Recent orders
Tobacco in Malawi
Tobacco in Malawi
The country is one of the two countries worldwide that is significantly dependent on raw tobacco for their export earnings. About 70% of Malawi’s export earnings come from this single commodity, contributing about 33% of the GDP and 23% of total tax revenue. It is estimated that about 52% of the Malawi population derive their livelihood from the tobacco industry. Tobacco growing in the country is encouraged and supported by the tobacco industry, financial institutions and the government through the provision of technical, material and financial support to tobacco growers. The Malawi government and tobacco industry has pumped in a lot of resources to improve production of the crop; institutions have been established to provide farm input loans, research and extension services. Tobacco is the only crop that enjoys such support.
Tobacco is of great importance for Malawi economy. Tobacco in Malawi remains the major industry having the highest foreign earnings. Tobacco remains the major cash crop for Malawi accounting for 70% of the foreign exchange earnings that are needed to procure goods and services of the county.
There are many constraints facing the tobacco industry right now in Malawi. These problems range from the production to the point when the tobacco is sold. Of these problems, some have greatly affected the industry. These problems can be listed as follows:
ØNon-Tobacco Related Material (NTRM).
ØLow input accessibility amongst tobacco growers.
ØLow tobacco prices at the Auction Floors.
Of these the three major ones are Non-Tobacco Related Materials and Nesting, decline in prices and Over-dependence on Fuelwood.
NON-TOBACCO RELATED MATERIAL (NTRM) AND NESTING.
These are foreign matter found in graded and baled tobacco either on the Auction or in the processing factory. Such materials may include plastic strands from woven polypropylene bags used for containing fertilizers, maize or Sal; feathers; stones; metal objects; eggs; bricks; grass; and MT9 or MT12 strings. The materials may be left in graded and baled tobacco deliberately or accidentally. Plastic materials and feathers are toxic to smokers, hence, the need to consider only NTRM free tobacco at the Auction floors.
This fact is very much related to nesting which is the deliberate placement of NTRM/ foreign matter, sub-standard cured tobacco hands or scraps and any other material in graded and baled tobacco with the intention of obtaining more weight from a small amount of quality tobacco. The material is placed in such a way that only thorough checking on the floors or in the factory is required to spot the malpractice. There has been a particular sharp increase in the cases of NTRM so far, recorded by Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) on the Kanengo floors this year (2004) as compared to the past two years. This sharp increase is due to the cases of plastic contamination detected in bales. Checking for plastic contamination on the Kanengo floors has been rigorous this year because international buyers are unhappy with the amount of plastic contamination in Malawi tobacco. Some tobacco has been rejected abroad and it has so far been sent back to Malawi because of the tobacco contamination.
Demerits of This Malpractice to Tobacco Industry
i.NTRM contamination has slowed down tobacco sales on the auction floors because of congestion in the factories as the “green leaf” is meticulously being checked for plastic and other NTRM mechanically as well as manually. Some processing factories have established new departments to handle the NTRM contamination problem. All these measures are costly and the tobacco farmer at the end of the day bears the cost.
ii.This malpractice also spoils our reputation on the international markets and the result of this is that there are reduced prices for our tobacco. This results in low profit amongst farmers.
Farmers need to be sensitized why putting foreign matter in the graded tobacco is bad. On top of this they need to be advised to check the tobacco carefully before bailing it. This can be in terms of storage place and facilities.
It is expensive especially if the public media are used.
Ø Establishing separate sections, which should be checking the tobacco for the NTRM and any foreign material. Some processing factories have already established new departments to handle the NTRM contamination problem.
This measure is costly and the tobacco farmer at the end of the day bears the cost.
A lot of factors have contributed to the dwindling prices in our Auction floors making the tobacco industry facing a lot of problems as of the past five years ago. Some of the reasons that have contributed to this fall in prices are:
This is a campaign, which is trying to reduce tobacco smoking by people. This campaign has mainly gained grounds in the western countries, which are the largest buyers of our tobacco. As a result there is reduce number of buyer and reduced prices as a result of fall of tobacco prices at the international market. This has greatly affected Malawi’s tobacco industry. The trend of the tobacco prices has gone down since the past five years. This trend is likely to continue and the tobacco industry in Malawi is likely to face a lot of problem due to the reduced interested in the buyers, which has resulted in the reduced prices.
Tobacco is one of the crops that are very demanding in terms of input. Production is very much dependent on how much input you have invested. The fertilizer marketing was characterized by a dual marketing system before liberalization in 1994.Fertiliser for smallholder farmers was imported by smallholder Fertilizer Revolving Fund (SFFRMF) and was distributed by ADMARC. The fertilizer imported by SFFRFM and distributed by ADMARC were subsidized by government. Some fertilizers for smallholder farmers were distributed by ADMARC at subsidized prices. Following the liberalization in 1994, the fertilizer market subsidies were phased out and pricing decontrolled thereby creating a unified fertilizer market. The liberalization of the fertilizer market only improved the ability of the industry to supply. However the major constraints is the affordability of the fertilizers due to high fertilizer prices after repeated devaluation and low purchasing power due to limited access to credit. Data on the use of fertilizers show that only 20% to 35% of the smallholder farmers use fertilizers. Before collapse of the credit system, 60% of the fertilizer was purchased on credit.
The credit sales have drastically been reduced to 11% and 20%. And the overall result of this is the poor production due to low accessibility to input and the tobacco that is offered at the market is of very low quality and, thus, attracting very low prices.
Strategies of Improving Input Accessibility
The problem affecting the accessibility of inputs can be solved in short, medium term removing supply and demand constraints. The liberalization of the inputs market has least removed some of the supply constraints. As of now the main constraint is the availability of the credit for importers as well as distributors. The constraint is important for emerging importers and distributors.
Most of the problems in the input market is on the demand side. The low profitability of the fertilizer, the low purchasing power and limited access to credit are the major constraints. As mentioned above higher output prices may serve to increase demand.
There are also a number of other steps that may stimulate the demand.
ØIncreased access to credit through improvement in supply of the financial resources to MRFC and the establishment of farmers’ savings and credit cooperatives.
ØGovernment/donors safety net programs distributing fertilizers to poorest and providing input for work.
ØEncourage farmers to form cooperatives, associations or clubs which could be used as credit, bulk procurement of inputs and marketing of output.
ØIntroduction of 25kg and 15kg fertilizer bags.
Tobacco farming requires substantial amounts of wood for a variety of purposes, such as curing, and poles and sticks for barn construction. To varying degrees, wood usage was found to be widespread in nearly all developing countries. Expressed in percentages of global tobacco production in the first half of the 1990s, major consumers of wood were dark air/sun-cured tobaccos (15%), burley (12%), flue-cured (12%), oriental tobacco (9%), fire-cured and dark as well as light air-cured tobaccos, being minor consumers (around 1% each). In many countries, including Malawi, where flue-cured tobacco is grown, fuelwood demand is not sustainable.
Among the underlying causes of tobacco-related deforestation are:
ØThe usage of wood in the farm-based process of curing the crop that is, drying the leaves.
ØThe global shift of production into low-cost producer countries of the developing world, which typically have fragile natural environments.
Not considered here, but relevant especially under tropical conditions, are the agricultural practices of topping and desuckering, that is, designing the tobacco plant as a consumer product that will have high nicotine content. The result is a uniquely high uptake of all macronutrients from the soil, and tobacco’s regular need for fertile (virgin) soils, which are often provided by land clearances involving deforestation.2 11
Increased efforts of afforestation/reforestation together with lower rates and higher efficiency of wood used in curing tobacco for example, improvements in barn technology, growing use of agricultural wastes as fuel sources can help to reduce tobacco’s round wood consumption and impact upon deforestation.
ØReduced impacts, which come as a result of deforestation.
ØThe time taken for the method to be effective is very long.
ØIt is high labour demanding and costly.
The tobacco industry in Malawi is currently faced with a lot of problems as outlined above. These problems have deteriorated the standard of the tobacco industry since the past five years. The problems facing the tobacco industry reached great levels last year, 2003/2004, growing season due to the Non-Tobacco Related Material (NTRM) and Nesting.
Ø Global assessment of deforestation related to tobacco farming, Tobacco Control 1999; 8:18-28
Ø The Nation News Paper Article “The tobacco sales Finally come to an end.”
The country is one of the two countries worldwide that is significantly dependent on raw tobacco for their export earnings. About 70% of Malawi’s export earnings come from this single commodity, contributing about 33% of the GDP and 23% of total tax revenue. It is estimated that about 52% of the Malawi population derive their livelihood from the tobacco industry. Tobacco growing in the country is encouraged and supported by the tobacco industry, financial institutions and the government through the provision of technical, material and financial support to tobacco growers. The Malawi government and tobacco industry has pumped in a lot of resources to improve production of the crop; institutions have been established to provide farm input loans, research and extension services. Tobacco is the only crop that enjoys such support.
Tobacco is of great importance for Malawi economy. Tobacco in Malawi remains the major industry having the highest foreign earnings. Tobacco remains the major cash crop for Malawi accounting for 70% of the foreign exchange earnings that are needed to procure goods and services of the county.
There are many constraints facing the tobacco industry right now in Malawi. These problems range from the production to the point when the tobacco is sold. Of these problems, some have greatly affected the industry. These problems can be listed as follows:
ØNon-Tobacco Related Material (NTRM).
ØLow input accessibility amongst tobacco growers.
ØLow tobacco prices at the Auction Floors.
Of these the three major ones are Non-Tobacco Related Materials and Nesting, decline in prices and Over-dependence on Fuelwood.
NON-TOBACCO RELATED MATERIAL (NTRM) AND NESTING.
These are foreign matter found in graded and baled tobacco either on the Auction or in the processing factory. Such materials may include plastic strands from woven polypropylene bags used for containing fertilizers, maize or Sal; feathers; stones; metal objects; eggs; bricks; grass; and MT9 or MT12 strings. The materials may be left in graded and baled tobacco deliberately or accidentally. Plastic materials and feathers are toxic to smokers, hence, the need to consider only NTRM free tobacco at the Auction floors.
This fact is very much related to nesting which is the deliberate placement of NTRM/ foreign matter, sub-standard cured tobacco hands or scraps and any other material in graded and baled tobacco with the intention of obtaining more weight from a small amount of quality tobacco. The material is placed in such a way that only thorough checking on the floors or in the factory is required to spot the malpractice. There has been a particular sharp increase in the cases of NTRM so far, recorded by Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) on the Kanengo floors this year (2004) as compared to the past two years. This sharp increase is due to the cases of plastic contamination detected in bales. Checking for plastic contamination on the Kanengo floors has been rigorous this year because international buyers are unhappy with the amount of plastic contamination in Malawi tobacco. Some tobacco has been rejected abroad and it has so far been sent back to Malawi because of the tobacco contamination.
Demerits of This Malpractice to Tobacco Industry
i.NTRM contamination has slowed down tobacco sales on the auction floors because of congestion in the factories as the “green leaf” is meticulously being checked for plastic and other NTRM mechanically as well as manually. Some processing factories have established new departments to handle the NTRM contamination problem. All these measures are costly and the tobacco farmer at the end of the day bears the cost.
ii.This malpractice also spoils our reputation on the international markets and the result of this is that there are reduced prices for our tobacco. This results in low profit amongst farmers.
Farmers need to be sensitized why putting foreign matter in the graded tobacco is bad. On top of this they need to be advised to check the tobacco carefully before bailing it. This can be in terms of storage place and facilities.
It is expensive especially if the public media are used.
ØEstablishing separate sections, which should be checking the tobacco for the NTRM and any foreign material. Some processing factories have already established new departments to handle the NTRM contamination problem.
This measure is costly and the tobacco farmer at the end of the day bears the cost.
A lot of factors have contributed to the dwindling prices in our Auction floors making the tobacco industry facing a lot of problems as of the past five years ago. Some of the reasons that have contributed to this fall in prices are:
This is a campaign, which is trying to reduce tobacco smoking by people. This campaign has mainly gained grounds in the western countries, which are the largest buyers of our tobacco. As a result there is reduce number of buyer and reduced prices as a result of fall of tobacco prices at the international market. This has greatly affected Malawi’s tobacco industry. The trend of the tobacco prices has gone down since the past five years. This trend is likely to continue and the tobacco industry in Malawi is likely to face a lot of problem due to the reduced interested in the buyers, which has resulted in the reduced prices.
Tobacco is one of the crops that are very demanding in terms of input. Production is very much dependent on how much input you have invested. The fertilizer marketing was characterized by a dual marketing system before liberalization in 1994.Fertiliser for smallholder farmers was imported by smallholder Fertilizer Revolving Fund (SFFRMF) and was distributed by ADMARC. The fertilizer imported by SFFRFM and distributed by ADMARC were subsidized by government. Some fertilizers for smallholder farmers were distributed by ADMARC at subsidized prices. Following the liberalization in 1994, the fertilizer market subsidies were phased out and pricing decontrolled thereby creating a unified fertilizer market. The liberalization of the fertilizer market only improved the ability of the industry to supply. However the major constraints is the affordability of the fertilizers due to high fertilizer prices after repeated devaluation and low purchasing power due to limited access to credit. Data on the use of fertilizers show that only 20% to 35% of the smallholder farmers use fertilizers. Before collapse of the credit system, 60% of the fertilizer was purchased on credit.
The credit sales have drastically been reduced to 11% and 20%. And the overall result of this is the poor production due to low accessibility to input and the tobacco that is offered at the market is of very low quality and, thus, attracting very low prices.
Strategies of Improving Input Accessibility
The problem affecting the accessibility of inputs can be solved in short, medium term removing supply and demand constraints. The liberalization of the inputs market has least removed some of the supply constraints. As of now the main constraint is the availability of the credit for importers as well as distributors. The constraint is important for emerging importers and distributors.
Most of the problems in the input market is on the demand side. The low profitability of the fertilizer, the low purchasing power and limited access to credit are the major constraints. As mentioned above higher output prices may serve to increase demand.
There are also a number of other steps that may stimulate the demand.
ØIncreased access to credit through improvement in supply of the financial resources to MRFC and the establishment of farmers’ savings and credit cooperatives.
ØGovernment/donors safety net programs distributing fertilizers to poorest and providing input for work.
ØEncourage farmers to form cooperatives, associations or clubs which could be used as credit, bulk procurement of inputs and marketing of output.
ØIntroduction of 25kg and 15kg fertilizer bags.
Tobacco farming requires substantial amounts of wood for a variety of purposes, such as curing, and poles and sticks for barn construction. To varying degrees, wood usage was found to be widespread in nearly all developing countries. Expressed in percentages of global tobacco production in the first half of the 1990s, major consumers of wood were dark air/sun-cured tobaccos (15%), burley (12%), flue-cured (12%), oriental tobacco (9%), fire-cured and dark as well as light air-cured tobaccos, being minor consumers (around 1% each). In many countries, including Malawi, where flue-cured tobacco is grown, fuelwood demand is not sustainable.
Among the underlying causes of tobacco-related deforestation are:
ØThe usage of wood in the farm-based process of curing the crop that is, drying the leaves.
ØThe global shift of production into low-cost producer countries of the developing world, which typically have fragile natural environments.
Not considered here, but relevant especially under tropical conditions, are the agricultural practices of topping and desuckering, that is, designing the tobacco plant as a consumer product that will have high nicotine content. The result is a uniquely high uptake of all macronutrients from the soil, and tobacco’s regular need for fertile (virgin) soils, which are often provided by land clearances involving deforestation.2 11
Increased efforts of afforestation/reforestation together with lower rates and higher efficiency of wood used in curing tobacco for example, improvements in barn technology, growing use of agricultural wastes as fuel sources can help to reduce tobacco’s round wood consumption and impact upon deforestation.
ØReduced impacts, which come as a result of deforestation.
ØThe time taken for the method to be effective is very long.
ØIt is high labour demanding and costly.
The tobacco industry in Malawi is currently faced with a lot of problems as outlined above. These problems have deteriorated the standard of the tobacco industry since the past five years. The problems facing the tobacco industry reached great levels last year, 2003/2004, growing season due to the Non-Tobacco Related Material (NTRM) and Nesting.
Bibliography:
ØGlobal assessment of deforestation related to tobacco farming, Tobacco Control 1999; 8:18-28
ØARET annual Report, 2002
ØThe Nation News Paper Article “The tobacco sales Finally come to an end.” REFERENCE
ØGlobal assessment of deforestation related to tobacco farming, Tobacco Control 1999; 8:18-28
ØARET annual Report, 2002
ØThe Nation News Paper Article “The tobacco sales Finally come to an end.”
Greens Gym and how Customer satisfaction is usually affected by a number of factors
Name:
Professor:
Course:
Date Due:
Green’s Gym
Question 1
Customer satisfaction is usually affected by a number of factors, either negatively or positively. In the case of Green’s Gym, a number of factors have contributed to a satisfied customer base, these include:
Customer Service: The gym clearly cares about retaining its customer’s and its competitive edge. The management has therefore gone the extra mile to retain customer’s by providing a flexible schedule, child care and discounts, all very wise measures aimed at keeping their customers satisfied.
Cost: The gym has created packages that suit everyone’s needs. Management has even gone out of its way to attract a group usually not targeted by gymnasiums: the elderly. The gymnasium is also flexible on its memberships, an approach that not only saves its college customers money when they are not around, but is also convenient as it allows the students to tailor their fitness programs.
Efficient and hassle free operations: The level of organization and scheduling at the gymnasium is quite high. This therefore means that the gym is able to cater for all its customer’s, more so considering the early opening hours and late closing hours for some of their facilities. The gym is also quite well equipped, which allows the clients to pursue their own programs without any inconveniences.
Question 2
The best way to measure the first factor would be through a focus group survey, with the scale being used being a nominal scale whereby the participants are asked to measure on a scale of 1-10, their level of satisfaction.
For the second factor, an observational study using a data scale would be the best approach, this would allow the researcher to collect information on Green’s Gym costs and compare them with other gymnasiums, with an aim of establishing exactly how much fairer their prices are. In this case the prices would be compared with those of the national fitness center chain.
Efficiency is to some extent both quantitative and qualitative. The best approach would therefore be to use a survey on the members of the gym. This survey would be carried out using questionnaires, with the aim being to solicit both quantitative and qualitative data. Finding out how many people have experienced problems while working out at the gym would help find out how efficient it has been. On the other hand it may be difficult for them to fully quantify their experiences, thus the need for qualitative data. There would therefore be as need to use both the nominal and ordinal scales.
Question 3
The most pertinent data when it comes to Green’s assessing their level of customer satisfaction would be the number of membership renewals they get. By establishing whether or not their customers are coming back to the gymnasium, the management would be able to establish exactly how satisfied their customers are, more so after the introduction of another gymnasium. There would also be a need to establish a demographic profile of its customers, as this would allow the gymnasium to establish the groups that are most satisfied and those that are not as satisfied. These groupings can be done in the form of age, sex as well as race among other details. Once the profile is established, it would be possible to identify any areas that might need improvement as well as areas that have to be maintained at the an already acceptable level.
Green Spaces as an alternative for the natural environment
Green Spaces as an alternative for the natural environment
Abstract
The study in this report seeks to investigate green spaces at a micro and an intermediate level in order to establish whether or not green spaces are an alternative for natural environments. One of the issues raised in this study is that human being relations and that of other species has deteriorated owing to human being’s interference of the natural environment.
One of the key findings is that green spaces provide significant benefits to the environment in terms of air purification, erosion control, energy and cost saving, and temperature modification. The data acknowledges the conception that the need for a healthy and properly maintained green space is not only ornamental or aesthetic but significant to the benefit of all species.
Green Spaces as an alternative for the natural environment
Introduction
The present environment that human beings have interfered with has been transformed ever since creation. As human beings living in this contemporary society, our relations with other species have deteriorated. The environment developed within urban areas has become unsuitable for nearly all wild animals, even though the less wild ones have since evolved to the contemporary society. It is important that as part of urban planning, some green spaces are preserved for the less wild animals as well as for other organisms so that a balance of respiratory gases is achieved.
Other significant aspects regarding the adequacy of the green spaces has been acknowledged by Budruk et.al, (2009) whereby they emphasize that green spaces raised home values, reduced cooling-related energy costs as well as enhanced business revenues.Moreover, Barnett et.al, (2009) believes that green spaces have resulted in an improvement in community life, provided community safety in addition to making the public more sociable.
This particular study will explore green spaces at the micro as well as the intermediate level. The results of this particular investigation will be obtained using the internet information, information from colleagues as well as by visually assessing the green spaces. This particular report will investigate the current green space uses randomly in vicinities of Sydney, which will afterward be used to make a conclusion as to whether or not green spaces are an alternative for natural environments.
Materials and Methods
Materials:
pen
paper
watch
camera
internet
Method:
For this particular experiment, a green space was chosen and recordings of the name of the park, vicinity of the park as well as the park’s characteristics such as the surface area under shrubs, trees water-sealed surfaces etc were recorded including a photograph of the selected park .The recordings consisted of establishing the number of people pass through the selected park as well as the activities they were undertaking within a period of one hour.
Other observations consisted of establishing the number of other species such as mammals, reptiles, birds and insects in addition to observing the various activities they were undertaking. The day, time and weather were also recorded with the observations carried out by sitting on the park chair within the time interval.
An internet program was employed to estimate the area of the selected park; the program is provided in the link HYPERLINK “http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm.Before”http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm.Before all these, a topographic map was employed to gather information regarding the geographic location of the green space, number of green spaces within the vicinity (area) as well as the areas of every green space in the area. The population was also found out from the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.
Results
The following table shows class results, however not all the class results are shown as this may be tedious to extrapolate, nevertheless majority of the results are shown below.
Suburb Name Population Green area total (km2) Park or reserve name
Maroubra 26538 0.487 Nagel Park
Mascot 8540 0.088 Mascot Oval
Chippendale 3300 0.002 Peace Park
Burwood 11678 0.082 Burwood Park
Haymarket 5091 0.105 Belmore Park
Bayview 3088 3.920 Rowland reserve
Panania 11331 0.045 Smith Park
Waterloo 11112 0.067 Waterloo Park
Zetland 578 0.006 Mary Obrien Park
Randwick 131714 0.680 Woolwash Park
Cabramatta 20337 0.866 Cabravale Park
Chatswood 13513 0.699 Bales Park
Strathfield 20489 1.377 Strathfield Park
Greenacre 22463 0.460 Roberts Park
Carlton 850 0.410 Beverly Park
Hurstville 23331 0.377 Poulton Park
Petersham 6639 0.700 Petersham Parl
Campsie 143111 0.058 Anzac Park
Auburn 76519 0.220 Mona Park
Kogarah 58137 0.510
Scarborough Park
Table 1. Shows class data on green spaces around Sydney
Specific details of the selected park in this particular investigation are shown below. The information was obtained from the internet. Sources are ABS, Google maps as well as an internet application cited earlier in the method.
Feature Name/ Type/ Number Area (in km 2)
Suburb Name Kogarah 16
Location Latitude: -33.963
Longitude: 151.133 ______________________
Green areas (total) 5 0.510
Population 58 137 ————————————
Table 2. Characteristics of the suburbs and green spaces
The green spaces indentified within the Kogarah region are as shown below.
Type of Green Space Names of green spaces Average area ± SE (m2)
Park or reserve Scarborough Park 2.4 x 105
National Parks, Nature Reserves and Sanctuaries Leosmith Reserve
As Tanner Reserve 7.8 x 104
2.62 x 105
Sporting fields (golf clubs, sporting complexes) Kogarah Park
Kogarah Golf Course 1.99 x 104
3.49 x 105
Table 3.Details of the types and areas of green spaces in the suburb
Activities observed in on the day below at Scarborough Park are shown below in table3.
Day: Saturday (05/03/2011)Time: 15.30Weather: Partly cloudy
Species Activities/ Observations No. Seen or heard
Human Walking, running, sports, picnics 15
Birds Looking for food, flying around 48
Insects (butterfly) Flying around 3
Reptiles (lizards) Lying on a rock in sun, looking for food 7
Table 4.Shows details of activities observed by species at Scarborough Park
The following map shows the geographic location of Scarborough Park, a photograph of the park is next to it.
Figure1. Location of Scarborough Park Figure 2. Photograph of Scarborough Park
Discussion
In reality, green spaces bring about nature’s heart to all species within an urban environment. Besides being an alternative to the natural environment, they also seem to bring value to areas within Sidney. Observations made from the class data as shown in table 1 shows that green space areas do not have an effect on the area population. For instance, Greenacre and Kogarah have similar green space area even though the population of Kogarah exceeds the population of Greenacre by approximately 36K people.Moreover; it reveals that Bayview has a very small population for the green space area.
Data obtained from HYPERLINK “http://www.homepriceguide.com.au”www.homepriceguide.com.au reveal that areas having a lot of green space areas have housing prices higher compared to regions having low green space areas. The data obtained compared Kogarah and Greenacre, with Kogarah putting up houses for sale at an average of $681,000 when compared to Greenacre that puts up houses for sale at an average of $490,000.This data supports statements recommended by Gilbert et.al, (2007) that state that green spaces raised home values and enhanced business returns. Another author, Barnett et.al, (2009) also backed the statement that green space areas have an impact the price of houses. Prices of rooms having visual variety as well as outside green space view were 20 per cent higher compared those of other regular rooms.
Green spaces have their own categories by which they are used. A reserve park may be employed in a different way as a sports park, for instance, the ANZ stadium. Majority of the green spaces are mostly used for leisure and recreational activities for those who enjoy relaxing. Green spaces can therefore be seen as way for people to connect with natural world. The observations in table 4 reveal that animals for instance birds and lizards still act naturally as if they were in the natural environment. There are also a large number of birds recorded showing that they are comfortable within the green space environment.
Barnett et.al, (2009) points out that, green spaces have a significant functional role within urban landscape by offering ecosystem services, for instance the alleviation of erosion and flooding. Other factors such as accessibility ought to be considered when carrying out the process of urban planning. Transport is normally the major focus when considering accessing these green spaces and ought to be strongly taken into account by urban planners.
In conclusion, green spaces have proved to be an alternative to natural environments. Barnett et.al, (2009), for instance, states that over 50 per cent of rare birds, plants and fresh water fish residing around the major towns and high population areas of Australia prove that that these animals have been able to adapt to change. On the other hand, human beings are also bound to pay more to live in a Mother Nature’s feel that really proves the value green spaces have. It is therefore important that these green spaces are maintained so all species can benefit from.
Bibliography
The success of this report has been dependant on the contributions of many people, especially those who spared their time to share their thoughtful insights and suggestions to it. Lastly, a very special thanks to Renee for her insight into the subject, in addition to helping me reflect in a more scientific way.
References
Barnett, G. & Doherty, M. & Beaty, M, 2009, ‘Urban Greenspace: Connecting People and Nature’, Environment 13, vol.1, no.1, pp 1-10
Bundruk, M. & Thomas, H & Tyrrell, T. 2009, ‘Urban Green Spaces: A study of place attachment and Environmental Attitudes in India’, Society and Natural Resources, vol.22, no.1, pp 824-839
Gilbert, M. & Brack, C. 2007, ‘Changes in Public Requests to Remove significant Urban Trees after Severe Bushfires in Canberra, Australia’, Science Direct, vol.6, no.1, pp 41-48