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Fanning the flames of Australian wildfires Climate change will increase the frequency, intensity and scale of Australian bushfires, at huge cost to its population and unique biota. Yet the government-funded science agency, CSIRO, plans to cut at least 100 jobs in climate research. Australia urgently needs political leadership on climate action and investment in climate science (see also D. Lindenmayer Too many mining disasters in Brazil Another mining dam collapsed in Brazil last month, bringing the country's total of these human and environmental disasters to more than 80. With at least 600 mining dams still operating, the government urgently needs to evaluate the associated risks, tighten its mining code and enforce its safety law for dams. The environmental effects reach beyond the pollution of fresh water, soils and coastal systems. Such accidents eradicate rare endemic species and disrupt ecological interactions, ecosystem functions and evolutionary processes (M. Lambertz and J. A.