Australia: globalization, Environment, and animal life

By Elisabeth Johanne Berg & Mynte Nørgaard Svendsen

What happens when man takes over?

In the following we will give you a short overview of Australia’s environment and animal life and the affect of the globalization created by manMan is insatiable! More and more is consumed and wasted to please us, but we are consuming the very planet we need to protect if we do not wanna destroy our beautiful home.

The Globalization has also brought the industry and agriculture to Australia. This causes deforestation because of man’s need of expanding property and export. One third of the iconic “bush”, 50% of wetlands, and 75% of the rainforests have been cleared. 90% of the native forest woods are being exported. This deforestation causes the destruction of Australia’s natural heritage.

Also the native habitats and ecosystems are affected by the development, so vegetation is being killed. The soil quality is changed because of the rising salinity and soil erosion. Even the water supply and quality gets worse because of

contaminated wastewater from industry.

Globalization has also brought some positive aspects to Australia, even though they are not even close to outweighing the negative impacts of globalization on the environment such as the habitats and the soil.

Earlier we have not payed a lot of attention to the fact that resources can run out, and the fact that draining the environment for resources can affect the native habitats, soil

quality or eco systems in a fatal way. All though as man increased the draining of nature, globalization also brought the awareness of resources.

There has been more focus of the environment because of the consequences we are faced

with such as wildlife, which will be elaborated on the next pages, global warming and our world running out of resources.

Research has been made to increase the use of greener technology. Furthermore some multinational corporations have supported the struggle to save the invironment through green development.

Australia is one of only 12 'megadiverse' countries that together account for 75% of the world's total biodiversity. Scientists estimate that the continent is home to more than one million plant and animal species. Many of these are found nowhere else on the planet.Australia was isolated for over millions of years. When Australia started to be a part of the world wide globalisation, it had it’s advantages and drawbacks for the country’s

environment, but also for the native animals. In this part of the assignment we are going to tell you about the effect of globalisation on the Australian animals.

The many species of native animals in Australia are for instance: The bandicoot, the koala, the giant cuttlefish, the red kangaroo etc. There are many unique Australian animals, but we will especially focus on the red kangaroo. The red kangaroo is Australia's largest kangaroo of the nearly 60 species in the kangaroo family. It is the Kangaroo which dwells in our "Red Center" the arid portion of Australia. They normally move in groups ranging from a few dozen to several hundred individuals and are known as Mobs. The makeup of the red kangaroo Mob varies but usually consists of a dominant male, a number

of adult females, and juveniles of both sexes.

The kangaroo is still an abundant species and is protected in many national parks. It has even benefited from the spread of agriculture and creation of man-made waterholes. However competition with livestock and rabbits poses a threat. It is also often shot by farmers as a pest. Some other threats for the red kangaroo in connection to the theme “Globalisation” could be the contact with humans, the industrialization and also the invasive species.

A number of non-native animals are recognized as threats to native animals for example the cats and foxes. With the globalisation some different species of animals were brought to Australia. A study in Canberra, Australia,

found that house cats predated invasive species of rodents and birds and that this may have a positive effect on native wildlife. The cat’s influence on Australia is to discuss. Some

claim cats are unfairly targeted, since overclearing and overstocking of land in the late 1800s and the introduction of the Red Fox for sport in 1910 had a worse impact on wildlife numbers. However, other authorities claim that cats are hunting native wildlife to extinction.

About 11 mill mammals, 13 mill birds and 80 mill reptiles died as a result of globalization in 1998-2005.

LinksEnvironment:

- http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6301040-the-effects-of-globalization-on-the-

environment

- http://australianmuseum.net.au/Overuse-of-Natural-Resources

Animal life:

- http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/animals/index.htm

- http://australian-animals.net/

- http://www.feralcat.com/sarah1.html