Search results

Text

Making a difference: development for a better future

This series of project-based resources use real world contemporary contexts to highlight opportunities and challenges in international food and nutrition security, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Resources focus on international agricultural practices and Australia's role as a member of the global community. The ...

Video

Landline: Feeding soils to grow hungry crops

How do today's farmers improve their crop yields? One school of thought is to go high-tech and use agricultural technologies designed to improve efficiencies and yields. See the role that soil condition plays in gaining those high yields.

Video

Foreign Correspondent: Damming the free and mighty Mekong

The Mekong has been a rare thing: a largely untouched and free-flowing river. Stretching for nearly 5,000 km from the mountains of Tibet to Vietnam's Mekong Delta, it has provided a way of life for millions of people and been an important trading route between south-western China and south-eastern Asia. In this clip from ...

Video

Catalyst: Why plants are good for liveable cities

Central Park in Sydney was voted the world's best tall building. It is known for the plants in its beautiful vertical gardens which cover its surfaces, but did you know that the garden is not purely decorative? Watch this video to find out what other purpose the vertical garden has.

Video

Understanding the causes of climate change

Did you know that climate change is not a recent phenomenon? In the past, natural events led to changes in the climate. Although natural events still affect climate, they're not enough to explain the big changes we've been seeing in the last 150 years. What changes on earth can account for such dramatic changes to our climate? ...

Video

The explorers’ diaries

When Sir Thomas Mitchell and Sir George Grey explored unknown regions of Australia in the 19th century, they found sophisticated examples of agriculture practised by Indigenous peoples. Writer Bruce Pascoe considers why Aboriginal agriculture, economy and civilisation were not taught to generations of Australians. Do you ...

Video

Walking on Aboriginal land

Benjamin Church works for the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Watch as Ben welcomes visitors through the Welcome to Country ceremony. Why do people place leaves in the fire? What does that signify? As Ben takes his visitors through the Royal Botanic Gardens, he explains the importance of land to Aboriginal people.

Video

Foreign Correspondent: Sustainable tourism

The Yucatán Peninsula in south-eastern Mexico is a popular tourist destination. This clip focuses on examples of sustainable tourism - tourism that aims to have a low environmental impact. View Tulum, a town under threat of being developed similarly to Cancún, a major tourist resort destination.

Video

Foreign Correspondent: New dam, new house: The Mekong

The mighty Mekong river provides a way of life for millions of people, and is arguably the most important resource in the developing country of Laos. Discover how villagers are being relocated to make way for hydropower dams on this river, which stretches for nearly 5,000 kilometres from the mountains of Tibet to Vietnam. ...

Video

Foreign Correspondent: Famine and aid in Ethiopia

The Live Aid concert in 1985 drew attention to Ethiopia's terrible drought and famine. When this clip was made decades later in 2008, the developing nation was still experiencing widespread hunger. See how charitable aid can impact on the lives of those in less developed countries.

Video

Catalyst: E-waste, recycling, and sustainability

What happens to electronic waste (e-waste)? Watch this clip about the physics of recycling to find out the way that useful materials are captured from waste at a local materials recovery facility. Presenter Tanya Ha investigates e-waste, the products it comes from, and the sustainability challenges it poses.

Video

Measuring gravity

Did you know you can measure gravity? The more mass an object has, the more gravity it has, so by measuring the mass of something, you can figure out its gravity. Why do you think climate scientists may want these measurements? Watch this NASA animation to find out.

Video

World’s first bakers?

When did humans begin grinding seeds to make flour? Many people believe bread-making began in Egypt or Mesopotamia as long as 17,000 years ago. Archaeologists have recently found evidence that Indigenous Australians were producing flour 65,000 years ago. Were they the world’s first bakers?

Video

Farmers, their animals and the environment

This is a video about the valuable genetic diversity of Asia's indigenous domesticated animals; the contribution the animals' genes make to local people's food security; and the results of the use of genetic technologies. The video identifies ever-present links between farmers, their animals and the environment by describing ...

Text

Food security and global farming

The expected growth in world population from 6.8 billion in 2010 to over 9 billion by 2050, the demand for food will increase by around 70 per cent. This collection of articles from the CSIRO describes some of the research that is underway to improve the world's agriculture sector to address this growing demand. The web ...

Video

Gaps and opportunities for perennial crops

This is a video about the scientific breeding of perennial crops as described at a 2013 workshop, 'Perennial crops for food security', held by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). After giving the big picture regarding perennial crop research, the 16-minute video focuses on the breeding of perennial wheat and its ...

Video

Voice of fishers: Panama

This is a video about the rights and fishing practices of the Kuna people of the Comarca, an autonomous region of Kuna Yala, which is a 226-km long strip of Panama's Caribbean coast. Opening with a map of the area, the video consists mostly of interviews with Kuna people who tell how their fishing rights were secured; distinguish ...

Interactive

Save our catchment – virtual excursion

This virtual excursion offers twelve video lessons that form a sample investigation of pest species invading Australian riparian zones. Filmed on Bundjalung Country, the excursion traverses mid north coast NSW Upper Clarence River Catchment, connecting each video to companion classroom and field learning tasks. The invasive, ...

Video

Foreign Correspondent: The Mekong: A damming example

The government of Laos has plans for many revenue-raising dams along the Mekong River. Find out about a dam, the Nam Theun 2, which was completed in 2010 and lies across the Nam Theun river in the Nakai Plateau. This clip from the same year asks if the dam could be the flagship for others to be built along the Mekong. Discover ...

Video

Foreign Correspondent: Dams and dolphins on the Mekong?

If the Lao Government's plans are realised, nine hydropower dams will be built across the Mekong River in Laos, and more across its tributaries. The government wants the country to become the 'battery of Asia'. With this dream comes a host of issues. Listen to reasons why the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) suggests hydro-dam ...