Australia 20th Worldwide On Overall Environmental Policy, 119th On Water

[hatrack]

AUSTRALIA has failed to commit adequate resources and effort towards environmental protection and is trailing other developed nations in providing its citizens with clean water and sustainable energy, a study by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities says. Australia was ranked 20th in a survey of 133 countries on 16 indicators in policy categories such as air quality, water resources and sustainable energy, according to the Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index.

The index is produced by a team of environmental experts at the environment school at Yale University and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

New Zealand ranked first in the world in environmental performance, followed by Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Britain. Like the United States, which was ranked 28th, Australia's energy and climate change performance lagged many other countries.

Poorer nations scored better on issues such as air quality, reflecting less heavy industry and car pollution. However, Australia's 94th position on that indicator compared poorly with other developed countries such as Britain, at 42nd, and Canada, at 60th. Australia's sustainable energy performance compared badly with other developed countries, falling well behind the US, Spain, Britain, Japan, Italy and New Zealand and its water resources ranking of 119th beat only a handful of poor, very dry or developing nations.

EDIT

http://smh.com.au/news/world/australias-poor-report-card-on-environment/2006/01/25/1138066865622.html

[depakid]

1. Australia has serious problems with their soil

It's old and worn out. It's tough to replenish the nutrients- because there aren't any volcanos and the rate of growth on most of the continent is so slow. It's also subject to salinization- due in part to it's overall dryness and repeated instances of being under water.

Add to that the introduction of sheep and rabbits- and you've got less than an optimistic prognosis.

[Oerdin]

2. Australia is the world's driest continent

So it is not surprising that they have problems balancing water usage between agriculture, industry, cities, and the enivronment.