Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Many argue that population has little to do with this as much of the
clearing occurred in the early days of European settlement when there were
fewer than four million people living in Australia. In fact, as much clearing
has occurred in the past 50 years as in the first 150 years of settlement. In
2000, over half a million hectares were cleared, mainly in Queensland and
New South Wales (ABS 2003). Land clearing has been primarily for agricul-
ture, the products of which have gone to feed and clothe an expanding
domestic population and also millions of people overseas. While agriculture
is not directly related to the size of our domestic population, it is to global
population. It is related in an indirect way because it pays for imports to
maintain Australia's standard of living.
More recently, as people along the east, south-east and south-west coasts
of the continent have spilled out of the major cities, there has been extensive
land clearing for urban development. Indeed, the greatest growth has been
along the coast. Regrettably, these are often regions of high biodiversity,
notably south-east Queensland, where the habitat of that great Australian
icon, the koala, is now threatened. Human population density in Australia
tends to be highest in the regions containing the greatest number of species
so while agriculture - driven by increased consumption and population
growth - remains the major cause of biodiversity loss in this country, urban
development resulting from population spread is increasingly implicated.
Indeed, the
Australia: State of the Environment Report 2001
(Australian
SoE Committee 2001) was explicit in stating:
Population growth has particular effects on coastal Australia. Urban
sprawl, high energy consumption, stormwater pollution of estuaries
and coastal waters, and the continued decline of biodiversity as a
result of land-clearing all arise from population and economic
pressures.
And the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2003) corroborated this,
noting:
A significant factor causing pressure on some parts of Australia's
coastline is high population density in coastal regions, particularly
along the east and south-east coasts and along the west coast south of
Perth … The coastal strip is an ecologically sensitive zone, and urban
