Category: Australia

Sugarcane in has been grown in Australia since 1788, when it was brought to Australia from Europe on the First Fleet. Since then, the sugarcane industry has boomed and is still continuing to grow. This however, has cause problems to the environment, as the growing of sugarcane has a major impact on the environment. If the demand for sugarcane increases, then this is will affect the biome and other biomes surrounding because of issues such as deforestation and many others listed within the report. Within this paper you will find out about sugarcane in Australia and the issues that growing sugarcane brings to our biomes.

Background

What Is Sugarcane?

Sugarcane is a water-intensive crop that remains in the soil all year. Sugarcane is mostly grown in tropical and sub-tropical biomes. These biomes are largely found on the equatorial belt, which is located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. These two biomes have low variability in annual temperatures and high levels of rainfall. An extensive global market for sugarcane derivatives keeping the industry booming. Sugar is common in the modern diet and increasingly a source of biofuels and bioplastics.

Sugarcane in Australia

Sugarcane in Australia is grown of the eastern coastline, covering approximately 2100km between Mossman in far North Queensland and Grafton in New South Wales. Australian production of sugarcane is around 35 million tons per year. Australia is the 3rd largest raw sugar supplier in the world after Brazil and Thailand. In Australia there are 4000 sugarcane farming businesses. Between the years 1999 and 2009, Australia has been producing a larger amount of sugarcane than China and Thailand. 80% of the crop that we grow is exported overseas. As the population grows in Australia and over the world, consumer demands will change and place pressure on farmers and other farming companies trying to meet rising demands.

Effects Growing Sugarcane Has on the Environment

Sugarcane effects the environment through the loss of natural habitats, the intensive use of water, the heavy use of argo-chemicals, the runoff of polluted effluent and air pollution. This will then lead to the degradation of wildlife, soil, air and water where the sugar is produced. The leading cause for deforestation internationally is agricultural use. Internationally we are losing approximately 18.7 million acres of forest annually, this is the equivalent to 27 soccer fields every minute. Tree numbers that are located in tropical and sub-tropical biomes are in the thousands, and high levels of species diversity call these forests home. In Australia, on average, we are cutting down an area of trees and forests the size of Ireland every few years.

Analysis of the Environmental Impact of These Alterations

How Is Sugarcane Affecting the Environment?

The main issues that are spreading with the expansion of sugarcane farming are: soil erosion, stream sedimentation, diffuse source pollution, acid sulphate soil pollution and the use of rodenticide. The clearing of trees to make room for farming sugarcane leads to the loss of natural habitats, which in long run leads to the extinction of species living within the cleared forests.

What Are the Positives of Growing Sugarcane?

The amount of positives for growing sugarcane is a very low number. This is because growing sugarcane has a large impact on the environment. One positive from growing sugarcane is that the cane trash protects the soil from any raindrop impact and soil erosion, this conserves soil moisture and improves the soil’s organic matter levels.

Negative Environmental Effects of Growing Sugarcane

Growing sugarcane in Australia has caused many negative impacts on the environment. In heavy rain or flood situations cane trash can often float in the large amounts of water and block drains or smother adjoining crops. When producing sugar from the sugarcane crop, sugar mills produce wastewater, emissions and solid waste that impact the environment. When sugarcane has been planted soils under the crop are more compacted, more acidic and contain less organic matter. WWF have helped to establish the Better Sugarcane Initiative (BSI) to make sugarcane farming and producing more sustainable.

Storing and Transporting

Australia’s bulk sugar terminals are located at Cairns, Mourilyan, Lucinda, Townsville, Mackay, and Bundaberg. These hold up to 2 million tons of sugar before it gets exported overseas to other countries. Queensland’s major overseas exports for raw sugar include Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, USA and Russia.

Effects on Other Spheres

Sugarcane has many effects on other biomes in Australia. One of which being run-off water that has been contaminated due to the use of fertilizer. This run-off ends up in other biomes, including rivers and oceans. Due to the toxins in the water fish and other sea life and often killed. Another thing affected other biomes are cane toads. They were deliberately introduced to Australia in 1935. Cane toads were introduced to Australia to control beetles that have been and are destructive to Queensland’s sugarcane crops. Cane toads have bred too quickly for humans to control. Cane toads are not only poisoning the cane beetle, but other animals as well. This has affected other biomes in altering food chains.

Evaluation and Assessment of Management Strategies and Recommendations

There are many ways that we can make sugarcane farming more sustainable and help to protect the environment. To prevent soil erosion, don’t plant the cane on slopes that exceed 10% increase. To increase the soil’s organic matter levels, provide a more favorable biological environment, reduce physical damage to soils during harvesting and cultivation, reduce soil acidity and improve the effectiveness of fertilizing practices. The maintenance of highly fertile soil ensures that there will be no need to replant for many years. Along with all of this, adopting better farm management practices and techniques, including trash blanketing, will help farmers to have greatly reduced soil loss from erosion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if we begin to farm sugarcane more sustainably, then the environment would be in a healthier order. If Australia takes more steps towards sustainable farming, we won’t destroy the environment, stopping us from using the land for future agricultural practices. Overall if demands for sugarcane continue to increase, then biomes all over the world will continue be destroyed because of the issues addressed within the report.

References

1. Cane Toad. (n.d.). Retrieved August 22, 2019, from https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/frogs/cane-toad/
2. Deforestation and Forest Degradation| Threats| WWF. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2019, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation-and-forest-degradation
3. Department of the Environment and Energy. (n.d.). Retrieved August 17, 2019, from https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/nominations/ineligible-ktp/clearing-and-degradation-due-to-sugar-cane-farming
4. Department of the Environment and Energy. (n.d.-b). Retrieved August 22, 2019, from https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/publications/factsheet-cane-toad-bufo-marinus
5. Soil Degradation and Management Under Intensive Sugarcane Cultivation in North Queensland (n.d.) Retrieved August 16, 2019, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1475-2743.1985.tb00972.x
6. Soil Management for Sugarcane (n.d.) Retrieved 18 August 2019, from http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/167125/soil-mgt-sugarcane.pdf
7. Sugar and the Environment – Encouraging Better Management Practices in Sugar Production and Pro. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2019, from http://wwf.panda.org/?22255/Sugar-and-the-Environment-Encouraging-Better-Management-Practices-in-Sugar-Production-and-Processing
8. Sugarcane. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2019, from https://www.agrifutures.com.au/farm-diversity/sugarcane/
9. Sugarcane| Industries| WWF. (n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2019, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/sugarcane
10. Sugarcane| Plant. (n.d.). Retrieved August 14, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/plant/sugarcane
11. Sugarcane | Plant Health Australia. (n.d.). Retrieved August 14, 2019, from http://www.planthealthaustralia.com.au/industries/sugarcane/
12. Sugar Processing: Exports | Bundaberg Sugar. (n.d.). Retrieved August 22, 2019, from https://www.bundysugar.com.au/education/process/exports.html
13. The Australian Sugar Industry| The basics Retrieved 18 August 2019, (n.d.) from http://www.agriculture.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/ag-food/crops/sugar/report/b.doc
14. The History of the Sugar Industry| Australian Sugar Heritage Centre. (n.d.). Retrieved August 22, 2019, from http://www.sugarmuseum.com.au/the-history-of-the-sugar-industry/
15. The Journey of the Jellybean| Australian Sugarcane: from paddock to plate (n.d.) Retrieved 18 August 2019, from http://www.canegrowers.com.au/icms_docs/271170_the-journey-of-the-jellybean.pdf
16. Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests| Biomes| WWF. (n.d.). Retrieved August 14, 2019, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/biomes/tropical-and-subtropical-moist-broadleaf-forests

Market failure is a situation in which the allocation of goods and services by a free market is not efficient, often leading to a net social welfare loss (Ryans, 2015). Market failure problems revolve around, and/or are reflected in, risk and uncertainty, imperfect and asymmetric information, incompletely specified property rights, collective or public goods, externalities, economies of scale and monopolies, all of which influence the functioning of the market as a means for allocation of resources (Brown, 2013). An example of a market that failed is the sugar cane farming industry. Only in recent times has it been discovered the impact that sugar cane farming is having on the quality of water in the Great Barrier Reef (WWF, 2015). The purpose of this report is to analyze key examples and patterns to clarify the reason for market failure and the impacts of the effective utilization of assets. Two proposed methodologies to review the issue will be assessed utilizing criteria.

Analysis of Key Patterns and Trends

Causes

The primary cause of market failure in sugar cane farming is related to the existence of production externalities associated with land use and the costs to the business. For farmers to work at technical efficiency, fertilizer is used in order to grow the best crops possible, thus making maximal profit. However, this causes indirect externalities towards the environment. The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral cover since 1985 (WWF, 2015). Some of the biggest contributors to this problem is sugar cane farming and climate change (Lenny, 2018). Fertilizers are the primary source of nutrients that are leaching and entering the reef, as well as sediments and pesticides (Smith, 2018). Nitrogen that is present from fertilizer run-off poses a major environmental hazard to the Great Barrier Reef (Ryans, 2018). Nitrogen that is not taken up by sugar crops has a high potential of running off into waterways and being carried out to the reef (Morgan, 2017). The excess nitrogen that runs into these waterways causes algal blooms, feeding young crown of thorns starfish, which multiply to plague proportions (Smith, 2015). Algal bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems (Government of Western Australia, 2017). The crown-of-thorns starfish is responsible for almost 40% of all coral loss in the Reef (Davis, 2018).

The deterioration in detrimental plant nutrients such as organic matter over time in soils below sugar cane cultivation shows that the existing management system is unmaintainable (Rose, 2018). The death of organic matter in sugar cane fields is predominantly due to the burning of the cane fields prior to and after harvesting (Fox, 2019). Sugar cane cultivation is resource and cost intensive, leading to various social costs (Miller, 2015). When soil becomes infertile for other crops, there is a reduction in the amount of food that can be produced and there is a lack of efficiency to the use of the land (Green, 2018). Also, due to the realization that sugar cane farming is having a multitude of impacts on the environment, less and less people are consuming it, and switching to alternative options such as coconut sugar (Rogers, 2014). Therefore, sugar cane farming and farmers are currently incurring a loss and is not working at the social optimum (Finchy, 2015). Due to demand being reduced the livelihood of the sugar cane farmers is impacted, leading to reduced income (Patterson, 2015).

Effects

The sugar cane market failure has an amplitude of effects, from damaging the Great Barrier Reef to having a major impact on tourism. These two issues are having major influences on Australia and its development and growth economically (Sugar Cane Project, 2015).

The high level of nutrients upsurges the algae growth and can alter the biodiversity that is found along inshore reefs. Not only this, but biodiversity is being killed due to the algae bloom and it is predicted that by 2050, there will be minimal to no biodiversity left in the Great Barrier Reef (Hughes, 2007). Another key factor that contributes to the damage done to the Great Barrier Reef is nitrogen that is leaked into the Reef due to sugar cane farming (Dier, 2015). When the conditions are correct the crown-of-thorns starfish multiplies, and the starfish can grasp plague proportions, devastating for the hard-coral population (Patterson, 2018). Furthermore, the pesticide run-off from sugar cane farming is another major concern due to their impact on various marine plant species such as corals and macro algae (Whetton, 2017). Sugar cane farming is seen as being the leading contributor to sedimentation leaking into the Great Barrier Reef waterways at 78.2%, which is a drastic difference compared to the other types of cultivation. This sedimentation run-off not only effects the water quality in the Great Barrier Reef, but also it destroys the habitat in which the biodiversity lives in (Feely, 2018). Furthermore, it reduces the light obtainable to seagrass ecosystems and inshore coral reefs, tarnishing coral settlement, reproduction and maturity (Graham, 2016). Another example of sugar cane farming being a leading contributor in the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef is that sugar cane farming is the predominant cultivation in the nitrogen run-off at 86.4%. This figure in relation to the other types of farming is a massive number. Clearly, sugar cane farming is having major impacts to the biodiversity in the Great Barrier Reef and the problem must be addressed in order to find adequate solutions.

Tourism within the Great Barrier Reef is decreasing at a steady rate due to various reasons. These reasons are primarily concerns around environmental degradation, climate change and farming practices. Overall, the total number of tourists over the day and night since 2007 has been relatively unchanged, with the total number of visitors growing by only 4% to 42.8 million over the five years (Russell, 2011). This figure proves that the tourism numbers to the Great Barrier Reef is not increasing at a rate to sustain tourism. The damage done to the Great Barrier Reef from sugar cane farming could affect tourist numbers in the ever near future. The Great Barrier Reef could see the number of visitors reduced from 2.8 million to around 1.7 million per year (Smith, 2012). This is equal to more than 1 billion dollars in tourism expenditure lost, posing a threat to around 10,000 tourism jobs in regional Queensland.

Application of Economic Models

There is a decrease in demand from D1 to D2, ultimately leading to a new market equilibrium. The reason for the decrease in demand is due to the investigations being done into sugar cane farming which proves that it is causing environmental damage to the Great Barrier Reef. Thus, consumers are switching to complementary goods such as coconut sugar and Birch sugar. Due to the decrease in demand, there is forecast to be a decrease in supply and a decrease in profit. This will affect the livelihood of the sugar cane farmers as their sustainable income is falling due to the decrease in demand. The implications that sugar cane farming is having on the Great Barrier Reef is an issue that required immediate attention and government support is also required. Thus, solutions to the effect of sugar cane farming on the Great Barrier Reef must be explored.

Evaluation of a Current Strategy to Redress the Problem

In order to redress the market failure created by sugar cane farming, the strategy of using new nutrients and pesticide management practices will be evaluated (Howard, 2016). This strategy will be evaluated using the criteria of efficiency, impact on effectiveness and the impact of dynamic efficiency.

Impact on Efficiency

Sugar cane farming is evolving every year, one of the main focuses being on how to use pesticides and other herbicides more efficiently. There are various strategies that are currently in play to try and improve the effectiveness of sugar cane farming. This is demonstrated by one of the leading drivers for change in sugar cane farming, David Ellwood. He has been involved in a trial where he uses verified electromagnetic (EM) mapping of his sugar cane block paired with yield maps to classify areas that can be managed differently (Rowle, 2018). Electromagnetic mapping is a piece of technology that sends signals into the soil and measures the quality of the soil and how well it has been maintained (Agex, 2018). In areas with subordinate soil the sugar cane yield is low, therefore a lesser nitrogen amount can be applied, as the cane is unable to take up a higher rate (Selva, 2015). Less nitrogen that is used reduces the risk of run off into the Great Barrier Reef, thus preserving it. Where there is good soil there is naturally higher yield; in these areas a higher nitrogen rate can be applied, as the larger crop will use the full application. This has the possibility to limit nitrogen losses, improve efficiency and producing higher yields. Furthermore, Sugar Research Australia (SRA) has innovated a new tool for growers to assist in choosing the right fertilizer blend that is equivalent to the nutritional requirements of growers’ paddocks (Sugar Research, 2019). Although both these strategies will mitigate the lack of efficiency, it takes years before every farm is analyzed to become efficient, therefore short-term solutions will have to be introduced. Furthermore, the price of introducing these longer-term solutions costs the government millions. However, the positives outweigh the negatives because in the long run the solutions will provide far greater benefits towards the Great Barrier Reef. Therefore, the current solution in mitigating the damage done to the Great Barrier Reef and the efficiency in how it is done is positive.

Impact on Dynamic Efficiency

There are various improvements and advancements to technology in order to reduce the impact that sugar cane farming is having on the environment. A major example of this is the development of patented ultracompact hyperspectral imaging cameras (Gamaya, 2016). This advancement in technology has the ability to give access to a wealth of information. It can check whether the soil and pesticides being used are harming the environment. The camera processes the raw data into machine learning and AI, where it is then graphed, and information is fed back (Shirley, 2018). Furthermore, Project Catalyst is a project where growers share innovation and ideas with the other growers to help reduce the fertilizer run off into the Great Barrier Reef. Another technology advancement is the low-cost drip irrigation (Department of Agriculture, 2016). In this case study, it was revealed that there was lower growing costs and reduced water use and run off (Thompson 2015). Furthermore, vegetated strips are an area of vegetation next to a water way, designed to remove pollutants and sediments from run off through water (Small Farm, 2018). Many of the farmers are now using these vegetated strips to prevent the run-off and alleviate the damage done to the Great Barrier Reef. Although these innovations in technology provide a direct benefit in the short run, the cost of producing the equipment can cost the government millions of dollars. However, I still believe that the positives that the technology contributes to the society outweighs the negatives of the expenditure.

Externalities of the Solution

There are both negative and positive externalities related to the solution to sugar cane farming and its environmental impact. The negative externalities of the solution are that it costs the government millions of dollars to subsidize the solutions. Furthermore, the solution has a negative externality on the producers in the short run as they would have to change crop layout, which would be very costly. However, there are certain positive externalities associated with the innovation of technology. These include a positive externality toward the consumption of sugar as the land will be better maintained and cared for and increasing and producing better yield. Furthermore, when consumers consume sugar, they can now be reassured that they are not contributing to the damage of the Great Barrier Reef. This further has a positive externality on the producer as they will be able to make larger profits due to the increase in demand and consumers buying the product.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, sugar cane farming is having a major impact on the Great Barrier Reef and the environment. The agricultural products being used for farming are causing bleaching in the Reef, leading to the death of it. This effects the biodiversity that is present in the Great Barrier Reef as well as impacting the tourism industry. Furthermore, sugar cane farming has a major cost impost to business. The current solutions however are more positive and is bringing positive change towards sugar cane farming and the industry. Although there are some slight negatives to the solution, ultimately it can be overcome with good policies and practices. Sugar cane farming is not the only type of farming that is causing environmental damage, there are other farming techniques that are as well. In order for the current generation to have a future, something needs to change. These changes can be made by people and governments and industry.

Bibliography

1. (2019). Pdfs.semanticscholar.org. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d450/e
2. (2019). Environment.gov.au. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/a3ef2e3f-37fc-4c6f-ab1b-3b54ffc3f449/files/gbr-economic-contribution.pdf
3. (2019). Climatecouncil.org.au. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uplo
4. Cook, F., Knight, J., Silburn, D., Kookana, R., & Thorburn, P. (2013). Upscaling from Paddocks to Catchments of Pesticide Mass and Concentration in Runoff. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 180, 136-147. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2011.08.009.
5. Farming Systems and Harvesting – Sugar Research Australia. (2019). Sugar Research Australia. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://sugarresearch.com.au/growers-and-millers/farming-systems/
6. Sugar. (2019). Wwf.org.au. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do/food/sugar#gs.3itluw
7. Department of the Environment and Energy. (2019). Department of the Environment and Energy. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.environment.gov.au/marine/gbr/case-studies/sugar-cane-farming
8. Coral Destruction to Great Barrier Reef, Australia | Global Warming Effects. (2019). Climatehotmap.org. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-locations/great-barrier-reef-australia.html
9. Water Quality. (2019). Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM Plan. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from http://nrm.nqdrytropics.com.au/water/water-quality/
10. (2019). Researchonline.jcu.edu.au. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/1353/2
11. (2019). Era.daf.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from http://era.daf.qld.gov.au/id/eprint/4492/1/fin-synth-rep-econ-pest-mgment-sc-farms.pdf
12. Association, S. (2017). Sugar Milling Council Hits Out at Government Intervention – Australian Sugar Cane Farmers Association. Australian Sugar Cane Farmers Association. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.acfa.com.au/sugar-milling-council-hits-government-intervention/
13. How Technology Can Cure Market Failures in Africa. (2019). The Economist. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.economist.com/special-report/2017/11/10/how-technology-can-cure-market-failures-in-africa

For years plastic has been the common materials being used on a day to day basis. Many objects that are made from plastic can be seen from everyday such as plastic bags, food containers, storage, and a range of other things. Plastic’s existence has only just for over a century but because of the versatility of the materials plastics has a significantly increase in their use into many if not all varieties of everyday life. Additionally, the physical makeup of plastic itself that are cheap, durable, light weight and high resistance makes it suitable for production of an expansive range of products.

Plastics are synthetic organic polymers that are made up from multiple chemical elements that mainly come from natural resources such as coal, crude oil and gas. The raw materials of plastics were formed from ancient animals and plants millions of years ago. These raw materials are non-renewable resources that explained when these resources can not be replaced for a short period of time. Many people in today’s society use plastic every day, it will take a lot more time to decompose and consequently the plastic debris litter goes everywhere and becomes plastic pollution.

As plastic is buoyant, it easily flows through rivers that eventually moves through to the sea or blows from garbage dumps. When plastics are in the ocean, it slowly decomposes into smaller pieces and is then ingested by animals that live on the ocean floor or even birds that fly and eat the floating plastic debris. Plastic pollution is the environmental problem that’s been an issue and has been talked about and discussed by many people because of the multiple causes occurred this has become a problem.

Firstly, many people and even businesses gain profit from using plastic due to its characteristics that is very hard to be substituted with any other materials. As said before plastic is a non-renewable resource and needs a long period of time to fully decompose, however everyone uses plastic for practically everything that surrounds them. Because of this it makes the availability of natural resources for raw materials of plastics drop significantly and will be resulted in a scarcity of resources. Another cause that has happened due to plastic pollution is the marine life being threated of the mass amount of plastic dumps in the ocean.

In Australia 90% of marine debris on the beaches in Sydney is plastic, primarily straws and bottles. This emphasizes that Australians buy approximately 600 million litres of bottled water a year and uses 10 million plastic bags a day. Consequently, mass amounts of plastic are being produced each day and when it comes to litter, plastic can endanger the health of marine life and animals. Once the plastic debris is ingested, plastics are not proportionate nutrition through the ingestion of the plastic inside the animals’ body and will consequently result in irritation of the stomach and eventually kills it.

High concentration of floating debris in the ocean is an additional threat to the sea life, in particular to seabirds and sea mammals. Seabirds seek food provided by the ocean, when the see floating plastic debris they mistakenly eat it or starvation that leads them to choke plastic and this consequently endangers the bird’s health. According to studies there are approximately one million seabirds and one hundred thousand marine mammals killed every year due to plastics in the ocean.

Studies that have been conducted have analysed by checking what’s inside the animal’s body and have found that, numerous of plastic debris can’t be ingested which consequently was the reason for the death of the animals. Additionally plastic debris such as sanitary waste, medical waste and plastic diapers sometimes can also be seen on the beach which ultimately impacts the health of the public. The main reason that there is mass amounts of plastic covering the beaches is because of the lack of responsibility of the public and not throwing their rubbish in the bin. Majority of people believe that plastic is easy to be carried but they are not aware of the impact that using too much plastic has.

There are multiple solutions for the plastic pollution issue. Due to plastic being a non-renewable resource and damaging to the earth’s environment during its production and disposal process as well. The best way to recover and reduce the production and use of plastics. Although we can’t substitute or replace plastic it is possible to change the raw materials being used that can alter plastic in a way it can be broken down and recycled. An example of this is that now there are many plastic bags, so if supermarkets changed their plastic bags to degradable plastic bags it will help keep the environment cleaner and is ultimately more environmentally friendly.

Another solution to help this issue for reducing plastic pollution for sea life is the Container Deposit Scheme that helps tackle and takes plastic off the plate for sea life. As everyone can see there are many bins on the streets in every corner of Australia but this still isn’t enough to get people to throw their plastic out correctly, mainly because people just don’t care about correctly separating their rubbish into recycle and non-recyclable. Therefore the Container Deposit Scheme is non-profit and will work independently of the beverage companies.

Many Australians buy bottles each day, it will increase the price of the drinks by 10 cents and whenever the bottle is returned to the convenient recycling depot, that amount of money is refunded. However, if the bottle is not returned, this deposit scheme still continues to recycle and help cleans up the litter and plastic pollution including the marine pollution. The publics attitude to plastic pollution and litter everywhere is something that needs to be changed in order to save the environment.

We need to be aware of the impact plastic pollution is having on the environment now and what it will look like in the long run. The Australian government has become involved in working towards solving this problem. However, we can’t just leave it all up to the government there has to be active citizen participation in working towards helping our earth become clean again.

However, plastic is a non-renewable resource that harms the environment for an extended period of time. The beaches are covered in mass amounts of plastics, but this problem can be solved. People need to start to take initiative and change their attitudes towards pollution, once this happens, we should start to see dramatic changes to the environment and oceans. We should be able to separate which plastics are recyclable and which are non-recyclable. By doing this it will reduce the amount of plastic debris and help maintain a healthy ecosystem in the oceans as well as keep the population of animals and marine life alive.

A couple of days to millions of years, this process takes time. In this essay I am going to focus on the rock cycle, how it helped create the Karlu Karlu rock formation (the Devil’s Marbles), and how indigenous Australians use rocks and minerals in their everyday lives.

Rocks are the hard substances that make up the Earth and are classified into three main groups: igneous (granite, pumice, basalt), sedimentary (limestone, chalk, sandstone), and metamorphic (marble and slate). The classification of certain rocks is determined by their properties. Properties that contribute to a rock’s classification are their texture, mineral composition, and general appearance. However, once a rock has been classified, it can still change its classification as a result of external forces acting on it. This common process is referred to as the rock cycle.

Igneous rocks are formed by the process of the cooling and solidifying of magma. This process can be slow and can take thousands of years, or be quick and take a mere couple of days. There are two types of igneous rocks: intrusive and extrusive. Intrusive rocks are formed slowly deep within the Earth with large crystals forming throughout. Extrusive igneous rocks form much quicker on the surface of the Earth, with small or non-existent crystals. Extrusive rocks can also form with small air bubbles, making them vesicular.

Through weathering and erosion, igneous rocks change to sediment, which, in turn, can change to sedimentary rock through compacting and cementing. Sedimentary rock has many layers showing the deposition of sediment from different time periods. There are lots of small grains that are held weakly together, meaning they are often porous, soft, and crumbly. They often have fossils trapped within them. Sedimentary rocks also have two different groupings: clastic, formed by compacted sediments, and organic/crystalline, formed by evaporates, precipitates, and biological matter. Sedimentary rocks can take millions of years to fully develop and form.

Sedimentary rock can become metamorphic due to heat and pressure. Metamorphic rocks have layer structures of crystals caused by heat and pressure and are usually denser and harder than sedimentary rocks. Sometimes distortions caused by the movements of the rock can create wave or zig-zag patterns in the rock. Again, there are two types of metamorphic rock: contact metamorphism, caused by heat, and regional metamorphism, caused by pressure. Metamorphic rocks can take tens of millions of years to form, the longest formation time of all three rock types.

The Karlu Karlu (the Devil’s Marbles) rock formation is a large cultural landscape spanning over 4,453 acres in the center of the Northern Territory. It is the traditional country for the Wurumungu, Kaytetye, Alyawarra, and Warlpiri people. The ‘marbles’ are scattered throughout the shallow valley of the reserve. Essentially, the Devil’s Marbles are large, rounded boulders balancing on one another, scattered around the Karlu Karlu Conservation Reserve. The name ‘Devil’s Marbles’ came from Scottish-Australian explorer John Ross who was traveling around Australia in 1870 and said: “This is the devil’s country; he’s even emptied his bag of marbles around the place”.

The formation of the boulders started almost 2 billion years ago when magma cooled within the Earth’s crust, forming the intrusive igneous rock, granite. On top of the granite, a thick sedimentary layer of sandstone formed, compressing the granite under its extreme weight. After millions of years, the sandstone eroded, releasing pressure and resulting in the granite expanding and cracking into the jagged, cube-like blocks we see today. Eventually, the granite weathered, and as it is much harder and stronger, it can withstand any similar weathering to what it had previously experienced. A combination of water and natural acids found in the atmosphere round off the points in the rocks and leave smoother, rounder boulders. Alongside this, the large difference in temperatures in day and night cause the rocks to expand and contract, simultaneously peeling off layers of the marble. The Karlu Kalu is a combination of both sedimentary and igneous rock.

Australian Indigenous people have used rocks and minerals in their everyday life for thousands of years. Powdered minerals are commonly used for things like art. Aboriginals collect minerals as weathered rocks (ochres) and crush them into a powder using a grindstone. Different chemical compositions of minerals cause those minerals to have different colors, for example, hematite is caused by iron oxide (rust), giving it a reddish look. Ochres can be mixed to make different colors. Aboriginal Australians have an extensive knowledge of various rocks and minerals in Australia which is very important in making tools, weapons, and ochres. Rocks are used for different things depending on their hardness, texture, colors, ability to be ground or worn, and ability to flake and form sharp edges. Hard igneous rocks are very commonly seen in indigenous tools like axe heads.

The Karlu Karlu rock formation is a great example of how the rock cycle works, showing two of the three possible rock types, and how they change and transform. Indigenous Australians learned from this formation and used its qualities, like minerals, to their advantage in everyday life, creating art and useful tools.

Daylight saving time, DST, more commonly called daylight savings has been part of Australia since at least 1971 except for Queensland, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia. However, this should change. All of Australia should partake in daylight savings. Good morning/afternoon Ms. Rae and class. By only having selected states or areas participating in daylight savings, it puts the rest of Australia out of sync. Daylight savings have many beneficial features that would help that outweigh the negative short-term transitional effects. Therefore, the government should implement daylight savings in all of Australia from October to April to better absorb the benefits of extra daylight.

In 1895, an entomologist from New Zealand, George Hudson first proposed the modern concept of a two-hour time shift in the summer, so he could have more after-work hours of sunshine to go insect hunting. Daylight saving time was first utilized in World War I as a way to conserve fuel for the war effort by minimizing the use of electricity, more specifically lights. It is now continued in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory as a way to better utilize daylight in the evenings and conserve energy while Queensland, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia resume with the standard time. Despite this referendum being denied numerous times in the past, groups from south-east Queensland have been long advocating for change, particularly the Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce and Courier Mail. Furthermore, in 2018, a poll from Courier Mail showed that the majority of Queenslanders want daylight savings introduced. However, the minority of Queenslanders who live near warmer areas have concerns about the parching heat.

Everything has positives and negatives, and this is no different with daylight savings. According to some studies, daylight savings can produce an increased occurrence of a few health issues. However, this mainly occurs in the first week of the transition to and from daylight savings. For example, “Studies have shown that disruptions in a person’s internal body clock, increase the risk of ischemic stroke,” said study author Dr. Jori Ruuskanen, in a statement from the American Academy of Neurology. However, another study by Lawrence Jin and Nicolas R. from Cornell University comprehensively looks at the health effects of DST. Using 3.4 million BRFSS respondents from the US and 160 million hospital admissions from Germany over a decade, not much evidence was found that population health significantly decreases when daylight savings starts. There are also the concerns of parents for their children who live in hotter climates, as some children will have to walk home in the peak of the sun in the afternoon. As previously mentioned, there are benefits to daylight savings. Having daylight savings, it allows us to be more effective and proactive with the extra daylight at night. It also allows us to enjoy the less harsh UV rays later in the day. It would help us save energy, like the usage of artificial light in the evenings, and therefore could reduce the electricity bill. DST could also help better ensure our safety. Daylight savings lowers the incidence of traffic accidents. Driving home in the evenings with DST is safer because there is still light around for you to see versus darkness, where you can hardly see anything. The crime rate drops during daylight savings. At the beginning of DST, robbery rates dropped an average of 7 percent for the entire day, and during the evening hour with the extra sunlight, it fell a much larger 27 percent. DST would also offer recreational and economic benefits for the country. Particularly for the hospitality industry and potentially employment and tourism. For almost half a year, the extra hour of sunlight in the evening would have a large impact on shops, restaurants, café, and bars as it provides more opportunity for tourists to spend more money and explore. An economist, Gene Tunny says, ‘(DST) is bound to generate several hundred million dollars per annum to the economy.’ Therefore, it now clearly be seen how the more long-term benefits outweigh the short-term transition ramifications.

Daylight saving time would be hugely beneficial for Australia. Right now, with only some states having DST, it puts the rest of Australia out of sync geographically. So, if the whole country adopted DST, it would put the whole country in sync and make it easier to travel between the states. It would allow us to be more proactive in the evenings as we would get to do more things with the extra hour of daylight. It would also provide a huge economic boost for hospitality, retail, and the tourism industry. Not to mention, it helps ensure the safety of citizens. Not only does it lower the amount of traffic accidents, but it also decreases the chance of robbery, both could save millions of dollars a year. Overall, I believe that if Australia installed daylight savings in every state, it would make our society a more favorable one.

In conclusion, daylight savings should be implemented throughout all of Australia. Australia would benefit hugely from the extra hour of sunlight in the evenings. It would provide a higher level of safety for its citizens, boost the economy, and allow us to be more proactive in the evenings. Evidently, it can now clearly be seen that installing daylight saving time for all of Australia would help advance our society to a more modern and productive era.

Introduction

One interesting observation in landscape ecology is that natural environments occur heterogeneously or exhibit patchiness. This case study examined this hypothesis by evaluating the occurrences of trees and mistletoes in a large remnant area of natural vegetation in Australia.

Mistletoes are generally hemiparasites that feed on trees and shrubs. Therefore, this study provided an opportunity to examine the distribution of species and the ecological relationship between hosts and parasites. In Australian forests and woodlands, Mistletoes and host plants had a fascinating form of relationship in two main ways.

First, Mistletoes are hemiparasites that obtain their nutrients and water from their host plants. Second, a mutualistic relationship exists between the birds and the mistletoes. Specifically, the Mistletoebird is responsible for dispersing seeds of mistletoes while the mistletoe offers its fleshy fruits as food to the bird. In addition to the Mistletoebird, mistletoes also provide food and shelter to other various species of birds in Australian forests and woodlands.

Study Objectives

This study aimed to examine the distribution of the Drooping Mistletoe Amyema pendulum across an urban bushland landscape in relation to variation in vegetation type and the abundance of host tree species. Specifically, the study focused on the following questions:

• Does the density of trees (stems) differ between vegetation types in the study landscape?
• Does the proportion of trees with mistletoe infestation differ between vegetation types?
• What is the spatial pattern of mistletoe parasitism at the level of individual trees?

Study Area

This study was undertaken in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne. This is a large area of heathland and heathy woodland at Cranbourne, Australia. In the past, the Royal Botanic Gardens has acted as a study area for many ecological studies, such as a floristic vegetation study, studies of the ecology of Swamp Rats and Southern Brown Bandicoots, resource partitioning by small mammals, the foraging ecology of New Holland Honeyeaters, and studies of frogs.

Study Methodology

There were many types of vegetation identified in the study area. However, this study concentrated on Heathy Woodland (drier vegetation on sandy areas) and Wet Heath (lower lying areas, drainage lines) areas as indicated on the map. There were two major species of trees found in these areas, which included Coast Manna Gum E. pryoriana and Mealy Stringybark E. cephalocarpa.

Stratification of transects

All data were gathered on a single field trip referred to as a snap shot survey. Transects were stratified across the landscape to sample Heathy Woodland and Wet Heath vegetation types. All student groups collected data from all the allocated transects in order to conduct a joint sampling of a number of replicate transects in every vegetation type. All these collected data were later cleaned, classified in classes and analyzed.

Researchers were cautious not to damage the vegetation in the study area.

Data collection

Each group collected data in transect measured at a 100 m by using a tape, which represented 0.4 ha. They collected data from a belt of 20 m wide from all sides of transects. Researchers also methodically gathered data along the transect line. This process involved checking and counting all tree stems, including cases in which a tree had more than one trunk.

Data elements recorded on the data sheet included:

• The total number of tree stems within the transect area
• For each stem that had mistletoes present, record details of
  • The number of mistletoe plants present
  • Whether the mistletoe plants were alive or dead
  • The level of branch on which the mistletoe plant was located (primary, secondary, tertiary)

The Drooping Mistletoe Amyema pendulum was the most common type of mistletoe in the bushland under studies. Researchers observed the foliage of the mistletoe and noted the similarities and the differences between the leaves of the mistletoe and eucalypts. They also checked for any signs of dead trees and possible causes of identified cases and attachment of mistletoes on eucalypt branches.

Another area of interest in this study involved data related to variations across the landscape attributes, such as topography, soils, density of trees, moisture availability and vegetation types.

Discussion

Results from the study confirmed that hypothesis that mistletoe distribution was heterogeneous or depicted patchiness. Thus, the researchers accepted the study hypothesis. The significant difference in the distributions of mistletoes between the dry heath and wet heath showed patchiness in a natural environment.

Past studies have established such patchiness in distributions of mistletoes in Australia (Turner, 1991). Parkes, Newell, and Cheal observed that patches of native vegetation were often heterogeneous and could consist of other several species of plants (Parkes, Newell and Cheal, 2003). In addition, Turner, Clarke, Lewis, and Ostendorf observed variations in vegetation covers and noted that some areas were highly fragmented (Turner, Clarke, Lewis and Ostendorf, 2013).

Several factors could have influenced the distribution of mistletoes at the landscape scale and at the tree level. For example, abiotic factors, such as soils, water, light and biotic factors (dispersal vector) influenced the distribution of the Drooping Mistletoe across the landscape. From the study, several mistletoes were observed in the wet heath (1237) than in the dry heath (807). This indicated that abiotic factors had critical influences on the distribution of mistletoes in natural vegetation.

Some studies also noted that seed dispersal by marsupials altered the spatial distribution patterns of mistletoes (García, Rodríguez-Cabal and Amico, 2009). Thus, biotic factors affected the distribution patterns of mistletoes. Such mammals were responsible for spatial distribution and patchiness in mistletoe offspring at a larger scale (García et al, 2009).

Therefore, both abiotic and biotic factors created distribution and dispersal processes that could significantly change the mistletoe spatial distribution in natural vegetation. A mutualistic relationship was observed between mistletoes and other animals. They depended on animals for both “pollination and fruit dispersal, and this leads to a broad range of mistletoe-animal interactions” (Watson, 2001).

Thus, fruit eating birds, such as Mistletoebirds were responsible for wide dispersion of mistletoe seeds while the preference of birds for “infected trees influenced the spread of mistletoes and the spatiotemporal pattern formation of mistletoes” (Ward and Paton, 2007). Overall, Watson noted that mistletoes were important resources in forests and woodlands where they were present (Watson, 2001). They offered shelter for both animals and birds in woodlands and forests.

Variations in mistletoe distributions were also observed in the stems of the tree. For instance, primary branches had 10 mistletoes, secondary branches had 135 mistletoes and tertiary branches had 137 mistletoes. Mistletoes survived better in protected areas of the trees such as secondary and tertiary branches. Hence, the use of hosts among mistletoes was also heterogeneously distributed.

In conclusion, this study supported previous observations, which had indicated that vegetations had heterogeneous occurrences in natural environments. The distribution of mistletoes differed significantly in dry and wet heaths and on stems of trees. Variations could have resulted from both abiotic and biotic factors. Overall, mistletoes acted as important resources in their natural habitats.

Refugees and asylum seekers attempting to get into Australia are confronted with a challenge. Prior to arriving they have faced persecution, disease and violence, and yet many of the people whom control their apparent destiny strongly oppose letting them in. This inhumane approach to the issue must be addressed. Initially, the process for the application for a protection visa will be discussed, as well as the terrible conditions inside the detention centers. The difficulty and complications involved will be highlighted. Then, an examination of their contribution to the economy will be discussed. Finally, a rebuttal to the common claim that there may be foxes in the henhouse (terrorists) will be shown.

All of the refugees who have made it to Australia’s shores after 2012 were placed into one of Australia’s nine concentration-camp-like detention centers. In 2015, there were 8,588 detainees spread around Australia and parts of the Asia pacific region. There, they await government approval of their application for a visa, usually a subclass-200 series refugee visa. In 2016 alone, there were 33,280 applications for one. This allows successful applicants the ability to permanently reside in Australia (with the possibility of applying for citizenship if eligible), work and study, enroll for Medicare, bring family members, travel to and from Australia for five years, and attend 510 hours of English classes for free. This may seem like a good option, and it would be. However, the application form alone is 33 pages long, with over eighty questions, many of which require excruciating detail. Furthermore, if you arrive in Australia without a valid visa, you will not be able to apply successfully for one of these visas. If you are able to navigate the murky waters of the application process, being approved to receive one can take up to two years. And the whole time, the refugees are locked up like dogs in a detention center. While this may seem at first like hyperbole, most dogs would be treated better than the unfortunate souls in Australia’s detention centers. In 2016, a UN official travelled to the Nauru detention center. He had “…seen a little girl of 14 years old and her father in Nauru where the mother and her siblings are in Australia for medical treatment.” He went on to describe her mental condition as being in a “catatonic” state. She had also “(not) gotten out of her room in months, (and had) not taken a shower, (and was) in a state of complete stress and trauma.” Continuing this form of what is essentially torture is not good for these sad souls, and also Australia’s public reputation. However, in 2019 a bill was passed allowing doctors to have more say in whether or not detainees should be taken somewhere else for better medical treatment. Unfortunately, this led to the re-opening of Christmas Island centre, and the ill would be taken there instead of mainland Australia, as was originally the plan. In spite of this, the process continues to need urgent revision to make it simpler fairer, and more humane.

Once a refugee is granted access to all of the great things that Australia has to offer, what will he or she do once they arrive? Work is the answer. Some of those in the Australian government are worried about population growth, and rightly so. As our population ages, the ratio of those providing income tax compared to those actually in the workforce becomes smaller. Another example of the practical issues this may have is that education for the young may start to compete with healthcare for the more senior community. However, the government has done quite poorly in supporting the older community. Some people see immigration as a threat to population growth as well, so the government has begun to cap it. However, refugees are not really at risk of harming this balance. They are Australia’s youngest immigrant type, at an average of 21.8 years. This means they spend longer working and contributing to the economy. In addition to this, a study by F. Peterson and E. Wesley found that, from 1990 to 2015, the population grew 1.33 times, and the per-capita GDP increased by a factor of 1.7. Furthermore, an article by the New York Times analysed a report released by the government. It presented four main takeaways, and they were all in support of increasing the number of immigrants Australia allows. It showed that refugees contribute more than they consume, which is obviously an advantage. It also pointed out the already discussed point that younger migrants means younger workers. They do not depress wages, and interestingly, immigrants helped lessen the blow on Australia of the GFC. In the lead up to the crisis, growth in the working age population contributed to a 1.7% rise in GDP per person. The report says, “This suggests that migration helped the economy successfully weather the Global Financial Crisis and the slow global growth and poor economic conditions that followed.” In addition to the article, the report also suggests that migrants help bolster the economy, on both the consumer and producer side. This is because of the fact that they contribute to a higher supply/demand ratio. This also helped strength the per-person GDP. As if this evidence wasn’t already overwhelming, another study by the Centre for Global Development reported that “the arrival of 125,000 Cubans into Miami had no effect on unemployment and was followed by a small rise in average low-skill wages.” Not only were these people given refuge, they have demonstrably helped some of the American people in somewhat raising their wages. The combination of these factors demonstrates that allowing more refugees to settle in Australia would likely be advantageous.

Opponents to the issue of refugees often claim that allows an easy way for terrorists and other such “undesirables” into the country. One such example of this was the perpetrator of the Lindt Chocolate Café siege in 2014, Man Haron Monis. In 1996, he applied for asylum in Australia. His request was granted in 2001. During this time, he lived in Iran. He also had an arrest warrant against him during this time. In Iran, he ran a “spiritual healing” business. He told some of his female patients that they had to submit to sexual molestation to receive treatment. In 2013, the year before the siege, he was charged with accessory to murder of his former wife, who was stabbed and set alight in April that year, as well as forty-three counts of sexual assault. He also wrote offensive letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in action. He was investigated by ASIO four times, and over a ten year period, there were more than forty calls about him on the security hotline. Clearly, this man was an utter quack and his entry to Australia was completely wrong-headed. However, in this case, the cause of the Lindt café siege is not necessarily attributable to the perpetrator himself, but more to the immigration department. Give that he had a criminal record in Iran, he should not have been allowed into the country in the first place, which would have prevented the siege from ever happening, at least in Australia. However, if he was convicted and taken into custody for his other felonies, once again the siege would likely have been prevented. The above points show that it is not necessarily who is let in, it is more the fact that they are let in in the first place. Oftentimes, if the subject’s background is properly examined, it would be possible to determine whether or not they would be a threat to national security. It is likely that would have been the case in this incident.

Monis’ was not the only case of an immigrant turning out to be a terrorist. The perpetrator of the 2018 Bourke street stabbing attack, Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, moved to Australia in the 1990’s from Somalia. Before the attacks, he had moved from his home in Werribee due to substance abuse. He was known to intelligence agencies and police, and in 2015 his passport was cancelled. ASIO believed he planned to travel to Syria, however they did not deem him a threat to national security. After the attack, police said he had radical views, and also had links to the IS terrorist group. Furthermore, a sheikh from his local mosque said he was not “mentally fit”. It is also possible that he suffers some disease such as Schizophrenia, as the same sheikh said “the family told me three days ago … that [he thought] he was being chased by people with spears”. This case is somewhat more complicated than the previous, but does highlight some important issues. Firstly, that people such as Shire Ali have action such as a cancelled passport taken against them, but then not followed up by an investigation. In addition, if the authorities had known that he had links to IS, why was he not investigated? He was assessed as “not posing a threat in relation to the national security environment”, but does raise the question of why this was not the case if he did indeed carry out the attack. As with the previous issue, this appears to have been a preventable incident, but this time more tentative.

It will likely prove impossible to completely iron out every terrorist in every group of society. It must be remembered, however, just how many refugees there are, and how minute the chance is that they are susceptible to extremism. Even if we are able to completely eliminate them from the refugee group, they will continue to come here in other ways. While not necessarily nice, terrorists are smart, and the fight against them will go on for a long while. Fighting amongst us about matters such as these must be stopped, and the problem at hand must be worked. Procedures could be improved, instead of wasting time and money on an issue that can be resolved more easily, and with more humane results. At the end of the day, it will probably be impossible to completely eradicate terrorism, and so humanity must do its best to fight it whilst maintaining some empathy for our brothers and sisters.

The debate surrounding the issue of accepting refugees in Australia will surely continue for a long time. However, some things must change, such as the long-winded and complicated process of applying for a refugee visa. Furthermore, there is a big incentive to accept more refugees, as they help strengthen and stabilise the economy. Finally, while people claim that there can be terrorists amongst the ranks of the innocent, surely the benefits to being more accepting can help outweigh the risks, as well as having a more rigorous procedure for dealing with the risks highlighted.

I am writing to express my concern in regard to eh growing rate of obesity in Australia among the young generation. training activities help promote the enthusiastic and physical wellbeing and prosperity all things considered and Australia’s population. I accept this issue is significant as corpulence is in charge of the appearance of numerous incessant sicknesses which are at present the reason for noteworthy expense to our wellbeing system.(1) The point of this suggestion paper is to draw out into the open the requirement for brief activity on the improvement and execution of proper government approaches to address the issue of unfortunate weight addition and stoutness in the populace.

We can never again stand to walk out on the weights and disgrace looked by youth, educators and guardians in our high-stakes instruction framework and culture. The requests have pounding, unintended outcomes. Numerous kids are withdrawn, corpulence is typical, stress-related sickness, misery and burnout are widespread, and understudies touch base at school and the work environment ill-equipped and deadened.

I explicitly am mentioning that you make a move to forestall and lessen the pace of corpulence in Australia among kids and those living with a handicap. At present, more than 33% of our country’s kids are overweight or fat. In the course of recent decades, the corpulence rates for youngsters ages 6 to 11 have quadrupled. Presently, in the Australian people group and schools, there is a corpulence scourge in youngsters with numerous kids doing the less physical action at that point prompted or prescribed. The National wellbeing review, directed between 2007-2008, shows that about 24.9% of kids matured between 5-17 were either overweight or fat (2). It is all around reported that heftiness is legitimately connected to way of life related factors. (3) most of the general wellbeing cost related with corpulence is credited to those individuals from the network who are viewed as moderate or okay. This proposes the requirement for a wide range way to deal with tending to the issue. The World Health Organization (WHO) repeats that measures focused at averting weight increase and heftiness will eventually accomplish the best sway on the long haul the board of individual body weight, just as, being the most practical course of action. (9)

Weight reduction is prescribed to diminish the danger of medical issues related with obesity.(6) This is accomplished by lessening vitality admission and expanding physical activity.(7) Research has shown that the worldwide ascent in heftiness is predominately ascribed to the over utilization of nourishments high in soaked fat, sugar and salt, instead of a decline in by and large physical movement. A moderate reduction in caloric admission has appeared to bring about moderate yet dynamic weight loss.(5-7) The significance of counteracting weight increase has been recognized by wellbeing experts as a need so as to diminish the predominance of obesity.(9) Parents and guardians can help anticipate youth stoutness by giving solid suppers and titbits, day by day physical action, and nourishment training. Sound dinners and bites give nourishment to developing bodies while demonstrating smart dieting conduct and frames of mind. Expanded physical movement diminishes wellbeing dangers and helps weight the executives. Nourishment instruction enables little youngsters to build up a consciousness of good sustenance and smart dieting propensities for a lifetime.

This issue is critical to me by and by in light of the fact that I might want to see my locale Endeavor and carry on with a sound life. I am a functioning individual, and I am likewise a wellbeing and health mentor. Preceding turning into a wellbeing and health mentor, a great deal of my companions I up with and other kids in my neighborhood who were not ready to get a solid dinner and are not taught on what effect diet has on you were harassed and separated by the two schools and network due to being overweight. Being overweight for them made life hard as a result of the diminished confidence and weight on the most proficient method to switch their dietary patterns.

The youth stoutness plague represents a genuine danger and is prompting an age of youngsters that will have shorter life expectancies than their folks. During the previous two decades, the overall spread of stoutness in youngsters has altogether risen. Stoutness in youth can cause a wide scope of genuine difficulties and increment the danger of untimely ailment and passing further down the road, raising general wellbeing concerns. Being overweight and staying overweight builds the opportunity of creating ailments, for example, type 2 diabetes, rest apnoea, heat prejudice, kidney issues, windedness on effort, tiredness and level feet. (2).

There are various methodologies set up by the National Healthy School Canteens (NHSC) acquainting a school venture with assistance improve the wellbeing of kids in schools. The container venture is supported by the Australian Government, as a major aspect of the Australian Better Health Initiative. We don’t need our children and the future age to experience the ill effects of stoutness related sicknesses like cardiovascular infection, type 2 diabetes, asthma, osteoporosis and social and mental issues. (12).

Because of the physiological worry of social damming, this can prompt low confidence, which thus can thwart a kid’s scholarly results and social working, which can continue into adulthood. The connections to the early beginning of sort 2 diabetes and coronary illness, which are the main sources of death in Australia stays a worry (Health.nsw.gov.au,2018). Being overweight can likewise make a tyke progressively powerless against lessening confidence. Notwithstanding experiencing poor physical wellbeing, youngsters that are large or overweight can be focuses of social separation.

Suggestions

1. Implementation of a front-of-pack nourishment marking framework

Past investigations have exhibited Australians discover current back-of-pack naming confounding and hard to decipher with regards to their general every day consumption.(1) A procedure which has been intended to address this issue is ‘Traffic Light Labelling’.(10) This framework rates the nourishing nature of a sustenance item with exceptionally noticeable red, yellow and green banners showed on the facade of bundling, just as, rates which mirror the degree of sugar, salt, fat and immersed fat in the product.(10)

2. Community Programs

Nearby governments, general wellbeing offices, schools, and network associations ought to cooperatively create and advance projects that support stimulating eating practices and normal physical action, especially for populaces at high danger of youth corpulence. Network alliances ought to be framed to encourage and advance crosscutting programs and communitywide endeavours

Conclusion

So as to avoid further weight gain which is adding to the pervasiveness of corpulence among the populace, move should be made to diminish the utilization of fatty sustenance and beverages which are low in nutrition.(1) Consumer opportunity has considered poor individual way of life decisions to manage the developing pace of obesity.(1)

Government guideline forcing a sugar improved drink assessment and traffic light nourishment marking framework in school offers genuine chance to diminish the utilization of sustenance items that add to unfortunate ways of life and weight gain.(7, 18) The presentation of such general wellbeing activities would encourage and enable people to settle on more advantageous decisions, and eventually lead to reasonable changed practices in the population.(1) I deferentially present the previously mentioned proposals which offer sensible, attainable and savvy outcomes.(6) Your choice to follow up on these suggestions will offer critical decreases to the present developing pestilence of corpulence and reoccurring general medicinal services spending victories related with this epidemic.(6) Children are our future, and we should join in endeavours to address the plague of stoutness.

Reference

1. Magnusson RS. Obesity prevention and personal responsibility: the case of front-of- pack food labelling in Australia. BMC Public Health. 2010;10(1):662.
2. 5. Bond ME, Williams MJ, Crammond B, Loff B. Taxing junk food: applying the logic of the Henry tax review to food. The Medical journal of Australia. 2010;193(8):472-3.
3. Cameron AJ, Welborn TA, Zimmet PZ, Dunstan DW, Owen N, Salmon J, et al. Overweight and obesity in Australia: the 1999-2000 Australian diabetes, obesity and lifestyle study (AusDiab). Medical Jou
4. Escobar MAC, Veerman JL, Tollman SM, Bertram MY, Hofman KJ. Evidence that a tax on sugar sweetened beverages reduces the obesity rate: a meta-analysis. BMC public health. 2013;13(1):1.
5. Gill TP, Baur LA, Bauman AE, Steinbeck KS, Storlien LH, Fiatarone Singh MA, et al. Childhood obesity in Australia remains a widespread health concern that warrants population- wide prevention programs. Medical Journal of Australia. 2009;190(3):146.
6. Klein S, Sheard NF, Pi-Sunyer X, Daly A, Wylie-Rosett J, Kulkarni K, et al. Weight Management Through Lifestyle Modification for the Prevention and Management of Type 2 Diabetes: Rationale and Strategies A statement of the American Diabetes Association, the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition. Diabetes care. 2004;27(8):2067-73.
7. Forster M, Veerman J, Barendregt J, Vos T. Cost-effectiveness of diet and exercise interventions to reduce overweight and obesity. International Journal of Obesity. 2011;35(8):1071-8.
8. Hu FB. Resolved: there is sufficient scientific evidence that decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption will reduce the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases. Obesity Reviews. 2013;14(8):606-19.
9. Cowburn G, Stockley L. Consumer understanding and use of nutrition labelling: a systematic review. Public health nutrition. 2005;8(01):21-8.
10. Beard TC, Nowson CA, Riley MD. Traffic-light food labels. Medical journal of Australia. 2007;186(1):19.
11. Health.gov.au,2018[online]Available at: https://health.gov.internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/5ffb6a30ecee9321ca. [Accessed15 sep.2018].
12. NSW Ministry of Health.(2018). Childhood overweight and obesity- Health Eating Active Living. https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/heal/pages/childhood-obesity.aspx

In this 21st century many news, research articles, and social media have highlighted the most alarming issues regarding the conservation or eradication of non-native species. The concept regarding these values and initiatives keeps on changing with the changing environment. In today’s world, humans have a long record of conserving different elements of nature (Wallach, A.D., et al., 2019) Among them, protecting and conserving non-native species are at the center of current continuing arguments. Non-native species are especially represented as harmful species that lead to the extinction of species, loss of biodiversity, and also harm socio-economic human issues and health. Whereas, more recently studies and research have shown the positive responses of non-native species to regional species richness, ecological services, conservation ambitions, and so on (Clavero, M., 2014.).

Non-native species are also called exotic or introduced species. Simply, non-native species are species that are established successfully outside their native distributional range which may be because of human activity, either accidentally or deliberately released from captivity (Bradshaw, C.J., et al 2006). Non-native species are specifically present as a variety of threats to native ecosystems and living well-being which can cause the extinction of native species. Furthermore, they also play a vital role in changing the functioning system of the ecosystem or radical changes in the ecosystem as well as the health of human beings and native species. The impact of non-native species generally increases once they spread and are established successfully in their new environment (Rafferty, J. P., 2019) Indeed, these species show their behavior as soon as they are introduced. For example: different pathogens can directly affect the health of animals and plants immediately after their arrival.

Human plays a huge role in the ever-increasing expansion of invasive species. The successful increase and adaptation of invasive species are the results of anthropogenic colonization which has inclined the transformation of natural ecosystems to urban and agriculture (Jeschke, J.M., et al 2014). Even though invasive species occur all over the continent, Australia and Oceania are the most popular. Australia found it found invasive species in the form of feral cats and various rat species. However, European wild rabbits were introduced in 1827 in Australia to serve as a friendly part of the settlement in new land by European sailors who reproduced rapidly and were out of control. Later, they tried to control it, but rabbits continued to take over the island which is destroying crops nowadays also (Lees, A.C. et al 2008).

When some species are introduced in a new environment and show negative consequences then they are classified as invasive species (Rodriguez, L.F., 2006). MANY INVASIVE species established and reproducing rapidly are impossible to eradicate which also cost $13.6 million including managing, controlling as well as economic loss. Some of them have impacts positive and some of them have huge negative impacts. According to the recent NSW government list more than 40 native plant species as invasive native shrubs. There are several stages of invasion and they are establishment, spread, and impact on native habitats and ecosystems which is shown clearly in the table below. For example, cane toads were intentionally introduced in Australia to combat cane beetles but later they reduced native insectivores and created pressure on the ecosystem as they are poisonous and have great potential to kill anything (Urban, M.C., et al 2008).

Although non-native species are responsible for species change and extinction causing several casualties resulting in loss of biodiversity and threat to the well-being of humans, they are also known as good agents through which biodiversity is produced. That means not all non-native species can cause biological and ecological harm. In the context of Australia, non-native species have been introduced since the European colonization (Gurevitch, J. et al 2004). Around 87 species were introduced into Australia whereas 47 species were native in Australia from somewhere else (The Conservation). However, in some cases, the non-native species can also be beneficial. For example, some of the vulnerable species that are facing existential threats to their home country may be exterminated freely in another which helps in the conservation of biodiversity (Schlaepfer, M.A., 2018)

Over ten thousand years ago, Australia lost most of its endemic megafauna but today it has eight introduced megafauna species including dromedary camel, Indian hog deer, banteng, wild donkey, Javan rusa, and so on. Around 64% of these introduced megafaunas are either extinct, threatened, or downturn in their native array. To elaborate it effectively, Dromedary camels can be taken as an example. They are found in Australia and have been rewilding back meanwhile in the wild after more than a thousand years which is a plus point in the term of conservation of biodiversity. However, megafauna are also considered the Earth’s tree breakers, nutrient movers, seed carriers, etc which help to boost nutrient cycles that improve soil fertility, adjust plant communities also help other species to survive. Similarly, the infamous zebra mussel helps to clarify water and also increases the fish population whereas honeybees and other non-native species also play a great role in conservation. Despite all these benefits, Australia has spent more than $19 million to kill 160000 non-native species which are nowhere else on Earth.

On January 15, 2020 thousands of camels were killed in a remote part of south Australia as was ordered from Anangu Ptajantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY Lands) as a huge number of feral camels led to drought (Vaarzon‐Morel, P.et al., 2012)They were removed through the aerial control operation by shooting (Saalfeld, W.K.et al., 2010). Whereas a similar case with wild cats, rabbits, and pigs by trapping, fencing, and poisoning them (Ferris, 2010). To minimize the non-native species sometimes native species who are not targeted have to face them such as kangaroos.

The different categories of non-native species will cause biological and socio-economic harm. But also, different research and reports are increasing rapidly to cherish their adaptability and patience to reproduce in any environment and their impact on ecosystem resilience (Schlaepfer, M.A et al., 2011). To manage non-native species, the conservationist should generally focus on prevention, rapid detection, control, and eradication without any unnecessary pressure on wildlife and the ecosystem (Lodge, D. M., et al. 2006). Whereas, the future effects of these invasive species are uncertain as it is difficult to predict the present and future condition and functioning system of the ecosystem which may substantially differ at any cost (Walther et al. 2009). As the characteristics And communities are dynamic conservationists should focus on the future rather than on the past.to determine what types of species are found in an area it will be better if they sort out what kind of area these species want in the future to reproduce (Schlaepfer, M.A et al., 2011). However, species that are likely to degrade and damage the environment are likely to control whereas species with aesthetic beauty and more intrinsic value are likely to be protected eithwhethery belong to native or non-native species.

1. Bradshaw, C.J., Isagi, Y., Kaneko, S., Bowman, D.M. and Brook, B.W., 2006. Conservation value of non‐native banteng in northern Australia. Conservation Biology, 20(4), pp.1306-1311.
2. Clavero, M., 2014. Shifting baselines and the conservation of non-native species. Conservation Biology, 28(5), pp.1434-1436.
3. Ferris, B., 2010. The 2008-2009 Aerial Feral Pig and Feral Goat Shooting Program: A Case Study in Northern New South Wales, Australia. In Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference (Vol. 24, No. 24).
4. Gurevitch, J. and Padilla, D.K., 2004. Are invasive species a major cause of extinctions? Trends in ecology & evolution, 19(9), pp.470-474.
5. Jeschke, J.M., Bacher, S., Blackburn, T.M., Dick, J.T., Essl, F., Evans, T., Gaertner, M., Hulme, P.E., Kühn, I., Mrugała, A. and Pergl, J., 2014. Defining the impact of non‐native species. Conservation Biology, 28(5), pp.1188-1194.
6. Lees, A.C. and Bell, D.J., 2008. A conservation paradox for the 21st century: the European wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, an invasive alien and an endangered native species. Mammal Review, 38(4), pp.304-320.
7. Lodge, D. M., et al. 2006. Biological invasions: recommendations for U.S. policy and management. Ecological Applications 16:2035-2054. Lugo, A. E. 1997.
8. Rafferty, J. P., 2019. Invasive species. Encyclopædia Britannica, 7 February.
9. Rodriguez, L.F., 2006. Can invasive species facilitate native species? Evidence of how, when, and why these impacts occur. Biological Invasions, 8(4), pp.927-939
10. Saalfeld, W.K. and Edwards, G.P., 2010. Distribution and abundance of the feral camel (Camelus dromedarius) in Australia. The Rangeland Journal, 32(1), pp.1-9.
11. Schlaepfer, M.A., 2018. Do non-native species contribute to biodiversity? PLoS Biology, 16(4).
12. Schlaepfer, M.A., Sax, D.F. and Olden, J.D., 2011. The potential conservation value of non‐native species. Conservation Biology, 25(3), pp.428-437.
13. Urban, M.C., Phillips, B.L., Skelly, D.K. and Shine, R., 2008. A toad more traveled: the heterogeneous invasion dynamics of cane toads in Australia. The American Naturalist, 171(3), pp.E134-E148.
14. Vaarzon‐Morel, P. and Edwards, G., 2012. Incorporating Aboriginal people’s perceptions of introduced animals in resource management: insights from the feral camel project. Ecological Management & Restoration, 13(1), pp.65-71.
15. Wallach, A.D., Lundgren, E., Batavia, C., Nelson, M.P., Yanco, E., Linklater, W.L., Carroll, S.P., Celermajer, D., Brandis, K.J., Steer, J. and Ramp, D., 2019. When all life counts in conservation. Conservation Biology.
16. Walther, G.-R., et al. 2009. Alien species in a warmer world: risks and opportunities. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 24:686-693.

It is well known that in Australia not all schools experience the same amount of funding and therefore provide the same quality of education as each other. This is true in almost every country on earth however there are a number of reasons why this issue is worse in Australia than it needs to be, and worse than many comparable developed nations. Some children living in Australia have access to some of the best education in the world, but many people who cannot afford private education receive education well below an acceptable standard for Australia

In order for all schools in Australia to provide the same high quality of education, redistribution of government funding is absolutely necessary. This huge inequity is best highlighted by the fact that 50% of all 22 billion dollars spent on capital projects in Australian schools was spent by just 10% of schools. The same 10% of schools also received 28% of the 8.6 billion dollars of governments funds allocated to this area during the same period. Sheidow Park Primary School is a smaller urban school only minutes away from some of schools in the richest 10 percent. They had $25,005 of capital expenditure, none of which was from the government. This unfair overfunding of already wealthy schools does nothing to make these schools easier to access as fees are never lowered. It encourages extravagant excess on behalf of schools allowing indoor olympic swimming pools, yoga studios, indoor running tracks, and 800 seat auditoriums to become regular upgrades, while the poorest schools in Australia have to replace torn carpet 2 classrooms per year, have 4 times as many portable classrooms as permanent ones, or use a school hall that fits only half of their rapidly growing school population inside it. If government funds were more fairly allocated to lower income schools it would greatly improve the quality of the education of the children at the schools without in anyway drastically changing the education received at high income independent and Catholic schools.

The people who have set up our education system to be the way it is claim that boosting government funding for independent and Catholic schools helps make these schools more affordable for parents. This is the aim of the 1.9 billion dollar ‘Choice and Affordability Fund’ that will be distributed to non-government schools over the next 10 years. What schools choose to do with this funding for them to choose, leading this initiative to be described as a ‘slush fund’ for already wealthy schools. Pasi Sahlberg, a professor of educational policy at the University of New South Wales says, ‘we need to fix current inequalities, in and out of schools before educational excellence can truly be achieved’. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) supports this notion, trying to encourage member states (including Australia) to invest more systematically in educational equity. Sahlberg reinforces that ‘competition between schools delivers bad outcomes’. Many Nordic countries are regarded as having some of the best education systems in the world. For people who live in these countries choosing a school for their child is an easy task. They can be confident that the education their child will receive in their local public school will be just as good as any of the others, and of a world class standard. Australia is a similar developed nation to many of these countries, ranking slightly above many of these countries in the human development index, however when it comes to the overall quality of our education system taking into account school completion rates for all year levels, test scores, adult literacy rates and infrastructure, we do not even compete on the same field.

A world class education for all students is an attainable goal for Australia, however policy decisions based on 60 year old economic theory and a middle class ignorant of the struggles faced by many Australians limit Australia’s ability to develop the fair and high quality education system that we need. Redistributing funding towards struggling public schools would help to level the playing field for Australian children and close the rich/poor divide that has been growing in Australia. It is within our reach to have a system where all children are well educated in a world class system, so why hasn’t it happened yet?