Field work in Kiribati
In April and May I spent two months in Kiribati undertaking field work toward my PhD. Kiribati is an island nation made up of 32 atolls (and one raised limestone island) with a total land area of 800 km2 spread over 3.5 million km2. To put that into perspective, on a ratio basis it is equivalent to chopping Cairns into 33 pieces and scattering it across Australia. I was in awe when flying in that people had found their way to these tiny pockets of land in the middle of the Pa
Staring at the abyss
Having already lost much of its habitat in the last 30 years, the Southern Black-throated Finch will plummet towards extinction if Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine goes ahead as planned, experts have warned. Image courtesy of Eric Vanderduys In a report submitted to Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg today, the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team—charged with safeguarding this Endangered species—describes a fundamentally flawed offset plan that will have grave conseq