Understanding Sustainability and Environmental Challenges

Sustainable

Capable of being maintained in existence without interruption or diminution.

Sustainability

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Social sustainability

Includes environmental justice, human health, resource security, and education.

Economic sustainability

Includes job creation, profitability, and proper accounting of the use of ecosystems.

Environmental sustainability

Focuses on the wellbeing of the environment, including water and air quality.

Biodiversity

The total of all living organisms on Earth, including species and ecosystems.

Species diversity

The variety of species within a specific area.

Ecosystem diversity

The variety of habitats, natural communities, and ecological processes in the biosphere.

Land degradation

Detrimental changes in the condition of the land due to human interactions.

Introduced species

Animals, plants, parasites, or disease-causing organisms that establish outside their natural range and become pests.

Urbanisation

The development of towns and cities, increasing pressure on outdoor environments.

Climate change

Significant and lasting change in weather patterns over an extended period of time.

Floods

Part of Australia's natural ecology, important for some ecosystems and boosting dam inflows.

Bushfires

A natural part of the Australian environment, becoming larger and more ferocious due to climate change.

Aesthetic value

Judgement of value based on the appearance of an object and the emotional responses it causes.

Intrinsic value

Being prized for what it is, rather than the value it can provide humans.

Biodiversity importance

Basis for the continuation of life, stability of species, ecosystems, and regions.

Mitigation

Reducing the risk or severity of something occurring, such as climate change impacts.

Kyoto Protocol

Commits industrialised countries to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with agreed individual targets.

Paris Agreement

Legally binding international treaty on climate change with the goal of limiting global warming.

Climate change targets

Goals to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

Sustainable Development Goal 13

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts with five key target areas.