#Sustainable development

As the world moves to ban single-use plastics, biodegradable plastics are increasingly in focus as an environmentally friendly alternative. However, some plastics degrade into microplastics, others take ages to disappear from the environment, and in certain conditions they produce powerful greenhouse gases.

The problem of plastic is central to creating a circular economy. So, what is science doing to drive innovation. Introducing: The second life of plastics.

A huge amount of effort is going into protecting the Great Barrier Reef - often the kilometres away from where the coral is actually living. Researchers now have a better understanding of the system of erosion and sediment transport processes connecting agricultural land with water quality in the Reef. Critical to improving land management practices.

CSIRO has delivered the most extensive, integrated assessment of northern Australia’s water resources and the potential for further irrigated agricultural development. Big idea, big landscape, big data. Here is why the work was necessary and how the results can be used.

An extensive assessment of water resources in the Fitzroy River catchment points to the region’s largely untapped aquifer systems as key to the potential for irrigated agricultural development.

There’s talk of a ‘food bowl’ in northern Australia. Around Darwin in the Northern Territory it’s more likely to be a fruit bowl, according to a new study of the potential for irrigated agricultural development in the region’s river catchments.

Water alone won’t make irrigated agriculture financially viable in northern Australia’s Mitchell River catchment. Local processing facilities will be needed to get a return on investment for any large-scale investment.

A special issue of Pacific Conservation Biology celebrates women working in conservation science in Australia.

After cascading ecological catastrophes in the 90s, China spent 20 years seriously investing in sustainability. Now that effort is paying off.