Landcare conference debates roll
By Jen Crothers
HOBART — A three-day Australian National Landcare Conference was held here from September 6. The gathering, convened by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, was designed to assess and plan for the next half of the "decade of Landcare".
The conference was attended by 450 people, approximately half of whom were from Landcare groups around Australia. The other attendees were from non-government organisations, government representatives and politicians. At $300 a head, the registration fee prevented unfunded individuals from attending.
There are more than 2000 Landcare groups nationwide, with one third of all farmers involved. These grassroots groups are different from Landcare Australia Ltd, which aims to increase awareness of Landcare projects around Australia.
A public debate entitled, "Landcare — all talk and no action?" was addressed by Australian Green Party spokesperson Dr Bob Brown, who said that the Landcare movement was in trouble because it focused on providing remedies for land degradation rather than prevention.
"The movement will fail in its objectives of achieving sustainable agricultural production by the year 2000 if there is no state and federal legislation to prevent actions which cause land degradation", Brown said.
Brown also said that Landcare was a triumph of publicity over action because massive land degradation problems were not being addressed.
Don Thompson from Greening Australia argued that it was very easy to overlook all the work being done in communities, and that we can not expect miracles within five years. "If all it does is slow the rate of degradation, then that is a major achievement.
"The land management practices that have caused a lot of the environmental problems today have been going on for 200 years and it is going to take a lot to reverse that."
Brown was also critical of the awarding of the "Landcarer of the Year" title to the giant forestry company North Broken Hill.
"It is an insult to thousands of landcarers who are not involved in disruption of the ecosystem that NBH should win an award from the organisation. They are a huge wood chipping company and one of the worst agents of land degradation in the state through clear-felling and cable logging."