MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Gallus
Environmental damage does not recognise national borders. Destruction of
forests in one country can affect the rainfall of others; water pollutants do
not need passports to flow from one underground water source to another;
greenhouse gases affect the prudent just as much as the improvident.
For several months in the late 1990s, Brisbane and Darwin were blanketed by
grey smoke. The cause of this unexpected phenomenon had nothing to do with
anything happening here in Australia - it was smoke blown south from Indonesia,
where farmers were clearing land through uncontrolled burning. Asthma suffers in
Australia paid the price.
Developed countries have a humanitarian obligation to assist development and
the alleviation of poverty in developing countries. Because environmental
disasters cannot be contained, it is also in their own interest to help
developing countries protect their environments and avoid the mistakes of the
past.
In 2001-2002 Australia's aid program has funded more than $70 million worth
of activities that directly address priority environmental concerns. Funding for
activities not specifically for environmental protection, but with positive
environmental effects - such as clean water and sanitation - has been around
$140 million.
On top of this, our agricultural support for developing nations is helping to
reduce the environmental damage caused by ineffective and/or destructive farming
practices.
In places like Papua New Guinea, for example, a five-year project with PNG's
National Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Authority, has meant Australian
overseas aid has helped reduce, and in some cases remove, the threat of pest and
virus invasion.
Seventy percent of jobs in East Asia and the Pacific rely on forestry,
agriculture and fisheries. As part of our aid program, Australia provides
expertise to developing countries on sustainable agriculture and sound
environmental practices.
Land degradation, deforestation and the destruction of fisheries all directly
undermine the livelihoods of people in developing countries. By assisting
communities in developing countries with sound environmental practices, the
productivity of the land is maintained and the people remain on the land.
Maintaining people on the land not only ensures families are provided with
food, it is also a way of staving off conflict and further social and
environmental destruction.
Too often, when farming becomes unsustainable, young men move to the cities
where faced with already high unemployment, they find activity and status by
joining the local gangs or unofficial militia.
It was for precisely this reason that the Australian aid program provided
emergency agricultural assistance to the people of East Timor immediately after
the violence of 1999. In that case, more than 32,000 farming families were
immediately provided with seeds and farming tools to help them rebuild their
farms.
What makes Australian expertise so effective in dealing with environmental
damage in the Asia/Pacific region is the fact that we know what we are doing.
Australian farmers know all about drought, floods and insect pests. We also know
about the costly environmental and health effects of over-fertilisation and
chemical use.
In Vietnam, Australian expertise is being harnessed to help local farmers
move away from the use of costly and environmentally dangerous pesticides and
move instead toward natural bioherbicides. Just outside of Hanoi, Australian and
Vietnamese scientists, funded by Australian aid, are currently testing a
weed-eating fungus that they hope will diminish the spread of the weed
barnyard grass throughout the nation's rice crop.
Our commitment to agricultural support for developing nations has helped, and
is continuing to help, reduce the environmental damage caused by ineffective or
destructive farming practices.
From Australia's perspective, aid is an investment in our own future. By
reducing poverty in recipient countries, we help create a stronger, stable
region with more opportunities for trade. In working in developing countries on
environmental problems, Australians also develop their skills and increase their
expertise in this area.
Perhaps it is time to acknowledge and feel a sense of pride in Australia's
role in addressing environmental problems within our own region.
As an affluent and influential member of the Asia/Pacific region, our ability
to use aid as a means of environmental influence isn't just 'good', it makes
good sense - for our neighbours and us.
Media contact:
Craig Bildstien (Parliamentary Secretary's Office)
02
6277 4840/ 0407 604 437