Conservation in Australia - Conservation Issues

Conservation Issues

A key conservation issue is the preservation of biodiversity, especially by protecting the remaining rainforests. The destruction of habitat by human activities, including land clearing, remains the major cause of biodiversity loss in Australia. The importance of the Australian rainforests to the conservation movement is very high. Australia is the only western country to have large areas of rainforest intact. Forests provide timber, drugs, and food and should be managed to maximize the possible uses. Currently, there are a number of environmental movements and campaigners advocating for action on saving the environment, one such campaign is the Big Switch.

Land management issues including clearance of native vegetation, reafforestation of once-cleared areas, control of exotic weeds and pests, expansion of dryland salinity, and changed fire regimes. Intensification of resource use in sectors such as forestry, fisheries, and agriculture are widely reported to contribute to biodiversity loss in Australia. Coastal and marine environments also have reduced biodiversity from reduced water quality caused by pollution and sediments arising from human settlements and agriculture. In central New South Wales where there are large plains of grassland, problems have risen from—unusual to say—lack of land clearing.

Before European settlement, Aborigines burnt the grassland regularly for thousands of years and eventually native animals became dependent on the grasslands and the regular burning. When Europeans settled the area in the early 19th century, their ignorance lead to the destruction of the grassland through lack of regular burning. Thus the grasslands were swallowed up by woody weeds and shrub, degrading the soil, accelerating erosion and reducing the biodiversity.

Specific issues:

• Blue Gum Forest
• Fraser Island
• Franklin Dam
• Lake Pedder
• Uranium mining in Kakadu National Park
• Plight of the Murray River system