drought

dead fish float in water of the menindee lakes

Excessive water extraction, not climate change, most to blame for Darling River drying

25 Oct 2022

Climate change shouldn’t be used as a 'get out-of jail free' card to excuse bad decision-making and poor planning decisions.

Three kids on the back of a ute travelling down a long stretch of dirt road in central Australia

Megadroughts helped topple ancient empires. They're in Australia's past, with more to come

06 Oct 2022

New research shows Australia experienced a number of megadroughts in the last 1000 years. We may be underestimating the severity of drought in Australia’s future.

Aerial view of a depleted river in the Murray Darling system of rivers

It's official: the Murray-Darling Basin Plan hasn't met its promise to our precious rivers. So where to now?

04 Aug 2022

Federal Labor has pledged to deliver the Murray Darling Basin Plan. But a new report casts serious doubt on that promise.

Climate, conflict, collapse: how drought destabilised the last major precolonial Mayan city

20 Jul 2022

A change in climate may have triggered the decline and collapse of the Mayan city of Mayapán in the 15th century.

an aerial view of a river that is affected with algae and evaporating away

Labor promised to fix Australia’s big water problem. These 6 things must top the to-do list

28 Jun 2022

Labor has promised to ‘future-proof Australia’s water resources’. It’s a massive job. Here are the actions the government should prioritise.

Climate change is testing the resilience of native plants to fire, from ash forests to gymea lilies

21 Sep 2021

Many plants are really good at withstanding bushfires, but the combination of drought, heatwaves and pest insects under climate change may push them to the brink.

Two stalagmites in Yonderup Cave, Yanchep, Western Australia

‘Like a metronome’: stalagmite growth found to be surprisingly constant

23 Apr 2021

To look inside a stalagmite is to look back in time tens of thousands of years to see how the Earth’s climate patterns have shaped the world we live in today.

bushfires burning on the horizon at dusk on a farm

How heatwaves and drought combine to produce the perfect firestorm

29 Jan 2021

We know heatwaves and drought can turn bushfires into infernos, but the reasons why were poorly understood in science.

We looked at 35 years of rainfall and learnt how droughts start in the Murray-Darling Basin

25 Sep 2020

To fully understand droughts, we need to answer the question: where does Australia’s rainfall come from? The answer isn't simple.

Gwydir River, part of the Murray-Darling Basin

‘Black box’ of rules hampers management of Murray-Darling Basin flows

06 Jun 2020

A new UNSW study demands better transparency around the idiosyncratic water management rules governing water allocation in the Murray-Darling Basin.

drought

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