Info, news & views for anyone interested in biodiversity conservation and good environmental decision making
“Politics, unlike science, is about producing illusions of control and safety. The ‘zero tolerance’ response is engineered to meet an expectation that government can stop every accident of nature.”
Malcolm Knox on shark attacks
-~<>~-
In this issue of Dbytes
1. Advancing coastal and marine ecological restoration in Australia
2. Misinformation: A climate policy risk
3. From Australia to the Andes, we’re discovering new biodiversity hotspots worldwide
4. Australia’s marine parks protect ‘places no one goes’ rather than fragile waters near the mainland
5. Variation in the costs and ecological benefits of tropical natural forest regeneration
6. Protected areas on international borders show uneven conservation outcomes
7. Stacking the deck: how government lobbies itself and funds the distortion of democracy
8. Where intent meets reality: embedding implementation into government decision-making
-~<>~-
1. Advancing coastal and marine ecological restoration in Australia
Australian coastal and marine ecosystems underpin the nation’s social, cultural, and economic values, but are increasingly degraded by climate change and other human pressures. Conventional management has failed to halt biodiversity loss, prompting calls for more active intervention. Australia is advancing knowledge to support restoration and climate adaptation, with some approaches now in pilot stages or nearing implementation. However, greater investment in restoration research and development is needed to accelerate progress. Four priorities emerge. First, large-scale, long-term restoration testbeds are required across ecosystems, supported by transparent governance and sustained funding to evaluate effectiveness and impact in real-world conditions. Second, transformative innovation is needed to enable scaling and improve climate resilience, including novel genetic tools and multidisciplinary approaches. Third, evidence-based decision-support systems must better integrate data to improve prediction, prioritisation, and evaluation of restoration outcomes. Finally, social dimensions are critical: building a skilled workforce, enabling conditions for implementation, and supporting Indigenous leadership and co-design will maximise outcomes across people, planet, profit, and purpose. Investment in these areas will deliver coordinated, effective restoration and maximise ecological, societal, economic, and cultural benefits now and into the future.
Full article: Advancing coastal and marine ecological restoration in Australia
-~<>~-
2. Misinformation: A climate policy risk
This paper explains how misinformation affects climate policy and what it means for the Climate Change Authority’s (the Authority’s) work. Climate misinformation is already affecting how climate policy is delivered in Australia. It’s contributing to project delays, higher costs and community division. Globally, misinformation is a recognised risk to policy delivery in complex transitions. It can distort public debate, amplify mistrust, create confusion and affect how people respond to change. Misinformation is a real delivery risk that can distort the policy environment before evidence is presented. It affects both policy on emissions reduction and preparedness for climate impacts.
Misinformation: A climate policy risk | Climate Change Authority
-~<>~-
3. From Australia to the Andes, we’re discovering new biodiversity hotspots worldwide
Places that support a wealth of species are known as “biodiversity hotspots”. South America’s tropical Andes region – which has the world’s largest variety of amphibian, bird and mammal species – and the coastal forests of eastern Australia are just two examples. Our new study suggests biodiversity hotspots are emerging in new, and in some cases unexpected, locations. So why is this happening? And what does it mean for species across the globe?
From Australia to the Andes, we’re discovering new biodiversity hotspots worldwide
-~<>~-
4. Australia’s marine parks protect ‘places no one goes’ rather than fragile waters near the mainland
The Australian government has been accused of leaving waters near the mainland largely unprotected by establishing the bulk of highly protected marine parks in remote areas. More than 270 leading marine scientists from 84 research institutes have written to the environment minister, Murray Watt, urging stronger protections for marine ecosystems, as a once-in-a-decade review of marine parks gets under way.
Australia’s marine parks protect ‘places no one goes’ rather than fragile waters near the mainland, scientists say | Environment | The Guardian
-~<>~-
5. Variation in the costs and ecological benefits of tropical natural forest regeneration
Natural regeneration is one of the most cost-effective tools we have for restoring degraded tropical forests – but where you invest matters enormously. We mapped costs and ecological benefits across the global tropics with potential for natural forest regeneration.
Natural restoration is key to reviving threatened tropical rainforests – News – The University of Queensland
-~<>~-
6. Protected areas on international borders show uneven conservation outcomes
Border protected areas (BPAs) are national protected areas that are immediately adjacent to a country’s border or span two or more countries; they are characterized by distinctive opportunities and pressures. They play a critical role in protecting carbon-rich ecosystems, conserving endangered biodiversity, reducing cross-border environmental threats, and promoting peace and cooperation. At the same time, compared with other protected areas within the same country, BPAs may be particularly vulnerable to asymmetric enforcement, cross-border leakage, conflict, and weak institutional coordination. Using a pixel-level propensity score matching approach, we conducted the first global assessment of forest loss in BPAs relative to counterfactuals in nonborder protected areas within the same country. We found that compared with nonborder protected areas, most BPAs (81%) experienced lower or similar forest loss rates, preventing the loss of 112,036 ha of forest and ∼3.69 MtCO2e/year in emissions between 2013 and 2022. However, the remaining 19% of BPAs experienced significantly higher forest loss than their counterfactuals, resulting in the loss of 87,657 ha and additional emissions of ∼2.85 MtCO2e/year. Importantly, BPA underperformance was not driven solely by lower border protection feasibility as larger reserve size and closer proximity to urban centers were also associated with higher forest loss. Drivers of forest loss in underperforming BPAs varied regionally: agriculture expansion dominated in Africa and Asia; regulatory mismatches in timber regulations were most important in Europe; and wildfire risk was a key factor in North America. We further identified mainland Southeast Asia and the Congo Basin as urgent border conservation hotspots, where high deforestation pressure threatens both endangered species and carbon-rich forests. Thus, BPA underperformance is geographically concentrated and not pervasive. Targeted regional interventions would enhance cross-border cooperation, mobilize sustainable financing, and strengthen governance structures, while also facilitating the effective integration of BPAs into global biodiversity and climate policy frameworks.
The Society for Conservation Biology
-~<>~-
7. Stacking the deck: how government lobbies itself and funds the distortion of democracy
This research paper examines the extent to which Australian state and federal governments provide funding to non-government organisations (NGOs) that engage in lobbying back to government. The sample of 100 NGOs across five public policy areas reveals they received $2.2 billion from taxpayers between the 2021 and 2025 financial years to engage in advocacy on progressive or left-leaning policy priorities. The central finding of the paper is that this taxpayer-funded advocacy runs in only one direction. Across all the fields examined – public health, multiculturalism, gender identity, social services, immigration, constitutional change and the environment – public money flows consistently to organisations advancing a progressive policy agenda. This paper was unable to identify a single case of government funding flowing the other way.
Stacking the deck: how government lobbies itself and funds the distortion of democracy
-~<>~-
8. Where intent meets reality: embedding implementation into government decision-making
When a government decision doesn’t unfold as promised, it’s often because the practical realities of implementation weren’t considered from the start. Not only does this lead to increased costs, delays and inefficiencies, it contributes to public controversy and declining trust in public institutions. The Canadian government has an ambitious agenda for change. The translation of bold intent into meaningful impact will depend critically on successful implementation of policies and programs. This briefing paper draws on experience in the Canadian federal public service to outline pragmatic reforms that could improve policy delivery. Some of the changes are drawn from best practices of other Westminster jurisdictions, including Australia.
Recommendations:
-Consult on policy design before releasing political platforms.
-Consider implementation issues at the front end of policy decision-making.
-Rebalance the ‘challenge’ function of central agencies.
-Reduce program design complexity.
Where intent meets reality: embedding implementation into government decision-making
-~<>~-
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.
If you have any contributions to Dbytes (ie, opportunities and resources that you think might be of value to other Dbyte readers) please send them to David.Salt@anu.edu.au. Please keep them short and provide a link for more info.
Anyone is welcome to receive Dbytes. If you would like to receive it, simply visit
https://sustainabilitybites.com/dbytes/
enter you email and press the follow button. (IT’S FREE so if you see any value in it please recommend it to your friends!)
David Salt
and you can follow me on twitter (X) at
@davidlimesalt or the Global Water Forum on @GWFWater
Or Blue Sky at @susbites.bsky.social