This month we’re excited to share an episode from the fantastic ‘Branch Out’ Podcast from the Royal Botanic Gardens. It’s a very timely topic about a contagious disease - but not for humans! In this episode, we’ll learn about Myrtle rust, a plant disease threatening many of our iconic species. Listen to this episode to hear how this killer works and what scientists are doing to stop it. You’ll discover cutting-edge science that is used to try and protect our environment.

For more from the Royal Botanic Gardens podcast - hosted by Vanessa Fuchs: https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/science/branch-out

Hosted by Edgars Greste @growloveproject in collaboration with NSW Saving our Species

September is biodiversity month, highlighting that we have more than 1,000 threatened species in NSW alone. Now is the perfect opportunity to learn about how we depend on biodiversity in everyday life, often in ways that are not always apparent or appreciated. Did you ever realise that much of our food, energy, medicine, economic opportunities, cultural identity and overall well-being depends on the biodiversity of plants, animals and insects? In this episode, you'll hear from an ecologist and an astrophysicist who shed some light on some of the unexpected ways we rely on threatened species.

‘Dr. Matt Agnew is working with the Saving our Species program on the Threatened Connections awareness campaign mentioned in this episode.’

Thank you to our guests:

Heidi Kolkert - Impact Ecology

Matt Agnew - https://www.drmattagnew.com/

This podcast has been produced by the Grow Love Project with support from the NSW Government’s Saving our Species Program. 

For more info visit savingourspecies.online/helpsos

Edgars Greste, Host and Executive Producer

Katie Meyer, Producer

Did you know that over half the world’s population, that’s more than 4 billion people, now live in urban areas? As our population grows so does our urban development. This concrete sprawl negatively impacts biodiversity in these changing ecosystems. But it’s not all doom and gloom.

In this episode we’ll hear how three businesses are bringing nature back into the urban jungle to help communities and wildlife thrive. From DIY residential gardens to commercial scale greenwalls and biosolar roofs as well as indigenous cultural landscape design. All three have different approaches, but there is a shared end vision – plant a rich variety of native species that will encourage biodiversity and make our urban environment hum a green tune.

Guests featured in this episode include:

Liz Smith and Erryn Blacklock - Bushy Landscapes

Hisham Alameddine - Junglefy - (junglefy.com.au/projects)

Clarence Slockee - Jiwah Indigenous Landscape Design (jiwah.com.au)

This podcast has been produced by the Grow Love Project with support from the NSW Government’s Saving our Species Program. For more info visit savingourspecies.online/helpsos

How many species of flora and fauna do you think exist in Australia? Well there’s about a few hundred thousand that we’ve identified. But did you know there’s a bunch more out there that haven’t got a name yet? What’s amazing is that, when we get around to classifying them, that information could be worth billions of dollars to Australia’s economy.

So in this episode we’re talking to a scientist who’s had a spider named after him and an economist who’s worked out what all that is worth. Because sometimes, if we can put a dollar figure on nature – people value it more

Thank you to our guests:

Emeritus Professor Andy Austin, Taxonomy Australia and Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity

Claire Ibrahim, Deloitte Access Economics 

Thank you to NSW Saving Our Species

Podcast produced by Grow Love Project

It’s estimated that 70 per cent of Australian and New Zealand species remain undiscovered, unnamed and undocumented. The Taxonomy Australia decadal plan seeks to use new and emerging technologies, develop key infrastructure, and create a unified and dynamic science that will serve the needs of society, government, industry and our unique biodiversity.

Please listen, rate and share the podcast. Thank you!

Birds are an iconic species of our Australian environment. And whether you’re in the bush or the backyard, they play an important role with things like keeping pesky insects at bay, pollinating plants and they can even increase your property values. But sadly loss of habitat across both urban and agricultural landscapes has impacted many species of birds with some becoming endangered or threatened. So in this episode we’re talking to a bunch of passionate twitchers who are creating habitat for some threatened species to help nurture the birds and ensure they have a future.

We would like to thank all the guests featured in this episode:

Lea-Ann Ledden - urban bird lover

To see her backyard bird oasis visit - https://youtu.be/IDyJESLD22k

Dr. Holly Parsons, Birdlife Australia, Urban Bird Program Manager

www.birdsinbackyards.net

Jan and Neville Lubke, farmers and birdlife habitat creators

Ben Humphries, Birdlife Australia, Southern NSW Woodland Bird Project Officer

Birds on Farms project - birdlife.org.au/projects/woodland-birds-for-biodiversity/southern-nsw-bof

Saving our Species Program

www.savingourspecies.online/helpsos

Produced by Grow Love Project www.growloveproject.com

The beaches and our river systems are a popular place for recreation. But they're also home to some of our threatened and endangered native wildlife. So as we head into summer with people gathering along the NSW coastline, we’re taking a look at our native marine wildlife, the people who care for them when they get sick or injured and how we can do our bit.

Guests featured in this episode

Olly Pitt - General Manager of Australian Seabird Rescue

seabirdrescue.org.au/

Holly West - Turtle Watch

citizen-science.seed.nsw.gov.au/project/nsw-turtlewatch

Stephen Van Mil - Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital

www.byronbaywildlifehospital.org

www.oceanwarriorsaustralia.org

Saving our Species Program

www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/threatened-species/saving-our-species-program

In this episode we take to the skies to see how drone technology is saving time and money for threatened species. We talk to 3 conservationists turned tech heads about a range of projects from monitoring remote threatened species and bird migration to rapid fire reforestation. We’ll hear about their challenges, solutions and vision for the future and its a bright one.

With thanks to those featured:

Blaise Porter, Fujitsu

https://www.fujitsu.com/au/about/local/sustainability/digital-owl/index.html

Aymeric Maudous, Lord of the Trees

https://lordofthetrees.org/pages/team

Dr. Debbie Saunders, Wildlife Drones

https://wildlifedrones.net/

Only one quarter of known Australian threatened species are protected in conservation reserves. Some threatened species are confined to small areas in cities, on farms and along roadsides. Engaging the broader community in conservation efforts is essential to their survival. In this episode we speak to 3 people who are beating the drum for threatened species and bringing the public along for the ride.

Jodi Rowley really loves frogs. Working for the Australian Museum and the University of NSW she is the lead scientist behind the Frog ID APP. Australia has over 240 species of frog which are found nowhere else in the world, some species are flourishing but four have already become extinct.  The FrogID APP is a national citizen science project, helping scientists learn more about what is happening to Australia’s frogs. People are recording frog calls on their smartphone in their backyards, schools and farms.  Download it and you can't help but start noticing frogs all around. 

www.frogid.net.au

Matt Blomfield of Gather By provides an opportunity for Growers and farmers to diversify into the honey business without having to know anything about bees. Gather by looks for farmers with 5ha to grow Australian native Leptospermum plants plus bee- fodder plants, for the purpose of generating chemical free, raw bioactive, Manuka- type honeys for local and export markets, while prioritising bee and ecosystem health. Gather By advises the farmers on what to grow and how and then brings along the bees and collects the honey.

www.gatherby.org/growers

Darren Grover is the Head of Healthy Land and Seascapes Leading the Species, Oceans, Science and Impact teams at WWF-Australia. He has been working hard to improve the conservation status of species like the black-flanked rock-wallaby and Carnaby’s black cockatoo in southwest Australia, the Bilby and Gouldian Finch in the Kimberley, southern right whales in the Great Australian Bight, and marine turtles on the Great Barrier Reef. His biggest challenge is inspiring other to care as much about wildlife. His greatest joy is all the volunteers who make a difference. 

www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do

Standing around the kitchen table in rural communities, talking about Land management can be just as divisive as politics and religion. But biodiversity loss and threatened species is a problem for us all. So how do people work together towards restoration?

In this episode we’re looking at the Australian made Landcare movement. We’ll talk to passionate people working at all levels of the organisation and we’ll hear the secret to their success towards biodiversity and threatened species

People we hear from in this episode:

Adrian Zammit - CEO, Landcare NSW (landcarensw.org.au/staff)

Kylie Durant - Project Manager, Holbrook Landcare (holbrooklandcare.org.au)

Cindy and Steven Scott - Farmers, Scotts Angus (scottsangus.com.au)

To see a list of NSW Landcare threatened species programs visit landcarensw.org.au/saving-our-species-and-landcare-in-nsw

To download the full report on the business case for biodiversity mentioned in this episode visit oecd.org/environment/resources/biodiversity/G7-report-Biodiversity-Finance-and-the-Economic-and-Business-Case-for-Action.pdf

There are so many great ideas out there with the environment at their heart. But how do you take that idea for good and turn it into a business? Many conservationists struggle to put a dollar figure on their environmental values. So in this episode we’re talking to environmental entrepreneurs about the journey of turning their passion into a viable business.

In this episode we hear from:

Sam Marwood, Wild Idea Incubator - www.wildideaincubator.com

Jessie Panazollo - Lonely Conservationist - www.lonelyconservationists.com

Find her book she mentions in the episode at www.bookdepository.com/How-Conserve-Conservationists-Jessie-Panazzolo/9781649692726

David Brook - Wild BnB - www.wildbnb.com.au

See the gliders using David's nesting boxes - www.instagram.com/p/CGgJQxeAxlz

Kate Torgersen and David Flood, EnviroGolf - www.envirogolf.com.au

Hollie Newman and Aimee Bowman, Planet Warrior - www.planetwarrior.com.au