Environmental issues in Australia

Environmental issues in Australia describe problems that affect the land and nature there. These problems matter to people who want to protect Australia's environment. Some issues involve saving special places, while others can affect farming and the country's money.

Human actions, like using resources, can change the land and its plants and animals. Many people in Australia, including Aboriginal communities, have strong connections to the land. When damage happens to special places for Aboriginal people, it can also affect their culture and traditions.

Some of the biggest problems include climate change, pollution, protecting wildlife, invasive species, land damage, problems with rivers and water, and issues from mining and building cities.

Climate change

Attribution, Public concerns and Emissions reduction

See also: Contribution to global warming by Australia

Australia is one of the top ten countries for releasing gases that warm the planet.

The country’s leaders agree that human activities are changing the climate. Some people want to protect places from mining and stop old power plants that burn coal. Others worry about new wind farms because of how they look and sound.

Even though important reports were shared, some people began to doubt these ideas after some private messages were shared online. But recent very hot weather and long dry periods have made leaders and many people pay more attention to these problems.

Energy use

See also: Coal in Australia

Most of Australia’s electricity comes from power plants that burn coal, because the country has lots of coal. Australia also does not make cars need to use less fuel, even though it promised to help reduce emissions under the Paris Agreement.

Contamination and pollution

Australia has problems with dirty soil, water, and air. Many places have harmful substances from old government projects and industries.

Some major types of pollution in Australia include:

• plastics – Australia makes a lot of plastic each year, and much of it ends up in landfills.
• hydrocarbons – many important locations are affected
• herbicides and pesticides – found in over 3,500 places
• heavy metals – such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury in many areas
• radioactive elements in soils and radioactive waste – over 100 important sites
• per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – more than 90 sites that need cleaning
• asbestos – found in many urban and remote areas
• landfill leachate
• diesel exhaust and wood smoke that stays in the air in cities and remote places

Ozone depletion

Main article: Ozone depletion

Australia is greatly affected by damage to the ozone layer because it is close to Antarctica. This damage allows more harmful sunlight, called ultraviolet radiation, to reach the Earth. This can harm plants and living things, and it can also add to health problems and climate change.

Countries around the world agreed to stop using some chemicals that harm the ozone. This has helped protect Australia from even more harmful sunlight. Although the worst damage has not yet reached Australia, the ozone layer here is thinner, which means more sunlight reaches the ground. Big bushfires in Australia can make this problem worse by letting in even more sunlight.

Conservation

Main article: Conservation in Australia

Conservation in Australia is very important because Australia has many special plants and animals that live only there. Protecting them helps keep our world healthy for the future.

Australia has many forests, which cover about 17% of the land. These forests give us wood, medicine, and food. Some forests are protected to keep them safe. One big challenge is protecting rainforests, especially places like the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland. People are working hard to protect these special areas from damage.

Some animals in Australia are in danger of disappearing. This includes animals like the northern hairy-nosed wombat and the Tasmanian devil. Many animals have disappeared over time, and it is important to help those that are left. The government and many groups are working together to protect these animals and their homes.

Main article: Threatened fauna of Australia

See also: Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef and Whaling in Australia

Invasive species

Main article: Invasive species in Australia

Australia's wildlife can be hurt by new animals and plants that people bring in. Some of these, like the cane toad and rabbits, have caused problems for animals that belong there. These new species can take food and space from native animals, or even hurt them.

Australia works hard to protect its native animals. There are fences and other ways to keep rabbits away from some places. Teams also try to stop harmful animals like foxes from coming to areas such as Tasmania. Keeping weeds under control is important, too, and Australia has had some success with this.

Land degradation

According to Jared Diamond, one of the big problems for Australia is land degradation. Land degradation happens because of harmful actions:

• Clearance of natural plants and trees
• Overgrazing by sheep
• Rabbits
• Running out of soil nutrients
• Soil erosion
• Man-made droughts
• Weeds
• Poor government decisions
• Salinisation

Logging and woodchipping

See also: Deforestation in Australia, Forestry in Australia, and Woodchipping in Australia

Cutting down big, old forests is still happening in parts of Australia, mainly in the eastern states like Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales. This often destroys natural homes of animals and plants and replaces them with farms that grow just one type of tree.

Australia had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.22/10, ranking it 46th globally out of 172 countries.

Land clearing and soil salinity

Main articles: Land clearing in Australia and Salinity in Australia

Long ago, the Indigenous Australians used fire-stick farming to clear land, which changed the land over time. When Europeans arrived, they cleared even more land for farming, especially for cattle, cotton, and wheat. Since then, a lot of Australia’s natural plants and trees have been removed. This has helped cause the disappearance of many animals and plants.

Clearing land also leads to problems like dryland salinity and soil erosion. These issues worry many people who work to protect Australia’s land. Soil salinity affects about 50,000 km² of Australia and is mostly because of land clearing.

Laws at different levels, from national to local, try to control how much land can be cleared. The rules can be different depending on where you are in Australia.

Waterway health

Taking care of Australia's waterways is very important. It helps keep animals and plants healthy and makes sure people can use the water safely.

The Murray-Darling Basin has problems because of irrigation in Australia. This can put too much salt in the water. This salt can hurt farming and wildlife in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. These rivers also have pollution from pesticides and dry weather. In some years, the warm water and low oxygen levels have caused many fish to die in the Darling River.

Australian waterways facing environmental issues

Rivers and streams in cities also have problems, mainly because of pollution.

Victoria

• Port Phillip (contamination – silt; sediment; toxins; household chemicals; garden chemicals; E. coli; litter; flotsam and jetsam)
• Yarra River (contamination – E. coli; litter; logging; erosion; salinity)
• Maribyrnong River (contamination – arsenic and heavy metals; litter)
• Mullum Mullum Creek (contamination – E. coli; litter)
• Moonee Ponds Creek (contamination - predominantly plastic; multiple traps)
• Murray River (salinity, erosion)

New South Wales

• Parramatta River (contamination – dioxins, arsenic, coal tars, chromium, lead and phthalates)^{[citation needed]}
• Darling River (salinity, erosion)^{[citation needed]}
• Murray River (salinity, erosion)^{[citation needed]}
• Cooks River (pollution, algal blooms)^{[citation needed]}

Queensland

• Bremer River (water grading F – lowest possible)
• Brisbane River
• Oxley Creek (water grading D)
• Bulimba Creek (threatened species due to land degradation; pollution; litter)

South Australia

• River Torrens (contaminants – E. coli; algal bloom)

Urbanisation

Australia is one of the world's most urban countries, with many cities spreading out over large areas. This spread, called urban sprawl, uses up land and creates problems. It puts extra demand on things like roads, electricity, and water. This can lead to pollution and more cars on the road.

Urban sprawl keeps growing quickly, especially in big cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Most of this growth comes from people moving to Australia. To try to slow down this spread, some cities have started plans to build more homes closer to public transport. There are also efforts to encourage people to live in smaller towns instead of big cities.

Mining issues

See also: Mining in Australia

Australia has some of the largest mining operations in the southern hemisphere. It exports resources like coal and uranium that can harm the environment.

Australia has the most uranium in the world. There are many talks about how to manage uranium mining. The anti-nuclear movement in Australia tries to stop new nuclear power plants from being built.

See also: Uranium mining controversy in Kakadu National Park and List of Australian Inquiries into Uranium Mining

Controversial land use projects

This section talks about building projects that caused debates. People worried these projects might hurt the environment. Before starting, these projects had to share details about how they might affect nature.