Sustainable development in a region: A practical approach to targeting environmental impacts

In this paper a model is put forward for setting targets for ecologically sustainable development in a region. The approach is practical and should be applicable to any region. A case study approach facilitates the development of the environmental impact model of Ehrlich and Holdren (1974). Targets for a region's population and water quality are discussed in some detail with the help of the model. The region, the far north of Queensland, Australia, is centred on the Cairns district, which is growing rapidly due to tourism, but is impacting surrounding valuable ecosystems. As well as exploring the environmental impacts of change in the interacting variables of population, consumption and technology, the article contains discussion on setting environmental rehabilitation targets. Major regional externalities would be removed by the achievements of regional water quality improvements. However, other externalities could be generated by the imposition of a limit on regional population. A regional inventory is exampled which could form the basis for regional and (collectively) national environmental accounting.

Involving the Public in Catchment Management: An Analysis of the Scope for Learning Lessons from Abroad

Scholars have tended to treat the European Union (EU) as an environmental ‘leader’. Yet significant potential nonetheless exists for it to learn lessons in areas such as water policy where it has a long and successful history of involvement. The EU's Water Framework Directive (2000) imposes potentially far reaching requirements on its Member States to enhance public participation in the process of catchment management. However, to date, its implementation has been highly variable across and even within individual states. As the EU starts to revise the original Directive, thoughts will turn to how the current situation could be improved. One potentially productive avenue, which has not yet been fully explored, is to draw lessons on public participation from comparable multi-levelled governance contexts such as in the USA and Australia, where public engagement has arguably been more advanced. Drawing on theoretical accounts of the most likely facilitators and obstacles to lesson drawing, this paper assesses the scope for transfer. It finds that while the EU could potentially learn from these jurisdictions, there are likely to be significant obstacles in practice. These should be born in mind by would-be policy learners

Analysis of pesticide mixtures discharged to the lagoon of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Organisms and ecosystems are generally exposed to mixtures of chemicals rather than to individual chemicals, but there have been relatively few detailed analyses of the mixtures of pesticides that occur in surface waters. This study examined over 2600 water samples, analysed for between 21 and 47 pesticides, from 15 waterways that discharge to the lagoon of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2015. Essentially all the samples (99.8%) contained detectable concentrations (>limit of detection) of pesticides and pesticide mixtures. Approximately, 10% of the samples contained no quantifiable (>limit of reporting) pesticides, 10% contained one quantifiable pesticide and 80% contained quantifiable mixtures of 2–20 pesticides. Approximately 82% of samples that contained quantifiable mixtures had more than two modes of action (MoAs), but only approximately 6% had five or more MoAs. The mode, average and median number of quantifiable pesticides in all the samples were 2, 5.1 and 4, respectively. The most commonly detected compounds both individually and in mixtures were the pesticides atrazine, diuron, imidacloprid, hexazinone, 2,4-D, and the degradation product desethylatrazine. The number of pesticides and modes of action of pesticides in mixtures differed spatially and were affected by land use. Waterways draining catchments where sugar cane was a major land use had mixtures with the most pesticides. Waters entering the Great Barrier Reef were analysed for pesticides, 80% of samples contained 2 to 20 quantifiable pesticides with a mean of 5.1. Land use can predict the number of pesticides in mixtures.</p