Part C—Effects of Drought on Australia
Social Effects:
One of the major effects that drought has on Australia citizens is the decline of job opportunities in the agricultural sector. It is estimated that 134,000 farm businesses are found in Australia; around 99% of those farms are family owned7. It must also be noted that about 70% of Australia is either arid or semi-arid land8, meaning that water itself is scarce. In the face of a drought however, the farmers are unable to grow their crops due to the lack of water availability. Although most of Australian farmers have moved away from subsistence farming and adopted commercial farming methods, the farmers would either lose their jobs or become in debt simply because their crops cannot grow. It is estimated that 5.2% of Australian citizens are unemployed9, and prolonged drought will only serve to increase this number.
Water is essential for human survival; thus in the face of a drought those living in rural Australia must find ways of obtaining water. During a prolonged drought, people living in rural Australia will be forced to migrate to the cities due to failing crops and water stress. However, this is detrimental to the cities, as not only will the immigrants struggle to find shelter and jobs, but the addition of people creates water stress in the cities. This extends the effects of drought to the coastal cities of Australia, where water is usually plentiful.
Economic Effects:
The major effect that drought has on the economy is the decline in agriculture production. It is estimated that agriculture and related industries make up 12% of Australia’s GDP, generating nearly 115 billion US dollars10. However, due to prolonged drought, farmers are finding it harder and harder to produce crops. Drought has a history of affecting Australia’s economy. In 1911-1916, a major drought caused the death of 19 million sheep and 2 million cattle11; in 1963 a widespread drought caused wheat harvests to decline by 40%12. Although Australia’s economy has been steadily increasing in the past decades, drought slows economic expansion due to the hindering of the agriculture sector. It is estimated that in 2006, Australia’s economy only grew 0.3% due to one of the worst droughts in Australian history13.
Finally, the Australian government is left in debt due to the drought. Since Australia has created several projects in order to combat drought and since Australia reimburses losses to rural farmers, the Australian government is finding themselves with a money deficit. With the economy slowing down and the country further in debt, Australia requires longer time in order to return its economy to its original status.
Environmental Effects:
Drought makes the soil extremely vulnerable to erosion. For example, after all of the water in the soil has been evaporated, the vegetation begins to die and the topsoil is exposed. Whenever there is a wind storm, or even just moderately windy days, the topsoil is stripped off. This further hinders the growth of vegetation and allows the rest of the soil to be vulnerable to different kinds of erosion. It estimated that gully erosion deposits the most soil into rivers, at 4.4 t/ha/yr14. When Australia becomes flooded due to extreme amounts of water, the once fertile soil is carried away by the water, where <5% of the soil will contribute to aggradation.
In addition to soil erosion, drought also affects the ecosystems that are found in Australia. Animals are forced to congregate around waterholes, which creates interspecific conflicts and competition. Furthermore, plants wither and die due to the lack of water, which reduces food for animals and also increases the threat of forest fires. Forest fires are a prevalent hazard in Australia; in 2013 forest fires have burnt through 131,000 hectares of forest and farmland15.
Political Effects:
In 1921 the Australian government denies reports that Australia is drought-prone16; however these reports seem all too true. As time passed on, Australia faced many major droughts, some of which severely affected the economy. With each drought the Australian government is forced to send money as a form of aid to the rural farmers. However the citizens of Australian cities are not happy to see their tax money spent on aid instead of designing better methods of managing water17; this brings a negative view on the Australian government. This negative view is further increased with the decision to cut off irrigation in the Murray-Darling basin18. By cutting off irrigation, the farmers have no way of keeping their crops alive, forcing them to move to cities until the drought ends.
Part D—Factors Affecting Vulnerability
Australia is situated under the subtropical high-pressure belt at 32oS. The subtropical high-pressure belt brings dry, descending air and causes moisture loss when blown across land. In addition, due to Australia’s geographic location, it does not receive large quantities of rainfall. Australia only receives around 80 mm19 of rainfall per month. With a high pressure belt and lack of rain heavily hinder Australia’s ability to avoid droughts. Although Australia is surrounded by the ocean, only the areas directly next to the ocean experience modest climate because of the air that are blown inland from the ocean moderates the climate. However, the inner parts of Australia that are not directly located next to the ocean suffer from dry climate. As shown on map 1, large portions of Australia exhibit traits of desert and grassland which are very dry.
Figure 2—Regions of Australia20
Additionally, abnormal weather phenomena such as El Nino will also cause drought in Australia. El Nino will further hinder Australia’s annual rainfall, and which leads to severe droughts for long periods of time.
Part E—Responses/Recovery to the Drought:
Several responses have been implemented in order to combat the drought within the New South Wales region in Australia, as well as in other areas too. Farmers, who have been impacted most by the elongated duration of the drought, are receiving aid from the government. As of October 26, 2012, a new structure of responses has been created. Farmers are being supported and educated on such matters so for the forthcoming droughts, the actions/precautions needed to be taken can be accomplished4. Future generations will receive education on this as well, since this severely affects their business. The use of water was very inefficient, thus it was depleted quite quickly. This valuable resource was rapidly drained as farmers, electricity companies, and citizens were all consumers of it and the government eventually lay down strict water rationing along with several other changes5.
The National Water Initiative altered the management of water along with the way it is traded. The infrastructure of water has been developed because of this. Pipeline networks have been revamped. Desalinizing plant buildings were built too, so that water can be desalinized and essentially recycled to be used as drinking water or for farmers/electrical companies. Farmers have been privileged with improved irrigation systems by the government. In addition to this, the consumption of water, as mentioned before, is limited, where the amount of water used per household in a certain time interval is set. Certain acts such as washing the car and watering plants were forbidden, since it “wasted” water. Awareness campaigns have covered this concept as well, deeming actions such as cleaning the driveway as an improper act. Prices of water have also been raised; for instance, in Sydney, a 20% occurred from 2005 to 2006, and have increased another 14% by 20126. Places such as Melbourne have had to increase water prices by 60% as well7.
The end product of these responses led to a lower rate of consumption of water, as families and companies alike are being restricted to how much water can be used. A country-wide decrease in the use of water is notable, with a 20% to 40% drop8. Although the goal has been accomplished, several problems were encountered along the way. The inability for the state and federal government to co-operate during the start led to a prolonged drought before actions could finally be taken. The aforementioned changes were quite difficult to adjust to, since it cost a considerable amount of money (more than $100 billion) and required people to follow the instructions. Rises in water prices were too quite enormous. However, these actions were absolutely necessary. The short-term struggle would be more preferable as opposed to the long-term problems that otherwise would have accompanied a lack of action. Every one of the measures taken by the government and the people alike was vital in the regeneration of such a valuable resource.
Part F—Conclusion:
Drought in Australia has been a serious problem both in the past and the present. This is due to a vast part of Australia being mostly composed of arid or semi-arid land, and its location being directly situated on the subtropical high-pressure belt at around 30oS. Australia is a rather developed and wealthy country so it fares much better than most other LEDCs that also suffer from drought, such as those found in Africa. Drought is however, a rather serious natural disaster so repercussions of it can still be seen and are serious in Australia. Like other countries suffering from drought, Australia’s plant life has been damaged and with it agriculture production has declined. There has also been damage done to the people’s faith in the government over poor ways of dealing with the situation. However, now that Australia is near the end of a long drought and there are better responses to the situation at hand, such as improved management of water via upgrading the piping system, it seems to be able to recover from the disaster. With new ways of dealing with drought such as educating the public and farmers about it and aid from other countries, it is unlikely that Australia in the future will be impaired by droughts as heavily as before.
Footnotes—Part B:
1. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/glossary/drought.shtml
2. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21765-australias-decadelong-drought-ends.html
3.http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/its-official-australia-no-longer-in-drought-20120427-1xpsp.html
Footnotes—Part E:
4. http://www.daff.gov.au/agriculture-food/drought/drought-program-reform
5. http://thinkcarbon.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/drought-in-australia-%E2%80%93-the-lessons-we-can-learn-for-tackling-climate-change/
6. ibid
7. ibid
8. ibid
Bibliography:
"Climate Glossary - Drought." Australian Government--Bureau of Meteorology, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013. <http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/glossary/drought.shtml>.
Coghlan, Andy. "Australia's Decade-long Drought Ends." NewScientist, 01 May 2012. Web. 09 Feb. 2013. <http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21765-australias-decadelong-drought-ends.html>.
"Drought in Australia - The Lessons We Can Learn for Tackling Climate Change." Think Carbon, 22 June 2009. Web. 09 Feb. 2013. <http://thinkcarbon.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/drought-in-australia-–-the-lessons-we-can-learn-for-tackling-climate-change/>.
"Drought Program Reform." Australian Government - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, 2013. Web. 09 Feb. 2013. <http://www.daff.gov.au/agriculture-food/drought/drought-program-reform>.
Howden, Saffron. "It's Official: Australia No Longer in Drought." Brisbane Times, 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 09 Feb. 2013. <http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/its-official-australia-no-longer-in-drought-20120427-1xpsp.html>.