Environmental Challenges - an Ecological Threat to Contemporary Australia

Environmental Challenges- An Ecological Threat To Contemporary Australia

It has been accepted worldwide that the continent of Australia has one of the most varied and scenic environments in the world having the Greater Blue Mountains near Sydney and Shark Bay in Western Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu Marine Park in Queensland and Uluru Kata Tjuta (Ayers Rock) National Parks in the Northern Territory. Australian continent is nearly as big as United States, with only 0.3% of the world's population; it is easy to presume that Australians have a lot of space and abundant natural resources. In fact due to lack of permanent water, two third of the country is only habitable. Australia's climate and annual rainfall are highly inconsistent and only 6% of Australia's land is arable. Due to this, it is also known as the world's driest continent leaving water as the most precious commodity in the country. Majority of Australians live near to costal line with around 80% live in urban area within 50 Km of sea, leaving behind 99% of land inhabitant. Australia uses 60% or 454 million hectares as its agricultural land. Agricultural products make up about 3% of Australia's GDP as compared to 25% in 1950.

Beside the fact that other industries such as manufacturing, mining and services have expanded significantly therefore damage already has done with environment in terms of desertification, soil acidity and water degradation. Over the years some developments in other sectors is halted due to pressure from environmental activists. Such example of activism has been seen in Tasmania state where Bob Brown runs a campaign against the building of the dam that was suppose to use for generation of hydroelectricity. Environmental lobby groups like Green Peace, Australian Conservation, Friends of Earth and The wilderness Society focus their concentration on major issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity