Environmental Problems in Australia
Issue What is it? (description) What causes it?
Erosion Wind and water erosion are natural
phenomena. When vegetation dies the
topsoil becomes vulnerable to wind and
land erosion, increasing the rate of
nutrients being blown away.
Salinity Salinity is one of the major threats to
the health and productivity of many
catchments, as well as the rural and
urban communities that live in them.
Land Degradation
Soil acidity Soil acidity is the increase of salt in the
soil.
Vegetation Victoria is losing around 2500 hectares
loss of native vegetation every year.
Problems arising because
Land clearing, overgrazing of
farm and pest animals and
salinity however, all contribute
to the acceleration of erosion
across the landscape.
Salinity is caused by land
clearing, cropping and irrigation
practices among other factors.
Although soil salinity began soon
after European settlement, the
symptoms of this problem were
not widely obvious until the
twentieth century.
Soil acidity is caused by over
fertilizing crops, continuous
legume cropping and wetland
drainage for agriculture.
Clearing land for human
settlements, grazing, mining,
logging and growing crops have
altered environments.
Management / control
of it (impacts)
Once vegetation is removed
or damaged due to
recreational users damaging
valuable sand dunes, the
sands literally blow away
and the dunes become
smaller and smaller.
Most plants are salt
sensitive and will die if the
salt levels escalate in their
environment. Salty soil can
only support salt tolerant
plants or in serious cases no
vegetation at all.
All causes alter the acidity
of the soil and can render
the land useless for
cropping or natural
vegetation cover.
In some cases the total
removal of all natural
vegetation and habitats for
animals, birds and insects.
measures
To repair the damage steps
must be taken, including;
rest and rotation grazing
periods of farmlands;
control of pest species;
increased farming of native
animals and reduced farming
of cows and sheep.
Accurate assessment of
conditions for cropping,
rotation planting of salt
tolerant plants and land
restoration are costly but
necessary processes that
need to take place.
The damage can be rectified
by the costly application of
lime to the soil, but it is also
necessary to address this
problem by adopting
prevention strategies.
One percent of multiple use
forests are harvested each
year and rotational
regeneration efforts
attempt to ensure that the
industry is sustainable.
Ideally plantation timber will
soon meet all demands for
timber and forest products.
 Carbon Greenhouse gases include carbon
emissions dioxide, methane and
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These
gases occur naturally in atmosphere,
however, the amount being emitted has
drastically increased since the
industrial revolution, and it continues to
rise due to population growth and
demand for energy.
Methane Methane is produced when organic
matter is burnt or decomposed.
Climate Change
Chlorofluoroc CFCs were used as a propellant in
arbons aerosol sprays, but this is no longer the
(CFCs) case.
When any matter containing
carbon is burned carbon dioxide
is released into the atmosphere.
Rubbish tips, forest clearing and
agriculture all contribute to the
rise in methane gas
concentrations in the
atmosphere.
CFCs in the atmosphere are also
associated with the increasing
hole in the ozone layer. The hole
in the ozone layer allows extra
ultraviolet radiation to
penetrate the atmosphere
causing an increase in skin
cancers and eye disease in
animals, including humans.
They are increasing the
amount of carbon in the
atmosphere.
Decreasing methane
emissions involves reducing
cattle grazing, and recycling
waste to produce
electricity.
The hole in the ozone layer
allows extra ultraviolet
radiation to penetrate the
atmosphere causing an
increase in skin cancers and
eye disease in animals,
including humans.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide
and release oxygen during
the daylight hours. The
carbon that is removed from
the air is stored in the plant
itself. Planting more trees
and protecting our existing
forests keeps carbon in the
earth rather than releasing
it into the atmosphere.
Methane can be used as an
alternative to fossil fuels
for energy production.
Energy companies are
expanding their forms of
energy production to include
solar, wind and recycling
waste although these
alternatives are more costly
to produce.
This means the economic
viability of many tourist and
farm practices will be
affected if the production
of CFCs continues.
 Pest control A pest is an animal or plant that
interferes with human land-use.
Introduced Species
Marine pests Pests in the oceans and seas that
interfere with human water use.
Loss of River Rivers and streams have been diverted
flow and dammed or, in some cases both,
causing a range of problems from
waterways drying up, to complete
inundation.
Other
Farmers are often in conflict
with weeds and animals that
interfere with their crops and
stock. Many pest species such as
rabbit, foxes, feral cats and can
toads have been introduced by
humans.
Victorias marine environment is
under serious threat from
introduced species. The use of
ballast is bringing unwanted
hitchhiking species back to
Victorian waters with very few
or no predators.
Irrigation and town water supply
systems as well as drought have
drastically altered river flows
within Victoria.
They can cause problems
through interrupting
farming practices in both
fauna and flora.
The Northern Pacific Sea Attempts to control these
Star is a major threat to
scallops and has wreaked
havoc in Tasmanian
fisheries.
The drying up of waterways
is severely affecting
ecosystems if not
completely destroying them.
It is the legal responsibility
of each individual land owner
to control weeds on their
property. Large fines are
imposed on people who do
not properly manage their
land.
pests include clean up days
and hand weeding by scuba
diving groups.
Some of the efforts to
protect waterways include;
seeking alternative clean
and green energy sources
such as wind and solar
power; reducing water loss
through evaporation by
piping irrigation channels;
increasing community water
conservation awareness and
developing water saving
technologies and water
conservation strategies.
Urbanisation What is it?
Urbanisation relates to the
development of towns and
cities, including residential
areas.
Approx 2% of land in Aus. is
urbanised however the impacts
since European settlement has
been substantial.
Within Victoria: Approx 70%
live in Melbourne or 80% live in
melbs and larger regional cities
combined (e.g. Ballarat, Bendigo
and Geelong)
Although Australia is often
depicted as a rural and remote
country we actually are a highly
urbanised country, loving our
cities.
History:
Early
Housing estates and populations to Australia boomed around
1880s.
This impact or rapid development and sprawling suburbs almost
extinguished all signs of natural environments near water
catchments and fertile land
Cities
Throughout the 19th century there was little in the way of
thought towards development- cities simply adopted European
ways of outlining city's into grids with outer suburbs attaching
themselves along railways.
Sewage and clean water ways was a major problem with their
being heavily polluted streams from industrial and household
waste.
E.g. Melbourne with the Yarra and Port Phillip Bay being a gutter
for waste.
Little thought was given to the environment and the possible
effects this could have.
Regional
Obvious impacts of urbanisation was seen in many regional
city's- Bendigo and Ballarat due to the expansion caused by the
Gold rush in the 1850s
There was massive land clearing and excavation causing huge
habitat losses.
Wood was also needed for housing, mining and fuel causing
massive follow on effects of erosion especially in water ways.
The clearing of old hollow trees, dead wood, removal of topsoils
and the introduction of weeds all had a major impact on the land.
History:
Today: Push towards conservation
Today, many Australian cities (in particular
Adelaide) try to have parklands, green belts
and nature reserves due to the effort of
some early developers to reserve natural
areas.
Today governments are trying to fix the
problems caused by early developers
Many built up areas have become hard
concrete or sealed areas.
This results in greater run-off,
larger/higher volumes of water in our`
streams which can have short term
(flooding) and long term effects (changing
the course of waterways.)
Development planning of houses in low-lying
areas or places too close to coastal waters
have also caused some concerns.
The increased urbanisation has bought
several feral competitors to our native
animals.-cats, dogs
However, some native animals such as the
brush tailed possum have adapted,
flourishing in urban development often
scavenging household wastes and living in
roof cavities.
Many grassland areas are targeted for
housing developments due to the obvious low
costs (no need to clear the land)