Michael Vardon on why urban forests keep losing the argument — and how a bit of accounting could change the odds. And he begins by looking at the loss of a much loved 80-year-old raintree in Cairns.
environmental accounts
Australia quietly released the national ecosystem account last week. Now we need to use them
Nature in Australia stored almost $60 billion worth of carbon in 2021–22! How do we know? Because this value was recorded in the country’s second set of ecosystem accounts just put out by the ABS. And they are open for everyone to see. You can look up your favourite ecosystem to see how it is doing in terms of its extent and condition, and the ecosystem services it provides. Here, Michael Vardon explains why these accounts are important and how we should be using them, and laments at how little attention they given.
We’re still not measuring our reliance on nature as we rush to boost productivity
Human economies are made possible through natural capital – stocks of land, fresh water, oceans, biodiversity and soils, among others. Farming isn’t possible without soil or water. Manufacturing isn’t possible without raw materials to convert into products. Service industries aren’t possible without reliable food. This may seem like stating the obvious. But what’s obvious isn’t always acted upon. At last week’s high-profile Economic Reform Roundtable, natural capital was conspicuously absent. At the table were bankers, unionists, housing experts and business groups – but only one environmental advocate, former treasury secretary Ken Henry. The government’s goals were to make the economy more productive and resilient and the budget more sustainable. The health of our natural capital underpins all of these.
The Blue Mountains – towards nature positive with natural capital accounting
The Blue Mountains rise to the west of Sydney, NSW. In the year 2000 it was included on UNESCO’s World Heritage register for its representation of the evolutionary adaptation and diversification of eucalypts in post-Gondwanan Australia. Those eucalypts are rich in oil, filling the air with a distinctive blue haze that gives the region its name. Earlier this month, the many environmental organisations and community groups with connections to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area came together for the Inaugural Blue Mountains World Heritage Conference. The meeting aimed to chart a way forward to ensure the protection and environmental stewardship of the globally significant landscape of the Blue Mountains. Michael Vardon was invited to speak at the conference on environmental accounting. Here he shares his personal perspectives on how the goodwill and enthusiasm generated at this meeting might translate into enduring environmental outcomes. Our governments chant a mantra of ‘nature positive’ but without a framework like natural capital accounting, it’s little more than empty rhetoric.
Much activity but difficult to tell if it will make a difference: Senate Budget Estimates 2023
The Senate has just wrapped up its Budget Estimates hearings. The good news is that most of the ‘substance’ relates to increased activity. The recent years of inactivity on the environment are clearly over. The bad news is that it will take a long time to generate fresh momentum.
From moonlight jewels to common browns: what do butterfly accounts say about biodiversity conservation?
Biodiversity is important and butterflies are beautiful. But Australia’s biodiversity is in steep decline. Maybe environmental accounts can help here, and butterflies are a great example demonstrating how.
Bringing ‘the environment’ in from the cold
The major parties will always be keen to downplay big environmental reform ideas because rocking the boat is simply unacceptable in a political campaign. The solution is to bring the environment ‘in from the cold’; to connect it to the numbers that politicians see as central to what voters think is important.
A new government and a new environment minister – what now for Australian environmental policy?
While Labor lifted its game at the last minute with its environmental law reform policy, they can hardly be said to be environmental-policy high performers. So, what’s ‘on the record’ and ‘off the record’ for our new government when it comes to the Environment? What should our new environment minister prioritise?
Off the dial – Planet Earth is showing multiple instrument warnings
The way ahead is uncertain. The road is turning very dangerous; full of pot holes and gaping cracks.
Slow down! The vehicle isn’t safe anymore.
Our political leaders, however, are in no doubt.
“She’ll be right, mate. No need for brakes!”
Could anything be ‘New’ About Capitalism and the Environment?
Then it got interesting. Matt Kean started talking about there being a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the big structural issues in the economy. ‘There’s no point leaving our kids with a bucketful of money if we’ve left them with a mountain of environmental debt,’ he said.
Forget charisma, save our insects! Never underestimate the politics swirling around charismatic megafauna
Never underestimate the politics swirling around charismatic megafauna because they always get the biggest chunk of the tiny conservation pie. Sadly it’s a powerful political reflex.
‘Environmental accounting’ could revolutionise nature conservation, but Australia has squandered its potential
Environmental accounting could be a game changer for conserving nature, but the account released by the ABS falls flat. It’s yet another example of Australia’s environmental policy culture: we develop or adopt good ideas, but then just tinker with them, or even discard them.
At last, an international standard for ecosystem accounting! Now what?
I think ecosystem accounts could have something in common with lasers: when first discovered, nobody knew quite what to do with them, but over time they have become indispensable.
The zero sum game – from biodiversity to emissions
The lesson here is that great care needs to be applied to the establishment of any zero sum policy game. It needs to be transparent, accountable and enforceable. And it cannot be applied merely as cover for business as usual to proceed without any checks and balances.
By all accounts, can we manage to save biodiversity?
Many are throwing up their hands in despair in the face of a rapidly unfolding biodiversity catastrophe. Could environmental accounting be the missing link in our thinking?
Will next year be a big one for biodiversity?
In February, almost every nation on the planet is meeting in Kunming, China, to discuss how well they are doing at conserving biodiversity. Which is just as well as earlier this year the UN issued its latest report suggesting we are witnessing an biodiversity catastrophe with a million species threatened with extinction.