ABSTRACT
Australia's modern life style consumes vast amounts of resources and produces equally large amounts of waste. There is growing awareness about the environmental cost of Australia's life style and the scale of the continent's mismanagement during the 200 years of colonization. Most of eastern Australia was in the grip of drought in 1998 and there were severe water shortages in the region threatening the livelihood of many primary producers. Cotton growing raises a lot of question about the management of the country's resources. The mismanagement of the country's forest extends to the fisheries. There are too many fishermen and the fishing effort is too great to sustain many of Australia's fisheries. Coastal management in Queensland is abysmal and dictated by the imperatives of economic growth. The Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) believes that the growing crisis with the country's soils can be reversed with extensive research and changes in agricultural practices.
