Every two years, Global Footprint Network along with WWF and the Zoological Society of London issues the Living Planet Report, which uses complementary measures to explore the changing state of global biodiversity and of human consumption. The report documents the extent of human pressure on the planet, how that compares across nations, and how it is impacting the natural world. The Living Planet Report 2008, released October 29, 2008, shows that at the current rate humanity is using natural resources and producing waste, by the early 2030s we will require the resources of two planets to meet our needs.
07 January 2009
BIODIVERSITY: Urban Biodiversity: A Social Psychological Investigation into Landscape Preference within the Suburban Backyard
The successful establishment of biodiversity corridors in urban areas requires the behavioural involvement of local residents in terms of their gardening practices, that is, gardening for habitat protection. This study by the Murdoch University School of Psychology investigates exactly how local residents perceive different kinds of gardens and whether such preferences might have an impact on their willingness to incorporate habitat-providing elements (e.g., native plants) into their own gardens. The study also aimed to investigate some of the attitudinal factors that might influence residents’ preferences for different kinds of gardens.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT: Green Cities 09 Conference/Expo, Brisbane 1-4 March 2009
A joint initiative of the Green Building Council of Australia and the Property Council of Australia, Green Cities 09 has the theme "Valuable, Affordable, Sustainable". This is your opportunity to join other green building innovators and decision makers to explore new ideas in sustainable building and learn about the latest industry developments, techniques and strategies.
GREENSPACE: Urban Greenscapes Symposium 2009, Canberra 17 February 2009
Climate change continues to be a huge global and national issue and all green-life stakeholders including nursery, landscapers, all levels of government, architects, urban planners, builders and NGO's are well positioned to take advantage of the shift in sentiment by positioning green-life and plants as part of the solution.
While everyone equates trees with healthy environmental messages as evidenced by the growing number of corporate brands that advertise tree planting as a way of offsetting the environmental footprint from use of their products, the nursery industry and all other green-life stakeholders are still struggling to get a place at the political table to have an impact on environmental policy development and planning.
The nursery & garden industry is hosting the Symposium to unveil the benefits of plants and green-life in the urban landscape and bring together all stakeholder groups to drive unity of message and create a stronger platform on which to engage government.
With international speakers such as Dr Greg McPherson project leader for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Centre for Urban Forest Research, and other well known experts, environmental scientists, academics and researchers, the Symposium will highlight the benefits of green-life by discussing how increased urban planting can provide solutions to some of the environmental and health issues we are facing today.
HEALTH, SUSTAINABILITY, NRM, CLIMATE: Healthy Cities Conference 2009, Gold Coast 25-27 March 2009
The Healthy Cities Conference will be a platform for Government and Industry sector professionals to consider health, sustainability, natural resource management, climate change and the implications for public policy. Participants will also examine issues that effect Federal, State and Local Government agencies. The future will present some exciting challenges , what do we need to meet these challenges and how will it effect the way we live and work?
The Conference will feature keynote presentations along with four concurrent streams, each designed to address the Conference themes:
- Managing population and economic growth - what is sustainable?
- Climate Change Adaptation
- Managing Communicable Disease Outbreaks - Health Security
- Population Health Management - immunisation, bio security, food safety and epidemic control
- Managing Natural Resources
- City Design - designing changes to urban life to encourage Physical Activity, Healthy Cities
- Disaster Management - public welfare - recovery and rebuild
- Managing Legislation and Policy
