Sustainable Systems: Environmental Issues, EIA, Hazards, and Strategies

SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS
1

Table of Contents
Answer to question 1..................................................................................................................3
Answer to Question 2.................................................................................................................4
Answer to question 3..................................................................................................................6
Answer to question 4..................................................................................................................9
Reference list............................................................................................................................10
2

Answer to question 1
● Two most severe environmental, issues in Australia and connection of these
issues to climate change
1. Deforestation
This is the harshest issue that Australia is facing currently and it has a direct impact on
climate change. Australia has lost about 40% of its forests and remaining forests are
fragmented (Deforestation 2019). The forests in Australia are in coastal areas and the rest of
the continent is generally covered by dry land and deserts. As opined by Evans (2016),
clearing of forests has impacted on local temperature and pattern of precipitation. Trees
maintain soil moisture and it also helps in maintaining the water cycle. Deforestation has
resulted in an increase of temperature of the country by 1-degree centigrade.
2. Overgrazing and agricultural clearing
Due to overgrazing and agricultural clearing, it can be seen that 13% of Australia’s original
vegetation has been cleared. Overgrazing is considered as a main of pressure on biodiversity
in this country (Lindenmayer, 2016). Grazing and different other agricultural improvement
strategies have destroyed grasslands and open grassy woodlands. This has caused a rise in
temperature and at present less than 2% of grasslands have remained. Apart from climate
change, overgrazing has also resulted in soil erosion and the spread of invasive plants.
Moreover, the soil is also losing its nutrition level.
● Dealing with identified environmental issue
The Australian government is concerned about these identified environmental issues and
already many initiations have been taken by the government of this country. More initiatives
must be taken by the government to encourage people to plant more trees and go paperless.
Lambin et al. (2018) have suggested that recycling of products are required and people must
be encouraged to buy recycled products for dealing with the issue of deforestation.
Campaigns must be arranged to increase awareness about the negative impact of
deforestation. It must be compulsory to purchase wood and wooden products from certified
resources. Monitoring process must be strengthened for reducing the rate of deforestation in
Australia. Cooperation of public can help Australia to tackle this issue properly.
Australians can identify bare soil areas that are fertile and they can remove livestock from
those areas. As suggested by Simmons et al. (2018), government authorities must inform
Australians about the negative impact of overgrazing and agricultural clearings. Growth of
3

plants on grazing sites must be known by owners of livestock. This approach may help them
to reduce the negative impact of grazing on the climate. On the other hand, available lands
must be processed and reused to reduce the rate of agricultural clearing in Australia.
Answer to Question 2
Drawbacks of conducting EIA in Australia
EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) has been introduced by the Environmental
Protection Authority (EPA). However, the existing EIA system has some drawbacks that can
prevent from understanding the impact of a proposal on environment clearly. These
drawbacks are discussed below,
● Cumulative impacts are not considered properly in the present EIA system
● Lack of confidence regarding the entire EIA process is leading to failure of the
assessments. As a result, negative impacts of projects on environments are increasing
day by day.
● Lack of engagement of community people in the EIA process is preventing an
accurate assessment of environmental impacts.
● Poor quality and inconsistent documents are one of the drawbacks of this system.
Related stakeholders are facing difficulties in understanding the main aspects of this
process mentioned in the documents (Pope, 2016).
● Verification of compliance with legal guidelines during the construction and
operations of projects are uncertain. Due to this reason, the present EIA system needs
to be revised.
● Uncertainty of approved projects is also a major concern that is affecting the EIA
system.
● Some of the projects change after getting approved. Verification of this kind of
process cannot be done effectively with the help of the present EIA system.
Difference of EIA in NSW and other states
Difference in the EIA process can be found in different states of Australia due to different
circumstances. Major differences are mentioned below,
SA: The environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is postulating that
a controlled action must be evaluated before approving a project. Five steps have been
included in the process of EIA and these processes are followed in the SA (Environmental
Impact Assessment, 2019). Firstly, and the accredited process is conducted under some
4