POLICY

Paul E. Batten, BSc (Hons) Macq.

LANDSCAPE INFORMATION AND BIODIVERSITY STRATEGIES

A four year research project, began by Paul Batten in 2000, investigates ways of creating and providing integrated landscape information for the support of environmental policy and decision making. The focus of the research is on topographic information and biodiversity management, however the implications of the research have utility for all types of natural resource policy, including those related to climatic impacts. The following is an outline of his research.

Of the small number of mostly American studies that have addressed how landscape information can be used in regional strategies for biodiversity rehabilitation, all have suggested targets or priorities based absolutely on landscape topography. This research endeavours to critique this approach by showing that not only are landscape/biodiversity relationships complex, but more importantly stakeholder perspectives of future landscapes are not satisfied by deterministic rehabilitation strategies.

Further, the majority of landscape-scale biodiversity management research in Australia has been directed at resolving problems of reserve selection and related conservation issues. In contrast, the proposed research aims to develop an approach for providing landscape information that deals with entire regions, both on- and off-reserve.

One of the major end products of this research project will be a framework for providing regional scale information related to landscape topography and biodiversity management. This framework will be developed in the light of theoretical, conceptual and social research. As a result the framework will be relevant to a wide range of landscape management agencies, but particularly those with a concern for natural resource management with significant stakeholder involvement.

The major practical research component of the project is to interview a broad range of stakeholders within the study areas. This social research has three sections

1. How landscape topography influences people's attitudes to biodiversity rehabilitation will be ascertained, both within individual responses and also across representatives. If there are strong patterns within these results, then such information should be taken into account when designing both management frameworks and specific landscape rehabilitation plans.
2. Land manager’s will then be engaged to see how they could use topographic information in regional biodiversity strategies, especially in the light of the general stakeholder research above.
3. Finally, a workshop for information managers will be convened to discuss the viability of creating relevant landscape information packages.

Nandini Banerjee, BSc, Bed, MSc (Class 1) (PhD)

AIJ AND MITIGATION OF EMISSIONS FROM THERMAL POWER STATIONS

This research evaluates policy options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2 emissions, from selected coal fired power stations in India. It considers the case study region of Calcutta, on the River Hughli (lower Ganges Basin), one of India's largest, most-densely populated as well as polluted urban regions. The research is path-breaking in that little detailed analysis of greenhouse mitigation strategies has yet been carried out in developing countries. Although per capita emissions of CO2 are small, especially compared with countries like Australia, large developing countries like India and China consume large amounts of fossil fuel energy. Electricity generation from coal-fired power stations is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in these developing countries.

The Kyoto Conference in December 1997 set targets for emission reductions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. While no formal restrictions were agreed for developing countries like China and India, several developed countries argued that these developing countries should also implement emission reduction strategies provided technology transfer and funding was made available. These developing countries urgently need further research before they adopt mitigation technologies developed in industrialised countries.

This research considers specific power plants in the Calcutta Region and evaluates specific strategies to reduce CO2 emissions from this sector. The methodology was based on the local Energy Management System (EMS), cost-effectiveness analysis and local implementation of global and national policy options. Successive field trips were conducted in India for collecting primary and secondary data. Interviews, focus groups and other personal communications with local citizens, Government and NGO representatives were employed in the study.

The results seek to contribute towards reducing overall pollution levels in Calcutta, in addition to CO2 emissions. A specific project based on solar photovoltaic technology (renewable energy) is investigated in detail, designed to supplement the local power company's ('The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation' (CESC)) thermal power generation and thereby reducing CO2 emissions and encouraging energy efficient lighting system for the city. The proposal of this solar photovoltaic festival / street lighting is based on its reliance on depletable fossil fuel and thus its beneficial effects for the environment. The project will not only provide the community with better lighting option and pollution free environment but also will benefit the government in having an one time investment on the technology which in turn will serve multi-facet activities.

This case study was derived from evaluating the cost effectiveness of several policy options. The implementation of this kind of project needs high level political maneuvering to raise the awareness level of the general public of the city. Systematic attention to this kind of project would provide a better and environmentally sustainable lighting for the nominated blocks of the city. The project would need strong support from a developed country in terms of monetary and technological involvement. As excessive CO2 emission is a major environmental concern for both developed and developing countries, the Framework Convention seek to promote joint efforts between countries to tackle climate change strategically. Prior to setting up this project, it is also necessary to conduct a negotiation between the state and national governments as we as foreign investors. In this case the research considers an investing partner from Australia and shows how the nominated project could facilitate Australia's involvement in the joint implementation of projects under the United Nations Framework Convention. The project also involves the participation of politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists and policy makers, environmentalists, lawyers and general public. This kind of project could be viable not only for the studied region but for any polluted city of the Asia Pacific Region specifically any developing nation, in a joint collaboration with developed countries.