Antinuclear

Northern Territory Aboriginals call out for climate action as mangroves dieback with heat

NT traditional owners urge climate change policy makers to witness mangrove devastation  ABC News, By Jane Bardon 14 Oct 19,  Traditional owners are devastated by the lack of recovery at the site of Australia’s worst recorded mangrove dieback and are calling for action to limit climate change threats.

Traditional owner Patsy Evans had hoped there would be signs of recovery at the site of the mangrove dieback, in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

But during a recent visit to the area for the first time since 2015, when she and her husband alerted the Northern Territory Government to the extent of the damage, she was devastated by the scene.

She said she wanted policy makers to see how climate change was affecting the land near her home on the Limmen River, 750 kilometres south of Darwin.

“Go out and see what’s happening, be aware and look at it, and don’t make decisions where you are,” she said.

The mangroves were once nurseries for the mud crab, barramundi and prawn fisheries, but now consist mainly of dead trees and dusty earth.

The few live seedlings coming through are exposed, and vulnerable to damage from the fallen dead trees……

On par with Great Barrier Reef bleaching

“We can’t see any other driver of the dieback other than the extreme climatic envelope has shifted,” Charles Darwin University professor Lindsay Hutley said.

Dr Hutley said the extent and duration of the dieback was on a par with the severity of Great Barrier Reef bleaching………

Polar icecap melting underestimated

The CSIRO has mapped the average sea level rise of the Top End at between six and 13 millimetres a year — two to three times the rate off southern Australia and the global average……… https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-14/climate-change-mangrove-traditional-owners-call-for-action/11598238

October 15, 2019 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming