 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
CSIRO Says Australian Agriculture Industry Faces Environmental Collapse
Australia cannot run a first world economy in a third world environment, one of the nation's leading environmental scientists has warned. With environmental problems now costing the nation an estimated $65 billion, there is a need for national co-operation and some uniquely Australian solutions, Dr Graham Harris, Chief of CSIRO Land & Water told the National Press Club in Canberra today. "These types of costs and degradation require a response by governments and agencies � and by society at large. We will need to improve the way we do business � business as usual is not an option," Dr Harris says. "For long-term sustainability, Australia needs new science, new ways of operating and new incentive schemes. "Many of Australia's past and current problems arose out of not fully understanding the nature of the landscape we inhabit, and the way it works. It is now a challenge to all Australians, urban and rural, to develop awareness of the complexities involved. "The significant changes we have made on land are now showing up in our major rivers and estuaries � like the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria, Swan River in Western Australia and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. "In the Murray-Darling Basin, we face regional water quality declines and landscape failures. We have phosphorus uncontrollably leaking from the landscape into surface waters and turning drinking water supplies pea green, like the Murray River supplying water to Adelaide. "We face complex regional problems around our cities. Our practice of storing large amounts of water for security of urban supply, then running it once through the city and disposing of the waste water at sea will have to be phased out. Even though the impact of offshore sewage outfalls is not large, we are wasting water and causing environmental problems both on land and sea. "In the Australian climate, urban run off and storm water is a bigger problem than sewage. Its often everyone's problem and nobody's responsibility � and the water is valuable. Water re-use, as practised elsewhere, will eventually become the norm." "Australia may need to radically rethink the way it uses land and water," Dr Harris says. "There are now enormous opportunities for Australia to design new kinds of profitable and sustainable landscapes, and new, exciting, Australian industries based around sustainability. For example, harvesting our native plants. "We have little or no knowledge of our soils and sediments which control much of the overall productivity and quality of our ecosystem services. There is more biodiversity below our feet than there is visible on the surface. We have little or no idea what it does. "As we destroy our native biodiversity we urgently need to be able to judge how much we can safely destroy. Would we randomly destroy genes in the human genome without knowledge of the functional consequences? I doubt it � so why do we continue to destroy species which ensure landscape function? Where are the points of no return?" Dr Harris called for a new sociology and a new economics in Australia which placed a proper value on the landscape and the services it provides to us in the form of clean air, water and the control of pollution. "So what are some of the major challenges to repair the country? "We need rural and urban water systems that deliver quality as well as quantity. We need landscape and land use patterns that sustain. We need integrated, multi-disciplinary solutions that are practical and profitable. We need to leverage new forms of incentives. There is a global niche in goods and services ready and waiting for a country able to deliver on this agenda. "Repairing Australia will require new science, new sociology and new economics � but the most urgent thing is to integrate science, society and the economy. "With the necessary will we can ensure the long-term viability of our economy and society and make Australia the envy of the world," he says. Related Links CSIRO Land and Water Division SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Montana Grain Growers Harness the Power of NASA Through MSU TechLink
Bozeman - Sept. 20, 2001Montana's high tech farmers are looking at their fields with new "eye in the sky" technology this summer, thanks to NASA and the MSU TechLink Center. In its first comprehensive remote sensing evaluation project, the Precision Agriculture Research Association (PARA) is comparing different types of imagery as a real-time decision aid to help determine when and where to apply fertilizers, pesticides, and nutrients to their crops.
|
|
| |||||||||
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. |
