Australia has extremely serious problems of land and water degradation. After only two hundred years of our use, the damage to basic, life-supporting resources and systems, and the loss of biodiversity have been such that crisis point has been reached in many areas. Our land is crying out for help.
The situation can no longer be ignored or shelved, nor can it continue to be dealt with in a piecemeal fashion, treating the symptoms of its declining health and not the causes - the unsustainability which is built into the land-use practices to which it is subjected.
Australia is the driest vegetated continent, with 75% of its area under arid regimes - and arid lands are inherently fragile. Understanding the geological history which has made Australia unique enables us to understand why the imposition of European agriculture and land-use practices on this ancient, fragile land, and the introduction of foreign animals and plants, has had such disastrous consequences.
This book presents the big picture of land-use, the degradation of land and water resources, and some of the wonders of this amazing continent, and provides a prescription for ensuring a bright future for Australia.
