CSIRO, WWF and Australian government team up to launch AdaptLog conservation solutions project
By Clancy Balen
in ABC.net.au
Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas says AdaptLog is a “new tool that can help conservationists think about what to do when environments are changing incredibly quickly”. (ABC News: Jordan Young)
In short:
A new online tool called AdaptLog will help conservationists share and compare over 400 novel solutions to climate threats from projects overseas and across Australia.
The project’s team hopes it will inspire innovation and optimism amid grim global warming metrics.
What’s next?
Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas, a principal research scientist at the CSIRO, says the tool is being applied to new and ongoing projects across Australia.
It’s night-time on Heron Island, near the Great Barrier Reef in 2019.
A group of scientists gather around a collection of green turtle eggs, gently placing them in experimental nests irrigated with seawater to lower their temperature.
The level of human intervention is novel and notably hands-on, but the risk of not acting is too great.
The temperature of nests affects how many females are born. (Supplied: WWF)
Rising temperatures have warmed the sand — If the turtle’s eggs become too hot, the hatchlings will all be born females and threaten to destabilise the vulnerable species’s population.
It’s one of over 400 conservation “interventions” that are now publicly available in a new online database called AdaptLog.
For project lead Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas, it will provide a glimmer of hope amid the news that global warming records blew past a key target last year.
Dr Melbourne-Thomas says “anything we can do to help save time and potentially money by enabling conservationists to share their different approaches is really important”. (ABC News: Jordan Young)
“This is a new tool that can help conservationists think about what to do when environments are changing incredibly quickly,” Dr Melbourne-Thomas, a principal research scientist at the CSIRO, said.
“Some species just aren’t able to keep up with that rate of change naturally, and we’re needing to find new ways of doing things to protect biodiversity.”
“There’s threats from climate change included in the database that relate to bush fire, drought, flooding, extreme temperatures, and often users are dealing with several of those threats.”
The online resource is unique in Australia — a list of innovative conservation projects laid out in detail, and supported by the Federal government’s Natural Environmental Science Program (NESP) Climate Systems Hub, the CSIRO and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Australia.
400 conservation “interventions” that are now publicly available in a new online database called AdaptLog.
… online resource is unique in Australia — a list of innovative conservation projects laid out in detail
It’s aim, to showcase conservation solutions at-home and abroad that address climate impacts on vulnerable places and species.
Artificial green turtle nests have been set up with irrigation systems using seawater to cool down eggs. (Supplied: WWF)
Conservation takes time and resources, but Dr Melbourne-Thomas said bringing creative solutions into one space could speed up the process
“There’s a big cost around responding to these impacts, and anything that we can do to help save time and potentially money by enabling conservationists to share their different approaches is really important,” she said.
Urgency and innovation
Artificial nests for shy albatross have been installed on Albatross Island, an 18-hectare nature reserve between Tasmania and King Island — one of only three places the bird is known to nest. (Supplied: WWF)
Artificial nests are airlifted to Albatross Island, off the coast of north-west Tasmania. (Supplied: WWF)
The project started life through another intervention at the other end of the country, off Tasmania’s north-west coast.
Dr Claire Mason was helping to install artificial Shy Albatross nests on Albatross Island — an 18-hectare nature reserve, and one of only three islands where the vulnerable bird breeds — in a bid to improve breeding success rates.
The population of Shy Albatross, a medium-sized Tasmanian seabird, has dwindled, in part from commercial fishing activities, but also due to warmer air temperatures during breeding season.
Dr Claire Mason. (ABC News: Jordan Young)
The artificial nest project was deemed a success, but it also sparked Dr Mason’s interest in documenting other novel and innovative approaches to protect animals and environments.
The publicly accessible list now includes a diverse range of conservation projects: sprinkler systems installed in trees at Bendigo’s Rosalind Park to protect flying foxes from heat; fire-resistant nesting boxes for threatened greater gliders in Tallaganda National Park and East Gippsland; or mounds constructed in Nepal to provide elevated refuge for one-horned rhinos during floods.
Fireproof nesting boxes being installed in Tallaganda National Park, New South Wales. (Supplied: WWF)
A greater glider nesting in a eucalypt tree in Tallaganda National Park. (Supplied: WWF)
“With a challenge like climate change, it really needs innovation,” Dr Mason said.
“And innovation is really fostered when you can look at different examples from what people are doing out there, things all around the world, and being able to see them all in one place.”
Dr Melbourne-Thomas said AdaptLog the tool was live, and it was being used in new and ongoing projects.
“We’re working in particular places around Australia to actually use these tools, working with conservation managers on the ground and with traditional owners to help to think about future adaptation planning for those places.”
Creative solutions needed
WWF marine species program manager Elouise Haskin helped lead the project to cool down turtle eggs on Heron Island.
Since 2018, various methods have been developed, trialled and replicated to reduce the thermal conditions on the turtle’s beaches.
“We realised in instances where these sorts of effects are quite extreme, intervention might be necessary,” she said.
In 2019, conservation teams conducted experiments to better understand if seawater irrigation could be effective at lowering sand temperatures, averting ‘feminisation’ of green turtle eggs. (Supplied: WWF)
Ms Haskin said the project, a joint effort between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the University of Queensland, involved direct intervention — something that has become more common as changing climates force scientists to act quickly.
“In the past it was more of a monitor and see-what-happens approach,” she said.
“In more and more cases, we’re getting enough information to understand that populations are actually at risk.”
Being able to use access past conservation efforts, she said, would be a valuable aid in developing future strategies.
“It’s also a toolkit to understand the science and potentially get in touch with the people who did it and learn from them,” Ms Haskin said.
“Conservationists are usually pretty collaborative and willing to help each other work out how we can address these sorts of problems.”
Hope in a warming climate
The timing of the database’s launch isn’t lost on the AdaptLog team.
“The global average temperature has just exceeded this threshold of 1.5 degrees above its pre-industrial levels — that’s a pretty significant threat to species and to ecological communities,” Dr Melbourne-Thomas said.
Another study published by the CSIRO last month also has Dr Melbourne-Thomas concerned.
It found fully recovering Australia’s threatened species would cost 25 per cent of its GDP annually
Or in dollars, an estimated $583 billion per year.
The AdaptLog team remains hopeful their database will inspire innovation and creativity in the face of further climate change challenges.
“The more that we can share stories that build hope, the more we can do that, the better,” Dr Melbourne-Thomas said.
“We MUST respect this earth - it is all we have
Claudio Dametto - South Australia
“I will always Vote to Preserve Our World.
Liam McGregor - Western Australia
“A simple message that even a politician can understand
Felicity Crombach - Victoria
“Please show you care about our future generations!!
Phil Harmer - New South Wales
“Save our world , Life & health before profits.
Kerry Lillian - New South Wales
“Close down all coal mines and Do not mine gas . Make these Companies
Daniel Johnson - New South Wales
“We want carbon free energy!
Edan Clarke - New South Wales
“Feels good to be taking a voter action step
Beaver Hudson - New South Wales
“Great Initiative. Let’s Hold elected officials Accountable to their bosses, us!
John Paul Posada - New South Wales
“We need actions not words we need honest democratic govt We need a pm
Bob Pearce - South Australia
“Thank you for this great resource. I was feeling helpless. Even this small step
Silvia Anderson - Victoria
“If political parties continue receiving political donations, we will rarely have politicians working for
Dan Chicos - New South Wales
“I only vote for people who will take urgent action to restore a safe
Susie Burke - Victoria
“Current government is not representing the opinion of the majority of Australian to meet
Neil Price - Tasmania
“We are fighting to rescue our kids' future from those who seek to steal
Vanessa Norimi - Queensland
“No time to waste Now or Never My vote is for NOW
Rosalie White - Victoria
“I am only 9 but I already care
Ava Bell - New South Wales
“From New Lambton Uniting Church - Caring for our world is a moral imperative.
Niall McKay - New South Wales
“Our federal govt is an International climate Embarrassment - its about time they stepped
Oriana Tolo - Victoria
“Vote earth this time!
Sue Cooke - Queensland
“We are in one on the wealthiest countries in the world. we have the
rowan huxtable - New South Wales
“The climate Emergency is the public health opportunity and urgent priority of the 21st
Mike Forrester - Victoria
“If they want my vote they better act now
Barbara McNiff - New South Wales
“We need to act locally now for the earth. Our only home. Vote Earth
Anne Miller - New South Wales
“I often look at the places I've known all my life and see how
Jim Baird - New South Wales
“Strike one For people power!!! Democracy might prevail outside the current cronyism that faces
Lorraine Bridger - New South Wales
“Our federal politicians Are Afraid to make action on climate change a major election
Jennifer Martin - New South Wales
“climate election, let's go!
Fahimah Badrulhisham - New South Wales
“Great to see this website that is a focus on action for climate change
Lynette Sinclair - New South Wales
“Let’s show politicians and the Murdoch media that climate change is by far the
Jane Aitken - Australian Capital Territory
“If you want to stay in power You need to take action to stop
Jane Bulter - New South Wales
“We are all that stands between terminal climate change and the vulnerable. We are
Carol Khan - Queensland
“We need a Government that Believes this is real and not taking money from
Ken Gray - New South Wales
“I'm voting for my childrens future
Anneliese Alexander - New South Wales