soil-conservation-people-religion-and-land.pdf - South West NRM

principles ror de~elopment In \uch d \,I control ot du\t from nind erovon. and the
as to protect Idndscape ~alues other than pre\entir,n of \o~l erovon by water. gained
utilitarian economic L alues (3).
recc>gnitic>n Not that these more rural
i\sue\ \\ere not reported on earlier. but
the). Lvere ;iPParently regarded as tradi-
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES-THE tional phenomena. almost to the point of
PRIMACY OF LAND ST+B&ITY
being perceived as a normal facet of the
Since the late 1960s theZe&G h;ir become Australian enn*ironrnent.
~ncreasingly aware of a t3eeE-e In the qual- Because of the vast distances and isolaity
of the Australian environment. .As a tion of much of the environmental damage
result of the po\t-LVorld War I1 rise of in many locations. the impact and significonservation
moi.ements in the CS. z4~~-
cance of ecolopical damage goes unnoticed
tralia had \\ell-developed env~ronmentul by the majority of \.oters in this nation of
studies curricula In its schools by the earl! city-dwellers. There is however. a country-
1970s. The issues that gained early atten- n ide atvakenins to Australia's special
tion were primarily those affecting the responsibility through its trusteeship of
cities: namely recreation areas. water and unique World Heritage sites and its
air pollution. litter and urban transport. In enormous food-producing potential.
time. the rehabilitation of mined areas. the
Shallow solodic soils in Queensland. Photo: 8. Roberts.
LAND-USE PROBLEMS
An abundance of space and the opportunity
to expand rural production into new
regions. has made Australia one of the last
nations on earth to extend its "new frontiers"
on a large scale. The states of Western
Australia and Queensland. for instance.
have expanded crop production by
more than one million hectares during the
past two decades.
The early rural economy of the eastern
districts of Australia was based on the removal
of trees through ringbarking. clearing,
and later chemical spraying, to increase
crop production and the carrying
capacity of pastoral country. This largescale
clearing has destabilized the landscape
in many districts, resulting in wind
and water erosion, plus extensive increases
in the salinity of irrigation- and drylandproduction
systems.
The most recent national survey of land
degradation (4) has indicated that 51 percent
of Australia's cropping and grazing
land has been subjected to at least moderate
erosion or salinization through a combination
of degradation processes. These
complex processes usually begin with the
disturbance of the vegetation cover.
through tree removal. overgrazing or injudicious
burning. It is now generally
accepted that Australia's export earnings
from crop and animal products have been
at the expense of the nation's soil capital
(Figure 3).
BREAKDOWN OF DEGRADATION
PROCESSES
Several attempts have been made to assess
the relative contribution of each form of
land degradation to the total problem of
Australian landscapes. In terms of total
area affected. loss of productive potential
and the irreversibility of the process, water
erosion is clearly the greatest threat to
Australian landscapes. Figure 4 indicates
that 71 percent of degraded land is
affected by water erosion, with vegetation
degradation accounting for 11 percent and
wind erosion for 7 percent of the nonarid
area affected. Salinity problems have received
considerable attention as a rural
political issue, but such salting problems
affect only two percent of the nonarid land
area. Half of the saline area is under irrigation
and represents areas of high capital
investment and high production potential.
The prime area affected by salinity is the
Murray-Darling River basin and special
legislation has been passed to combat this
problem.
CORRECTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL
ACTION
In South Australia the dramatic effects of
wind erosion led to legislation as early as
1923. Other states promulgated policies
and regulations to control land degradation
in the ensuing decades. Today all
states have some form of soil-conservation
legislation. although implementation is
less than satisfactory in some states.
The past two decades have seen a wideranging
extension of legislation aimed at