AUSTRALIA will never be able to solve its salinity problem fully, a leading
resource scientist told politicians and their advisers in Canberra last
Thursday. The best it can do is to protect high value assets affected by salt,
such as drinking water, rivers, infrastructure and biodiversity. But even that
task will demand significant resources, the deputy chief of CSIRO Land and Water
Resources, John Williams, informed a National Science Briefing at Parliament
House.
He told the meeting that increasing salinity in the Murray-Darling basin is
already having widespread negative impacts, including the deterioration of
Adelaide鈥檚 water supply, damage to buildings in Wagga and Dubbo, the decline of
important wetlands such as Chowilla (near where the Murray flows into South
Australia), and rising water tables around the fruit-growing region of
Shepparton.
Most people know that salinity has been caused by clearing native vegetation
for agriculture, Williams said, so they assume the solution lies in
revegetation. 鈥淏ut we would need to revegetate very large areas to have any
effect,鈥� he said. And replanting the wrong areas could actually decrease the
amount of water percolating into the rivers.
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Instead, we need to re-think agricultural systems. While many believed the
problem could be solved by good land management practices, Williams said, that
was not always the case. CSIRO studies had shown that a 鈥渨in-win situation of a
profitable, yet environmentally friendly farming system is simply not possible
for some areas鈥�.
The salinity problem is so huge that funding and resources need to be
diverted to those areas which give the best value for money. But such decisions,
Williams said, are fraught with political danger. 鈥淭argeting obviously leads to
inequities in funding for different catchments,鈥� he said.
Williams also warned that significant public expenditure would be required.
鈥淪alinity has occurred over a long period of time and to make an impact now
requires funding beyond that which can come from current agriculture,鈥� he said.
A range of measures will be required鈥攔evegetation, improved agronomic and
irrigation practices, radical changes in agriculture, better engineering
alternatives, even doing nothing at times.
Choosing the right option required sound technical knowledge, Williams said,
as opposed to the usual practice of operating without scientific advice.
鈥淥ccasionally you get it right,鈥� he said, but more often money is wasted and the
problem is not tackled effectively. His presentation was a real wake-up call to
Australian decision makers, especially given the growing evidence in rural areas
of disenchantment with the political process.
A BILLION dollars for science 鈥攖hat鈥檚 the catchcry of an ambitious bid
for resources by science lobby group the Federation of Australian Scientific and
Technological Societies (FASTS).
A programme for spending the money was detailed last week by FASTS president
Sue Serjeantson. At the top of the wish-list was A$250 million in tax
credits for innovative industries, followed by A$100 million each for the
Australian Research Council and for university infrastructure, mainly libraries
and research laboratories.
National investment of this scale was needed to stimulate new high-wage,
high-technology industries in Australia, Serjeantson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of money,
but the return to Australia will be immense.鈥� And, she argued, the converse was
also true. The frightening cost of not making this sort of investment now, she
said, would be a lack of jobs in 20 to 30 years.
The billion-dollar list was designed to flag issues the Government must
address in its response to the Innovation Summit (due in August) and in the
Chief 快猫短视频鈥檚 Capability Review (due to be released in November). FASTS
suggested an annual commitment of about a billion dollars as appropriate. 鈥淓very
day Australia delays investment in the knowledge-based economy is another day we
fall further behind,鈥� Serjeantson said.
Editor鈥檚 Note: Last Sunday our columnist was honoured. Ian Lowe received the
Prime Minister鈥檚 Australia 2000 Environment Award for Outstanding Individual
Achievement for his 鈥渆xtraordinary contribution to the nation鈥檚 environmental
well being and the pursuit of sustainability鈥�.