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The Role of Government (continued) - 11 |
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Governments have passed a wide range of environmental protection
legislation to reduce the social costs of different types of economic activity. At the
local government level there are planning and zoning regulations. A leather
tanning factory (very smelly indeed) is not built in a residential area; special zones are
created where industry is concentrated and their activities regularly monitored. State
governments monitor land clearing in rural areas, so that wildlife habitats are not
destroyed, and endangered species forced into extinction. Farmers cannot clear land they own
without government approval. In Queensland, many farmers are angry about new land clearing
restrictions passed by State and Federal governments, but Australia has made international
commitments to reduce our level of greenhouse gas emissions. Halting land clearing (and
the associated ''burning off'' will reduce our national output of carbon dioxide.
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