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

by the fact that, compared to the two other main
opinion-shapers, politicians and businessmen, the Church is
the only group able to take the long term vied. As Brown
(1981) has pointed out, the sense of permanence and the
merits of "seeing the horizon", can be espoused by the
Church, far beyond the expediency of the next political
electlon or the balance sheet at the end of the current
financial year. And besides, nobody organizes people as well
at local level as the Church.
The Land Situation Today
All the evidence is that, throughout the world, the stability
and productivity of the available agricultural and pastoral
land are declining at an increasing rate.
The Worlbatch paper on Soil 'Erosion by Brmn and Wolf ( 1984)
reflects the stark reality of the rate and extent of land
degradation through erosion. This global picture is useful
for those who have not had the opportunity to appreciate the
global significance of this problem. The 3.1 billion
Australia the combined effects of water erosion, wind erosion
affected by water erosion, 14% by wind erosion, 13% by
vegetation deterioration and 2% by salinity. It is no
surprise to hear the Federal Minister for Primary Industry
calling for the national adoption of a "land conservation
ethic" under these conditions.
The situation in Australia has been analysed in detail and
the indications are that land degradation, despite our
widespread efforts to control it, is getting worse in recent
times. The official view of the present situation is given
in "State of the Environment in Australia 1985" (Anon, 1985).
53 to
s attempt to build the ideal society -
in which the ethic was, "From each according to his ability
(potential), to each according to his need".
Erosion and salinity surveys in Queensland (Gillies and
Kamel, 1985) shcw similar trends to elsewhere in Australia,
namely that we're not winning the fight to save our soil -
the very basis of our nation.
In short, our physical world is wasting away and, as the
saying goes, "If you eat, erosion is your problem" -
ecologists, humanists and believers. This has been true
since the Cananites exported cedar timber from Lebanon in
1300 B.C..