State of the Australian Environment
.... some statistical indicators
Compiled by Sheila Newman and Bob Whiteway, from 'State of the Environment -Executive Summary, 1996'
by the State of the Environment Advisory Council and published by the CSIRO in Melbourne.
Page reference numbers from this booklet are included in the text below, with other sources given in the end notes.
Interpreting the Data:
The data may be seen in the light of population carrying capacity. To the extent that a nation's 'natural capital' (water, land, air, minerals, fuels, indigenous fauna and flora, etc.) is being significantly degraded, depleted or polluted, the impact of the present population of some 18 million people may be said to be unsustainable, and a case for its reduction is implicit.
The Data
Land - use and abuse:
Only 6% of the Australian continent is arable (compared with 20% in the USA, whose soils are also much richer and moister). About 54% is grazed, leaving 40% which is too arid for agriculture.(p30) Most areas of cropland and pasture suffer soil degradation, posing a threat to the long term sustainability of agriculture.(p32) Overall, degraded land - which totalled 1 million Ha. in 1900 - had risen to 25 million Ha. by 1990. * Whilst erosion is the most widespread form of degradation, salination is also a major problem. The water table has risen half a metre in parts of the Murray-Darling Basin, and by as much as 30 metres in some dryland catchments. By way of example, about 1/3rd of Victoria's irrigated land is salinised.(p35).
Water:
Australia is the driest habitated continent, so requiring the highest water storage per capita in the world. The sparse rainfall is also unreliable in many regions, being vulnerable to El Nino Southern Oscillations. One third of the continent has virtually no run-off, whilst two thirds of the remainder occurs in Northern Australia. Generally the flow is naturally turbid and saline, and inland drinking water is of inferior quality. The Murray-Darling system, the nation's bread basket, drains 1/7th of the continent but its annual flow is less than one day's flow of the Amazon. (p34)
About 80% of Australia is predominantly or totally dependent on underground supplies of water - which are being rapidly overdrawn, and often from supplies which are 1-2 million years old. (p35)
Inland water use is greater than supply and therefore unsustainable. (p13) Also see 'Pollution' below.
Marine Resources:
Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone of seas and oceans is both as vast and as poor in nutrients as are its land and soils. Not only does that land deliver few nutrients to the sea, but the surrounding seas have little input from upwelling currents. Therefore marine productivity is low. In fact our seafood species are already fully exploited. Some are actually in decline, such as the bluefin tuna, eastern gemfish, turtles and dugongs. Estuarine and coastal salt marsh, mangroves and seagrass beds, the breeding ground of a majority of commercial fish, are suffering losses particularly near urban centres. Also, the Great Barrier Reef is under excessive pressure from tourism (2m. p.a. and rising by 10% each year), a fishing industry worth $1b. annually, and pollution from agricultural and urban sources. The crown of thorns starfish alone has decimated an estimated 17% of the reef. (pp38-40)
Forests:
Of Australia's original forest cover of 244m. Ha., 61% remain, but only 5% is untouched or pristine. By comparison, 68% of the world's forest remain of which 28% is pristine. *. As much clearing has occurred in the last 50 years as did in the previous 150 years, and is currently proceeding at 600,000 Ha. p.a. - or at a ratetwice that of the Brazillian Amazon, (90/91 figures). (p23).
Australia's loss includes 3/4ths of its tropical rainforest. Only 10,000 square km. are left - that's about 0.1% of our land area, but those forests contain a disproportionately large variety of plant and animal species, or biodiversity. (p17)
Biodiversity:
Australia ranks in the top 12 nations for variety of plants and animals (p11) and of those, the following proportion is endemic (found nowhere else) - birds 45%, mammals 84%, inshore fish and flowering plants 85%, reptiles 89%, and frogs 93%.(p22) The proportion which are vulnerable, endangered or extinct is as follows: higher plants 5%, reptiles 7%, birds and freshwater fish 9%, amphibians 16%, and mammals 23%. Australia has lost 18 of its 197 mammals - the worst rate in the world.(p24) Whilst destruction of habitat is the most general cause of loss, exotic species and pollution are also significant contributors.
Exotic Species:
Disruption of natural ecosystems has resulted from the introduction of hundreds of exotic plant and animal species. Marine and fresh water habitats for example suffer from the introduction of more than 55 species of fish, invertebrates and seaweeds. European carp, trout, and Mimosa (weed) are familiar examples. On land, 15% of our plant species are now exotic, as are 18% of our mammals. The latter include water buffalo, fox, cat, rabbit and pig, to name some prominent damaging species, whilst organisms such as the Cinnamon fungus have caused widespread destruction of trees.(p17) Weeds are estimated to cost $3.3b. in lost production annually - more than the losses caused by insect pests. A mouse plague in South Australia during 1993 cost $65m. - about the same as the cost to the nation of rabbits each year.
Pollution:
Australia produces 1-2% of global greenhouse gases, notably by burning fossil fuels in the transport, power generation and industrial sectors, and as a result of land clearing.(p26) At 4.19 tons, our annual per capita contributions are the third highest in the world behind the USA - 5.26 tons, and Kazakstan - 4.71 tons (1994 figures). * What is more, our emissions are increasing faster than the OECD average, arising in part from our relatively cheap power.(p15) The productivity of our energy-use is almost static whilst some countries have reduced energy use per unit of output by as much as 30%. Between 1970 and 1990 Australia's energy use rose 37% - with a consequent rise of 25% in CO2 emissions.(p18)
Other significant pollutants include sulphur dioxide, fluoride and lead from power stations and smelters. Cars are the biggest hazard in cities. Australia's solid wastes of 618Kg. per head also compares badly with the OECD average, which is 513Kg. per head. Much of the pollution is concentrated because Australia is one of the world's most urbanised peoples. Some 85% live in towns of 10,000 or more.(p18) The world average is 43% (1990 figures) *
Heritage:
The Australian continent contains 11 World Heritage areas including Kakadu, the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru and Fraser Island. On the other hand, Australia has no overview of the physical condition of heritage places, and no national monitoring system. 10,772 sites are registered on the National Estate - 73% historic, 16% natural and 7% Aboriginal.(p42) Indigenous people themselves are suffering poor health, and also face an on-going fading of their culture with the increasing loss of tribal languages.(p14)
Compilers' Note:
"Compared with other developed nations, Australia has only rudimentary information on the condition and productive capacity of its land resources."(p33)
This is deplorable, but even so, the brief account above leads us to the pressing question of how Australia could support a higher population, or an expansion of output, without further degrading, depleting or polluting the nation's natural capital. The truth is that we have already over-stressed the natural environment. Since human society is a part of that environment, and the economy is part of human society, that stress threatens our very foundations.
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