Small mammals in northern Australia have been rapidly vanishing for the last 30 years, and scientists weren't sure why. Now, a major new study found feral livestock are largely to blame.
The extent of this achievement is staggering, almost incomprehensible in a southern Australia context after the summer's devastating bushfires.
Waters from the Herbert River, which runs toward one of northern Australia’s richest agricultural districts, could be redirected under a Bradfield scheme.
Patrick White
The ‘New Bradfield’ scheme seeks to revive a nation-building ethos supposedly stifled by bureaucratic inertia. But there are good reasons the scheme never became a reality.
The declaration of the 5 million-hectare Katiti Petermann Indigenous Protected Area around Uluru in 2015 helped take the land area of northern Australia in the hands of traditional owners to around 60%.
Central Land Council/AAP
Expanding on sustainable practices in remote parts of Australia can deliver great benefits to both local Indigenous owners and national and global communities.
Could Darwin one day be home to more than a million people?
Geoff Whalan/Flickr
The government wants more people to live in Australia's north. So we looked at three scenarios to increase the population and the results don't always look good for the north.
Mangroves have died along a 1,000km stretch of coastline in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
NC Duke
Only about 5% of Australians live in the tropics, but it is not a mysterious or unopened land of limitless untapped potential. The ambition of northern development dates back to the 19th century.
Traditional hunting poses no threat to dugongs.
Flickr
It sounds weird, but releasing small cane toads ahead of the main invasion front can help predators learn to avoid the biggest, most toxic ones. Here's exactly how it works.
Storm season in the Australian tropical savanna.
Euan Ritchie
Australia's Great Northern Savannas are the largest and most intact ecosystem of their kind on Earth. But they still face pressure from grazing, mining and agricultural expansion.
The Ord River was targeted for agricultural expansion in the 20th century.
isthatdaves/Wikimedia Commons
Ever since British settlement, water rights in Australia's north have favoured landowners over traditional owners, effectively locking Aboriginal people out of agricultural development.
Clean water can help to break the link between poor hygiene and eye diseases such as trachoma.
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA)
As Australia joins a New York summit to discuss the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it still faces questions over whether it is meeting water standards at home.
Coping with floods is just one of the issues dams need to deal with.
Tatters ❀/Flickr
Cape York's ecosystems are worth as much as the Queensland economy.
The new assistant minister for cities, Angus Taylor, has expressed a ‘deep belief that consultation and proper public debate gets to wise outcomes’.
flickr/Crawford Forum
Effective development planning must anticipate where growth might occur and its wider impacts. So, if the federal government is serious about cities policy, it needs a proper settlements plan.
Northern rivers could increase Australia’s irrigated land by 50%. But we need to think about the environmental impacts.
Robin Hutton/Flickr
It's full steam ahead for bringing vast increases in farming to northern Australia. In fact, probably too fast to adequately consider the environmental impacts.
The remote rivers of northern Australia could be home to untold numbers of new and threatened fish.
Matthew Le Feuvre
Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Professorial Fellow, Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University