Information on Australia's Action on Climate Change

from/09/0404/ 10/5622 mgkt 00 125 Li . html

As of 2009, there has been a drought in Australia for as long as 10, and its severity is at least unprecedented since 100. Many areas have maintained high temperature and dry weather above 40 degrees Celsius for a long time, and some places even have high temperatures above 47 degrees Celsius. Tim Kelly, an Australian environmental scientist, said: "In the past 15 years, the temperature has risen by 0.75 degrees Celsius, and more water has evaporated here. This is climate change. "

In Australia today, extreme weather is frequent: in February 2009, southeastern Australia faced the most serious threat of mountain fires in 25 years, while parts of Queensland and New South Wales in the northeast were flooded. . In September 2009, a rare sandstorm swept through eastern Australia. In June 2009, the temperature in Australia hit a hundred-year high, and heat waves swept through southern and southeastern Australia. Last week, the dry climate triggered another jungle fire, and two southern States have declared a "disaster state" of the same level as the February fire.

Australia is the driest continent inhabited by human beings in the world, and there is a serious shortage of water resources. Apart from this simple fact, its water crisis is complicated. Although Australians used to experience drought every few years, the current seven-year drought is the most destructive in the country's recorded history of 1 17 years.

Although, as mentioned above, climate prediction is uncertain and will continue to be so, the broad conclusions about climate change science are based on many facts. These add up to a high degree of credibility. The conclusion of taking action to deal with climate change needs to come from outside the scope of science, including many factors such as ethics, economy and crisis management.

# # # # Practice:

Australia is conservative in carbon emission reduction.

As early as 1998, when Howard was in power, the Australian government had signed the Kyoto Protocol. Later, in order to follow the example of the United States, Howard announced his withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. At the end of 2007, after the new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was sworn in, the first thing he did that day was to sign the Kyoto Protocol, and his first visit was to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which also highlighted the importance that the new Australian government attached to climate change.

165438+1October 2, 2009, at the Fifth United Nations Climate Change Negotiation Conference held in Barcelona, Spain, it promised to reduce emissions by 25%, but this figure was based on the emission level in 2000, not 1990 in other developed countries. Such emission reduction standards are conservative for Australia, which suffers from extreme weather and drought.

In September 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the "Global Carbon Capture and Storage Plan", which made Australia's investment in clean coal technology in the world leading position. In June 5438+February 65438+May 2008, the Australian government issued a policy white paper on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Plan. The white paper lists Australia's medium and long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and the main way to achieve these goals-the Australian greenhouse gas emission trading mechanism plan.

1。 Strengthen risk management of climate change impacts.

In 200 1 year, the government issued the Australian Climate Change Forecast, which laid the foundation for a series of subsequent reports. In 2003, Climate Change: A Guide to Science and Potential Impacts in Australia was published, which predicted the climate change and impacts in Australia in 2030 and 2070, and proposed that the overall assessment of climate change should be based on the risk management framework and other related factors.

2。 Pay full attention to the role of local governments.

In 2007, the Australian government commissioned Snow Mountain Engineering Company to write "Local Government Climate Change Adaptation Action", which not only described the potential impact of climate change on local government functions, but also defined the adaptation action plan corresponding to each function of local government and its benefits and costs, and provided a number of adaptation action cases for local governments to learn from each other.

3。 Take measures to ensure food security

As a major wheat exporter in the world, the Australian government attaches great importance to ensuring food security. While subsidizing farmers and protecting their enthusiasm for planting, we should strengthen the management of irrigation water. Despite the rare drought, Australia's wheat production increased slightly.

4。 Actively respond to sea level rise

The House of Representatives of the Australian Federal Parliament submitted a report on 10126 October, saying that global warming caused sea level rise, and suggested that the Australian federal government should formulate policies to prohibit construction in the coastal areas most vulnerable to sea level rise in the future. Huang Yingxian, Minister of Climate Change and Water Resources of China, said that the government "needs to adopt some kind of cooperation and coordination".

The New Trend of Australian and New Zealand's Response to Climate Change Liu Shaoning Journal of China Institute of Environmental Management

February 2007, Volume 4 17

2? Formulate permanent water-saving laws and regulations, and publish safety standards for pesticide and herbicide concentrations in water bodies. Although Australia is vast and sparsely populated (nearly 9 million km2, with a population of 2 1 10,000), more than 70% of the population lives in coastal areas, and the winter rainfall is mostly concentrated in July, August and September, which is more uneven in time and space than that in China. Australia has always been strict in water resources management, claiming to be the world's number one in water resources management technology. After the government reassessed the impact on global climate change, Western Australia, which covers an area of 65,438+0/3, announced in July 2007 that it would implement stricter permanent water-saving regulations in June 2007.

2. 1 ? Examination and approval of river basin water rights, based on the balance between supply and demand of water resources, expert advice, economic development, industrial structure

Structural changes, changes in land use planning and approval of major projects are all based on the balance between supply and demand of water resources. The water consumption of different crops varies greatly. When crops or products change, their water rights will be re-examined, and the budget and final accounts of water resources will be carried out regularly according to the relationship between supply and demand, so as to obtain the best reasonable scheme (water rights are also called water rights in rainwater harvesting areas).

2.2 ? Significantly reduce the water consumption of residents Although water-saving work in Australia has been carried out for a long time, its water consumption of residents is second only to agriculture in the country, and it is still at a high level in developed countries.

2.3 ? Announce the allowable concentration of pesticides and herbicides in water

Australia considers itself one of the countries with the strictest use of pesticides in the world. After the POP Convention came into effect, Australian experts recommended a series of related standards. After repeated tests, the chemicals listed in the convention on persistent organic pollutants were found to be harmful to human endocrine and reproductive systems.

3? Pay attention to soil protection

Both Australia and New Zealand belong to Oceania (Southern Hemisphere) and were once the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand. For a long time, environmental protection information has been shared and standards have been unified.

Soil protection has a long history, and a large-scale soil pollution survey is being carried out in China. Their current trend in soil protection is correct.

Our country has great reference significance. More than 20 years ago, in a small town in Australia, which used to be a lead-zinc smelting center for a long time, 70% of the students' blood lead exceeded the standard, and the tracking result was dust produced by abandoned slag piles. When soil contaminated sites in Australia and New Zealand are used for commerce or residence, environmental protection departments must conduct risk assessment. The recent new measures taken by the two countries in soil protection include:

3. 1 ? Re-emphasize the importance of soil protection, recognize the status of soil as one of the three major environmental resources on which human beings depend, regard the sustainable use of soil as the highest principle of soil protection and investigation, and take it as the national environmental protection priority project of the two countries. More than100,000 soil pollution sites have been found in these two countries, including abandoned or in production smelters, oil refineries, chemical plants, animal washing and insecticidal ponds (including AS) in livestock farms, pharmaceutical factories and warehouses for dangerous goods and chemicals. It also stipulates that pollution points that may endanger people's health should be changed. This is a recent appeal made by scientists from the International Soil Information and Consultation Center of Walsh University in New Zealand, which has been echoed by environmental farmers in Australia and New Zealand. The reasons are as follows: firstly, the new development of global concern for human food safety has promoted a new understanding of soil pollution; Secondly, by 2020, the global population will reach 5.4 billion to 8.2 billion, and human demand for food must be guaranteed by sufficient, safe and reliable soil. They believe that contemporary people have no right to over-cultivate, abuse and pollute the soil, so that the soil on which future generations depend is destroyed. Therefore, soil protection scientists in Australia and New Zealand suggest that the government permanently use the land proposed by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (CNC) in 1992! As the highest principle of national legislation to protect soil, these arguments are very convincing.

3.2 ? The quota of urbanization land has been greatly reduced to protect cultivated land, which requires a great reduction in urban construction land, such as single-family households.

The average residential land has dropped from 700 ㎡ to 300 ㎡, a drop of 55%, which shows that the restrictions are strict and firm.

3.3 ? Establish critical soil safety standards

Land protection scientists in Australia and New Zealand believe that there should be a unified soil pollution threshold standard for food safety.

However, the complexity of soil composition change and distribution should be considered. Therefore, they put forward a soil metal that is harmful to food safety.

The concentration in soil should not exceed the general standard, which has been paid attention by experts in soil pollution investigation and soil pollution remediation.

As one of the main reference standards.