The stewardship of arid Australia: Ecology and landscape management

Arid and semi-arid lands cover 70% of Australia, and bear a legacy of degradation and species loss from past policies and management. Pastoralism, the most extensive industry, as well as other land users and the community at large, are seeking sustainable use of these lands in the future. This paper outlines a new approach to the problem of integrating conservation and production. rify the distinction between the individual managerʹs enterprise goal of sustainable land use, and the communityʹs goal of regional conservation of biodiversity through ecologically sustainable land management. From an understanding of the functioning of productive (relatively fertile and moist) and unproductive (infertile and arid) parts of the landscape, we then develop a conceptual framework for land use within areas that have priority for conservation management. We describe a system of management which integrates national parks with off-reserve protection. Landscape elements for management are defined to include national parks, excised management units, restricted use units and a sustainably managed majority. The financial resources that society would need to dedicate to the stewardship of the land are made transparent by a methodology for assessing the relative importance of different areas. In areas which are marginally productive for livestock, we suggest that unambiguous financial assistance could enable managers to remain on the land; they would assist with the management of feral animals, weeds, fire and local reserves, in exchange for the certainty that any residual use of the land was sustainable. We put priorities on outstanding research issues. arrangements would enhance the process by which all users of arid Australia—whether pastoralists, tourist operators, Aboriginal people or park managers—come to act as land stewards, obtaining services from the land in an ecologically sustainable manner. We discuss the cultural and political changes that are needed to permit this scheme to evolve from its present conceptual state to an operational system, emphasizing the fact that the informed involvement of current land managers will be crucial.