Resource Management and Geography - Theses
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ItemThe interaction between the environment land use and hydrology of the Bogong High Plains area from 1850 to 1985( 1990)The Bogong High Plains form part of the' Australian alpine area which contributes significantly to the water resources of south-eastern Australia. The dual factors of a high average annual runoff and low levels of variability by Australian standards point to the value of the area for water production and the need for optimum management criteria. However, the hydrological response of the streams draining the alpine area to changing environmental and land use factors has not been previously addressed. In this thesis the environmental and land use history of the Bogong High Plains Area has been documented. On the basis of historical reports and photographs, management decisions affecting the Alps, and ecological studies in the Area since the 1940s, trends in the environmental condition of the Bogong High Plains Area between 1850 and 1985 have been ascertained. The land use history of the Area has been documented, including: the Aboriginal visits to the area to exploit the Bogong moth; the use of the subalpine and alpine environments by graziers and their stock: the impact of gold milling activities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the frequency, cause and extent of fire in the region; the construction and management of the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme; the operation of logging activities in the area; and the tourist use of the region for summer and winter recreation. An examination of the hydrological characteristics of the Bogong High Plains Area then followed. Twelve catchments were selected for analysis, ranging in size from 1.35 to 146 square kilometres, and in altitude from 634 to 1922 metres. Differences in the physical, geological, geomorphological and vegetation characteristics were related to the average annual water balances and hydrological variability. A review of the literature on the effects of fire, forestry, mining, tracks and roads, engineering works and grazing on runoff was made preparatory to an assessment of the effect of land use practices on the runoff characteristics of the twelve catchments. Standard hydrological techniques were used to assess the impact on streamflow of bushfire, insect attack, forestry operations, mining activity, road construction, construction works for the hydro scheme, and cattle grazing. Some of the results were unexpected. Although grazing was the land use of longest duration, the long-term trends in streamflow and inter-catchment comparisons based on differential grazing pressures only partially demonstrated grazing had a noticeable impact on runoff characteristics. The effect of fire, forestry, insect attack and mining activity also yielded indeterminate results. By contrast, the construction of roads and the development of the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme resulted in statistically significant changes in streamflow characteristics, including runoff volumes, baseflow properties, and the magnitude of flood events. A model of the environmental history of the Bogong High Plains Area is proposed, incorporating trends in climate, fire frequency, vegetation cover, land use activity, and hydrological characteristics. From the model it is suggested that the occupation of the Bogong High Plains Area by Europeans since the 1850s has resulted in irreversible changes to the hydrological regime which predated the period of stream gauge operation and which could only be partially correlated with ecological trends. The model is used to ascertain the hydrological response of catchments to different combinations and intensities of grazing, fire and site disturbance, in association with present and alternative climatologically conditions.
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ItemThe 'green gold' of Sabah: timber politics and resource sustainability( 2000)This study examines the role of forest resources in Sabah's post-colonial era of rapid economic growth and power formation. A detailed examination of the condition of forests in Sabah has established that disturbance levels are high and are widespread across most forest reserves. This thesis identifies the interplay of factors, particularly political, impinging upon forest sustainability and causing the level of damage apparent in Sabah's forests. The complex political culture in Sabah that underlies poor forest management has resulted from both State and federal influences. At the federal level, national policies have positioned forests as expendable to meet goals of agricultural development, industrialisation and national integration. At the State level, forests are critical to political survival and state autonomy. A political culture developed that focused heavily on timber for direct state revenue and patronage purposes. Thus the State has given priority to those aspects of commercial forestry that raise the greatest direct revenue: log exports and low-level timber processing. The combined effect of these processes is the high levels of forest loss and damage evident in Sabah today. The thesis also explores how land conversions and timber processing encourage unsustainable forest management. There is a lack of integration between forest management and related activities of large-scale commercial land development and timber processing. These activities were put in place by national development policies, but their application has been shaped by political interference at State and federal levels. The politicisation of forestry and timber revenue has led to an industrial productive capacity far in excess of the forest capacity and the development of industries unsuitable to the needs of a recovering forest and sustainability. National land development policies have also undermined forestry as a land use. Priority is given to the conversion of forests to agricultural plantations. As a result, forestry as a land use is devalued, leaving forests unable to compete with agricultural options. The neglect of forestry as a use of stateland has placed pressure for timber supply totally onto forest reserves. The thesis explores the tensions that exist between economic and ecological solutions after a forest is heavily disturbed, an important issue in Sabah as most forests are in a poor condition after logging. In the forest reserves, high levels of damage have left many areas vulnerable to conversion to Industrial Tree Plantations. Political pressures and interference have affected all aspects of forest management ranging in Sabah from the implementation of policy, to integration of forests with industry and land development planning and to development options chosen after forests are exploited. The thesis explores how political constraints have shaped the capacity to manage forests and the implications for forest sustainability when management capacity has been impaired. A culture has developed linking timber to political office. This culture underpins excessive forest exploitation and undermines strategies for secure and long-term tenure in sustainable forest management.
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Item'It's in your hands': an assessment of the Australian Landcare movement( 1995)Australia's 'Landcare' program is a community-based, participatory program, established by Government, to tackle the problem of land degradation. It has been hailed by some, as the most imaginative sustainable development policy anywhere in the world. There have been many studies which have sought to measure the success of Landcare, using quantitative indicators such as the number of Landcare groups. This thesis seeks to devise alternative ways for Landcare to be assessed and thought about. It focuses upon the practice of Landcare in one particular region of Victoria: a practice which is formed out of the complex interaction of state policy, community aspirations and capabilities and the broader political and economic context. At a theoretical level, this thesis is informed by several areas of the academic literature. In particular, the role of the state apparatus in environmental management, the environment and political economy, and theories of ideology. These theoretical arguments are elaborated in several ways: through a detailed review of the emergence of Landcare as policy, both in Victoria and at a Federal level; through consideration of the complex bureaucratic arrangements which have grown around Landcare; and through a case study. The case study draws upon the experience of Landcare by farmers on the Dundas Tablelands in Victoria's Western District. Through participant observation and in-depth interviewing across seven Landcare groups, some insight is offered into the practice of Landcare in a local setting, for example: the ways in which government rhetoric about Landcare is enacted at the local level; the way in which the Landcare bureaucracy works with, or against, the program; and the way in which funding arrangements contribute to Landcare's effect on-the-ground. The case study draws upon the experience of Landcare by farmers on the Dundas Tablelands in Victoria's Western District. Through participant observation and in-depth interviewing across seven Landcare groups, some insight is offered into the practice of Landcare in a local setting, for example: the ways in which government rhetoric about Landcare is enacted at the local level; the way in which the Landcare bureaucracy works with, or against, the program; and the way in which funding arrangements contribute to Landcare's effect on-the-ground. It is argued that without an improved understanding of its limitations, the Landcare program is unlikely to succeed in the long-term. In the meantime, there are indications that calls for the expansion of Landcare may be to the detriment of the program’s original objective, which was to ensure more sustainable use of agricultural land in Australia. Renewed consideration is urged, of the ways in which Landcare's 'success' is measured.