤠𶞘𶜹𠠅𠦘񥊒𡑂𙦂𱉃𤈰𶜹𹙀𒊐𱡧𠊄𰍀𵉦𨡗𠁣𣎄𢌒𠄐𧙨𠔅𶡦𤈒𵉨𡀐𠀓񥊒𵝈𠀦𶜹𢠐𰍀𠡄𠉇𡑂𙦂𣕅𠄐𠈙𠌉𶡦𤈒𱕴𰁓𡙄𥤙𱕴𡑗𣘷𷄗𳉧𠡑𷌥𵈁𒊐𦐒𥦑𣕅𶠥𠄣𵉦𨡗𶠧𴢒𲝱𣔙񥊒𰑵𰑵𦅙𡕂𦍷𵝷𥑔𴤠𦄦𸀤𣕅𙦁𡒇𶦑𠠓𰍀𧙨𠔅𡑤𡉰𰍀𥄄𡅑𵉨𡀐񥊒𙦂𠡄𠉇𡑂𙦂𧜀𤅹𰑖𠡑𒊐𥄅𠈄𠍑𩦒𙥨𠀐𢔢𠄐𡑂𙦂𙥷𠠃𲀲𰍀𵞀𠈕𦚔𦕐񥊒𣕅𨖕𢠣𡀳𠄢𙥷𲐣𥤙𤈠񥊒𩌅𡀵𦅙𙦖𡌵𦄘𢝣𠡈𢌠𡌆񥊒𥕒𠦆𰍀𙥨𥥲𢡱𧙨𠔅𶡦𤈒𥤙𱕴𤀷𠡕𶠧𴢒𵞀𠈕𒊐 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Australian rockclimbing culture and climbers have been imagined in a particular way with the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century press playing a key role. Australian landscapes, including mountains, were incorporated into Indigenous cosmology for millennia before Aboriginal people discovered Europeans. But with the colonial invasion, the very nature of the landscape in the new colony meant that climbing culture was bound to take on a different persona from its European antecedent and undergo a rethinking or reinvention process. Figuring strongly in this discursive reconstruction was the particular geography of one region in Australia – southeast Queensland – with its diverse collection of volcanic peaks within range of a major population centre, along with a climate that encouraged the emergence of a set of complementary leisure activities. This article explores the emergence of rockclimbing culture in Australia from a range of often competing and contradictory discourses – Aboriginal cosmology, a unique landscape, the influence of the European idea of climbing and charismatic, visionary individuals. From the turn of the twentieth century, the role of local newspapers and magazines was a crucial element in this imagining process creating briefly a space for female climbers that has only recently been reclaimed. From the late 1880s, and particularly during the 1920s and 1930s, press reports of climbing and associated activities offered new ways of conceptualizing mountains and their place in shaping Australian culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like other destinations in the Asia Pacific region, Australia's tourism industry is vulnerable to the impacts and implications of climate change. The country's reliance on its natural “product”, which is potentially under threat, coupled with the potential for changing consumer demand patterns, particularly in long-haul markets, should be concerning for the tourism industry. Yet, the tourism industry has been criticised for its short-term, profit orientation and lack of action regarding climate change [Hall, C.M., & Higham, J. (Eds.) (2005). Tourism, recreation and climate change. Clevedon: Channel View Publications; Jenkins, K., & Nicholls, S. (2010). The impacts of climate variability and potential climate change on tourism business in Torbay, England and implications for adaptation. Tourism Analysis, 15(1), 17–30; Viner, D. (2006). Tourism and its interactions with climate change. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14(4), 317–415]. However, little empirical research has investigated the tourism industry's perspectives regarding climate change, neither the relative importance of climate change vis-a-vis other challenges facing the sector nor the strategies and actions required by the tourism industry to facilitate adaptation and mitigation strategies. It is against this background that a qualitative study was undertaken with expert representatives from both the public and private sectors of Australia's tourism industry to explore the industry's perspectives on current challenges and future directions with regards to climate change. The findings show that while the industry is aware of the importance of climate change, it is not seen as a pressing issue, particularly in light of the global economic crisis, and there has been little action by the industry in response to climate change. Respondents noted that the tourism industry is largely relying on, and waiting for, government intervention and leadership for the sector with regards to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several Torres Strait communities have significant infrastructure and sacred sites located only a few metres above sea level. As a consequence, these areas are vulnerable to erosion due to the projected increase in storm surge intensity caused by climate change. Common sense suggests that Islanders would welcome new scientific research about how climate change might affect them, in order to understand the significance of these impacts and the timeframes involved. However, one leader has taken a seemingly counterintuitive stance, and has refused to let new climate research occur. We explore why this position was taken, and the implications of this decision for ongoing scientific research. In order to carry out this analysis, we provide a contextual background by assessing Islanders' recent experience with scientific researchers, and the response of policy-makers to it. We find that despite a clearly documented problem with “top-down” decision-making, this process remains. In this instance, we find that there is a systemic lack of collaboration with Islanders to allow them to prioritise their concerns, and a lack of adequate resources to allow them to build their resilience to climate impacts. We conclude that only through a genuine collaborative approach to climate adaptation can activities be properly developed, prioritised and undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent extreme weather events in eastern Australia have again raised questions in the public sphere about the nature of links between anthropogenic climate change and extreme weather events. Demonstrating that anthropogenic climate change was wholly responsible for any extreme weather event may never be possible in a system as complex as the Earth's. Yet the extent to which anthropogenic climate change increased the likelihood of some specific extreme weather events occurring can be quantified. However, this article argues that unmitigated climate change threatens not just measurable, increased likelihoods of extreme events, but over time, wholly unpredictable frequencies for extreme weather events. This article asks what the prospects might be for continued provision of insurance in a climate-changed world, for the insurance sector as well as the societies dependent on insurance as a primary tool to manage financial risks. The article argues that ultimately, the only viable way to insure against climate risks will be through effective mitigation of climate change: deep and rapid cuts in emissions now as a ‘premium’ to avoid uninsurable climate risks in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Records of the past climate and vegetation of Australia are frequently constructed using data generated from the analysis of pollen and pteridophyte spores alone, or in association with sedimentology. We demonstrate that theorganic residue prepared for pollen analysis yields other organic-walled microfossils that can be used to provide additional and independent palaeoenvironmental information. These non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) include microscopic remains of algae, cyanobacteria, fungi, insects, other invertebrates and cormophytes. Our study of the NPP from two Late Quaternary lake records from western Victoria, Australia, provided additional information on water quality, salinity, depth, temperature and nutrient levels to the general environmental interpretation derived from pollen data. From a review of the ecological preferences of taxa, and comparison of the NPP results with pollen and spore curves from the lake records, ecological indicator values were derived. The study confirms the utility of NPP in enhancing environmental reconstructions in Australia, and encourages their routine examination in palynological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The often espoused view that Australia's arid zone experiences more variable rainfall over time than areas of similar climates elsewhere was tested using annual rainfall data from 407 localities spread throughout 14 arid areas, including 68 Australian sites. This represents an updated and more comprehensive analysis than previously completed. Four measures of inter-annual rainfall variability were calculated. Two of these are commonly used in the literature: the variability index (spread of the 90th and 10th percentiles divided by the median rainfall) and the coefficient of variability (standard deviation as a percentage of the mean). In addition, two simpler measures not divided by the average annual rainfall were used: the difference between the 90th and 10th percentiles, and the standard deviation of the mean. Linear relationships between rainfall variability and average annual rainfall enabled analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to be employed, with appropriate post hoc testing of adjusted means, to determine differences between regions in terms of the various measures of rainfall variability. ANCOVA consistently revealed that four regions (Thar, Namib-Kalahari, Somali and northern Australian deserts) were significantly more variable than all others. Southern Australia (defined as south of 27°S latitude) was grouped with these other desert regions, which include the North American deserts, Sahel, northern Sahara and Karoo. Generally the two groups were divided into low latitude, summer rainfall regions and higher latitude, winter rainfall ones, although there were some clear anomalies. The findings suggest that comparative studies of biotic responses to rainfall variability between arid Australia (particular southern regions) and other deserts are warranted before paradigms and models based on the uniqueness of Australia's arid environment are accepted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic climate change is the Earth's most serious large-scale environmental concern. While the projected changes of global temperatures, rainfall and surface water have been modelled in a sophisticated manner, the impact on groundwater resources is much less well constrained. In southeast Australia, the decrease in rainfall amount and an increase in temperature that are predicted by climate models are generally assumed to reduce the amount of recharge to the groundwater systems. However, the increase in recharge that has resulted from clearing of the native vegetation will almost certainly produce a greater impact on the groundwater system, increasing quantity and potentially improving quality. Additionally, the impact on recharge of changes to rainfall frequency rather than just total amount is not well documented. Overall our understanding of the impacts of climate change on groundwater systems is insufficiently advanced to make firm predictions. Indirect impacts of climate change, particularly the projected increased demand for groundwater or surface water to supplement surface water supplies also will have a major impact that may be greater than the direct effect of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With policy and legislative developments for the mitigation of climate change advancing apace, there has been little consideration given to the interactions, both positive and negative, that such instruments are likely to have with other forms of existing environmental management. Australia in particular has a number of environmental problems such as dryland salinity, biodiversity loss and general land management that will be directly impacted by climate change, and the instruments used to try and control its impacts. This paper considers the opportunities and arguments for integration among environmental schemes, using examples from both Australian and International experiences to date. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article traces some of the key historical events that have combined with Australia's geography, climate and patterns of immigration in shaping characteristics of Australian families-characteristics that are remarkable for their diversity on many fronts. These factors, along with changing patterns of family formation, stability and structure, evolving parenting roles, and the ever-increasing spatial concentration of families, have all contributed to diverse strengths, vulnerabilities and lifestyles of families. Policies directed towards helping families identify and draw on their own strengths and those of their community have gained momentum since the late 1990s. The article outlines some of these policies, along with a project on family strengths that has helped shape interventions. doi:10.1300/J002v41n03_01 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While satellite‐derived sea‐surface temperatures (SSTs) have been widely used in open ocean monitoring, they have rarely been applied to the nearshore region. In this study, full‐resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data were used to derive a sea temperature climatology for three nearshore sites at Rottnest Island (Western Australia) for the 7‐year period 1995 to 2001. Because of the proximity to the land, image geolocation and careful pixel selection were crucial. The mean annual cycle shows the influence of both air–sea heat flux in the shallow waters and the seasonal strengthening of the tropical Leeuwin Current. Self‐recording temperature loggers were installed on near‐surface buoys for a few months in 2001 to assess how reliably the satellite temperatures could be used in such a dynamic nearshore environment. About 80% of the individual satellite temperatures were within ±0.5°C of the logger measurements (at the same time of day) and over 95% were within ±1°C. Occasionally, however, the satellite temperatures differed from the in situ measurements by more than 2°C and possible reasons for this are discussed. The monthly mean satellite temperatures were generally within 0.3°C of the monthly logger averages, which may be taken as a practical reliability limit for the climatology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the key requirements for implementation of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). Reference to how the Russian ratification of the treaty approved it along with the participation of 126 other countries; Indications that the U.S. and Australia will not take actions to ratify the agreement; Reference to how the rules of the agreement were rewritten at the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) of the Framework Convention in order to lower the costs for Canada, Japan, and Russia; Goals of a post-Kyoto framework which will focus on fundamental aspects of the science and economics of global climate change policy; Suggestion for industrialized to take initial steps to make emissions reductions on their own.

One of the predominant issues on the agenda of diplomats and politicians is how to address the consequences of shifts in perception about threats to the environment and the actual short and long-term characteristics and effects of environmental degradation. Another challenge is that such issues as climate change impact on many areas including trade, economic and fiscal policies, employment, transport, agriculture and regional develop- ment. Furthermore, decisions taken at a national level cannot be isolated from international concerns, as in the case of the Kyoto Protocol. This article maps out some of the differences between Australia and the European Union in relation to the role of developing countries in tackling climate change, the use of market mechanisms to tackle environmental problems and the implementation of punitive compliance systems. We explore the challenges facing Australia and the EU in sustainable develop- ment, why the EU has a reputation as a leader in this field, how Australia has engaged the challenge and why the similarities in the approach of Australia and the EU are more striking than the differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative data bearing on Phanerozoic climates of Australia are summarised and comparisons are made with the predictions of atmospheric general circulation models over 12 time slices from the Silurian to the Miocene. Summaries of the model-derived mean temperature and precipitation conditions are given individually for each of four regions (southeast, northeast, southwest and northwest). Model results provide the means of estimating climate conditions in many cases, but there is fair agreement between the two approaches in most cases in which data are available. On model results, the southeast experienced winter freezing conditions from the Permian through until the middle Cretaceous and was consistently the coolest of the four regions, in part because of its proximity to the pole, but also because it was the site of elevated terrain throughout most of the Phanerozoic. It also tended to be among the wettest parts of Australia over this time and was subject to frequent winter storms. The northeast, in contrast, was often the warmest part of the continent, although strong seasonality and freezing winter temperatures were common during the Mesozoic and Palaeozoic. Strong seasonality (>30°C contrast between winter and summer) also apparently characterised most of the record for the southwest region, except for the Tertiary, part of the Jurassic, and the Early Palaeozoic. Together with the southeast, this region experienced the most intense effects of winter, especially in the Triassic. Strong seasonality also affected the northwest region through much of the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic and, interestingly, the highest summer temperatures on the continent are predicted for the southwest for most of the time slices studied. The models used today are imperfect but, nonetheless, offer a means of prediction and will perhaps stimulate the gathering of quantitative data in a continent where information is hard to come by and for which not much has yet been presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]