Environmental issues
New South Wales faces a number of significant environmental issues. Mitigating and adapting to climate change will continue to present challenges for the foreseeable future. Human habitation and manufacturing depends on the use of chemicals, pesticides and hazardous materials, with the potential side effects of pollution and contaminated land. Invasive pests and weeds threaten species, conservation and agriculture. Meanwhile, as individuals and as a community we consume resources and produce waste.
In response, DECC is working with communities, business and government to:
- reduce harmful emissions to air, land and water
- reduce the number of significantly contaminated sites
- reduce the exposure of the community and the environment to chemicals, radiation, noise, dust, waste, odour and vibration
- encourage the community to connect with, and enjoy, the environment - to maintain and improve their physical and mental health.
Environment protection licences are used to control the localised, cumulative and acute impacts of pollution in NSW. DECC uses market-based instruments, such as load-based licensing, to limit the pollutant loads emitted by holders of environment protection licences and to link licence fees to pollutant emissions.
Climate change and water
The earth's climate is controlled by energy from the sun that is absorbed by the earth's atmosphere. A blanket of naturally occurring greenhouse gases traps heat in the atmosphere. It is now widely accepted that human activity has increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
If concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to rise, the resulting climate change will have significant impacts on agriculture, water supply, infrastructure, biodiversity and human health. DECC's NSW Greenhouse Plan sets out action for the NSW Government for the next 3 years and beyond.
Healthy water in our rivers, floodplains and wetlands is vital for the maintenance of aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, water quality, and human activities such as aquaculture, fishing, recreation and tourism. The natural flow of most NSW rivers is highly variable. Our ecosystems have been formed in these boom and bust cycles. Without these cycles we risk losing significant bird breeding and successful fish spawning, important wetlands and we could lose productive agricultural industries such as grazing based on floodplains.
DECC's role in water management has expanded in recent years from being primarily a regulator of water pollution to a manager of environmental water through its RiverBank program.
Pollution and contamination
Overall, air quality in the lower Hunter, Sydney and Illawarra and regional NSW centres has improved substantially since the 1980s and 1990s and compares well to overseas countries and cities. However air pollution is a concern to many people especially as exposure to some polutants - particularly fine particles (brown haze) and ground level ozone(smog) - can have effects on human health including respiratory problems and heart and lung disease.
NSW has a strong regulatory platform that has reduced pollution from industry through a licensing, compliance and enforcement program. In 1998 the NSW Government adopted the 25 year air quality management plan, Action for Air, which has resulted in increased controls on industry, cleaner motor vehicles and fuels and controls on emissions from commercial premises and domestic sources .
Noise is one of the most challenging urban environmental issues to control because it affects different people in different ways at different times, is sometimes viewed as an 'amenity' issue which may be complex to solve and is highly technical so is often difficult to understand in the assessment and measuring phases.
DECC shares responsibility for enforcing noise control with the RTA, NSW Police and local councils.
Chemicals are present in every aspect of our daily lives - the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the medicines we take and the consumer products we buy and use. We are becoming increasingly aware of the potential impacts of chemicals on the environment, and about the interrelationships between environmental quality and human health.
DECC, through the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act 1985 and a number of Chemical Control Orders regulates priority/high-risk industrial chemicals throughout their entire life-cycle to minimise environmental risks from hazardous chemicals and chemical waste in NSW.
DECC controls and regulates the use of pesticides in New South Wales under the Pesticides Act 1999. This primarily relates to agricultural and urban pest control. The regulations require training and record keeping by users of pesticides and notifying of their use in public places and multiple occupancy residential dwellings.
Contaminated sites are more often than not the legacy of poor industrial practices in the past, particularly in relation to storage, handling and disposal of chemicals that can be harmful to the environment and human health. They can have major impacts on both land and water - sediments in harbours, rivers and streams.
The Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 overhauled the way contaminated sites are managed in NSW and ensures that where possible the polluter, not the community, bears the cost of the clean-up. The legislation is clear that there is a hierarchy of responsibility for cleanup of contaminated sites: the polluter and then the owner.
Hazardous materials, including radiation, need to be carefully managed to minimise the risk they present to the community and the environment. Examples of DECC's role in the management of hazardous materials include regulating the transport of dangerous goods and licencing radiation equipment and personnel.
Pests and weeds
Pest species (pest animals and weeds) represent one of the greatest threats to biodiversity around the world. They also cause financial losses to agriculture and other industries and damage areas of cultural significance. Australia has at least 30 species of introduced animals that are considered pests, although less than a third of these are found in NSW.
There are also more than 500 weed species across all land tenures in NSW. The number of new weed species is increasing annually.
DECC manages pests within the state's park system to:
- protect native flora and fauna
- maintain natural ecosystems
- protect cultural heritage
- minimise the spread of pests to and from neighbouring lands.
Waste and resource recovery
Achieving a reduction in waste generation and turning waste into recoverable resources is a priority for NSW. DECC's NSW Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2006 targets resource recovery from various parts of the waste stream. The strategy:
- provides a framework for cutting waste, increasing recycling and reuse of materials, reducing toxicity in products, and action on illegal dumping and littering
- analyses efforts to manage waste, and sets priorities for achieving the state's resource recovery targets by 2014
- provides results from the waste data system, which allows facilities to enter their data online and provides more reliable and extensive monitoring in the Greater Sydney Region.