Tweets of the Week

This is the road into my village after the ferocious #LongGullyRoadFire swept through. Listen with the sound on. The sound you hear is of a normally vibrant forest after a wildfire. The almost total silence & lack of wildlife is both haunting & terrifying. #NSWbushfires #nswfire pic.twitter.com/4SclB4CK8j

— Not a Canberra Bubbler 🌲🌏🌲 (@MSMWatchdog2013) November 11, 2019

Repeat after us: "Thoughts and Prayers."@alex_c_lee @VZerbst @Jennaown pic.twitter.com/NVCX80jZRz

— The Feed SBS (@TheFeedSBS) November 11, 2019

The drying of Australia is beginning to bite its capital cities in 2019

Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Water Storage Summary, 27 October 2019:

Thirty-five days days out from the start of the Australian summer and in the third year of another severe drought -  as of 26 October 2019 - Hobart had 24.8% less stored water than the same day in 2018, Darwin 22.5% less, Brisbane 16.5% less, Sydney 14.9% less, Canberra 12.4% less, Perth 7.7% less, Adelaide 2.4% less and Melbourne 0.6% less.

Current storage levels in the capital cities are:

Australia wide total water storage stood at:

While Rural Water Storage Systems stood at:

Water 101 in Australia: where catchment rainfall is 600mm per year or less a large in-river dam will not fill with water

Geraldine Doogue's ABC Radio Saturday Extra interview with Professor Quentin Grafton, water economist, ANU and UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance on why the political call for more large in-river dams is misguided and only creating problems for the future.

Prof. Grafton asserts that any dams built in an area where the rainfall is 600mm per year or less will not fill with water. 

Click on: 
https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podcast/2019/10/sea_20191005_0730.mp3 (14:42mins)

Annual Rainfall 

According to Water NSW published data:

Section of Maryland River, NSW
Google Earth

Maryland River catchment annual rainfall graph/plot is not available or does not exist.

Section of Aberfoyle River, NSW
Google Earth

Aberfoyle River catchment average annual rainfall was less than 600mm in six (6) out of last twenty-one (21) years and less than est. 670mm for another three (3) of those twenty-one years.

Section of the Mole River, NSW
Google Earth

Mole River catchment annual rainfall was less than 600mm in thirteeen (13) of the last eighteen (18) years.

Australian Medical Association formally declares climate change a health emergency

The Guardian, 3 September 2018: 

The Australian Medical Association has formally declared climate change a health emergency, pointing to “clear scientific evidence indicating severe impacts for our patients and communities now and into the future”. 

The AMA’s landmark shift, delivered by a motion of the body’s federal council, brings the organisation into line with forward-leaning positions taken by the American Medical Association, the British Medical Association and Doctors for the Environment Australia. 

The American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians recognised climate change as a health emergency in June 2019, and the British Medical Association the following month declared a climate emergency and committed to campaign for carbon neutrality by 2030. 

The World Health Organisation has recognised since 2015 that climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century, and argued the scientific evidence for that assessment is “overwhelming”. 

The AMA has recognised the health risks of climate change since 2004. Having now formally recognised that climate change is a health emergency, the peak organisation representing doctors in Australia is calling on the Morrison government to promote an active transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy; adopt mitigation targets within an Australian carbon budget; promote the health benefits of addressing climate change; and develop a national strategy for health and climate change. 

The AMA president, Tony Bartone, argues the scientific evidence is clear. “There is no doubt that climate change is a health emergency. The AMA accepts the scientific evidence on climate change and its impact on human health and human wellbeing,” he says. 

Bartone says the climate science suggests warming will affect human health and wellbeing “by increasing the environment and situations in which infectious diseases can be transmitted, and through more extreme weather events, particularly heatwaves”. 

“Climate change will cause higher mortality and morbidity from heat stress,” the AMA president says. “Climate change will cause injury and mortality from increasingly severe weather events. Climate change will cause increases in the transmission of vector-borne diseases. Climate change will cause food insecurity resulting from declines in agricultural outputs. Climate change will cause a higher incidence of mental ill-health. 

“These effects are already being observed internationally and in Australia.” 

Bartone told Guardian Australia the motion adopted by the federal council had followed an ongoing discussion among stakeholders, and medical practitioners within the AMA membership....... 

 The latest official data released last week confirms that greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise in Australia. National emissions increased by 3.1m tonnes in the year to March to reach 538.9m tonnes, a 0.6% jump on the previous year. 

Emissions in Australia have increased every year since the Abbott government repealed a national carbon price after taking office in 2013.

How the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sees Australia in 2019

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 1539, 14 February 2019, excerpts: 

This paper analyses relative income poverty in Australia of individuals aged 15 or more, based on the HILDA Survey data. 

Australia has above-average poverty rates among OECD countries, but poverty has decreased in the last 15 years. 

Certain groups are more at risk than others. 

People living alone and lone parents are at higher risk of poverty. 

Old people in Australia have a more than 30% chance of living in poverty, which is one of the highest in the OECD. Among those of working age, being employed significantly reduces the risk, while those out of the labour force and the unemployed are at much higher risk of poverty. 

Nevertheless, there is poverty also among people that work, typically casual workers and part-time workers. People with low education are also at risk. 

Those living alone and one parent households face quite a high risk of poverty, even if they are employed. Indigenous Australians are almost twice as likely to be poor than the rest of Australians and they appear significantly poorer than the rest even after controlling for education, age, industry, skill and geographical remoteness, suggesting a range of socio-economic issues, including poor health and discrimination.

16. Women are at a higher risk of living in poverty compared to men (Figure 7), although the risk of poverty has been reduced for both groups over the last 15 years and more rapidly for women. In FY 2015/16, 20% of women lived below the 60% poverty line, and 13% below the 50% line. For men, the shares were 17% and 11%, respectively. 

17. Consider now the risk of poverty by age, shown in Figure 8. It is striking that the age group with by far the highest risk of poverty are the elderly. Prior to 2010 around 40% of individuals of age 65 and above were living in a household with disposable income below 50% of the median. This has since been reduced to 30%, but it nevertheless remains a high figure. For the 60% poverty line, more than half of the elderly lived in poverty until around 2010, with a declining trend to 44% in 2016. The poverty among the elderly in Australia is also very high in international comparison (Figure 9), according to the OECD Income distribution and poverty database. 

18. Very high poverty and social exclusion of the elderly are also reported for Australia in ACOSS (2014 and 2016) and Azpitarte and Bowman (2015). It is noteworthy that ACOSS (2016 and 2014) report similar overall poverty rates as in our data, however, variation across age according to their analysis is somewhat different, driven by the fact that they take into account housing costs. While for older people they still report the highest rate of poverty (except compared to the poverty rate of children below the age 15, which are excluded from our analysis), the difference with the rest of the population is less pronounced. As many older people own their houses and have repaid their mortgages, this provides significant protection against poverty (ACOSS, 2016). Moreover, many pensioners decide to take a significant amount of their pensions (superannuation) as a lump sum at the onset of their retirement, which thereafter does not count as current income and cannot be factored into HILDA measures of income poverty. 

23. We now turn to relative poverty across labour force status. As can be seen from Figure 12, full-time employed individuals have the lowest poverty rates. People employed part-time are about three times as likely to live in poverty as compared to the full-time employed. The unemployed have even higher rates of poverty, about 15% in FY 2015-16, although the rate is quite volatile over time. The highest poverty however is experienced by those not in the labour force, especially the elderly, as we already discussed above. The group “not in labour force of working age” includes students, parents not working, those who otherwise cannot or are unwilling to work. For all groups we can observe a trend reduction in poverty rates over the 15-year period, except for the part-time employed group. 

24. While concern often focuses on groups that exhibit highest incidence of poverty such as the unemployed or those out of the labour force, we should not overlook those who work, even full-time, but still end up being poor. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that employed individuals represent the biggest group, therefore there is actually a higher number of poor among the full-time employed, compared to the poor employed part-time or the unemployed. 

29. People born in Australia have the lowest probability of living in poverty (Figure 18), followed by immigrants with English speaking background and then the rest. The gap has been closing, in particular over the last couple of years. Indigenous Australians, on the other hand, are almost twice as likely to be poor than the rest of Australians (Figure 19), and recently the gap appears to be widening. Due to limited sample size the poverty rate of indigenous people is quite erratic, therefore the data need to be interpreted with caution.

Full working paper can be accessed at https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/322390bf-en.pdf

Australia is the world’s third biggest exporter and fifth biggest miner of fossil fuels by CO2 potential

The Australia Institute, Tom Swann, High Carbon from a Land Down Under: Quantifying CO2 from Australia’s fossil fuel mining and exports, July 2019:

Australia is the world’s third biggest exporter and fifth biggest miner of fossil fuels by CO2 potential. 

Its exports are behind only Russia and Saudi Arabia, and far larger than Iraq, Venezuela and any country in the EU. Yet Australia’s economy is more diverse and less fossil fuel intensive than many other exporters. 

Australia has an opportunity and obligation to decarbonise its exports in line with the Paris Agreement.

Yahoo! Finance, 19 August 2019:

(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s booming coal industry has made it the world’s third-biggest exporter of potential carbon dioxide emissions locked in fossil fuels, placing it only behind oil giants Russia and Saudi Arabia. 

Australia makes up 7% of all global fossil fuel exports by carbon dioxide potential, as it accounts for almost one-third of the world coal trade, according to a report Monday from The Australia Institute, which has been critical of the federal government’s efforts to combat global climate change.  

While China and the U.S. are the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters in absolute terms, the report highlights the role relatively smaller polluters play in selling fossil fuels to other nations.

Australia, which is also one of the biggest gas exporters, supplies economies throughout Asia, including Japan, China and South Korea.

Exports of fossil fuels and supply infrastructure play a crucial role in locking in increased emissions, and their impact is often ignored in climate change policy, The AI said in the report. 

“Australia has a unique opportunity, and obligation, to face up to the climate crisis through policies to limit its carbon exports, starting with a moratorium on new coal mines,” it said. 

“The scale of exports from countries like Australia bring into stark relief why efforts to reduce world emissions must limit both demand and supply.” In terms of its own greenhouse gas pollution, Australia generates 1.2% of the world’s emissions while having just 0.3% of the population, according to the report. 

Domestic emissions have been rising in recent years as a number of giant gas export projects come on stream, while coal-fired power is still the mainstay of its electricity grid.....

Australia attempts to "erase the science" on climate change at UN talks in Bonn?

BBC News, 27 June 2019:

Oil producing countries are trying to "erase the science" on keeping the world's temperatures below 1.5C, say some delegates at UN talks in Bonn.

The chair of the Alliance of Small Island States said Saudi Arabia and others were trying to pretend a key scientific report didn't exist.

Small island states believe keeping temperatures below 1.5C this century is critical to their survival.

A key report in October said this was possible.

But huge emissions cuts would be needed in the short term.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on 1.5C was commissioned by the UN back in 2015.

But when it was presented to climate negotiators in December in Poland, four countries including the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait refused to "welcome" it.

The simmering battle over the report has re-emerged here at this meeting in Bonn.

There has been a serious battle over a text that would include reference to the scientists' conclusion that carbon emissions would have to be reduced by 45% by 2030.

Saudi Arabia has been at the fore in wanting to include text that underlined the uncertainties in the report.

For the group of around 40 small island states, this has proved inflammatory.

"The report came out in in October of 2018 and now we see this move at the negotiations to try and have it almost erased from existence, which is impossible to do," Lois Young, the ambassador from Belize, who is chairing the group, told the BBC.

"There's this move to pretend as though it's not there, to not to refer to it in documents. And it's been ongoing since we got here."

The Saudis have gained some support in their arguments from an unlikely alliance of countries, including the US, Australia and Iran.

"The countries that are trying to downplay the importance of the document, erase it from the records, not all of them are showing their faces," said Ambassador Young.

"It's unreal, it's as though they're resigning our Aosis states to collateral damage, I mean, it's like we have no importance doesn't matter." [my yellow highlighting]

Read the full article here.

Road rage is no joke

Rohiman Haroon wrote this piece  for Malaysia's The New Strait Times.

It's not too difficult to apply the story to Australia. When reading its references to "Malaysia", think "Australia".


At a corporate dinner some years ago, stand-up comedian Harith Iskander made a humorous observation that Malaysian drivers had the habit of displaying a menacing look to their fellow drivers when the latter did something wrong in the way they drove

Yes, that menacing, disgusting look by the angry driver right after the car driver in front made a mistake, like hogging the road or failing to signal when turning into a junction.

The driver would usually drive past by you and make an angry face, wearing that somewhat Angry Bird look with pointed eyebrows and shaking his head in disbelief at you as if he wanted to know who the imbecile was.
...

Generally, Malaysian drivers do not like being honked at, tailgated and blinded by high beams. If you are a patient and civil driver, you’d give way to the oncoming car from behind. But if you are one of those who do not like being pushed over on the road, your average Malaysian drivers’ response would be to honk back, tailgate the driver and blind the car in front with high beams.

If you drive on the road today, you’d notice Malaysian motorists tend to make endless mistakes. Not signaling when turning into a junction, weaving in and out of traffic, running traffic lights and signs, using mobile phones while driving and even hogging the road below the allowed speed limit of 110kph on highways are just a few of the mistakes that you can observe on a daily basis.

But the worst is when incidents of road rage culminate in road bullying and assaults that result in injuries and deaths of either drivers.

We have seen a lot of these horrifying incidents captured on videos that went viral over the past years. I do not wish to dwell on those horrendous incidents, which have been said and written about in volumes on social media platforms, in newspapers and social forums.

But I want to stress the “small” mistakes we commit that could cause our fellow drivers to lose their cool

Admittedly, I have made plenty of mistakes while driving.

In an incident not too long ago, as I was sending my children to school in the morning and turning into a junction, I saw a four-wheel drive coming from behind fast, zigzagging past the traffic, and incessantly giving other vehicles high headlight beams.

As the vehicle drove past, I was shocked to find that a woman was in the driver’s seat. She rolled down the window, drove past and shouted at the top of her lungs: “Pakcik, lesen kopi ke? Apasal tak bagi signal?”

I was angry at first, wanting to violently respond, but I knew I made a mistake by not signaling. I rolled the window and showed my hand with open palm, gesturing an apology.

Nowadays, Malaysian women drive fast and furious, don’t they? Not just men any more. Aggressive driving, especially weaving through traffic, is the norm on our roads every day.

In another incident, I was given the middle finger not just by the driver, but by his supposedly young passenger son as well. “Bapa borek, anak rintik” (like father, like son); that’s what a Malay proverb says.

It was my mistake for changing lanes quite abruptly into the right side of the road, although I gave the indicating light.

Nonetheless, this car came from behind so fast that it hit on the brake so suddenly it screeched to a halt. It almost hit my car when the driver gave me the stern, menacing look as he overtook my car.
I was about to show my hands to gesticulate an apology, but the driver and his young passenger gave me the finger. Naturally, I wanted to give chase and gestured the driver with my own middle finger, but I kept my cool. It would have only made things uglier if I had done it.

I just couldn’t understand how a young boy, probably in his teens, could do such a thing. It ruined my day.

According to a Malaysian Institute of Road Safety research conducted two years ago, out of the total 13.3 million registered drivers in Malaysia, 2.4 million lose their temper on the road. It means two out of 10 people drive while fuming.

This is the reason why I made a point to want to be patient, be civil and remember to recite prayers when I start my car every time. The ugly side of me, however, reminds me to anticipate the worst.

I’d anticipate that other drivers on the road today are not in their right mind as they carry with them so much baggage in their lives. They could have had arguments with their wives that morning, anticipated a really bad day with piles of work and horrible bosses, afraid of arriving late to work or just missed breakfast.

Credit: The New Strait Times

It doesn't matter how many times or in how many ways the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government is told Australia is facing a climate emergency Coalition MPs & Senators just won't listen

Here is yet another warning that all is not well......

ABC News, 12 June 2019:

Nearly a billion people are facing climate change hazards globally, with the Asia-Pacific region housing twice as many people living in areas with high exposure than all other regions combined, a new report has revealed.

In the annual Global Peace Index released on Wednesday, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) said an estimated 971 million people — including more than 2.4 million Australians — live in areas with high or very high exposure to climate hazards including cyclones, floods, bushfires, desertification and rising sea levels.

The top nine countries facing the highest risk of climate hazards were all Asian nations with the Philippines topping the list, followed by Japan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.

IEP founder and executive chairman Steve Killelea told the ABC that many of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region also have weaker coping capacities for natural disasters.

"Pacific Islands are going to be massively impacted by rising sea levels," Mr Killelea said, adding that they would be the first affected because of their proximity to the equator.

In Australia, the main risks come from hurricanes and cyclones in the north, rising sea levels in the south and east, as well as drought and desertification which is already affecting thousands of farmers, he said.

PHOTO: The regions most at risk from climate hazards are Asia-Pacific and South Asia. (Supplied)

Climate hazards exacerbate conflict and migration

The report — which ranks 163 countries by measuring internal safety and security, militarisation and ongoing conflict — included climate change risks for the first time this year to evaluate links between climate hazards and violence.

It found climate pressures can adversely impact resource availability and affect population dynamics, which can impact socioeconomic and political stability.

"When you start to get massive effects from climate change you start to get large flows of refugees," Mr Killelea said, adding that this migration can increase instability and the impact of terrorism on host nations.

Mr Killelea listed several countries where climate change has caused or exacerbated violence including Nigeria, where desertification has led to conflict over scarce resources, Haiti in the aftermath of multiple hurricanes and earthquakes, and South Sudan, where the drying of Lake Chad has exasperated tensions.

In 2017, over 60 per cent of total displacements around the world were due to climate-related disasters, while nearly 40 per cent were caused by armed conflict……

[my yellow highlighting]

In the Global Peace Index 2019: Measuring peace in a complex world Australia only ranks 13^th on the global peace scale, having fallen one place since 2018 mainly because of ‘’Militarisation, namely weapons imports, military expenditure (% GDP), and nuclear and heavy weapons. The incarceration rate in Australia also rose”.

Australia had a 31 percentage point gap between the per cent of men and women who feel safe walking alone, the highest gap in all surveyed countries – a dubious honour it shared with Moldova.

The most peaceful countries in the world in 2019

1. Iceland 🇮🇸
2. New Zealand 🇳🇿
3. Portugal 🇵🇹
4. Austria 🇦🇹
5 . Denmark 🇩🇰
6. Canada 🍁
7. Singapore 🇸🇬
8. Slovenia 🇸🇮
9. Japan 🇯🇵
10. Czech Republic 🇨🇿#GlobalPeaceIndex@GlobPeaceIndex @ipinst pic.twitter.com/QWuEAVdDr6

— General Knowledge (@BORN4WIN) June 14, 2019

So how is Australian wage growth faring so far in 2019?

If one looks at national averages for wage growth or compensation of employees (COE) in March Quarter 2019 it looks as though no-one has been left behind.

However, first glances can be deceptive. 

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 5 June 2019:

COE increased 1.2% and average compensation per employee rose 0.4%.

Private COE grew 1.4%, while public COE increased 0.7%.

In the March Quarter 2019 there was negative wages growth in Tasmania, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). 

With a seasonally adjusted  -0.4% total change to pre-tax wages in Tasmania, a -0.3% total change to pre-tax wages in the Northern Territory and -0.4% total change to pre-tax wages in the ACT.

While March Quarter 2019 total percentage changes in pre-tax wages growth for the remaining states was:

Victoria 0.7%

Queensland 0.8%

New South Wales 1.6%

West Australia 1.7%

South Australia 2.0%.

Note: Compensation of Employees (COE) represents total gross (pre-tax) wages paid by employers to employees for work done in March Quarter 2019 accounting period.

Seasonally adjusted there was a 0.5% change in total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses in Australia between December Quarter 2018 and March Quarter 2019.

Other factors to consider alongside wages……..

According to the ABS the Cost Price Index (CPI) rose 1.3 per cent per cent through the year to the March quarter 2019, after increasing 1.8 per cent through the year to the December quarter 2018.

In March Quarter 2019 CPI remained flat due to reduced costs in automotive fuel and domestic/international holiday travel & accommodation. Although over the last twelve months, food and non-alcoholic beverages group costs rose 2.3% and, in seasonally adjusted terms food and non-alcoholic beverages group rose 1.2% this quarter. While in seasonally adjusted terms this quarter education group costs rose 0.3% and health group rose 0.7%.

Again according to the ABS the trend unemployment rate remained steady in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It decreased by 0.2 percentage points in the Northern Territory and by less than 0.1 percentage points in Queensland and Western Australia. It increased by 0.1 percentage points in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Over the year, the unemployment rate fell in all states and territories except for Tasmania, the Northern Territory and South Australia.

Where to follow the Australian federal election vote count on Saturday 18 May 2019

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Virtual Tally Room House of Representatives - from 6pm with progressive ballot tally all night

Australia Votes: ABC Election Night Live website - from 6:00pm

ABC News live stream online or televised on Channel 24 

ABC News on Twitter

ABC Radio National - from 6pm

You Ask, We Answer ABC online - from 6pm onwards

51st losing Newspoll in a row for Australian Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government

The losing streak is not yet over for the Morrison Government.

The last time the Coalition were ahead on a Newspoll Two Party Preferred (TPP) basis was on 2 July 2016 when the Turnbull Government stood at 50.5 per cent on the day of the 2016 federal election.

Which means the losing streak has now stretched to 33 months.

51st Newpoll results – 7 April 2019:

Primary Vote – Labor 37 percent (down 2 points) to Liberal-Nationals 38 per cent (up 2 points), The Greens 9 per cent (unchanged), One Nation 6 per cent (down 1 point).

Two Party Preferred (TPP) - Labor 52 per cent (down 1 point) to Liberal-Nationals Coalition 47 per cent (up 1 point).

Voter Net Satisfaction With Leaders’ Performance – Prime Minister Scott Morrison 2 points and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten -14 points.

If a federal election had been held on 7 April 2019 based of the preference flow in July 2016, then Labor would have won government with a majority 82 seats (down 2 seats since March poll) to the Coalition's 63 seats (up 4 seats since March poll) in the House of Representatives.

Sportsbet is taking bets on voting outcomes in individual federal electorates.

In Page the current odds are Labor $1.64 Coalition $2.05 Greens $31.00, in Richmond Labor $1.05 Coalition $7.50 Greens $31.00, and in Cowper Independent $1.72 Coalition $1.93 Labor $21.00 Greens $51.00.

UPDATE

According to Antony Green’s Swing Calculator Newspoll results for 4-7 April 2019 mean that the electorates of Page and Richmond will both have Labor MPs while Cowper will have a Nationals MP after the May federal election.

The IPSOS poll of 3-5 April 2019 produces the same results.

More evidence of Australia’s national extinction crisis

Twenty years ago my garden and the street in which I live rang with the sound of frogs calling after dark - at times it was deafening and drowned out the sound of the television news presenter.

Frogs of different species were in my letterbox, in the garden trees, catching moths on the window sills, hopping about on my patio and frequently in the house.

No more.

Anyone living in urban areas of the NSW Northern Rivers region would be aware that fewer frog species and fewer numbers within those frog species have been part of garden, park and nature reserve landscapes over the last twenty years.

Loss of habitat due to land clearing, drainage or development, depredation by introduced species, over use of herbicides/pesticides by councils and homeowners, decease in available food sources and disease are taking their toll on local frog populations.

When one sees the scale writ large it is terrible to behold.......

The Guardian, 29 March 2019:

A deadly disease that wiped out global populations of amphibians led to the decline of 500 species in the past 50 years, including 90 extinctions, scientists say.

A global research effort, led by the Australian National University, has for the first time quantified the worldwide impact of chytridiomycosis, or chytrid fungus, a fungal disease that eats away at the skin of amphibians.

The disease was first discovered in 1998 by researchers at James Cook University in Queensland investigating the cause of mysterious, mass amphibian deaths.

Chytridiomycosis is caused by two fungal species, both of which are likely to have originated in Asia, and their spread has been facilitated by humans through activities such as the legal and illegal pet trade.

Forty-two researchers worked on the new study, published in Science on Friday, which pinpoints the extent of the disease and how devastating it has been for frog, toad and salamander species.

They found evidence that at least 501 species had declined as a result of chytrid fungus and 90 of those were presumed or confirmed extinct.

“The results are pretty astounding” Benjamin Scheele, a research fellow at the ANU and the project’s lead researcher, said.

“We’ve known that chytrid is really bad for the better part of two decades but actually researching and quantifying those declines, that’s what this study does.”

The scientists identified declines in amphibian species in Europe, Africa, Central and South America and Australia because of the disease.

Scheele said there were no declines in Asia because species had evolved to be naturally resistant.

The impact of the disease has been hardest in Central and South America and in eastern Australia, where it flourishes in cool and moist conditions. It does not survive at temperatures above 28C.

In Australia, chytrid fungus is present in upland areas along the Great Dividing Range, down to the Otways in Victoria, and the edges of South Australia and Tasmania.

It is also found in some of the cooler mountain areas of Queensland.

Scheele said in Australia alone, there were 240 species of amphibian, 40 of which the researchers believed had suffered population declines as a result of chytrid fungus.

Seven of those 40 are believed to be extinct. One of those is the mountain mistfrog, which was last year added to a group of species the Australian government has been assessing to determine whether it should be moved to the national list of extinct wildlife.

Other species, including both the southern and northern corroboree frog, have suffered because of chytrid fungus, but large-scale captive breeding programs have worked to prevent their extinction..... [my yellow highlighting]