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Not so green, less than clean
Further Reading - Websites
by Claire Miller
Environmental Reporter

1996
  • State of the Environment Report, Commonwealth of Australia.
  • Natural Advantage: a blueprint for a sustainable Australia, Australian Conservation Foundation.
  • CSIRO website: http://www.csiro.au/
  • Australian Greenhouse Office: http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/
  • Australia Institute: http://www.tai.org.au/
1924
  • Railways engineer W.E. Wood demonstrates that increased salinity in railway dams is the result of tree clearing in the catchment areas.
1930's
  • Government sponsored soil conservation and reclamation schemes.
1963
  • Australia signs the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1965
  • Australian Conservation Foundation established as a non-government, non-profit organisation dedicated to the protection of our environment.
1966
  • Victorian legislation places restrictions and controls on aerial crop spraying (first used in Australia in 1947).
1971
  • Commonwealth Standing Committee on Soil Conservation finds that one third of the non-arid areas of Australia are affected by soil erosion.
  • Environmental Protection Authority set up in Victoria.
1973
  • Environmental Impact Statements required for all federal developmental projects having significant environmental consequences.
 
1974
  • Signing of the World Heritage Convention marks the beginning of the establishment of world heritage areas in Australia.
 
1975
  • National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act passed.
 
1977
  • Completion of the first national inter-government collaborative study on the state of Australian soils. The report finds that more than 52 per cent of the nation's agricultural and pastoral land needs treatment for degradation.
 
October 16, 1981
  • River Murray Commission is given authority to initiate proposals to protect and improve the Murray waters.
 
February 1983
  • State agriculture ministers unanimously call for a national soil conservation policy.
July 1983
  • The ACF successfully lobbies the government to stop Tasmania's Franklin River dam.
 
May 1985
  • Victorian Government creates a new department called the Land Protection Service.
July 1985
  • The Commission for the Future established to "raise community awareness and understanding of the social and economic impact of technological change".
 
January 1986
  • According to the CSIRO, the salinity level of the Murray River could rise dramatically in the next 30 years.
November 25, 1986
  • Victorian Government introduces Landcare, a project in which community groups, with government assistance, try to patch up and prevent land degradation through salinity and erosion.
 
1988
  • Ian Kiernan and Kim McKay found Clean Up Australia Day.
May 31, 1988
  • Victorian Government launches "Salt Action: Joint Action". In February 1987 the Victorian Government promised to spend $90 million, including Commonwealth funding, to fight salinity over the next 10 years.
 
April 1989
  • Australia's first $45 million National Soil Conservation Strategy is launched.
July 20, 1989
  • Hawke Government initiates Greening Australia - a "one billion trees program", with the aim of having them planted by the turn of the century.
July 1989
  • Prime Minister Bob Hawke announces that Australia will have an environmental database, costing $4 million over two years, to bring together the scattered information needed to improve environmental planning and decision-making.
 
February 26, 1990
  • Landcare Australia launched to raise awareness and corporate sponsorship for landcarers.
 
1995
  • Federal Government Greenhouse gas inventory shows land clearing accounts for 25 per cent of greenhouse emissions.
  • The Keating Government orders a reduction in the export of woodchips to 5.3 million. This comes after decades of sustained campaigns by conservation groups.
 
March 1997
  • The Howard Government launches its Australian Oceans policy with focus on rebuilding, conserving and improving coastal planning.
 
October 10, 2000
  • Federal Government announces a $1.4 billion 10-year salinity proposal.
 

Green     Salinity    Biodiversity Loss    Landclearing Logging
Water    Global Warming

The Age Publication
1st November 2000

 

 
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