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

Because most of the pastoral zone is held under some form of
leasehold tenure, there is a special responsibility on land
administrators not only to monitor land condition but also to
apply covenants and other conditions to leases which encourage
land stewardship and sustainable pastoral production systems.
In contrast to many other countries, Australia still has a
long way to go to develop really permanent land use systems
for the arid zone. This requires careful consideration of the
role of tenure, animal numbers and spelling.
While the topic of land tenure has become a hardy perennial at
rural.gatherings (Does freeholding improve management?)
Young's (1985) analysis of the desirable elements of leasehold
agreements and the extent to which lease covenants can
influence land use remains not only current but of increasing
importance in this era of emerging land care. Lay's paper to
this workshop shows the complexities of marrying scientific
principles and administrative requirements when a monitoring
system becomes a central element of an Act of Parliament.
Some years ago Wilcox (1986) was bold enough to question the
sustainability of the pastoral industry. Since that time
lvsustainablelv has become something of a buzz word, to the
extent of being the theme of many conferences. The divergent
needs of rangeland administration and pastoral management were
well contrasted by Schapper (1985) in his anti-establishment
approach based on economic incentives. In ovenriewing the
progress of implementation of range management in South Africa
from 1934 to 1968 the writer (Roberts, 1969) found four prime
factors responsible for slow adoption of management
recommendations:
1. Economic pressure.
2. Complacency regarding deterioration.
3. Inefficient extension.
4. Unacceptable recommendations.
It would be useful to consider the validity of these factors
in the present Australian situation and to rectify the
situation as necessary.
The types of land use and degrees of viability of pastoralism
.in each.vegetation region in Australia have been shown by
Young et al., 1986 as follows: