There's a hidden danger in the ascendancy of climate-change denialism in
Canberra. It won't last - denials of reality can never last - but while
it does it's an enormous distraction.
The obvious cost is that the
longer we leave it to get serious about playing our part in reducing
global greenhouse gas emissions, the more expensive and disruptive our
efforts will need to be.
But there's also a hidden cost. The more
time we spend arguing about climate change, the more our attention is
distracted from the many other threats to the economy and our way of
life coming from other environmental problems.
We've been
conscious of the many other ways economic activity has been degrading
our natural environment for decades. We've been working to reduce that
degradation for decades, and the need for action has been clear to
people on all sides of politics.
What's more, as the Wentworth
Group of Concerned Scientists acknowledges in a report published last
Thursday, we've made progress in some areas. Air pollution controls have
given us much improved air quality in our cities and water pollution
controls have created cleaner waterways and restored the health of
coastal estuaries.
Controls over land clearing, the creation of
additional national parks and investments to manage fire and restore
native vegetation on private land have given greater protection to our
biodiversity.
New farming practices, such as "minimum till" and
landcare, have improved soil structure, increased vegetation and reduced
soil erosion.
Overused water resources, such as the Great
Artesian Basin, have started to recover following the agreement in 2004
laying the foundation for long-term sustainable management of our
freshwater resources.
And incentives to generate renewable energy are
driving the transformation of energy markets.
But despite these
improvements, the Wentworth Group reminds us that the most recent
official survey, the State of the Environment report, in 2011, found
other environmental assets are still in poor condition or are getting
worse.
Despite all we've done and spent to repair the damage to
our land, for instance, the report found the trends for many indicators
remain adverse.
On rivers, wetlands and estuaries, many catchments
remain in a degraded condition. Within many drainage basins, river
condition is still affected by inadequate environmental flows, pollution
and changes in ecological processes.
"In Australia's food bowl,
the Murray-Darling Basin, 20 of the 23 river systems are in a poor or
very poor condition," the group says. And despite the Howard
government's appropriation of $10 billion in 2008, the Gillard
government's basin plan in 2011 won't restore these rivers to a healthy
condition.
The first State of the Environment report in 1996
described the loss of Australia's biodiversity as "perhaps our most
serious environmental problem". Since then, the rate of land clearing, a
primary driver of species extinction, has slowed.
Even so, land
clearing for agriculture, mining, coal seam gas and urban development is
continuing to fragment and degrade native vegetation. In the decade to
2010, clearing of native vegetation across Australia still averaged a
million hectares a year.
"Clearing of native vegetation, when
combined with pollution and over-extraction from waterways, the
introduction of weeds and feral animals, and unsustainable fire
practices, has resulted in the listing of over 1600 species of native
plants and animals as threatened with extinction," the group says.
The
condition of the Great Barrier Reef has declined over the past two
decades. Since 1986, on average across the reef, hard coral cover has
declined by half.
It's surely not saying anything new or
controversial that our economy - and our way of life - depend on our
preserving a healthy natural environment. Healthy waterways are needed
for swimming, fishing, drinking and irrigation, and to allow us to
recover from floods and droughts.
Healthy soils store carbon and
nutrients, support production of food, fibre and raw materials, store
and filter water, and host rich biodiversity.
Healthy native vegetation
protects river corridors, filters water, stores carbon, provides wood,
protects against erosion, gives people access to nature, manages
salinity and provides habitat for plants and animals.
Healthy coasts,
estuaries and beaches provide habitat, buffer the effects of storms and
give people a place to enjoy nature. Healthy oceans provide food,
recreation and habitat for marine plants and animals.
So there's
no either/or. If we want the economy to stay healthy we must restore the
health of the environment. Should we continue degrading the environment
it will rebound on the economy, causing great loss and disruption.
We
need to modify our economic activity to reverse the damage we're doing
to the environment. This will involve some cost and some frustration for
business people who want to be free to make a buck however they please
and let others worry about the eventual environmental costs.
But
the good news from the Wentworth Group is that if we introduce the right
policies the economic cost need not be great. It offers a five-point
"blueprint for a healthy environment and a productive economy" on which
it will elaborate next year.
The trick is that productivity - how
much we make relative to how much we use - is the key to long-term
economic growth and a pillar of ecological sustainability. People can
create greater value while using less materials and energy, with less
impact on the environment.
