Just briefly the major issue in Australia would be water. But not only do we need it for drinking we also need it for agriculture in order to ensure our food supply can be maintained. I would say the next major resource issues are food, due to the lack of water,followed by energy. We use a lot of energy with the majority being produced from our coal resources but these resource have reached/reaching their peak and hence are dwindling and will not last for much longer. We thus need to find alternative sources of energy (i.e green energy) in order to maintain our population sustainably. Evidently land/space is not a restriction in Australia but it could be soon with the changing climate much of our land is becoming drier and of less use. This could be an issue in the future.

Population Issues II responses

Strictly and ecologically speaking, I think that the population of Singapore is unsustainable given the high population density we have. Since Singapore does not have any hinterland to depend upon, we have to import almost all our food and half of our water. If we are to go back to just meeting the most basic needs such as food, shelter and water without degrading much of the natural environment, a population of about 300 people for the whole country is a good figure. However, if we are going to define the population of a city based on the infrastructure we have and our water supplies, a figure of 1.5 million is good enough. Sure enough, we have been complaining about the weekend crowds in the shopping centres and public transport as well as traffic jams on the road. This is the result of too many cars on the road due to rising levels of affluence. There is really no magic figure on whether the population numbers are sustainable. It really all depends on the needs of the country and the level of infrastructural developments in place. Surely, wealth is the primary development on the amount of resources we can draw upon. All cities are ultimately unsustainable as they depended on other areas to draw their resources upon. But at the same time, cities are the main generators of wealth. With money, it will be able to sustain a larger population. Singapore is doing well in terms of population management as the air is generally cleaner than many other cities of the world despite high population and vehicle densities. So you see, this definitive is really very subjective.

In Singapore, the greatest limiting factor is really land. Spatial constraint is really the limiting factor on population increase. Having limited sea space also poses challenges on how much land Singapore can reclaim having to give due consideration to port development. Water is getting less important as an issue as innovative technologies is gradually helping Singapore to become more self sufficient inj water in the years to come. Spatial constraints ultimately mean limits on the number of roads we can build and hence the number of cars on the road. Given the aspirations of Singaporeans, more people would want to buy cars if car population controls are not in place. Being too densely populated also degrades environmental quality, having less spaces that can be set aside for parks, recreation and nature reserve. For the case of Australia, I guess the main issue is water? This is because a large part of Australia is desert and it is by far the driest continent on earth. Any comments from the ANU counterparts?

Space is not an issue in Australia I believe but the actual space that people would prefer to live on is only concentrated along the coastlines and not the interior. So Australia has space but most is not utilised. In Singapore's case, we are running out of space. Both countries face water shortage problems but Singapore is overcoming its water problems slowly such as building new reservoirs, desalination and ultrafiltration of sewage water. Singaporeans have accepted drinking this treated sewage water which is really ultra clean. We have put it back into the reservoirs and supply the water to industrial plants that require such ultra cleaan water such as the silicon fabrication plants. The rest is being put back into the reserviours and let nature "re-treat" this water so as to gain more acceptance from the people. But for the Australian side, I believe that this will take some time for it to be accepted as there is alot of resistance on the ground.

Population Issues II

Hey guys, these are the questions for the last tutorial!

Preparation instructions

Following on from your earlier tutorials on population, and campus sustainability, we will think about and discuss the impact of population on sustainability by thinking about the maximum population that a country such as Singapore can sustainably support, reflecting on the resources that students think affect their proposed population limit. Following the completion of this topic, it is expected that students will have a deeper understanding of the complex policy, and ecological issues that are inherent to population policy.

Questions to consider for your one page preparation

Your responses to these questions will form the basis for our tutorial discussions:
Your estimate of what population you think Singapore can sustainably support.
ANU students will think about a sustainable population target for Singapore.
Briefly substantiate your figure by listing (in order of importance) the most significant resources that limit the population Australia and Sinagpore can sustainably support
What are some of the similarities and differences between the resources that limit Australia's population to that of Singapore?
Come prepared to discuss and defend your sustainable population target for Singapore. The ideas presented in lectures, readings and collaboration discussions with ANU may be helpful in supporting your views.