Australian Tertiary Environmental Courses: A Status Report

1993 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 135-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Status Report ◽  
Tertiary Institutions ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable Development

During the 1970s and 1980s there has been a growing awareness of the environment. This has been particularly evident in the general community through:• passing of environmental legislation;• growth in status of environment groups;• media coverage of environmental issues.As a result the direction of formal education has been influenced. For example, through the Victorian State Conservation Strategy, the community has indicated the direction for tertiary institutions, where one of the objectives of this strategy is to:promote and strengthen inter-disciplinary environmental education programs in schools and tertiary institutions. (Victorian Government, 1987, p.89)Similarly, the Australian Government's Ecologically Sustainable Development process (ESD) has proposed the incorporation of ESD, in tertiary curricular (Ecologically Sustainable Development Steering Committee, 1992).Linke (1979) has described the development of environmental education curricula during the 1970s whereby consideration of aspects of the environment became more common. Most activity was noted to be in primary and secondary sectors, however, at tertiary level a range of subjects focussing on the environment were apparent, as were several courses which were specifically designed to provide training in environmental understanding.

Law reform for life: how to unleash the guiding principles of ecologically sustainable development to improve human relationships with (the rest of) urban biodiversity

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-89
Author(s):  
Lachlan Penninkilampi
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Urban Biodiversity ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable Development ◽  
Biodiversity Governance

Urbanization is arguably the most severe and irreversible driver of environmental change, particularly with respect to biodiversity. This is the case even in Australia, a megadiverse country with a sophisticated federal regime of biodiversity governance. Yet, life persists in urban worlds. In the context of global climate and ecological crises, this article endeavours to illustrate how law and policy can grapple with the complexities of urban biodiversity and enable it to flourish. First, the article outlines the current approaches to urban biodiversity: what is it, what is it like, why does it matter and how do humans think of it? Second, the article analyses the current state of biodiversity governance in Australia, focusing particularly on the laws and policies of the Commonwealth, New South Wales, and local governments in Greater Sydney. Finally, the article details a program of reform which revisits the original guiding principles of ecologically sustainable development, illustrating how they could be unleashed for the better governance of urban biodiversity with respect to decision-making, the administration of law, issues at scale, the economy, valuation techniques and community participation. The program includes not only systemic and multi-scalar reforms, but also local-level reforms which have significant yet often overlooked potential to encourage pro-biodiversity behaviours in everyday life. The aim is to reveal just some of the many ways in which hope can be creatively transformed into action for a biodiverse urban future – that is, to reveal the possibilities of law and policy to enable urban biodiversity to be better recognized, understood, valued, protected and enhanced as Australia develops in the twenty-first century.

Sustaining Development of Environmental Education in National Political and Curriculum Priorities

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 115-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Greenall Gough
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
World Conservation ◽  
Environmental Education Policy

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between national economic and political priorities and environmental education policy formulation and curriculum strategies. This relationship will be placed in the historical context of developments in environmental education in Australia from 1970 until the present and will be analysed in terms of the ideological and pedagogical stances implicit, and explicit, in the developments during this period. I will argue that the emphasis throughout the period has been to sustain the development of environmental education without any questioning of why, what and how this development should occur.‘Sustainable development’ has become a slogan for governments, industry and conservation groups in recent times. It was the subtitle for the World Conservation Strategy (IUCN 1980) and the National Conservation Strategy for Australia (DHAE 1984) - living resource conservation for sustainable development - and was popularised in the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, more commonly known as the Brundtland Report or Our Common Future (WCED 1987). The definition of sustainable development given in the World Conservation Strategy (IUCN 1980: section 1.3) and repeated in the National Conservation Strategy for Australia (DHAE 1984: 12) is as follows:Development is…the modification of the biosphere and the application of human, financial, living and non-living resources to satisfy human needs and improve the quality of human life. For development to be sustainable it must take account of social and ecological factors, as well as economic ones; of the living and nonliving resource base; and of the long term as well as the short term advantages and disadvantages of alternative actions.

Ecological Effect of Typical Plants for Releasing Oxygen and Declining Temperature in Anshun City

2013 ◽  
Vol 864-867 ◽  
pp. 328-332
Author(s):  
Lai Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Ecological Effect ◽  
Species Evenness ◽  
Ecological Construction ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable Development

In the urban ecosystems , the greening as a subsystem in the beautiful urban environment , it plays an active role of maintaining urban ecological balance and sustainable development. On the basis of surveying the greening in Anshun city of Guizhou, the ccological effect of 16 typical plants of them, releasing oxygen and declining temperature were studied. The results showed that the species less, structure only, species evenness low; the ability of releasing oxygen is different for different plants in different months, but the similar law is rising in June and August, declining in July and September; in August, the law of declining temperature is consistent with releasing oxygen, but the most obvious were Platanas acerifolia (0.32°C), Ligusttrum quiuoni (0.26°C), Parthenocissus trcuspidata (0.46°C) in arbors, shrubs and climbing plants. The results provide some basis informations and valuable suggestions for Anshun city ecological construction, improving the living environment and ecologically sustainable development.

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