Healthy Country, healthy people: how shared knowledge is helping to restore a World Heritage area

by bpckle | Aug 8, 2024 | Media

Please be advised that the following article contains images of an Indigenous person who has died, which are used with family permission.

Our journey began in 2018 at Bush Heritage Australia’s Hamelin Station, a relaxed setting on Malgana Country for knowledge sharing and storytelling. An inspirational weekend under the stars sowed the seeds for a partnership to heal Country. Our focus was on restoring seagrass, which grows in extensive meadows in shallow waters.

In 2010-11, an extreme marine heatwave had hit the Western Australian coastline. The seagrass (wirriya jalyanu) was badly damaged. This affected the health of culturally significant species such as dugongs (Dugong dugon, wuthuga) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas, buyungurra), which feed on the seagrass.

On that weekend in 2018, we (university researchers and Traditional Owners) learned we had a common goal: to look after Sea Country. Ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation are Western “science speak” and are part of a global solution to manage the impacts of climate change. These concepts are also at the core of Indigenous culture and lore.

Our co-designed project won funding to employ Malgana land and sea rangers in Gathaagudu/Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage area. The project was a partnership between the newly founded Malgana Aboriginal Corporation and University of Western Australia researchers. The aim was to develop and test ways to restore seagrass meadows, drawing on both Western science and Indigenous knowledge.

Our new research paper describes how this partnership succeeded.

‘Being on Country is medicine for us’

Our partnership recognised that Indigenous Peoples have deep ecological knowledge of Country. Malgana people shared their valuable insights on Sea Country.

Storytelling or songlines demonstrate a long oral history and connection of Malgana people to their Country. The stories are consistent with Western science-based knowledge from diverse fields such as ecology, geology, hydrology and molecular biology.

The partnership enabled trainee Indigenous rangers to return to Country. At the same time, they were able to gain industry qualifications through TAFE.

Knowledge-sharing workshops on Country helped Malgana rangers connect or reconnect with Country. The workshops covered cultural protocols, Traditional ecological knowledge, Malgana language, seagrass growth, flowering and seeding ecology.

We also undertook research to understand relatedness, or genetics, of two large seagrasses, wire weed (Amphibolis antarctica) and ribbon weed (Posidonia australis), across Gathaagudu. DNA testing has shown an ancient ribbon weed clone is the world’s largest plant, spanning at least 180 kilometres. Our genetic study of wire weed is not yet published.

We developed restoration methods for both species. Our approaches took into account their different reproductive traits and genetic information.

Our restoration methods included planting cuttings or runners, sowing seeds and modifying the environment by providing hessian substrate for seedlings to attach.

A Wirriya Jalyanu Festival marked the end of our project funding. Its theme was Art Meets Science. The festival shared knowledge of Sea Country through a mix of science, culture, language and artistic activities for all ages.

Sharing this knowledge with the wider community improved their understanding of this World Heritage area. We came away with a deeper understanding of their love and shared responsibility for its care.

‘If we look after country, then Country will look after you’

Partnerships that share Western and Traditional knowledge can restore seagrass meadows. The methods need to be scaled up to heal Sea Country, given the scale of loss caused by a single extreme climate event.

Local Indigenous ranger programs have environmental, cultural, social and economic benefits. Healing Country helps heal the intergenerational trauma of Indigenous Peoples through connecting or reconnecting to Country.

A next step is to empower the Malgana rangers and local Indigenous-led businesses to support and monitor large-scale ecosystem restoration and its impacts on biodiversity.

Continuous funding for these ranger programs is desperately needed to provide job security. Broadening partnerships with local rangers and communities allows for year-round observation and action On Country.

Since Europeans colonised Australia, Indigenous Peoples have been disrespected, which has contributed to enormous damage to our unique wildlife and ecosystems. The dynamic nature of these problems means we need diverse knowledge inputs. Partnering with local Traditional Custodians for two-way learning is a respectful way forward.

Western science and Traditional ecological knowledge together lead to a better understanding of Country. Applying these combined knowledges can increase biodiversity and help meet ambitious global solutions to climate change, such as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.

Elizabeth Sinclair receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This project was supported with funding from the Australian government under the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub and Marine and Coastal Hub.

Gary Kendrick receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This project was funded through the Australian government's National Environmental Science Program.

Martin Breed receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Resilient Landscapes Hub, Cooperative Research Centre for Transformations in Mining Economies (CRC TiME), Australian Academy of Science, and the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

Patricia Oakley is a descendant of the Malgana saltwater people from Gathaagudu (Shark Bay) and member of the Malgana Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) and MAC Elders Advisory Council, a senior ranger and a director on the MAC and Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions Joint Management Body.

Sean McNeair works for Tidal Moon Pty Ltd and is a major shareholder since his resignation from Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC) as the MAC ranger co-ordinator (2018 to 2020). He is also affiliated with the Australian Marine Park Advisory Committee as a voluntary member and is a current official member of the Malgana Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) since native title determination in late 2018.

Repeating aids believing: climate misinformation feels more true through repetition – even if you back climate science

by bpckle | Aug 8, 2024 | Media

If you consider yourself a climate science supporter, you probably wouldn’t think simple exposure to a sceptic’s claim could shift your views.

Our new research has produced worrying findings. Climate misinformation may be more effective than we’d like to think because of a phenomenon called the illusory truth effect In short, we are more likely to believe a lie if we encounter it repeatedly. Worse, the effect works immediately – a lie seems to be more true even after just one repetition.

As our social media feeds fill up with AI-driven bots, sheer repetition of lies may erode the most essential resource for action on climate change – public support. Traditional media has a different problem – in their commitment to presenting both sides, journalists often platform climate sceptics whose untrue claims add to the repetition of misinformation.

There’s no easy answer. But one thing that does work is to come back to the scientific consensus that our activities are the major cause of global warming – and to the overwhelming public support worldwide for stronger action on climate change.

What did we find out?

We’ve long known about the illusory truth effect, where sheer repetition makes information sound more true, regardless of whether it’s true or false. The reason this works on us is familiarity – when information becomes familiar, we mentally ascribe a level of truth to it.

But does this repetition still shift perceptions of truth when we hold seemingly strong existing beliefs?

To find out, we ran experiments where a total of 172 people who were overwhelmingly endorsers of climate science viewed claims aligned with solid climate science, climate sceptic claims, and weather-related claims. Participants saw some claims just once, while others were repeated.

What we found was that it took just a single repetition to make the claims seem more true. This happened for all types of claims, including climate science and sceptic claims.

What’s more, this happened even to those people who regarded themselves as endorsing the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change and who are highly concerned about climate change. The effect held even when these participants later identified the claim was aligned with climate scepticism.

Spreaders of misinformation can game traditional media

In recent years, many researchers have explored this effect in different areas of knowledge. This evidence base points towards an important finding: low quality or malicious information can be laundered through repetition and made to seem true and trustworthy.

This poses an interesting challenge to the way the traditional media has long operated. Many journalists pride themselves on their adherence to fair, balanced reporting. The reason for this lies in history – when the mass media first emerged as a major force in the 19th century, highly partisan or sensational “yellow” journalism was common. Balanced journalism emerged as a counter to this, promising to platform several sides of a debate.

But balance can be easily gamed. Giving equal exposure to opposing voices can lead people to think there is less of an expert consensus.

How can we we defend ourselves?

What our research suggests is comments, articles, and posts of climate misinformation may have a corrosive nature – the more we’re exposed to them, the more likely we will come to accept them.

You might think intelligence and careful thinking can have a protective effect. But the broader body of research on illusory truth has found being smarter or more rational is no protection against repetition.

What can we do to protect ourselves?

Researchers have found one reliable solution – come back to the scientific consensus. For decades, scientists have researched the question of whether our activities are the main cause of rising global temperatures. Many different lines of evidence from rates of ice melt to sea temperatures to satellite measurements have now answered this conclusively. The scientific consensus is now 99.9% certain, a figure which has only grown over time. Drawing on this consensus may work to protect us from accepting sceptic arguments by reminding us of the very large areas of agreement.

There’s a systemic problem here. Never before in history have we been able to access so much information. But our information environments are not benign. Actors with an agenda are at work in many areas of public life, trying to shape what we do or do not do. We need to learn more about how we can battle the power of lies on repeat.

Eryn Newman receives funding from the Australian Research Council and The Australian National University.

Kate Reynolds receives funding from the ARC, ANU & ACT Government

Norbert Schwarz and Yangxueqing Mary Jiang do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

‘Wake-up call to humanity’: research shows the Great Barrier Reef is the hottest it’s been in 400 years

by bpckle | Aug 8, 2024 | Media

The Great Barrier Reef is vast and spectacular. But repeated mass coral bleachings, driven by high ocean temperatures, are threatening the survival of coral colonies which are the backbone of the reef.

Our study, published today in Nature, provides a new long-term picture of the ocean surface temperatures driving coral bleaching. It shows recent sea surface heat is unprecedented compared to the past 400 years. It also confirms humans are to blame.

The results are sobering confirmation that global warming – caused by human activities – will continue to damage the Great Barrier Reef.

All hope is not lost. But we must face a confronting truth: if humanity does not divert from its current course, our generation will likely witness the demise of one of Earth’s great natural wonders.

One-of-a-kind ecosystem

The Great Barrier Reef is the most extensive coral reef system on Earth. It is home to a phenomenal array of biodiversity, including more than 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of molluscs, as well as endangered turtles and dugongs.

However, mass coral bleaching over the past three decades has had serious impacts on the reef. Bleaching occurs when corals become so heat-stressed they eject the tiny organisms living inside their tissues. These organisms give coral some of its colour and help power its metabolism.

In mild bleaching events, corals can recover. But in the most recent events, many corals died.

The Great Barrier Reef has suffered five mass bleaching events in the past nine summers. Is this an anomaly, or within the natural variability the reef has experienced in previous centuries? Our research set out to answer this question.

A 400-year-old story

Coral itself can tell us what happened in the past.

As corals grow, the chemistry of their skeleton reflects the ocean conditions at the time – including its temperature. In particular, large boulder-shaped corals, known as Porites, can live for centuries and are excellent recorders of the past.

Our study sought to understand how surface temperatures in the Coral Sea, which includes the reef, have varied over the past four centuries. We focused on the January–March period – the warmest three months on the reef.

First, we collated a network of high-quality, continuous coral records from the region. These records were analysed by coral climate scientists and consist of thousands of measurements of Porites corals from across the Western tropical Pacific.

From these records, we could reconstruct average surface temperatures for the Coral Sea from the year 1618 to 1995, and calibrate this to modern temperature records from 1900 to 2024. The overall result was alarming.

From 1960 to 2024, we observed annual average summer warming of 0.12°C per decade.

And average sea surface temperatures in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024 were five of the six warmest the region has experienced in four centuries.

Humans are undoubtedly to blame

The next step was to examine the extent to which increased temperatures in the Coral Sea can be attributed to human influence.

To do this, we used published computer model simulations of the Earth’s climate – both with and without human influence, including greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.

So what did we find? Without human influence, Coral Sea surface temperatures during January–March remain relatively constant since 1900. Add in the human impacts, and the region warms steadily in the early 1900s, then rapidly after the 1960s.

In short: without human-caused global warming, the very high sea temperatures of recent years would be virtually impossible, based on our analysis using the world’s top climate models.

There is worse news. Recent climate projections put us on a path to intensified warming, even when accounting for international commitments to reduce emissions. This places the reef at risk of coral bleaching on a near-annual basis.

Back-to-back bleaching is likely to be catastrophic for the Great Barrier Reef, because it thwarts the chances of corals recovering between bleaching events.

Even if global warming is kept under the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures, 70% to 90% of corals across the world could be lost.

We must stay focused

The Australian government has a crucial role to play in managing threats to the Great Barrier Reef. The devastation is in their backyard, on their watch.

But what’s happening on the Great Barrier Reef should also be an international wake-up call. The fourth global mass coral bleaching event occurred this year; the Great Barrier Reef is not the only one at risk.

Every fraction of a degree of warming we avoid gives more hope for coral reefs. That’s why the world must stay focused on ambitious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Emissions reduction targets must be met, at the very least. The solutions are available and our leaders must implement them.

Our research equips society with the scientific evidence for what’s at stake if we don’t act.

The future of one of Earth’s most remarkable ecosystems depends on all of us.

The authors of this piece gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Andrew King, Ariella Arzey, David Karoly, Janice Lough, Tom DeCarlo and Brad Linsley and the producers of the coral data which made this study possible.

Ben Henley receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Helen McGregor receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.