Environment of Australia

Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Australian environment ranges from virtually pristine Antarctic territory and rainforests to degraded industrial areas of major cities.

Issues

Main article: Environmental issues in Australia

Major environmental issues in Australia include whaling, logging of old growth forest, irrigation and its impact on the Murray River, Darling River and Macquarie Marshes, acid sulfate soils, soil salinity, deforestation, Soil erosion, Uranium mining and Nuclear waste, creation of marine reserves [1], air quality in major cities and around polluting industries and infrastructure, pesticide and herbicide impacts and growing of genetically modified food.

Increased coal mining in Australia is contentious because of the effects of global warming on Australia, emissions to air from coal burning power stations, dust, subsidence, impact on rivers like the Hunter River and other water users, failure to adequately restore mined areas, and lack of sustainability. As an example, in 1999 Australia's energy consumption of coal and coal products were 47,364 [2](measured in thousand metric tons oil equivalent), compared to that of the world's energy consumption of coal and coal products which totaled 2,278,524 (also measured in thousand metric tons oil equivalent).

Climate change and global warming are of particular concern because of the likely effects of global warming on agriculture, the Great Barrier Reef and tourism industry, human health through mosquito borne crydiolgicyticlogy [3]. Sea level rise could also have a profound impact on under leveled and poorer communities and waterfront suburbs. The range of rises forecast by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report would be sufficient to have impacts in many areas, and the impact if the Greenland ice cap melts faster than forecast could be disastrous.

In urban areas noise and odour are major sources of complaints to environmental protection authorities.

Protected areas

Main article: Protected areas of Australia

Protected areas cover 895,288 km² of Australia's land area, or about 11.5% of the total land Area. Of these, two-thirds are considered strictly protected (IUCN categories I to IV), and the rest is mostly managed resources protected area (IUCN category VI).

The protected natural areas include world heritage listed areas:
Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte), Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, Fraser Island, Great Barrier Reef, Greater Blue Mountains Area, Heard and McDonald Islands, Lord Howe Island, Macquarie Island, Purnululu National Park, Shark Bay, and the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

Protected mixed World Heritage listed areas include Tasmanian Wilderness, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Willandra Lakes Region and Kakadu National Park.

Ningaloo Reef and Cape Range peninsula are submitted and on the Tentative List for World Heritage listing and are Australian National Parks.

Land

Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it covers a diverse range of habitats, from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests, and is recognised as a megadiverse country. Because of the great age and consequent low levels of fertility of the continent, its extremely variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is a legal framework for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created under the national Biodiversity Action Plan to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 65 wetlands are listed under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 13th in the world on the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index.

Most Australian woody plant species are evergreen and many are adapted to fire and drought, including many eucalyptus and acacias. Australia has a rich variety of endemic legume species that thrive in nutrient-poor soils because of their symbiosis with Rhizobia bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Well-known Australian fauna include monotremes (the platypus and echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, koala, wombat; and birds such as the emu and kookaburra. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; others have become extinct since European settlement, among them the Thylacine.

Water

Australia is the second driest continent (after Antarctica), and frequent droughts have led to the introduction of water restrictions in all parts of Australia. This has led to concern about water security in Australia by environmentalists, irrigators and state and federal governments. Diversion and capture of natural water flows for irrigation in Australia has been responsible for dramatic changes in environmental water flows, particularly in the Murray Darling Basin. The major part of Snowy River flows was diverted by the Snowy Mountains Scheme

See also:

• Water restrictions in Australia
• Drought in Australia

Carbon dioxide emissions

Australia has the developed world's highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions:

Tons of CO2 per year per capita (as of 2005, without land-use changes):

• Australia: 26.9
• United States: 23.5
• Canada 22.6
• United Kingdom: 10.6

See also: List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions per capita

State of the Environment reports

Commonwealth of Australia

1996 2001 2006

New South Wales

2003 2006 2009

Northern Territory

Low relative humidity, wind and lack of rain from hot and dry in the interior to the milder, wetter climates of the south. Weather can range from below zero temperatures in the Snowy winters. The average summer temperature in Australia is about 84 degrees F or 29 degrees C.

Environment Organizations

• Australian Conservation Foundation
• Greenpeace Australia Pacific
• Sustainable Population Australia
• eco media
• Envirotalk - Australia's Largest Environmental Discussion Forum
• Australian Environmental Foundation

See also

• Australian Network of Environmental Defenders Offices (ANEDO)
• Conservation in Australia
• Climate change in Australia
• List of wettest known tropical cyclones in Australia
• List of Australian environmental books
• Zero Waste SA