2006
Reports.
State of the Environment 2006 (SoE 2006)
SoE 2006 is the third independent national stocktake
of the Australian environment. It covers the five-year
period 2001 to 2006, and reports on all aspects of the
environment. SoE 2006 comprises several inter-related
elements: the report - SoE 2006; numerous supporting
documents; and data in the Data Reporting System. The
report outlines key achievements in environmental management
since 2001, including: a four-fold increase in Australian
Government spending on the environment; massive decreases
in land clearing in many states which in turn has had
a positive impact on Australia’s biodiversity;
major advances in protection for the marine environment;
generally good air quality in most capital cities; and
improved water management through the Australian Government’s
national water reform agenda. The report also outlines
key environment challenges for Australia.
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Report (HTML page)
Stern Review on the economics of climate change
The Stern Review is most comprehensive review ever carried
out on the economics of climate change. The UK Review,
which describes climate change as "the greatest
market failure the world has seen", was carried
out by Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Government Economic
Service. The Review has caused political tensions to
flare over climate change as Stern, a former World Bank
Chief Economist, has put the argument for "strong
and early action" to mitigate climate change in
the economic basket, not just the environmental one.
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Report (PDFs - various sizes)
WWF Living Planet Report 2006
Humanity now exceeds the planet's capacity to sustain
us. The Living Planet Report is WWF's periodic update
on the state of the world's ecosystems. This is measured
using 2 main indicators: The Living Planet Index
and Ecological Footprint.
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Report (PDF - 3.08Mb)
Heating up the Planet
In a pathbreaking collaborative work, Dr Alan Dupont
and Dr Graeme Pearman canvass the international security
consequences of climate change especially for Australia's
Asia-Pacific neighbourhood. The Lowy Paper examines
the implications of temperature increases and sea level
rise for food, water, energy, infectious diseases, natural
disasters and environmental refugees and asks whether
scientists may have underestimated climate change risks.
The paper also looks at several low probability, but
high impact climate events which might push the planet
past an environmental tipping point from which there
will be no winners.
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Report (PDF - 741Kb)
Hocking, C., Ray, S. & Day, T. (eds) 2006.
The Guide Beside: Assisting you to facilitate sustainable
futures now. A summary of the outcomes of Stage 1 of
the Professional Development for Sustainability Facilitators
project, Victorian Association for Environmental Education
(Melbourne Australia) supported by the Department of
Sustainability and Environment (Learning to Live Sustainably
Strategy).
The Guide Beside is an outcome of the Professional Development
Project: Stage 1, under the Learning to Live Sustainably
Strategy of the Victorian State Government, designed
to assist those facilitating learning and change for
environmental sustainability. In the Guide Beside, the
authors take a new approach to Professional Development,
which has been widely referred to as ‘transformative’
learning and change. The purpose of the Guide is two
fold: 1. to place control of professional development
design and implementation in the hands of practitioners,
rather than as arising from ‘experts’ or
‘standardised’ approaches; and 2. to foster,
in the way that professional development is undertaken,
the same transformative learning and change processes
that need to be incorporated into the work of the sustainability
facilitator.
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Summary (PDF - 813Kb)
Copies of the Guide Beside can be obtained by contacting
the Victorian Association for Environmental
Education (VAEE) http://www.vaee.vic.edu.au
or via email: sray@vaee.vic.edu.au.
Comparative Assessment: Australian Sustainable
Schools Initiative Pilot Programme in NSW and Victoria
Both Victoria and NSW have piloted their own models
of the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI).
Each model is based on the same principles with significant
differences in strategy and implementation. The purpose
of the comparative assessment has been to draw out the
lessons learnt from each approach so that other States
and territories can consider and incorporate a broader
range of factors into their strategic implementation/
adaptation/ diffusion.
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Report (PDF - 573Kb)
Stronger Evidence but New Challenges: Climate
Change Science 2001-2005
Global warming could be happening faster than scientists
had previously thought and weather extremes such as
heatwaves could become common, says this Department
of Environment and Heritage report.
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Report (PDF - 1.65Mb)
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