Home Object Activities Contact Who's who How to join NSF How to support NSF What's on Nature and Society On Borrowed Time: David Lindenmayer, Penguin Books, 2007 David Lindenmayer argues in this book that Australian society with its increasing urbanisation is culturally disconnected from nature. This disconnection has been a driver of ecological destruction. In just 220 years, Australia has had biodiversity loss that is second to none, and we lead the world in recent mammal extinctions, and the number of threatened species per capita. During the early 2000s it has been estimated that around 2 million mammals, 8.5 million birds, and 89 million reptiles died annually in Australia as a direct result of land clearing. At a hard-headed pragmatic level, Lindenmayer argues that if our environment, and plants and animals continue to be destroyed, the impact on our economy, agricultural productivity, tourism and national heritage will be devastating and irreversible. As he says: “This is the real bottom line.” Biodiversity’s ‘ecosystem services’ include pollination, pest control, soil production and protection, and storage and cycling of essential nutrients. A number of examples from the 2001 State of the Environment Report are quoted, including commercial fisheries valued at $2.3 billion and honey production at $300 million. The rivers, wetlands and flood plains of the Murray-Darling Basin are estimated to provide $187 billion in ecosystem services annually, as compared with Australia’s GDP of around $700 billion in 2001. The first three chapters of the book provide a primer on ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly’ aspects of biodiversity in Australia. The good canvasses the immense mega-diverse nature of Australia’s animals and plants, supported by attractive photographs. The bad and the ugly address the scale and urgency of the problems (as reflected in the title of the book), from land degradation to invasive plants to altered fire regimes. He says “our lack of action to date is exasperatingly ugly.” A final large chapter of the book is devoted to ‘the hero’, and puts forward ten key environmental problems in Australia, with ways forward suggested. These are big picture policy actions of the kind that Nature and Society Forum has also been promoting. One major problem is a failure to invest properly in our environment, with an environmental policy surplus and an implementation deficit. An example of a needed action is the restoration of vegetation and the repair of landscapes in the wheat and sheep belt at a scale needed to tackle the area’s major problems of salinity and soil erosion. Another is quick action to remedy the setbacks to adequate research and monitoring as have occurred at CSIRO. Lindenmayer suggests various options to assist funding such as a land management levy, a nationwide environmental lottery, and more favourable tax treatments for environmental donations. Another key problem is the lack of understanding about the environment upon which humanity depends. This lack of ecological literacy is all too apparent in many politicians who have a very narrow economic mindset. Lack of a deep understanding of environmental issues encourages many of them to propose bandaid solutions to problems, without addressing the underlying causes. Much greater attention to environmental education for the whole community is required, together with the greater involvement of the community in the ownership and resolution of environmental problems. Such increased widespread understanding will no doubt facilitate the increased funding priorities mentioned above. Yet another crucial issue is the need for a strategic response to climate change. The biodiversity losses associated with climate change are expected to be enormous, but we don’t have the proper strategies in place to deal with the problem. Preparing Australia for the consequences of climate change is critical, not only to protect our unique animals and plants, but also to prepare resource-based industries such as forestry, fishing, agriculture, and tourism. The book ends with the statement that “biodiversity loss is the most significant environmental problem facing Australia.” In parallel, James Lovelock, in a recent speech to the Royal Society in Britain, deplores the conceptual separation between the geosphere and the biosphere that has lead to a lopsided focus on just emissions reduction. The place of natural ecosystems has been lost, and the consequences of removing forests for farmland, and their role in sustaining a stable climate, are not sufficiently understood. David Lindenmayer is Professor of Ecology and Conservation Science at the Australian National University. His CV is a stellar one, with many prestigious awards. The book is intended for a wide audience and easily readable – as Paul Ehrlich says on the front cover: “This wonderful book should be read by all Australians.” I like its Australian biodiversity overview and its broad policy action approach. Murray May December 2007 - January 2008 edition accessible here Back to top ________________________________________________________________
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