Environment News

Producing food accounts for about 70 per cent of global freshwater use and the foods that use the most may surprise you, writes Brad Ridoutt.

Experts say humanity has only 10 years to have large-scale carbon dioxide reduction schemes up and running if global warming is to be restrained to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Here are some of the schemes that are being explored.

Tasmanian farmer Richard Headlam says he was reassured a proposed coal mine on his land would not go ahead. Two years later, the plan by Midland Energy has been revived.

The New South Wales Government is funding an aerial survey for water in the state's central west.

Volunteer whale spotters believe they've photographed more than 50 whales at South Australia's Sleaford Bay this year, raising questions about how the marine mammals might be affected by a desalination plant proposed for the area.

North Korea's chief negotiator says discussions with the United States on Pyongyang's nuclear program have broken down, but Washington says the two sides had "good discussions" that it intends to build on in two weeks.

Australia's dairy farmers are leaving the industry in droves as drought and sky-high prices for water take their toll.

The Independent Planning Commission will be reviewed after a 21-year mining lease near Singleton was approved before public submissions closed — a blunder the Opposition says will call the system's integrity into question.

After a devastating bushfire, one remote WA farming community takes steps towards a solar solution — and it's cheaper, safer, and more reliable.

The flooding of Lake Pedder started the green political movement but remains an open wound. A nostalgic campaign to drain it is ramping up, but flies in the face of Hydro Tasmania's bold plans to grow its renewable energy assets.

Every year, thousands of short-tailed shearwaters, or mutton birds, descend on Victoria's coastline at the end of September or early October after a mammoth journey from the northern hemisphere, but so far this year they haven't shown up.

As the waterline recedes, it uncovers sunken forests, garden beds and other relics from the town sacrificed to create one of the country's biggest dams.

China's mega infrastructure plan could transform the global economy, but conservationists say it will also embolden poachers, destroy habitats and drive endangered animals to extinction.

A floating boom designed by a Dutch inventor to hoover up floating plastic in the Pacific Ocean is now working, after a host of setbacks, and photos of its catch include discarded nets and a car wheel.

The largest local council in New South Wales, whose patch includes the Darling River town that experienced mass fish kills, will spend another four years in administration.

If you suffer from trypophobia, or an aversion to the sight of clusters of small holes, you might want to take a deep breath before laying your eyes on a Suriname toad.

Rescuers cut away a shark net wrapped around a young humpback whale, as an environmental group revealed the animal had dragged the net as it swam from Queensland for almost a week.

Almost two years after millions of microplastics spilled onto pristine beaches in Victoria and sparked an emergency response from authorities, the plastic's origin remains a mystery.

Extinction Rebellion wanted to spray the British Treasury building with fake blood to protest against the government's lack of action on the environment, but things quickly got out of control.

The world's second-deadliest fungus, the poison fire coral, is found in Far North Queensland for the first time, a long way from its usual home in the mountains of Japan and Korea, and can cause a "horrifying array of symptoms".

Farmers and local politicians voice their objections to plans to reduce the size of a proposed central Queensland weir as state and federal governments argue over how to deal with a cost blowout.

Scuba divers can reach depths of 40 metres, but there's a small group of hardcore divers who venture more than twice as deep. You just need a sense of adventure and the right gear.

Victoria finally has a permanent kangaroo pet food program, but farmers are concerned red tape will result in carcasses left to rot in paddocks.

A man dies in Papua New Guinea after eating a fish caught near the site of a massive nickel refinery spill, however the mine's Chinese operator denies the accident caused his death.

One of Australia's largest food exporters, SunRice, cuts more than 30 regional staff after producing its second-lowest rice crop.