1SUSTAINIBILITY CONCERNS IN AUSTRALIA The wide variety of flora and fauna in Australia is unmatchable. However, there are a few increasing Sustainability Concerns in Australia that I have noticed, which are posing a severethreat.Examplesoftheconcernsincludedeforestation,landclearingfor infrastructure, overgrazing, excessive usage of natural resources, extensive fishing, species extinction, and pollution (Greenpeace Australia Pacific 2020). These factors are gradually contributing to the rising concerns regarding the Australian ecosystem. The recent bush fire has also negatively affected the environmental balance as well as the ecosystem. A torrential downpour followed this bush fire and helped in stopping the fire, but the extremity of it also made an impact on the environment. I am choosingextreme climate events.It is because Australia just witnessed the most significant bush fireof all times, which wiped off 1.1 billion animals. Along with the animals, about 6.7 million hectares of land have been burnt. It is estimated that there are quite a few animal species that were noted as endangered species have gone extinct, and few species have entered the list of endangered species of Australia (ABC News 2020). It has not only affected the animals but also, in a way, affected every individual residing in Australia. The poisonous fumes emitted from the continuous fir have led to an accumulation of a layer of carbon dioxide that weighed over 306 million tonnes and spread about 11,000 kilometers over the Australian landmass, thus polluting the environment beyond imagination (Yuet al. 2020). This has led to an increase in the temperature of the overall landmass by 1°Celsius. It has also affected the archaeological assets like the 500 years old rock arts and cave arts. These changes led the scientists to conclude that it might take a decade to recover from the massacre that has been created by the fire. Some sustainability concerns need to be considered underenvironmental, economic, and social dimensions. The bushfire in Australia has affected the environment of Australia in several ways like the lands have lost the firmness because of the absence of the forest. It is
2SUSTAINIBILITY CONCERNS IN AUSTRALIA estimated that the region affected by this fire might have lost the ability to grow further plantations. The fire has also affected the animal population by creating a massacre in their habitat. The pollution that it has produced is immense and ended up raising the temperature. The economic loss is significant. The fire has burnt millions of trees with medicinal purposes and building up various things. Tourism, which is a valuable source of economic growth, has also suffered a massive blow as tourists have been avoiding a visit because of the massacre. Both these factors, in turn, have affected the social life of all the residents. The pollution and warmth, lack of agriculture, and the weak economy are the factors affecting social life (Climate Action Network, 2020). Theenvironmental dimension should be looked upon at firstwhichcan be done byinstalling air filtration machinery in every possible location to purify the polluted air; by planting more trees to bring back the equilibrium as the trees can also absorb the polluted air and purify the air and can make the land firm as well and by doing soil culture like increasing the organic content of the soil and increasing the microbial population in the soil to improve the fertility and the ability to regrow trees.The environmental dimension should be focussed on becauseif the environmental concerns are reduced, the other two factors, i.e., economy and social life, will fall into its right places. As proper regrowth of trees would improve food and other necessary productions. Reduction in pollution would help social life get back into place. The wild animal population would regain their natural habitat. This would lead the tourists to start revisiting Australia; thus, developing the economy and social life as well (UN Environment, 2020).
3SUSTAINIBILITY CONCERNS IN AUSTRALIA REFERENCES ABC News. (2020). We fact checked claims bushfires have killed more than a billion animals. Here's what we found. Retrieved 10 March 2020, from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-31/fact-check-have-bushfires-killed-more-than-a- billion-animals/11912538 Greenpeace Australia Pacific. (2020). Environmental issues in Australia and the Pacific | Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Retrieved 10 March 2020, from https://www.greenpeace.org.au/what-we-do/ Climate Action Network. (2020). Social Impacts – Climate Action Network. Retrieved 13 March 2020, from https://climateactionnetwork.ca/issues/impacts-and-adaptation/learning- cente/global-impacts/social-impacts/ UN Environment. (2020). Ten impacts of the Australian bushfires. Retrieved 13 March 2020, from https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/ten-impacts-australian- bushfires Yu, P., Xu, R., Abramson, M.J., Li, S. and Guo, Y., 2020. Bushfires in Australia: a serious health emergency under climate change.The Lancet Planetary Health.