Latest news with #MinderooFoundation
West Australian
20 hours ago
- Health
- West Australian
Early Years bus service to provide vital school and healthcare access for Great Southern families
A brand-new Early Years bus service enables young children in the Great Southern access to essential early childhood services by removing persistent transport barriers. Taking its first trip on May 6, the service provides transport to families with children up to 4-years-old to early education services such as KindiLink, health services, and cultural events across Katanning, Kojonup, Gnowangerup, and Broomehill-Tambellup. The initiative developed from the Central Great Southern Community Plan, co-designed with local families, educators and service providers, who identified transport as a major hurdle when accessing early childhood education and health services. Funded through the Early Years Partnership, the place-based approach guarantees tailored solutions to the individual needs of families in the region to improve school readiness, health outcomes, and family participation in the community, to be evaluated in time. Early Childhood Minister Sabine Winton said she is eager to support young families and continue to deliver Early Years projects. 'The first five years of a child's life are so important. It is during this time that they build the foundation for lifelong learning, health and wellbeing,' Ms Winton said. 'The Early Years Partnership is a unique collaboration between the State Government, Minderoo Foundation, and the Telethon Kids Research Institute Australia that promotes new ways of working to achieve positive outcomes for children, families and the wider community. 'We know that attending early learning activities and child health appointments is vital in supporting children's wellbeing and school readiness. 'I'm pleased that the Early Years bus service is helping families in Katanning and surrounding communities to access early childhood services.' Families can enrol in the service via a barcode system with the BAC Connected Beginnings team.
Perth Now
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
David Attenborough's Perth-based birthday celebrations
James Arvanitakis & Nicola Forrest. Picture: Alan Chau / The West Australian More than 100 people gathered at Luna Palace Cinema in Leederville for the Perth premiere of Ocean with David Attenborough. The premiere was hosted by Minderoo Foundation, a major backer of the Attenborough film via its impact film fund, Minderoo Pictures. The film exposes the devastating impacts of bottom trawling, coral bleaching and rising ocean temperatures, while drawing on Attenborough's seven-decade career to share a powerful message of hope: while the ocean is in crisis, recovery is still possible – if we choose to act. Minderoo Foundation co-founder Nicola Forrest said the film would inspire change at a critical time for the world's oceans and the communities and people they sustain. 'It's more than a documentary - it's a wake-up call,' Ms Forrest told guests. 'Long-form storytelling through film speaks to us in a unique way. It has the capacity to cut through, it can create movements for change and even trigger cultural shifts.' The Perth premiere coincided with Sir David's 99th birthday, making it an especially meaningful celebration of his legacy and lifelong dedication to nature and science. One of the cinematographers on the film, Tom Park, who shot scenes at the Great Barrier Reef said it was surreal to hear the legend narrate his footage. 'For me, he's been an idol for as long as I can remember, he's inspired generations of us,' Park said. 'Happy Birthday and if you ever make it to Aus, I'd love to buy you a beer.' Managing director of Sea Shepherd Australia Jeff Hansen was also at the premiere and thanked Attenborough for being 'a bloody legend'.
AU Financial Review
28-04-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Philanthropy 50: Which Australians gave away the most?
Is divorce good for philanthropy? This could be the year Australia finds out. Nicola Forrest, who split from former husband Andrew in 2023, now gives through both the Minderoo Foundation and her own Coaxial Foundation. And while Coaxial didn't make the Philanthropy 50 list this year, it will almost certainly next year. Likewise, Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes' divorce may lead to greater levels of giving from both, through Mike's Boundless Earth and the Cannon-Brookes Foundation, which is led by the former couple. It's all been pioneered globally, says JBWere's John McLeod, by MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, who set in motion a wave of impressive philanthropic giving in 2020, currently totalling $US19 billion ($31.7 billion). Next year's Philanthropy 50, in other words, could be quite different from 2025's.
New York Post
23-04-2025
- Science
- New York Post
84% of the world's coral reefs hit by worst bleaching event on record
Harmful bleaching of the world's coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean's reefs in the most intense event of its kind in recorded history, the International Coral Reef Initiative announced Wednesday. It's the fourth global bleaching event since 1998, and has now surpassed bleaching from 2014-17 that hit some two-thirds of reefs, said the ICRI, a mix of more than 100 governments, non-governmental organizations and others. And it's not clear when the current crisis, which began in 2023 and is blamed on warming oceans, will end. Advertisement 4 Bleached coral is visible at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, on Sept. 16, 2023. AP 'We may never see the heat stress that causes bleaching dropping below the threshold that triggers a global event,' said Mark Eakin, executive secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired coral monitoring chief for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 'We're looking at something that's completely changing the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to sustain lives and livelihoods,' Eakin said. Advertisement Last year was Earth's hottest year on record, and much of that is going into oceans. The average annual sea surface temperature of oceans away from the poles was a record 69.57 degrees Fahrenheit. That's deadly to corals, which are key to seafood production, tourism and protecting coastlines from erosion and storms. Coral reefs are sometimes dubbed 'rainforests of the sea' because they support high levels of biodiversity — approximately 25% of all marine species can be found in, on and around coral reefs. 4 A diver inspecting corals impacted by a bleaching event on the Ningaloo Reef off Australia's west coast. Minderoo Foundation/AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Coral get their bright colors from the colorful algae that live inside them and are a food source for the corals. Prolonged warmth causes the algae to release toxic compounds, and the coral eject them. A stark white skeleton is left behind, and the weakened coral is at heightened risk of dying. 4 Alarming levels of coral bleaching have been recorded off Australia's western coast. Minderoo Foundation/AFP via Getty Images Advertisement The bleaching event has been so severe that NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program has had to add levels to its bleaching alert scale to account for the growing risk of coral death. Efforts are underway to conserve and restore coral. One Dutch lab has worked with coral fragments, including some taken from off the coast of the Seychelles, to propagate them in a zoo so that they might be used someday to repopulate wild coral reefs if needed. 4 Bleached corals are seen in a reef in Koh Mak, Trat province, Thailand, on May 8, 2024. REUTERS Other projects, including one off Florida, have worked to rescue corals endangered by high heat and nurse them back to health before returning them to the ocean. But scientists say it's essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet, such as carbon dioxide and methane. 'The best way to protect coral reefs is to address the root cause of climate change. And that means reducing the human emissions that are mostly from burning of fossil fuels … everything else is looking more like a Band-Aid rather than a solution,' Eakin said. Advertisement 'I think people really need to recognize what they're doing … inaction is the kiss of death for coral reefs,' said Melanie McField, co-chair of the Caribbean Steering Committee for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, a network of scientists that monitors reefs throughout the world. The group's update comes as President Donald Trump has moved aggressively in his second term to boost fossil fuels and roll back clean energy programs, which he says is necessary for economic growth. 'We've got a government right now that is working very hard to destroy all of these ecosystems … removing these protections is going to have devastating consequences,' Eakin said.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australian philanthropists donate $3.15 million to Ukraine, urge governments to step up support
Minderoo Foundation on Feb. 27 donated 5 million Australian dollars ($3.15 million) to support Ukrainian communities impacted by Russian aggression and affirm Ukraine's territorial integrity. The package builds upon 20 million Australian dollars ($12.6 million) that the Australia-based charity, founded by Andrew and Nicola Forrest, has already provided for demining, food and energy security, and the protection of children in Ukraine. Russia's full-scale war, which recently entered its fourth year, has sparked a deep humanitarian crisis in the country, leaving millions displaced and housing and infrastructure devastated in front-line regions. "The invasion of one country by another is wholly offensive to civilization. Ukraine has every right to protect its borders, and the international community will be extremely shortsighted if it does not stand with Ukraine," said Andrew Forrest, an Australian billionaire, philanthropist, and founder of the Fortescue mining group. "While philanthropy can play a crucial role, governments across Europe should redouble their efforts to make Russian assets and elite interests pay for the war of aggression they have waged on Ukraine." The foundation's latest assistance package focuses on regions in Ukraine's east, including Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and elsewhere. It targets communities impacted by Russia's use of cluster munitions in Mykolaiv in 2022 and Russia's deadly missile strike against an apartment building in Dnipro in January 2023. The donation will further provide support for demining in agricultural areas, households impacted by the war, and peace-building and community cohesion activities in cooperation with civil society organizations. Nicola Forrest noted that one-quarter of Ukraine's agricultural land remains contaminated by landmines and unexploded ammunition. "Demining is a humanitarian and economic imperative. Recovery, growth and global food security depends on it," she said in a statement. The foundation said that the latest donation is intended to recognize Ukraine's territorial integrity and reflects Minderoo's commitment to the Ukrainian leadership in peace efforts. "President (Volodymyr) Zelensky is the democratically elected leader of his people and a man of great character and resilience," Andrew Forrest said on the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale war. "As I have told the president before, we unequivocally support Ukraine to recover from this atrocious war on the terms acceptable to him and his people." The statement comes amid U.S. President Donald Trump's diplomatic outreach to Russia in an effort to broker a peace deal, seemingly sidestepping Kyiv and Europe. The U.S. president caused an uproar in Ukraine and elsewhere when he called Zelensky a "dictator without elections" and said the Ukrainian head of state is not vital to the peace process. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Trump says he will meet Zelensky on Feb. 28 in Washington to sign agreement on minerals We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
