SYDNEY, (AFP) - An obscure Pacific island is set to trial a world-first scheme where residents are offered cash incentives to follow a healthy, low-pollution lifestyle, researchers said.
Australia's isolated Norfolk Island, once a tough British prison colony, is an ideal test-bed for the novel project as the world grasps for solutions to the twin problems of global warming and obesity, they said.
The island's 2,000 residents will be given a "carbon credit card" to present when they pay for power, petrol and food. Frugal users can trade leftover credits for cash, while those who over-consume will have to buy extra units.
"We have an island that is 1,700 kilometres off the (Australian) mainland, it is fully self-contained and you can measure everything that goes in and out," said lead researcher Garry Egger.
He said residents of self-governing Norfolk, east of Brisbane and north of New Zealand, lived a similar lifestyle to other Australians, who are the world's biggest per capita polluters and among its most obese.
Use of electricity and petrol would be penalised along with imports of processed foods from Australia, encouraging people to walk and cycle more, use less power and eat local produce, said Egger.
The voluntary scheme is funded by a grant from the Australian Research Council. Egger, from Southern Cross University (SCU) near Brisbane, said he was confident most residents would take part in the three-year study. |
E-mail
