Salute Australia for signing the Kyoto Protocol!
Australia, the only country-continent, has a population of 21 188 367 and an area of 7 703 556.6 sq km, which makes it the sixth largest country in the world.
In the late 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s the main environmental problem of the island nation was the thin ozone layer above it. However, a sensible and accurate environmental policy led to a decrease of use of ozone-depleting substances from 16 000 tons a year in 1989, to 8000 tons in 1991, 4000 tons in 1994 and finally to zero in 2005. Thus the ozone hole above the continent closed and the country’s policy proved that the direction the planet’s development is entirely dependent on humanity.
Until recently, the country faced one of the next crucial environmental challenges: ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Almost three years after it came into effect (February 2005), Australia ratified the protocol, as previously reported by The Sofia Echo. On December 3 2007, Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd signed the instrument of Kyoto Protocol ratification, which also happened to be the first official act of the new Australian government.
The country set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050. The Australian government department of climate change (AGDCC) said that the country would, in the future, participate “actively and constructively” in negotiations working towards a post-2012 agreement, which is expected to be “equitable and effective”. A statement of AGDCC further reads: “Our position is that any binding commitments need to encompass both developed and developing countries if we are to be successful in tackling climate change.”
In connection to the fight against greenhouse gases, since 2005 Australia has started a policy to phase out energy-inefficient lightbulbs. In the beginning of 2008, the country banned the sale of normal lightbulbs, so currently only energy-efficient bulbs are sold there.
In February 2007 former prime minister John Howard said that the initial cost of replacing incandescent lightbulbs with energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs would be offset by longer-term savings, news.com.au reported. It is a good example of what a prime minister could advise his population.
Furthermore, then-environmental minister Malcolm Turnbull joined in by announcing that standard incandescent lightbulbs would be phased out within three years in a bid to reduce energy consumption and thus greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficient bulbs might be a bit costlier than the standard bulbs, but their advantage is that they last between four and 10 times longer.
Australia did not stop there in its attempt to combat global warming. It also put an end to deforestation and is investing huge amounts of money in planting new trees.
AGDCC said that over the past 11 years the local government invested about $20 billion on environmental activities. The country has claimed to be “world leader in the protection and sustainable management of forests with an integrated national approach”, sustainably managing its 1.64 million sq km of woods (21 per cent of the territory). This reduces the greenhouse emissions and also protects water catchments, biodiversity and local habitats, as well as ensures sustainable land use.
Since 1990, more than 0.1 million sq km of new wild woods have been planted on the continent. Data shows that the annual carbon dioxide emissions caused by deforestation have been reduced from 129 million tons in 1990 to 54 million tons in 2005, while by 2010 the amount of carbon dioxide emitted is expected to decrease to 45 million tons a year.
In addition, Australia is the only country worldwide that annually monitors the changes in forest cover on its whole territory.
And these are only part of the long-term environmental protection activities to which Australia has committed.
Pleasantly surprising news was reported by Bulgarian Jazz FM radio in the beginning of January. Australia become the second country in the world after China to ban the production and use of free plastic bags. These articles are one of the hugest world polluters, in addition to which plastic bag production involves unnecessary use of plenty of resources.
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