Supporters hold signs aloft as part of the 'Stop Adani Convoy' event on April 18 in Melbourne, Australia. Scott Barbour / Getty Images
Australia's controversial Adanicoal mine is one step closer to being built as the Queensland Government approved the company's plan to protect the black-throated finch Friday, The Guardian reported.
An Australian flag flutters in the wind in a dry drought-ridden landscape. Virginia Star / Moment / Getty Images
Australia re-elected its conservative governing Liberal-National coalition Saturday, despite the fact that it has refused to cut down significantly on greenhouse gas emissions or coal during its time in power, The New York Times reported.
Wild Koala on the side of the Great Ocean road in Victoria, Australia. John Crux Photography / Moment / Getty Images
Koala species down under are now considered "functionally extinct" as the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) says there are no more than 80,000 individuals left on the continent. Once a population falls below a critical point, it can no longer produce the next generation, ultimately leading to the species' extinction.
The November 2018 heat wave occurred at the start of the birthing season, leaving hundreds of orphaned flying foxes. David White
By Jason Bittel
Weighing up to two pounds and with wingspans approaching five feet, spectacled flying foxes are among the largest bats in the world. Now imagine what it would be like if 23,000 of them fell out of the trees and onto, say, your car or backyard pool.
Fire burns in Jumbuck, Australia on March 4. Fire crews are battling more than 20 bushfires ablaze in southeast Victoria. Darrian Traynor / Getty Images
As many as 19 wildfires were burning in the Southeastern Australian state of Victoria on Monday, forcing thousands to flee their homes, CNN reported.
Lightning strikes last week were the immediate cause of the fires, Victoria emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp said, according to CNN. Two of the fires, at Bunyip and Yinnar South in West Gippsland, destroyed nine buildings, including homes, on Sunday, The Guardian reported. As of Monday, more than 2,000 firefighters were working to control the blazes.
Aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef. Marco Brivio / Photographer's Choice / Getty Images
The Great Barrier Reef faces yet "another nail in the coffin," Dr. Simon Boxall from the National Oceanography Centre Southampton told BBC News Friday.
That is because the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has approved plans to dump one million tonnes (approximately 1.1 million U.S. tons) of sludge into the World Heritage Site. The decision comes in the same month that runoff from flooding in Queensland, Australia threatened to smother part of the reef and two years after the unique ecosystem was weakened by back-to-back coral bleaching events caused by climate change.
A small Australian rat that lived on a 12 acre island in the Great Barrier Reef has become the first mammal to go extinct primarily because of human-caused climate change, the Australian Government confirmed Monday.
The Bramble Cay melomys was first declared extinct after a 2014 search on Bramble Cay, its native island in the Torres Strait, between Queensland, Australia and Papua New Guinea, according to a 2016 report by the University of Queensland and the Queensland government.
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) water quality team leader Dr. Frederieke Kroon told ABC News that the runoff covered "an extraordinarily large area." Researchers said it is likely filled with nitrogen pollution and pesticides, and poses a risk to the health of a reef already damaged by back-to-back coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017.
Seen is a general view of a blocked major intersection in the flooded Townsville suburb of Idalia on Feb. 04, 2019 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Ian Hitchcock / Getty Images
An estimated 500,000 are feared dead after historic floods inundated Queensland, Australia, according to News.com.au, citing the state's cattle industry.
Financial losses are estimated at $300 million Australian dollars (about $212 million U.S.).
A flooded area of Townsville, Australia on Feb. 4. Ian Hitchcock / Getty Images
A once-in-a-century floodingdisaster in northeast Queensland, Australia forced authorities in the city of Townsville to fully open the floodgates of the Ross River dam on Sunday night, causing nearly 2,000 cubic meters (approximately 70,629 cubic feet) of water to pour out of the dam every second from 9 p.m., News.com.au reported.
"We've never seen anything like this before," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told Today, according to News.com.au. "In Queensland, of course, we're used to seeing natural disasters, but Townsville has never seen the likes of this."
