Info, news & views for anyone interested in biodiversity conservation and good environmental decision making
“Cultural burning is sophisticated, locally valuable and was often suppressed by colonial governments. But no knowledge system — Indigenous or western — provides a complete operating manual for the speed and scale of climate warming we are facing. Cultural and prescribed burning can reduce fuels and fire severity in appropriate landscapes. They cannot re-freeze permafrost, cool the atmosphere or restore lost snowpack. They are adaptation tools, not substitutes for mitigation.”
Andrew Weaver, Donald Trump blames Canada for wildfire smoke — but global warming is loading the wildfire dice
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In this issue of Dbytes
1. Why Urban Forests Keep Losing the Argument and Our Children Pay the Price
2. ‘A river is our life force’: why Indigenous cultural values must be visible in conservation
3. Spatio-temporal access to protected areas from Australian significant urban areas
4. What data centres can learn from mining about water
5. From plankton to plate: Changing UK seas are shifting food webs
6. Humanity is trapped between mad warlords and greedy scoundrels
7. Ecosystems for philanthropy: understanding global context and opportunities
8. Land-clearing concerns spark call to scrap NSW invasive native species code
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1. Out on a Limb: Why Urban Forests Keep Losing the Argument and Our Children Pay the Price
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.
https://sustainabilitybites.com/out-on-a-limb-why-urban-forests-keep-losing-the-argument-and-our-children-pay-the-price/
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2. ‘A river is our life force’: why Indigenous cultural values must be visible in conservation
Australia has systems for identifying threatened species and ecological communities. These are based on their extinction risk using evidence-based criteria. These are important, but they do not always capture why a species, place or ecosystem matters to Indigenous peoples. Martuwarra is a powerful example. The Fitzroy River catchment in the West Kimberley is recognised as a National Heritage Place and the longest registered Aboriginal Cultural Heritage site in WA. It supports threatened, migratory and priority-listed species, as well as nationally and internationally important wetlands. But its cultural significance cannot be understood through ecological listings alone. Martuwarra connects people to Country and holds a detailed knowledge system. It tells people when it is time to move, hunt and conduct ceremony. It is central to kinship connections and the shared responsibility to care for the river. When a culturally significant species or place is damaged, the loss can affect more than biodiversity. It can also affect language, cultural practice, teaching and community wellbeing.
‘A river is our life force’: why Indigenous cultural values must be visible in conservation
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3. Spatio-temporal access to protected areas from Australian significant urban areas
There are many positive effects of the natural environment on human health and wellbeing. These benefits are closely linked to people’s accessibility to protected areas like National Parks. In this study, we quantified spatial and temporal relationships between the extent of protected areas in, and adjacent to, significant urban areas (SUAs) in Australia, the populations of SUAs, and the network service area of connecting SUAs with protected areas between 2001 and 2024. To evaluate the accessibility of SUAs to protected areas, we developed a gravity-based accessibility index using a network analysis approach. The Gravity Index is a relative measure of attractiveness of a protected area in terms of the distance that needs to be travelled to access it, and the level of possible “congestion” placed on it from the population of the surrounding network service area. SUAs with a high value for the Gravity Index reflect shorter distances to travel to protected areas, along with fewer people per unit of area visiting protected areas (low congestion). Our results reveal marked differences in the Gravity Index for SUAs across Australia. Some SUAs, such as Hobart and Canberra, were characterized by a comparatively high Gravity Index, indicating extensive protected areas within a short distance of those population centres. Others, such as Melbourne (Australia’s fastest growing SUA), had a very low and declining Gravity Index, associated with high population growth (1.8 million in 24 years), small fragmented existing protected areas surrounding the city, and limited additional land added to the protected area network over the period of population growth. Our results identify priority SUAs (such as Melbourne) where there is a need to expand the protected area network through, for example, changing land tenures to National Parks.
Spatio-temporal access to protected areas from Australian significant urban areas – ScienceDirect
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4. What data centres can learn from mining about water
In Australia and around the world, there’s growing concern about water usage connected to planned data centres. The industry claims that there are significant economic outputs per unit of water used but, as the mining industry has discovered in the past, this fact by itself does not solve social conflicts over water. Here, Nadja Kunz and colleagues discuss how the data-centre sector can learn from the mining sector about how it can keep its social license to operate by improving its water use, management and reporting practices.
https://www.globalwaterforum.org/2026/08/05/what-data-centres-can-learn-from-mining-about-water/
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5. From plankton to plate: Changing UK seas are shifting food webs
A new MCCIP report, drawing on over 500 studies, reveals that climate change is already reshaping UK plankton communities — threatening food web efficiency, fisheries productivity, and the ocean’s capacity to store carbon.
From plankton to plate: Changing UK seas are shifting food webs – Oceanographic
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6. Humanity is trapped between mad warlords and greedy scoundrels
The danger of nuclear war does not begin and end with Donald Trump, but with a failing system of nation states, militarised power and corporate oligarchy.
Humanity is trapped between mad warlords and greedy scoundrels | Pearls and Irritations
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7. Ecosystems for philanthropy: understanding global context and opportunities
Philanthropy is expanding rapidly across the world and more of it is locally driven. Global and local funders and stakeholders are keen to advance ‘more and better’ giving but evidence-informed giving is still not core practice in a good deal of philanthropy. This report explores the factors that might contribute to strengthening ecosystems for giving. It is based on scoping research drawing on in-depth interviews with philanthropy leaders, ecosystem builders, researchers, and funders across six regions, alongside a review of academic, grey and foundation sources. The central finding reported is that a ‘mature’ philanthropic ecosystem, regardless of geography, depends on three domains:
-Behaviours and norms – shared cultures of giving, open discourse about philanthropy, collaboration between funders, and a focus on addressing systems rather than symptoms.
-Enabling context – supportive regulation and tax settings, constructive engagement with government, and a visible, empowered, and capable civil society.
-Resources and infrastructure – the evidence, intermediaries, talent, and platforms that turn the intent to give into effective action.
Ecosystems for philanthropy: understanding global context and opportunities
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8. Land-clearing concerns spark call to scrap NSW invasive native species code
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has called for the state’s invasive native species (INS) land clearing code to be scrapped. It has released a report showing more than 3.2 million hectares of native vegetation in NSW are approved for land clearing under the INS code. The NSW government has commissioned an expert panel to provide INS advice to investigate possible reforms.
Land-clearing concerns spark call to scrap NSW invasive native species code – ABC News
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About Dbytes
Dbytes is a weekly eNewsletter presenting news and views on biodiversity conservation and environmental decision science. ‘D’ stands for ‘Decision’ and refers to all the ingredients that go into good, fair and just decision-making in relation to the environment.
From 2007-2018 Dbytes was supported by a variety of research networks and primarily the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED). From 2019 Dbytes is being produced by David Salt (Ywords). David was formerly the Editor of Decision Point, the research magazine of CEED.
Dbytes is supported by the Global Water Forum.
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