Land Degradation Problems and Policies

About this book

This book was first published in 1987 when land degradation was one of the major conservation issues of that decade. Australian scientists were at the fore in awakening world interest in this complex phenomenon and in contributing to debate. The authors present a broad multi-disciplinary perspective on the challenges and problems of degrading land, including the onsite and offsite effects of soil erosion, nutrient loss, and salinisation and on the conservation policies needed to meet the challenge.

Contents

Foreword Douglas Whalan; The contributors; Figures; Tables; Glossary; Preface; Land degradation and government John Kerin; Part I. Physical and Biological Aspects of Land Degradation: 1. Australia's land resources at risk Colin Chartres; 2. Biological and physical phenomena in land degradation Gordon Burch, Dean Graetz and Ian Noble; 3. Detection and measurement of land degradation processes Robert Wasson; Commentary Adrian Webb; Part II. Social Costs: 4. Onsite costs of land degradation in agriculture and forestry Michael Blyth and Andrew McCallum; 5. Offsite costs of land degradation Garrett Upstill and Timothy Yapp; 6. Degradation pressures from non-agricultural land uses Lance Woods; Commentary Peter Greig; Part III. Legal, Institutional and Sociological Factors: 7. Land degradation: legal issues and institutional constraints John Bradsen and Robert Fowler; Commentary Michael Barker; 8. Land tenure: plaything of governments or an effective instrument? Michael Young; 9. Social bases of farmers' responses to land degradation Roy Rickson, Paul Saffigna, Frank Vanclay and Grant McTainsh; Part IV. Behavioural Causes, Economic Issues and Policy Instruments: 10. Land degradation: behavioural causes John Quiggin; 11. An economic perspective on government intervention in land degradation Michael Kirby and Michael Blyth; 12. Abatement of land degradation: regulations vs economic incentives Anthony Chisholm; Commentary Geoff Edwards; Part V. Pressure Groups, Public Agencies and Policy Forulation: 13. Pressure groups and policy formulation; 13a. Pressure groups John Ballard; 13b. Non-government organisations: a synopsis by the National Farmers' Federation Andrew Robb; 13c. Non-government organisations: a synopsis by the Australian Conservation Foundation Geoff Mosley; 14. Policy agents: their interaction and effectiveness Robert Junor and Warwick Watkins; Commentary John Paterson; Part VI. Towards More Effective Policies for Controlling Land Degradation: An Overview: 15. Contributions from the physical and biological sciences Graeme Robertson; 16. Contributions from the social sciences Robert Dumsday; 17. The practicalities of policy solutions Bruce Davis; Appendices A-D; Bibliography; Index.

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