Office for Environmental Programs - Theses
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ItemA comparative analysis of the BushTender and Stormwater Tender( 2008)Urban stormwater is well known to have a degrading effect on urban waterways.' It is now accepted that the incorporation of integrated water cycle management into urban design is essential for urban sustainability. The Storm water Tender, a project in Mt. Evelyn, Melbourne, plans to demonstrate the synergies between providing an augmented supply of water and reducing the frequency of runoff events in a catchment retrofit of Water Sensitive Urban Design. To improve the cost-effectiveness of this project the Storm water Tender has developed a novel economic instrument which uses an auction-based approach to maximise public/private investment in rainwater tanks. The Storm water Tender was adapted from the Bush Tender and this research considers transposing a tender from a rural to urban environment as similar to bringing a new product to market. For this reason, the Bush Tender and Storm water Tender are contrasted through a simplified business analytics framework which analyses the respective Organisation, Process, Market, Engagement and Feedback processes inherent in each tender. This research found that the Bush Tender and Storm water Tender are not equivalent processes and that they operate in different markets. The paper concludes with some suggestions of how to improve urban community engagement processes to increase the uptake of rainwater tanks.
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ItemMarine litter in the Tun Sakaran Marine Park: analysis and recommendations for action( 2008)Duplicate 100m transect surveys were carried out on the islands of the Tun Sakaran Marine Park, Malaysia, in order to quantify and classify anthropogenic marine debris in the area. The mean level of contamination was identified as 17 items m-1 and this was found to be higher than contamination levels acknowledged in several similar assessments elsewhere. Polystyrene fragments and plastics, primarily beverage bottles, bags and food wrappers dominated the litter collected, accounting for 87.22% of the total. Fishing related debris was uncommon. The mixed use potential of certain common objects created difficulties in establishing identifiable litter sources. Although it appeared that most litter resulted from the activities of island inhabitants, debris outflow from mainland areas such as Semporna is also a likely litter input to the TSMP. A lack of education and environmental awareness in the region, combined with inadequate waste management systems appears to intensify the problems caused by substances such as plastic when they are improperly disposed of into marine environments. Recommendations are presented in order to meet these shortfalls, focussing on direct litter removal, education and reducing the quantity of persistent pollutants to the area
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ItemThe Melbourne Model and educating for sustainability: opportunities and possibilities( 2008)Universities have a responsibility to their students and to the wider community to respond to the environmental crisis. Education for sustainability (EfS) represents a curriculum-based approach through which universities can respond to this crisis. Understanding how EfS might be adopted by universities requires an exploration the term sustainability, and an examination of the relationship between sustainability and higher education. The new Melbourne Model (MM) at the University of Melbourne is a major educational reform for the University, and although not a model based upon EfS, it incorporates a number of elements that appear conducive to EfS. Based upon interviews with University of Melbourne staff and students this research found that the new transdisciplinary 'breadth' component of the MM was considered to provide significant opportunities and possibilities for EfS. In terms of enacting these opportunities and possibilities, the participants of this study were divided: half felt that the possibilities for enacting EfS would be subsumed by the broader issues of tradition, poor management and ill-considered implementation processes; the other half considered the MM to be the perfect arena for exploring EfS in higher education and did not consider these challenges to be of significant risk to achieving this goal
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ItemAre banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) looking for a more sustainable performance?( 2008)The connection between the financial sector and sustainability of the environment is considered new. The common belief that the financial sector is clean is held because it does not have any direct impact on the environment. Indeed, the problem is not the outcomes or products that this sector produces, but the consumer of these products who has a direct and negative impact on the environment. Industries which have been funded by banks, and more lately MFIs, have had harmful impacts on the environments in which they operate. Environmental problems have had an alarming impact around the world. Their consequences and implications have reached every sector in society. The financial sector, especially banks and MFIs, has experienced a difficult transition because green organisations as well as stake holders have forced them to change the way in which they operate. The change to sustainability has been rather slow because, first of all, they have been trying to modify and implement new policies which do not interfere with their main financial activities. However, it has to be recognised that banks and MFI's are looking to achieve both: to satisfy the green exigencies of their stake holders and to be successful in the new environmental market through launching environmentally friendly green products.
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ItemBayesian network to predict failure of Sydney Water's critical water mains( 2008)As water mains age, their potential for failure increases which can result in the loss or reduction of water to customers. In addition, the flow of water from a main break can cause damage to other infrastructure and impact on community and social processes. The management of water supply assets requires that mangers make decision under significant uncertainty. Decisions are required for planning of investment, replacement and rehabilitation strategies. Burst behaviour is difficult to model due to the many uncertain factors associated with failure including soil condition, pipe material, age and water pressure. Sydney Water is currently moving to a risk based approach whereby a quantitative assessment of likelihood and consequence are made on individual critical water mains to assess the overall risk and to inform replacement and renewal strategies. This paper uses a Bayesian network to assess the probability of failure of Sydney Water's critical water mains. Validation of the model used actual failure history from 1998-2006.