Thursday, November 28, 2019

The current policies of land use in Australia

Land is a very important asset that must be planned for effectively in order to ensure that it gives maximum output while remaining sustainable. According to Koomen and Beurden (2011, p. 73), land is an asset which is scarce and very fragile, making it necessary to develop mechanisms of using it in a wise manner.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The current policies of land use in Australia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, it is of great concern that the society has not come to appreciate the importance of land as a scarce and a fragile asset that needs protection in order to ensure that there is sustainability. National planners in various countries have perfected the art of developing policies on how various resources can be used sustainably in order to ensure that they can still be used in future. However, they have failed to come up with measures that would ensure that land is protected from any possi ble destruction that may make it unproductive in future (Gaffikin Morrissey 2011, p. 70). Strategic changes being experienced in the modern society are presenting new practical dilemmas that hinder successful achievement of spatial land use planning outcomes. This research will focus on the current policies of land use in Australia and the prevailing conflict between public input, community interests, and effective outcomes. Australia is one of the leading economies in the world. It has one of the largest per capita income in this region, with its Human Development Index considered the second best in the world. The government of Australia has been keen to develop land policies that would protect the interest all the stakeholders. There has been need to reconcile the conflict between public input and community interests through proper strategic spatial land use planning. It is important that the interest of the investors, public, and the national government in land use be protected in order to ensure that the three sectors work in harmony to promote development of the country’s economy (Chapin 2007, p. 40). The government has made an effort to ensure that there is a clear plan on how land in this country should be used, and how different stakeholders should relate on issues concerning land.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The economy of Australia has been expanding very rapidly over the past years. Urban centers are developing at a very high rate. This is caused by the preference of people to stay in urban centers than in the rural settings. The City of Melbourne has experienced a massive increase in population over the past two decades. The Victorian State Government has been concerned of the best way land can be used to benefit all the stakeholders within the city (Jha Singh 2008, p. 67). The Australian Collaborative Land Use Mapping Program was developed by the national government to help in land planning, especially in cities that are experiencing huge growth over the past few years. The East-West Link Project is part of the vision by Melbourne City planners to help manage the limited land within the city. According to Scholl (2012, p. 67), spatial planning goes beyond land planning. It entails protection of the welfare of the members of the society by ensuring that they have access to land and all its resources that can make them lead decent lives. According to Kawakami (2013, p. 45) the government of Australia has made efforts to ensure that land, especially in the major cities such as Melbourne, is not only used to give maximum output, but also remain sustainable for the future generation. The planned construction of the East West Link road is intended to link Western Ring Road and Eastern Freeway. This government project is intending to decongest the city by creating an alternative route that can be used by motori sts connecting between the two highways. However, such massive government contracts always come with conflicts on how stakeholders should be involved, and how such projects may affect other players (Albrechts 2006, p. 1150). The outcome of this project is intended to help all the stakeholders within this city by reducing its population. However, this raised some conflict between public input and community interests. According to Barker (2006, p. 67), land as an asset is scarce and very fragile. Land cannot be replaced once destroyed. For this reason, the current generation has a responsibility to the future generation by ensuring that land is used sustainably. However, the current strategic spatial land use planning approach taken by the government over this project has been criticized as not being sustainable. For instance, the local community has complained of the consequences associated with building this road. One of the main complains that have been raised by the local council politicians is the possible loss of large parts of the Royal Park.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The current policies of land use in Australia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This park has been considered as one of the most important recreational facility within this community. This road will have to go through this park, and this will affect its sustainability. Some of these politicians have argued that the Victorian State Government should have considered construction of metro railway lines instead, because the possibility of this project destroying the park is very high. The local community feels that the benefit of the new road is far much less as compared to the negative consequences it shall have on their livelihood (Potschin Haines-Young 2011, p. 91). This means that all the stakeholders must be involved to ensure that this public input does not have adverse effect on the interest of the community. Th is project has to continue because the need to implement it has been identified, and funds needed have already been set aside. However, the stakeholders must find a way of addressing the issues raised in order to ensure that the interest of the local community is protected. According to Scholl (2012, p. 80), it is important to involve the local community in any project that involves land use in order to eliminate any form of resistance. Some of the members of this community will have to shelve part of their land to be used in this project. The Royal Park is also under threat when this road is constructed through it. This public input must take into consideration the interest of the local community. The issues raised about the park must be considered because strategic spatial land use planning involves ensuring that there is sustainability in land use. This means that the outcome of this project must be based on sustainability of land for the current and future generation. The Victor ian State Government must ensure that when this project commences, all the issues raised by the local community about sustainability is adequately addressed. List of References Albrechts, L 2006, ‘Shifts in strategic spatial planning? Some evidence from Europe and Australia’ Environment and Planning A’, vol. 38. no. 1, pp. 1149 -1170.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Barker, K 2006, Barker review of land use planning: Final report – recommendations, TSO, London. Chapin, T 2007, Growth management in Florida: Planning for paradise, Ashgate, Aldershot. Gaffikin, F Morrissey, M 2011, Planning in divided cities: Collaborative shaping of contested space, Wiley-Blackwell, West Sussex. Jha, M Singh, R 2008, Land use: Reflection on spatial informatics, agriculture and development, Concept Publishers, New Delhi. Kawakami, M 2013, Spatial planning and sustainable development: Approaches for achieving sustainable urban form in Asian cities, Springer, Dordrecht. Koomen, E Beurden, J 2011, Land-use modelling in planning practice, Springer, Dordrecht. Potschin, M Haines-Young, R 2011, ‘Landscapes, sustainability and the place-based analysis of ecosystem services’, Landscape Ecol, vol. 1. no. 9, pp. 1-13. Scholl, B 2012, HESP: Higher education in spatial planning : positions and reflections, VDF, Zürich. This essay on The current policies of land use in Australia was written and submitted by user Chase Robbins to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Mosasaurus Facts and Figures

Mosasaurus Facts and Figures The name Mosasaurus (pronounced MOE-zah-SORE-usis) is partly derived from the Latin word Mosa (the Meuse River), and the second half of the name comes from the word Sauros, which is Greek for lizard. This ocean-dwelling creature is from the late Cretaceous period (70 to 65 million years ago). Its distinguishing characteristics included a blunt, alligator-like head, fin on the end of its tail, and a hydrodynamic build. It was large- up to 50 feet long and weighing 15 tons- and subsisted on a diet of fish, squid, and shellfish. About Mosasaurus The remains of Mosasaurus were discovered well before educated society knew anything about evolution, dinosaurs, or marine reptiles- in a mine in Holland in the late 18th century (hence this creatures name,  in honor of  the nearby Meuse River). Importantly, the unearthing of these fossils led early naturalists like Georges Cuvier to speculate, for the first time, about the possibility of species going extinct, which flew in the face of accepted religious dogma of the time. (Until the late Enlightenment, most educated people believed that God created all the worlds animals in Biblical times and that the exact same animals existed 5,000 years ago as do today. Did we mention that they also had no conception of deep geologic time?) These fossils were variously interpreted as belonging to fish, whales, and even crocodiles; the closest guess (by the Dutch naturalist Adriaan Camper) was that they were giant monitor lizards. It was Georges Cuvier who established that the fearsome Mosasaurus was a giant member of the family of marine reptiles known as mosasaurs, which were characterized by their large heads, powerful jaws, streamlined bodies, and  hydrodynamic  front and rear flippers. Mosasaurs were only distantly related to the pliosaurs and plesiosaurs (sea serpents) that preceded them (and which they largely supplanted from the dominance of the worlds oceans during the late Cretaceous period). Today, evolutionary biologists believe they were most closely related to modern-day snakes and monitor lizards. The mosasaurs themselves went extinct 65 million years ago, along with their dinosaur and pterosaur cousins, by which time they may already have been succumbing to competition from better-adapted sharks. As with many animals that have lent their names to entire families, we know comparatively less about Mosasaurus than we do about better-attested mosasaurs like Plotosaurus and Tylosaurus.  The early confusion about this marine reptile is reflected in the various genera to which it was assigned in the course of the 19th century, including (take a deep breath) Batrachiosaurus, Batrachotherium, Drepanodon, Lesticodus, Baseodon, Nectoportheus, and Pterycollosaurus. There have also been close to 20 named species of Mosasaurus, which gradually fell by the wayside as their fossil specimens were assigned to other mosasaur genera; today, all that remain are the type species, M. hoffmanni, and four others. By the way, that shark-swallowing Mosasaurus in the movie Jurassic World may  seem impressive (both to people in the fictional park and people in the real-life movie-theater audience), but its completely out of scale: A real, 15-ton Mosasaurus would have been an order of magnitude smaller and much less impressive than its cinematic depiction- and  almost certainly  incapable of dragging a gigantic Indominus rex into the water.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Central Banks and Monetary Policy Research Paper

Central Banks and Monetary Policy - Research Paper Example There are four main objectives of the central bank such as stable inflation, high and stable real growth, stable interest rates and stable exchange rates (Almoayed Group, 2007).   It will also address how the central bank monitors the money supply and the numerous tools of the monetary control will also be discussed in this study. The most significant part of this research paper is to study the association between price stability as well as other goals of the central bank. The behavior of the monetary aggregates, inflation as well as output in the context of UAE will also be discussed in a detailed way in this study. Last but not the least, the research study will endeavor to review the performance of the UAE central bank and discussion regarding interest rate as well as exchange rate stability in the UAE will be explained in brief. 1. Discuss briefly the five objectives of central banks. In their pursuit of maintaining price stability, central banks are said to manage the money su pply process. The central bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was set up in the year 1980 and is considered to be the chief regulatory as well as the supervisory body with regard to the overall banking industry. The central banks of the UAE are believed to exert increasingly stringent vigilance on the financial institutions. Apart from this, the main objectives of the central banks operating in the UAE region are principally concentrated on issuing currencies, suggesting the government regarding the monetary as well as the financial issues, acting as the last resort lender for the other member banks and likewise, it is held to be responsible for managing the supply of money in the market and ascertain the way an economy operates. The initial objective of the central banks have been identified as being the responsible authority is to set up and preserve financial stability within the economy or rather stable real growth. It is since central banks are known to possess quite inclusi ve information regarding the risks in terms of financial stability with the assistance of its research as well as surveillance activities. The second objective of the central banks has been stated as the exercise of its essential roles for promoting and monitoring the reliability of the various financial institutions, particularly the banks since they are known to enjoy regulatory as well as supervisory control over those institutions. The third main objective of the central banks is the application of their respective tools to make certain of the prevalence of price stability such as the functions related to the open market and the interest rates. The tools are regarded as the effectual instruments for the purpose of manipulating financial stability through the intermediary procedures along with manipulating the aspect of demand with regard to the economy (Almoayed Group, 2007). The fourth objective of the central banks is to discharge its role as the ‘lender of the last reso rt’.