Legal, Ethical and Policy Directions in Human Sciences

This article discusses the key environmental issues faced by Pacific Island nations, including the rise in sea levels, excessive dumping of waste, ozone layer depletion, and climate change. It also explores the impact of these issues on the health of the citizens and suggests measures to improve outcomes, such as the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices, public educational programs, disaster management action plans, and adherence to Global Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, it recommends new measures that the Australian Government must consider in view of climate change in Pacific, including the protection of coastal areas, promoting green energy, reducing energy wastage, and taxing pollutions and emissions.

Running head: LEGAL, ETHICAL AND POLICY DIRECTIONS IN HUMAN SCIENCES
Legal, Ethical and Policy Directions in Human Sciences
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LEGAL, ETHICAL AND POLICY DIRECTIONS IN HUMAN SCIENCES
What are the key issues and challenges facing pacific island nations?
The island groups of Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanesia collectively from the
‘Pacific Islands’, with their origins of Austronesia. Despite the relatively remote location
along with significantly decreased contribution to the existing environmental complications
affecting the global population, the region’s diverse ecological and environmental systems
have been impacted considerably (Nunn et al., 2014). One of the most serious environmental
issues inflicted upon the country at present, is the alarming rise in sea levels. As reported by
the Guardian, the dangerous increase in seawaters have led to the submerging of over five
islands belonging to the Solomon Islands, further aggravated by destruction of villages
reported in additional two islands in the Pacific region. Additional environmental challenges
which further plague the Pacific region include excessive dumping of waste in water bodies,
harmful degradation of the ozone layers, fishing using driftnets and most importantly, climate
change (Albert et al., 2016).
Consequently, the prevalence of such detrimental environmental conditions have further
resulted in emergence of serious health consequences, amongst the population of the Pacific
Islands. Climate change has been associated with the incidence of serious weather events
which often leads to trauma in individuals due to the prevalent death and destruction (Jupiter,
Mangubhai & Kingsford, 2014). The submerging of residential areas due to the
environmental issue of rising sea levels, often aggravate the problem of compromise
sanitation and hygiene, further leading to the transmission of various water-borne and vector-
borne diseases if left unmitigated for prolonged periods. The subsequent rise in air pollution
levels in the Western pacific regions, as opined by the World Health Organization, has been
associated with pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases such as strokes and chronic
obstructive pulmonary disorders (McIver et al., 2015).

2LEGAL, ETHICAL AND POLICY DIRECTIONS IN HUMAN SCIENCES
How can outcomes for Pacific Island Nations be improved?
The prevalence of such detrimental environmental issues leads to considerable impact
on the health of the citizens of the nations and hence, a lack of sufficient mitigation will result
in violation of ethical issues surrounding the quality of lives and wellbeing of the citizens.
Hence, for the improvement of environmental and subsequent health outcomes there is a need
for the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices (Kolk, 2016). The health of a
population lies is positively associated with the level of health and environmental literacy
amongst its citizens, and hence formulation and execution of public educational programs for
the purpose of dissemination of information related to sustainable environmental maintenance
and related positive healthcare outcomes would prove to be beneficial (Merenlender et al.,
2016). For the reduction of air pollution levels, governmental fiscal and taxation laws
considering the regulation of pollutant release and effluent discharge by concerned industries
would yield beneficial outcomes. Consequently, formulation of regulatory policies outlining
carbon gas emissions and chlorofluorocarbon emissions would be required in order to
mitigate the harmful outcomes of ozone layer depletion (Feng & Liao, 2016). The emerging
problem of the rise in sea levels can be overcome through the execution of infrastructures
such as dikes, for the purpose of coastal protection (Hinkel et al., 2015). For the mitigation
of harmful health consequences associated with the occurrences of climatic change associated
with extreme weather conditions, the formulation of appropriate disaster management action
plans would yield positive outcomes as it could result in the provision of optimum health
promotion and disease prevention services at the community as well as the national levels
(Sato, 2015). Lastly, governmental institutional adherence along with public health education
concerning the importance of Global Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations
would form the cornerstones of management of harmful health and environmental outcomes
in the Pacific region (Lu et al., 2015).

3LEGAL, ETHICAL AND POLICY DIRECTIONS IN HUMAN SCIENCES
What new measures must the Australian Government consider in view of the climate
change in Pacific?
In order to mitigate the impact of climate change on the health and wellbeing of the
Pacific Islanders, several actions and measures can be recommended for the Australian
Government which has been briefly outlined below:
Protection of coastal areas
According to Spalding et al. (2014) the government should consider the protection of
coastal areas which can be worst affected by a rise in the sea level. Since several studies
agree that a rise in sea level might be inevitable in the next few decades, it is vital that
preparations for such event are made to avoid any calamities and loss of lives due to the sea
level rise.
Promoting Green Energy
Although the Australian Government is promoting green energy across several
sectors, it is vital that the use of clean and pollution free energy should be further increased to
minimize the rates of emissions and thus to slow down the impact of pollutants on the
environment. This can also help to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, as pointed out by Pan
et al. (2016).
Reducing energy wastage
Reducing the wastage of energy is one of the most significant strategies to improve
long term sustainability and minimize the impact on the environment. Government can
implement strategies that a5e exclusively aimed towards the reduction of energy waste such
as levy energy rations for various industries to ensure optimize usage (Qambrani et al., 2017).

4LEGAL, ETHICAL AND POLICY DIRECTIONS IN HUMAN SCIENCES
Taxing pollutions and emissions
This is another vital strategy that can help to reduce the pollution especially from
large industries by levying taxes when the pollutions cross a certain threshold. According to
Klausbruckner et al. (2016) this strategy would thus help to implement a level of
environmental sensitivity mainly in the industries associated with a high level of pollution.

5LEGAL, ETHICAL AND POLICY DIRECTIONS IN HUMAN SCIENCES
References:
Albert, S., Leon, J. X., Grinham, A. R., Church, J. A., Gibbes, B. R., & Woodroffe, C. D.
(2016). Interactions between sea-level rise and wave exposure on reef island
dynamics in the Solomon Islands. Environmental Research Letters, 11(5), 054011.
Feng, L., & Liao, W. (2016). Legislation, plans, and policies for prevention and control of air
pollution in China: achievements, challenges, and improvements. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 112, 1549-1558.
Jupiter, S., Mangubhai, S., & Kingsford, R. T. (2014). Conservation of biodiversity in the
Pacific Islands of Oceania: challenges and opportunities. Pacific Conservation
Biology, 20(2), 206-220.
Klausbruckner, C., Annegarn, H., Henneman, L. R., & Rafaj, P. (2016). A policy review of
synergies and trade-offs in South African climate change mitigation and air pollution
control strategies. Environmental Science & Policy, 57, 70-78.
Kolk, A. (2016). The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1),
23-34.
Lu, Y., Nakicenovic, N., Visbeck, M., & Stevance, A. S. (2015). Five priorities for the UN
sustainable development goals. Nature, 520(7548), 432-433.
McIver, L., Kim, R., Woodward, A., Hales, S., Spickett, J., Katscherian, D., ... & Naicker, J.
(2015). Health impacts of climate change in Pacific Island countries: a regional
assessment of vulnerabilities and adaptation priorities. Environmental health
perspectives, 124(11), 1707-1714.

6LEGAL, ETHICAL AND POLICY DIRECTIONS IN HUMAN SCIENCES
Merenlender, A. M., Crall, A. W., Drill, S., Prysby, M., & Ballard, H. (2016). Evaluating
environmental education, citizen science, and stewardship through naturalist
programs. Conservation biology, 30(6), 1255-1265.
Nunn, P. D., Aalbersberg, W., Lata, S., & Gwilliam, M. (2014). Beyond the core: community
governance for climate-change adaptation in peripheral parts of Pacific Island
Countries. Regional Environmental Change, 14(1), 221-235.
Pan, J., Chen, Y., Zhang, H., Bao, M., & Zhang, K. (2016). Strategic options to address
climate change. In Climate and Environmental Change in China: 1951–2012 (pp.
129-137). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Qambrani, N. A., Rahman, M. M., Won, S., Shim, S., & Ra, C. (2017). Biochar properties
and eco-friendly applications for climate change mitigation, waste management, and
wastewater treatment: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 79,
255-273.
Sato, S. (2015). Characteristics of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami and introduction of two level
tsunamis for tsunami disaster mitigation. Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series
B, 91(6), 262-272.
Spalding, M. D., Ruffo, S., Lacambra, C., Meliane, I., Hale, L. Z., Shepard, C. C., & Beck,
M. W. (2014). The role of ecosystems in coastal protection: adapting to climate
change and coastal hazards. Ocean & Coastal Management, 90, 50-57.