Australia
Liset & Olivia
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Population: 23.2 million
GDP: $999.6 billion
2.4% growth
2.5% 5-year compound annual growth
$43,073 per capita
Unemployment: 5.6%
Inflation: 2.5%
FDI inflow: 49.8 billion
• Scientists have evidence of climate
change
• The warming trend is human induced
– The sea level has risen almost 7 inches
– Oceans have warmed: .302 degrees
Fahrenheit
– Ice sheets have decreased in mass
– Acidity in oceans have increased 30%
• Australia produces around 1.8% of total
world greenhouse gas emissions
• 28 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per
person per year
• Australia among the highest emitters for its
population in the world
• 1980s- carbon dioxide levels were
acceptable at 350ppm
• Burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and
making cement are human-generated
carbon emissions that are altering the
climate
• The more developed countries/industrial
countries will be liable for the burdens of
climate change
• If MDC’s work together, the cost of being
liable for the climate change will not be
detrimental
Political Tax
• Carbon Tax:
– Clean Energy Plan: aimed to reduce
greenhouse emissions by 5% by 2020 and
80% by 2050
– Increase energy efficiency and invest in
sustainable energy
– Charged $24.15 per metric ton
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Examine the economic, technical and social
perspectives of the problems to fully
understand the issues and how they are
playing out
This helps design and implement technically
feasible policies in the most cost-effective way
Can make the policies more effective and
efficient by understand how people and
organizations interact.
Research trials can help us understand the
likely impact of our policies and improve their
design before we implement them fully
• The acceptable levels of greenhouse
emissions should be decided by a panel of
well educated and environmentally
supportive politicians
• The acceptable level of greenhouse
emissions should be 310ppm
• Global warming does far more damage to poor
countries than they do to the climate
• A 2°C rise in global temperature cost about 1%
of world GDP
• Even if environmental costs were distributed
equally to every person on earth, developing
countries would still bear 80% of the burden
(because they account for 80% of world’s
population).
• Their citizens' carbon footprints are much
smaller
• The poor are more vulnerable than the rich: Flimsy
housing, poor health and inadequate health care mean
that natural disasters of all kinds hurt them more
• Global warming increases the chances of catching the
life-threatening diseases that are more prevalent in
poorer countries
• In many places cities have been built just above a socalled “malaria line”, above which malaria-bearing
mosquitoes cannot survive
• Poor countries are particularly prone to flooding.
• Ten of the developing world's 15 largest cities are in lowlying coastal areas vulnerable to rising sea levels or
coastal surges
• Climate change is overwhelming the social and other
arrangements that in the past allowed countries and
people to cope with floods
• National budgets can not afford the cost of improving
defenses
• The biggest vulnerability is that the weather affects
developing countries' main economic activities—such as
farming and tourism
• Global warming dries out farmland
• Global warming also seems to be speeding up the
earth's hydrologic cycle, causing both floods and
droughts (more rains fall in shorter periods, with longer
gaps between)
• melting glaciers, global warming reduces nature's
storage capacity leaves poor countries with less of a
buffer to protect farmers against changing weather and
rainfall patterns
• When forests are cut, the salinity of the soil can greatly increase
• As a result, saline water draining from such areas can affect
downstream or down slope water quality
• 7% of the agricultural area of western Australia is suffering from this
problem following deforestation
– Because of clearing activities for agricultural land, around 13% of
Australia's original vegetation has been removed since
European settlement
– Overgrazing is one of the main pressures on biodiversity
– Grazing and various agricultural improvement strategies have
modified vast areas of grasslands and open grassy woodlands
– Overgrazing promotes desertification and erosion, and is also
seen as one cause of the spread of invasive plants
• Intensive agriculture is affecting Australia's
coasts and oceans, particularly estuaries and
environments near the shore
• Modeling predictions estimate that each year
almost 19,000 tones of phosphorus and 141,000
tones of nitrogen are discharged to rivers flowing
to the coast.
• Continued population growth along the coastline
• The formation of massive metropolitan centers
with increasing population density
Emissions into the air, water shortages, growth in city areas, and waterway
pollutants are all issues that are having negative effects on Australia's
landscape, natural and built.
• Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are the highest compared to all other
industrial countries
• Burning fossil fuels to generate electricity and the ever increasing number of
cars on the roads are Australia's two main contributing factors to the air
pollution problem
• Australian cities will often experience blankets of smog due to the high
concentration of cars and their emissions in one area.
• Australia is fortunate that it is surrounded by oceans and does not
experience trans-boundary air pollutants
• Winds also move a great deal of pollutants so that they do not settle in
particular areas
• Coastal areas are becoming more and more developed which has resulted
in pollutants being produced, leading to the destruction of mangroves and
wetlands, which are situated along the country's coastlines
• Rivers are also out of balance-Salinity , algal bloom, cleared vegetation and
diverting water are all pollutants from waste before it is released into the
atmosphere.
• Australia's Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing the
damaging effects of coral bleaching, where the coral dies and goes
white
• Due to salinity levels becoming low
• As more and more people move to the cities, the pressures on
resources increase
• More water, electricity, and cars are used in a more concentrated
area
• The Australian government has reacted positively towards many of
Australia's pollution concerns
• There have been many laws, initiatives, organizations and
educational programs implemented to fix Australia's many pollution
issues
• The government's environmental minister is the person who takes
responsibility for the government's role in managing environmental
issues.
• The Greens political party and Greenpeace also speak out on major
areas of environmental concern and suggest ways to fix problems.
• The Natural Heritage Trust (NHT)- organization that restores and
conserves Australia's environment and natural resources
– funds many community, regional, State, and national-level
activities that improve the state of the environment and reduce
pollutants
– Some of these activities include land care programs, coasts and
clean seas initiatives, national river care programs, and waste
management awareness programs
• The United Nations (UN), a global
organisation, has also become active in
promoting the problem of pollution as a
global issue
• Australians have become very aware of
the pollution problems that are affecting
their country and have become active in
working towards fixing the problems
• Clean Up Australia Day-biggest
community event in the country