In this issue

	ECOS Issue 180

Features

Devil of a disease It's difficult to imagine how anyone involved with saving the Tasmanian devil could find much cause for optimism. Devil numbers are plummeting so drastically that if nothing is done, they could become extinct in the wild within two decades. But conservation efforts recently reached a significant milestone that may yet snatch the devil from the jaws of extinction. Learn more

In south-western Australia, water shortages will only worsen While the rest of Australia has had a reprieve from the millennium drought, and floods have recently affected many areas along the north eastern Australian coast, the extended dry period that has affected south-western Australia since about 1975 continues unabated. Learn more

Do environmental assessments protect the environment? Are environmental impact assessments (EIAs) achieving what they were designed to achieve? Do they do a good job of protecting Australia's diverse environments and their inhabitants for future generations? If not, what can be done to improve them? Learn more

Environmental law reform: how much is too much? Would reform of Australia's key environmental law – referred to by industry as ‘cutting green tape'– safeguard our natural resources for current and future generations, or put them at higher risk? Learn more

Love what they do: Science with a Heart
A legendary humanitarian, the 14^th Dalai Lama of Tibet, is a great fan of modern science. ‘I personally like to imagine all human activities, including science,' he has said, ‘as individual fingers of a palm. So long as each of these fingers is connected with the palm of basic human empathy and altruism, they will continue to serve the well-being of humanity.'
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Sea turtles caught up in ghostnets’ random harvest Each year around 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is lost or thrown overboard by the fisheries around the world. These ‘ghostnets' drift through the oceans and can continue fishing for many years. They kill huge numbers of marine mammals, sea turtles and sea birds, and cause significant loss of biodiversity. Learn more

Supporting tourism and nature all in a day’s work Research based at the Great Barrier Reef shows that nature-based tourism operators not only strengthen the resilience of the local tourist industry, but also contribute to conservation. Learn more

Unlocking bamboo’s potential to alleviate poverty Easy to grow, even on steep, marginal land unsuitable for other crops, bamboo has the potential to lift people in rural communities out of poverty – but only with improvements in farmer education and thus crop management, according to a recent project in southwestern China led by an Australian scientist. Learn more

A best-seller’s enduring scientific legacy In 2012, the world celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the revolutionary book, Silent Spring, written by marine biologist and environmental advocate, Rachel Carson. Today this bestseller is still regarded as the foundation of the environmental advocacy movement. Learn more