This second edition of Global Environmental Crises: An Australian Perspective explores the pressing environmental problems facing the Earth from an Australian viewpoint. Case studies dealing with population and health, land, water, forests, the atmosphere, and cities illustrate a number of fundamental themes relevant to all such crises: humans play a pivotal role as both cause and potential solution; environmental issues are complex and require interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches; and there is a need to achieve sustainability in all human activity. Contents: I. Global Crises – An Introduction: Earth Systems; An Australian Perspective; Planet Earth; Biogeochemical Cycles and Biophysical Systems; Human Activities and Societies; Sustainable Development; Conclusion; II. Population and Environment: Problems of Studying Population-Environment Linkages; World Population Growth and Environmental Change; Three Conflicting Views on Population Growth and the Environment; Population and World Food Supply; Population Impacts on the Environment; The Re-emergence of Infectious Disease – An Example of Population-Environment Interactions; The Need for a Balanced View; III. Food, Fibre and Land: Introduction; Origins and Impacts of Agriculture; Land Degradation; Future Directions; Conclusion; IV. Water Resource Management: An Inevitable Global Crisis?: Introduction; Water and Development; Global Water Resources; Global Water Use; Water Quality Problems; Water Management on the International Stage; Water Resource Management in Australia; V. Forests: The World's Forests; Dimensions of Deforestation; Consequences of Deforestation; Causes of Deforestation; Forests and the Future; VI. The Global Atmosphere: Introduction; Ozone Depletion; The Enhanced Greenhouse Effect; Consequences of the Greenhouse Effect; Predicting Greenhouse Changes; Responses; Planning for the Greenhouse Effect; Summary; VII. Urban Environments: Urban Growth and Urbanisation; Framework for Analysing Impacts; The Urban System: Inputs and Outputs; Cities and the Biophysical Environment; Air and Water Quality; Challenges and Solutions; Conclusion; VIII. International Cooperation: Global Commons and the Need for Cooperation; International Cooperation and the Earth Summit (UNCED); International Agreements on Population; International Agreements on Desertification; Water Resources; Biodiversity and Forests; The Atmosphere; Urban Environments; Conclusion; IX. The Way Ahead: Some Key Themes Revisited; International Trade and Finance; Resource Use and Management; Science and Technology; Sustainable Development; Environmental Integrity and Development for All?

Graeme Aplin, Paul Beggs, Gary Brierley, Peter Curson, Peter Mitchell, Andrew Pitman and David Rich, Macquarie University and Helen Cleugh, CSIRO